Known as the “field of the elixir”, “sea of qi”, “alchemical cauldron”, “superior ultimate treasure”, “the core” and “the second brain” the dantian is kind of a big deal.
The dantian is the storehouse of your essential lifeforce and the gateway of energy work and manipulation.
In addition to it’s nicknames, it has been referred to as the dantien, dantien, tan tien, dan tien, and dan tian.
Where is the dantian located?
The dantian located approximately 3 finger-widths below your belly button. It is an energetic center – a “general area” – not correlated with a specific organ.
Where does this concept arise in other traditions?
The dantian is also known as the “hara” in Japanese culture and is really similar energy in concept to the “sacral chakra”.
Why is it important?
It’s known as the storehouse or reservoir for energy and correlates with health and vitality in the body.
Due it its ability to store energy, you can concentrate it for use in any way; from creating a calm, balanced groundedness to promoting healing and vitality. You can also cultivate and direct that energy anywhere in the body, which is a fundamental practice in martial arts.
Moving from your dantian is also important in qi gong, dance and every day life.
“Most people wake up slowly, and slouch around and get themselves going with a cup of coffee or tea. They go to a job in which they continue to slouch around or use one particular set of muscles. Patterns set in, and as I said, blocks develop in the way energy flows in our bodies.
You must make sure your body is open everywhere in order to receive all the energy that is available. You do this by moving every muscle, every morning from your center. He pointed to a place just below his navel.
If you concentrate on moving from this area, then your muscles will be free to operate at their highest level of coordination.”
– Quote from the book: The Secret of Shambala by James Redfield
How to Cultivate Energy into Your Dantian
You can cultivate energy into your dantian through movement, intention, visualization and breathing.
The Practice of Letting Your Energy Sink into Your Dantian
Start by sitting upright or standing. Relax your body so that your weight seems to settle in your lower abdomen – your dantian. Slightly contract your chest and expand your back to help the energy lower into your dantian.
Breathe from your belly, expanding it on the inhale. Focus on the expansion of your belly and minimize expansion in your chest as you breathe.
You will begin to feel a solid weightedness, a heaviness, like the feeling of being grounded or rooted. Visualize your legs like thick, rooted tree trunks. You will also feel a calmness and centeredness.
The MicroCosmic Orbit
The MicroCosmic Orbit is an ancient Taoist meditation practice used for circulating and cultivating energy along 2 primary meridian energetic channels that help control the balance of energy flow in the body.
“Microcosmic Orbit draws abundant energy up from the sacrum into the brain and, in doing so, enhances the cerebral circulation of blood and stimulates secretions of vital neurochemicals. It is also the first stage for cultivating the ‘Golden Elixir‘ of immortality, a process that begins in the lower abdomen and culminates in the mid-brain.”
– Source: https://upliftconnect.com/the-microcosmic-orbit/
How to Do the MicroCosmic Orbit Meditation
You can choose to sit in a chair or in a cross legged pose. Begin by closing your eyes and relaxing your mind. Focus on your lower abdomen, dantian area. Visualize a ball of warm, golden light, so bright that it turns white hot. Visualize this energy collecting and expanding as you hold your attention to it.
Visualize this energy moving upwards along your spine, or the the “governing channel” energy meridian. Then you can visualize the energy flowing back down like water along the “conception channel”/ “functional channel” energy meridian that runs down the front of the body.
Focus on the energy concentrating and circulating in your dantian, your energy storehouse. Watch as any stuck or dark energy transmutes into pure, golden, white-hot light.
Allow some of your energy to travel back up your spine as you inhale, then allow the pure golden light to flow like bright water down the front of your body and back into your dantian.
Advanced Techniques with the MicroCosmic Orbit Meditation
Advanced techniques involve specific visualizations and physical movements, contractions, relaxation at specific times during the microcosmic orbit.
This includes bringing your attention to the “Jade Pillow” at the base of your head where it meets your neck. As your energy travels up your neck, allow it to pass through this energetic gate, known as the “Jade Pillow”. Adjust your head posture and press your tongue to the roof of your mouth. Pressing your tongue to the roof of your mouth closes an energetic cicuit to allow the flow of energy.
You can also focus on the chi energy passing through the channel of your “Third Eye” (located on your forehead between your two eyes) and down to your throat and heart chakra. Visualize the flow of chi nourishing these energy centers as it naturally cascades down the front of your body.
