In many traditions of health and metaphysics there is a teaching about subtle energy channels. Most of us are familiar with the meridians of acupuncture and the nadis of kundalini yoga. A good book on either of these subjects will give you an overview of what these pathways are. Recommended is Vibrational Medicine by Richard Gerber.

Although the methods outlined here do not require detailed knowledge of these subtle energy channels, it can only be helpful to be more informed.

Even though these practices are preliminary in nature they are still quite powerful and it’s advisable to proceed with caution and awareness.

These exercises are adapted from the Tibetan tradition. Their purpose is to center, balance, concentrate, and purify the energetic field that you are. As you proceed in this work you will discover for yourself what they’re on about as they begin to take affect. Keep in mind that there’s no rush required. Hasten slowly...don’t force.

There are some very basic preparations that will assist you enormously. As with any practice, it is necessary to clarify your intention. The overall intention of all consciousness work is to explore Awakening, the emergence from the deep spiritual sleep in which we exist. Anything else is a side effect. Contemplate this purpose and then you can specify the particular intent of the practice that you’re about to unfold. Always keep in mind, at least initially, what it is that you propose to accomplish. If you don’t know where you’re going, what the movement of your energy is you may become totally dissipated and exhausted.

The place to begin is with investigating the physical body and its energy channels...the veins and arteries, and more importantly, the nervous system. An anatomy and physiology coloring book can be very helpful. Do the work. Get into the mind of a child...the playful mind. It’s okay to color outside the lines! Learning a few things about the physical body will help you in your understanding of the more subtle channels, the psychic pathways.

When you’ve been doing this for awhile, add to your exploration an investigation of the planetary body. Find the circulatory and nervous systems of Gaia, the earth. This will offer up even more clues. See the analogies. As above, so below.

Next, examine the elements...earth, water, fire, air, space, and consciousness. What do they represent? Investigate for yourself. Use the books if you want to, but find out for yourself.

What do these elements mean in YOUR life?

Ask these questions:

Where does it begin?

How long does it last?

How does it decay...die?

How do these elements inter-relate or interact?

These are the ELEMENTary questions. Keep the mind of question, the opening mind. Look for these elements throughout the day as shapes. Each has its own particular geometry.

EARTH is the square, the four corners of the earth. When in balance, it manifests as support, harmony,

equanimity and generosity, or extension. When distorted, the earth element becomes obstruction, pride, and arrogance, rigidity and miserliness.

WATER is circular. It’s balanced manifestation -- insight, clarity, and fluidity. When distorted it becomes the violent mind full of hatred, anger and aggression.

FIRE, or radiance, is the upward pointing triangle demonstrating, when balanced, as compassion and discernment. When distorted it is lack of discernment, obsessiveness, compulsiveness, and possessiveness.

AIR is the integration of the upward and downward pointing triangles. It is the six pointed star seen as freedom and spontaneous activity when balanced; anxiety, fear, paranoia, envy and suspicion when distorted.

SPACE, or akasha, is the crescent moon or half circle, manifesting as wisdom and limitless intelligence when in balance, and depression, stupidity and willful ignorance when out of balance. See where these shapes exist in nature....in the physical body. See where the elements manifest within you.

These are the various contemplative practices that you might find fruitful to pursue. Contemplate the impermanence of things...how they change...the comings and goings of life around you. Know that you too will pass away. Who is it that passes?

Next, contemplate suffering. Don’t wear it like a badge. This is part of the cultural and religious programming...to wear your suffering on your sleeve for all to see, as if learning requires suffering. It doesn’t! Look into suffering as such, but not as a definition of who you are. This is simply the negative ego. It ultimately has no substance, so why bother with it? Simply see into the nature of suffering. It’s been said that suffering is having what you don’t want and wanting what you don’t have...seeing the impermanent as permanent and the permanent as impermanent. Look into this.

The next step is to contemplate the extraordinary miracle of your precious human form, the good fortune that you are here, in this realm, with such relative affluence and possibilities. See the great opportunity of human birth..

You can study the mind of compassion...the Heart...loving-kindness. What’s in it for you? What’s in it for anybody? Or everybody?

Contemplate Awakening -- individual, planetary, cosmic - are they separate? Investigate the Bodhisattva being. This is one who is awakening for the sake of all sentient beings. What is that on about? Question, question, question.....and then live the answer.

These investigations need to be done before proceeding to the following phase. As mentioned, hasten slowly. Allow as much time as it takes. There’s no need to push. Where do you think you’re going anyway?....ultimately. If you think there’s somewhere to go, investigate that one. That’s a major problem for many of us.

The next step in this process is what’s called the Hollow Body Practice.

Sit in a cross-legged position if at all possible. This helps to close the body’s energy circuit. If this is too difficult, sit in a chair. It’s better to be able to sit comfortably than to be focused on pain the entire time.

