Inner Heat Meditation

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This is an extremely advanced meditation requiring sophisticated breathing techniques as well as visualization. It is included here as an example of the most demanding meditation techniques. It was developed by a Tibetan Buddhist who believed that mental energy flows through the body within an invisible psychic nervous system made up of thousands of thin, transparent channels. The principal ones-the central, right and left channels-run parallel to and just in front of the spinal column. Pure mental energy can function within the central channel whereas diluted (deluded) energy flows through the others.

In our normal state, the central channel is blocked by knots of nervous energy at the various chakras discussed above. This energy blocks pure energy from the mind, making it unable to function properly.

Inner heat meditation is an excellent method for transforming powerful negative energy, helping us to develop spontaneous control over all actions of body, speech and mind.

Begin by adopting your usual meditation posture, settle your thoughts and your breathing, and visualize the central channel as a transparent, hollow tube, about the same diameter as your forefinger, running straight down the centre of the body just in front of the spinal column, from the crown of your head to the base of your spine.

Now visualize the left and right channels, slightly thinner than the central one, starting from the left and right nostril respectively, reaching up to the top of the head then curving to run downwards on either side of the central channel before curving inwards to join the central channel about a hand's breadth below the navel.

Take your time. There is no hurry whatsoever, and once the visualization (some people say it helps to see it as a very simple central heating system) is firmly fixed, imagine a red-hot ember the size of a seed inside the central channel level with the navel. If it helps to strengthen this visualization, see yourself reaching into a fire and taking out a small ember that you put in place.

When you really feel the intense heat, gently contract the lower pelvic muscles and see air energy rising from the lowest chakra up to the ember. Now breathe deeply through both nostrils, seeing the air travelling down the left and right channels round into the central channel, where it joins with the heat and air energy brought up from below. When you have inhaled, swallow and push down gently with the diaphragm, compressing the energy brought down from above: the air energy is locked in, trapped from above and below.

Now hold the breath as long as possible without forcing it and concentrate on the glowing ember in the navel area, its heat now spreading through the compressed air energy.

When you breathe out, visualize the warm air rising through the central channel, seeing it burn away the negative energies blocking each of the chakras. Repeat the cycle seven times, intensifying the heat with each breath.

By the time you breathe out for the seventh time, visualize the ember bursting into flames, shooting up the central channel and burning out the remaining negative energy in the chakras. When the flames reach the crown of the head, they melt into wonderful, almost sensual, energy that rushes down the now pure central channel, intensifying in pleasure as it passes each chakra, finally engulfing the remains of the ember and making it explode in a blissful heat that reaches every cell of your body, filling you with happiness.

If you ever succeed in this meditation, don't try to analyse the bliss, just accept it, relax, enjoy and concentrate on it calmly and in a controlled manner. It is, as we said, extremely complex, but those who have mastered it believe it is, the best of all visual meditation techniques.