Daoist meditation refers to the traditional meditative practices associated with the Chinese philosophy and religion of Daoism, including concentration (mindfulness), contemplation, and visualization.

Types of meditation

There are three basic types of Daoist meditation: “concentrative” “insight”, and “visualization”.

Ding literally means “settle, firm” and early scholars such as Xuan Zang used it to translate “deep meditative contemplation”.

Guan  basically means “look carefully, watch, observe”.

Cun usually means “exist, be present”, but has a sense of “to cause to exist; to make present” in the Daoist meditation technique.

 

The One Hundred Day Meditation (Bai Ri Zhu Ji) has its focus on storing energy in the body. It is considered first in a four stage process. The next three stages are listed below:

• Change Jing to Qi. The goal being the meditative circulation of Ren and Du meridians. During the practice, you need to calm your mind and descend your Heart Fire to warm your Kidney Water. Which then changes into Qi and travels through the Small-Universe route. Lower Dantian.

• Change Qi to Shen. A meditation to circulate the mind through the body’s meridians based on certain times of day. When Yang Qi has accumulated in your Lower Dantian, move the Qi to the Middle Dantian. Middle Dantian.

• Shen returns to emptiness. This is a spiritual meditation that involves leaving your body and converting Shen (spirit) to Tao (emptiness). Moving the Shen to Upper Dantian for further cultivation. Upper Dantian.

The harmony, interaction and connection of Heart and Kidney is crucial in Inner Alchemy.