Let your right hand rest in the left, spine straight but not rigid. Curl your tongue back against the roof of the mouth. This stimulates the higher energy centers in the head. Let the eyes focus about ten inches beyond the tip of your nose.

Visualize your body as being that of any Buddha with whom you feel a resonance. If you’re Christian, you might see your body as the body of Christ. See this being as being you in meditation.

Have the thought,

"My body is now the body of ______________ (Buddha, Christ...) and it is hollow and clear within."

Beginning at the head and moving downward, develop the feeling sense and visual sense that the body is hollow, like a balloon. To move from the head downward is important as it will allow the experience of the descending energies of Baptism.

You may find it easier to do only one body part at a time. Begin with the head...add the neck at the next sitting...then the shoulders...then the arms...and so on until you are able to move down through the entire body. Remember, you’re not going anywhere. Hasten slowly. Cut yourself some slack and take it easy. No urgency -- there’s no need to push.

Once you’re able to be the hollow body of Christ or Buddha, see the body as being various sizes from the microscopic to the cosmic. Throughout, maintain the sense of hollowness. Stay with this stage for some time, perhaps weeks, until you really get a felt sense of what this meditation is on about.

When you feel ready, move on to this next phase:

Visualize the central channel (sushumna) within the spine as if the spinal canal were hollow and clear. Imagine the left and right channel (ida and pingala) on either side about half the width of the central channel. See them ascending from the nostrils, inside the forehead to the top of the head and then down either side of the sushumna like two shepherd’s crooks. The right side is red with a little white...the left is white with a little red. All three channels are hollow.

The nest step is to visualize the chakras. Some teachings indicate only four chakras, but we’re going to suggest the standard seven. Imagine them...one at the base of the spine;...one just above the genitals...one at the solar plexus...another at the heart...next at the throat...up to the brow, slightly above and between the eyes...and finally at the crown. All of these centers are the crisscrossing of nadis...more hollow tubes! The entire body is a network of hollow tubes, all pulsating and ALIVE...all essentially empty.

All form is essentially emptiness.

To supplement this work, draw pictures of the nadis and chakras. Find some books on the subtle channels and see how others have depicted them. Use colored pencils or crayons and be creatively playful, like a child. These are important practices, but not necessarily so serious.

So far we have investigated the body, our own and that of the earth. We have looked into the nature of the six elements and their relationship to each other. Next is the five contemplations: impermanence, suffering, the miracle of embodiment, loving kindness, and finally Awakening. Continue to explore and investigate these energies.

For the next practice it is important to first stabilize the breath, to let it be flowing evenly through both nostrils. Usually the breath flows more easily through one nostril than the other and this changes about every two hours or so throughout the day. To experience this difference in the flow through each nostril may be a practice in itself. Develop this sensitivity. Sit and observe your breathing. By noticing the air as it passes through the nostrils you can feel which is open more, the left side or the right.

You can also accomplish this by blocking one nostril and breathing. After several seconds block the other nostril. Through which side is it easier to breathe? Their is a period of time, a transition time, in which both nostrils are open equally. If this is the case for you, do this again in fifteen minutes and you will find a change. During the two hour cycle there is a period of approximately fifteen minutes during which the flow of breath is changing from the left to the right or vice versa.

When the breath is flowing more through one nostril than the other, there is a simple method to bring it into balance.

Rest the ring finger of your right hand on the center of the forehead and close the clear nostril with the right thumb. Exhale, releasing the breath through the open nostril and then inhale gently, slowly, and deeply. Repeat this three times and then switch nostrils, repeating the process in its entirety with the other nostril. When the breath flow is balanced take a few moments to breathe deeply and feel how this is different.

There is another, more subtle way to bring the breath into balance. Noticing which nostril is most open, slowly and gently exhale, as if only through that nostril. As you slowly inhale through the same nostril imagine a blue/white light flowing in and reaching a point in the center of your forehead. Exhale this light slowly from the center of the forehead and out through the same nostril. Repeat this for two or three minutes or until you feel the nostril to be completely open.

The next step is to now exhale through the other nostril. Do this in the same way. Imagine that a blue/white light is being exhaled. As you inhale bring this light in through the nostril to the center of the forehead. Gently exhale, the light moving from the center of the forehead and out through the nostril. Continue this for two or three minutes or until you feel the nostril to be completely open.

At this point both nostrils should be equally open and the flow of breath and light balanced. With your next inhalation, imagine the breath and light reaching the center of the forehead and as you exhale let the energy flow out through the other nostril. If, for example you have breathed in through the right nostril, exhale through the left. Inhale through the left and exhale through the right. Inhale through the right and exhale through the left. Continue this pattern for several minutes, using the center of the forehead as a kind of bridge.

Why is it important to work with this practice?

There are two reasons:

Studies have shown that this technique will synchronize the hemispheres of the brain. (Laskow) This affords us optimal functioning and balance between our linear and non-linear selves.