Other physical practices include contracting your perineum and stomach muscles at a certain point in the microcosmic cycle. Google, Mantak Chia, to learn more in detail about the MicroCosmic Orbit.
Protips:
- Relax – Relaxation allows the chi to flow.
- Touch the tip of your tonge to the roof of your mouth – This practice allows the energy to flow more easily as it closes an energetic loop in the body’s meridian channel.
- Don’t force it – Chi flows better when it circulates gently and naturally. Too much force can actually hurt the physical, mental and emotional bodies which may result in pressure or dizziness.
- Trust Your Process – Don’t worry about how well you’re doing or if you’re doing it right. Allow the energy to flow and visualize as best you can. Even if you can’t see anything, sometimes just setting your intention, trusting your “knowing” or “feeling” the practice is enough. Keep practicing.
Heed Caution
The practices mentioned in this article are powerful . Practice with caution at your own discretion. Consciousness Liberty and its associates take no responsibility for any effects you may experience or any decisions you make. All responsibility is taken by the practicer.
How to Ground Your Emotions Using Your Dantian
When you become emotional such as anger, fear, stress or anxiety, your energy centers in your head. When you are in love, your energy centers in your heart.
In order to help you ground your emotions in times of distress, focus on bringing your energy down from your head and into your dantian. Focus on your emotional energy being stored in your dantian as pure energy force. The dantian transmutes the anger or fear into pure potential energy.
Using Your Dantian in Tai Chi Practice
Tai Chi is a Chinese Martial art practiced for health benefits, meditation, stress relief and defense training.
“The jin should be
– Source: Taijiquan Jing
rooted in the feet,
generated from the legs,
controlled by the waist [dantian] , and
expressed through the fingers.”
One of the 10 principles of the Tai Chi Chuan states that all movement comes from the center. And that center is your dantian. Focus on moving from the dantian and expressing through the extremities – the arms, legs and head.
There is a big difference between mindful tai chi movements focused on moving from your dantian with your feet rooted into the earth, and mindlessly “going through the motions”.
You know you’re doing it right when you “get into the zone” or feel the warmth and tingle of the circulating energy. You will begin to feel how you circulate your body’s energy, providing you with renewed energy and vitality.
The Three Treasures
When your hear the word, “dantian”, most people are referring to the lower dantian.
But, did you know there are 3 dantians in your body?
They are known as the Three Treasures in various spiritual philosophies such as taoism, Traditional Chinese Medicine, and Buddhism.
They are associated with 3 virtues, 3 signature energies and 3 energy centers (dantains), known as palaces of the Gods in the body. Each one housing a signature energetic type – Jing, Qi, and Shen. These energetic storehouses are the key to health, vitality, energy. It’s basically the lifeforce energy keeping your alive. Learn more about the 3 dantians, 3 Treasures, in my upcoming post.
Using your Dantain in Daily Life
Just becoming aware of your dantain allows you to take greater control of the energy and vitality in your life. The practices of tai chi, the mirco cosmic orbit meditation and visualizing the lowering/ centering of your energy will help you get more peaceful, calm vitality, improve your circulation and nourish all the organs and energy centers in the body.
Advanced practice will help you concentrate this energy for use in spiritual or martial arts practice.
Here’s to your health and vitality!
Resources:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kidney_(Chinese_medicine)
https://www.amcollege.edu/blog/five-vital-substances-in-tcm
http://www.westmeeteastclinic.com/qiandxue.php
http://www.acupuncture.com/education/theory/formsqi.htm
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dantian
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Three_Treasures_(traditional_Chinese_medicine)
https://taiji-forum.com/glossary/dantian/
https://taiji-forum.com/glossary/san-bao/
https://chentaijisi.wordpress.com/2017/11/20/dantian-or-the-elixir-field/
https://www.calmwithyoga.com/how-to-increase-inner-calm-and-digestive-intelligence-by-activating-your-lower-dantian/
https://www.goldenelixir.com/jindan/dantian.html
https://balancedlifetaichi.com/blog/so02csj1tgsp74hlwwlk6en8ybjv19
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KRasZqdDvYc&ab_channel=MantakChia
https://upliftconnect.com/microcosmic-orbit/
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tai_chi
https://thetaichinotebook.com/2020/03/04/let-the-qi-sink-to-the-dantien/
https://kung-fu.co.za/articles/10-principles-of-tai-chi-chuan/