Point meditation - a core concept in Tai-chi Nei-Kung

Is doing a squat stance like Golden Turtle Tai-chi nei-kung? If yes, then practioners of yoga asana are doing tai-chi nei-kung too! So, what makes "tai-chi nei-kung stance or movements" true tai-chi nei-kung? It is the use of point meditation in practicing tai-chi nei-kung. I shall explain it in this post.

Practitioners of Taoist meditation (or Indian and Tibetan meditations) know how to do point meditation. In the lingo of Taoist microcosmic circulation, it is called Bathing (沐浴). And according to classic teaching, one should do Bathing or point meditation at lower dantian, top of head (niwan 泥丸, mid-stermum (danzhong 膻中) and lower back (mingmen 命門), the exact location of the last two can be found in this blog's Breathing page). In Indian yoga and Tibetan Buddhism, the locations are the chakras.

But these exact positions are passive facts, everybody can check them up through the internet. A living practice requires a practitioner to know how to make use of these passive facts. The best concept of usage, in Taoist lingo, is mysterious opening (竅). A mysterious opening is a point on which one's mind is to apply subtle force. This sutle force is to be joined together with forces activated at one's fingers, together with other forces activatead at other myterious openings. This usage of the combination of forces is the prime mover in creating strong internal-chi (內氣) in Nei-king (内功).

In meditative practice, the meditating points are fundamentally along the Ren (任脈 - front of torso) and 督脈 - spinal cord or back of torso). In tai-chi nei kung, the points will include other points along all eight psychic channels (including Ren and Du). Each tai-chi nei kung stance or movement will involve different meditative points (a more complex subject that needs to be dealt with with elaborations beyond a single post).

The "feel" will however be similar between Taoist Neidan and Tai-chi Nei kung in the area of point meditation. In Neidan, when activated, chi will rush up the spinal cord and strengthen it together with its accompanying muscles. Likewise in Nei kung, when activated, chi will stretch the muscles joining the meditating points (two plus). A powerful stretching force along the points will be felt. How does this force differ from normal muscle contraction in sports activities? This will be the subject matter of a future post.