MODULE 9 Golden Thread

Circle Walking Meditation (Intermediates)

BRUCE FRANTZIS

Copyright© 2011 Bruce Frantzis

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Table of Contents

Golden Thread Circle Walking Meditation (Intermediates) .................... 5 Overview ..................................................................... 5

Phase 1: Experiencing the Central Channel ........... 6

Phase 2: Opening and Distilling the Mind ............. 6

Phase 3: Gaining a Sense of Space .......................... 6

Phase 4: Letting Go of Blockages ............................ 8

Golden Thread Circle Walking Meditation

(Intermediates)

Overview In the beginning, most practitioners cannot find stillness inside their central

energy channel. Too often they are taken over by the potentially ceaseless move­

ment of energetic experiences within it and fall short of finding what the Taoists

call the "golden thread" of still awareness that runs through the central channel.

The golden thread is always present, and functions as a point of stability in midst

of (potential) confusion.

This four-phase Circle Walking meditation will help you find your personal gold­

en thread of still awareness within. Let go of rushing to get to the next place and

take your time with each phase of the practice-that is, as my teacher Liu once

advised,"lf you would like to arrive sooner rather than later:'

5

© 2011 Bruce Frantzis-AII Rights Reserved.

6 Bagua Mastery Program

Phase 1: Experiencing the Central Channel

This precursor phase will help you realize the meaning of stillness within the

central channel. With your best relaxed effort, use the internal opening and

closing movements during Circle Walking to continuously alternate moving your

chi in and out of your central channel.

Initially, do this in coordination with the opening-closing and inward-outward

twisting of your legs. Later, add your arms and torso. Eventually, something

inside you will shift. Instead of only having the thought or intent of your chi

moving in and out of your central channel, you start experiencing it as a

consciously, visceral and felt experience-what I call "the real deal:'

Phase 2: Opening and Distilling the Mind

Next, encourage and allow your mind to open, if only slightly, and release any

sense of contraction. Allow your mind to become very still and quiet of its own

accord-without using any force.

During this spontaneously arising event, let whatever mental, emotional,

psychic states or even karma that might become activated-i.e., yin-yang, in-out,

energetic, emotional, mental or psychic movements of the mind-be absorbed

into your central channel. In gradual stages, your central channel and spirit will

naturally become ever-more quiet.

Phase 3: Gaining a Sense of Space

Soon your central channel will begin to gain of a sense of space without

contraction. As the swirling energies in your central channel and mind gradu­

ally and completely slow down, obvious aspects of thought and perception

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Module 9: Golden Thread Circle Walking Meditation 7

seem to come alive and stir inside. However, they will no longer be disturbing.

Eventually, the internal space inside and whatever arises in the mind peacefully

coexist simultaneously without any hint of anxiety, or other uncomfortable or

disturbing qualities.

In time, you will notice that this state begins to translate and carry over to your

normal daily activities, enabling you to live in your inner meditation "cave"

without needing to be in a physical one. You will still be able to live and function

well in your daily life, including rapidly Walking the Circle, amongst all the inher­

ent chaos.

As this practice phase settles and stabilizes within your being, it will lack the

outer appearances very commonly associated with what many ordinary people

think a "spiritual being" might or should be. Most people who arrive at this point

(possibly even you one day) don't seem very special, appearing very ordinary as

they go about their daily activities.

Very often, this image is not what is expected or wanted from a holy person.

People are looking for a particular type of energy or external demeanor to

manifest-some mythological variation of Jesus Christ or Buddha. Commonly,

if this human manifestation is mentally ethereal, calm and projects significant

light or psychic energy toward the receiver, then meeting this manifestation of a

spiritual being makes the unaware person very high and expansive. They can go

so far as to believe that they are the holy one, attributing the qualities to them.

However, usually as a person moves toward the central channel's stillness (within

movement), everything from the raunchy to the sublime can be comfortably and

seamlessly accommodated within their personality. All and everything becomes

natural, so it's irrelevant whether any kind of personality manifests within their

behavior.

Yet as everything becomes still within your depths, you gain a constant and

immense sense of spaciousness that never leaves and which continuously

seeks balance within yourself and others. This internal spaciousness is non-dual

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8 Bagua Mastery Program

(Buddhist term) or tai chi (Taoist term) as activity and stillness effectively and

seamlessly fuse inside you.

So without limitations there is simultaneously the lack and presence of

experienced internal activity and the ability to effectively engage with whatever

must be. The only way, the only place from which this usually happens is within

the central channel.

Phase 4: Letting Go of Blockages

As Phase 3 deepens and stabilizes with minimal effort, if the energies moving

in and out of your central channel contain anything untoward (i.e., blocked or

disturbing), your next task is to simultaneously stay present to it and your central

channel.

If you can stay with it, the disturbances naturally release, let go, dissolve and

vanish. The chi of the blockage becomes reabsorbed into your system and

is made useful. Your internal fixations let go and shortly thereafter become as

though they had never existed. Continuous repetition of this again and again

creates ever-greater internal stability within your meditation and life.

Gradually, as this internal stability strengthens within, you find you can quickly

sort out all kinds of unsmooth yin-yang emotions and mental and psychic states.

The sheer act of any blockage moving into the central channel ends it. They

revert back to an un-polarized, non-dual or tai chi state from where the offending

yin or yang originated, which brings them to their resolution.

When your ability to bring any disturbance to your central channel of energy

becomes strong enough, you can begin getting glimpses of the seventh energy

body (the body of individuality).

However, in order to bring this process about while Walking the Circle, your

central channel must first open, awaken and become continuously and fully

functioning.

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