https://youtubetranscript.com/?v=L2Vl8nvSUiE
This first practice is called finding your root. It has to do with developing the right kind of relaxation in your meditative practice. Many people come to meditation because they want to learn how to relax. The problem is our normal way of relaxing is opposite to what we want to be doing. We are making our body more insensate. We’re letting our mind slowly shrink and become clouded, somewhat confused, sort of warm and fuzzy, until we lose consciousness because the point of that relaxation is to move us towards sleep. We may not go all the way, but that is its function, and it often ends in us falling asleep. That’s not what we want to be doing in a meditative practice in which we are trying to learn when we’re trying to become more aware of the forms, the formations, the functions, and the processes within our mind and body. Think of the kind of relaxation that a martial artist engages in. So very often, you’ll see martial arts, I teach Tai Chi Chuan. And you’ll see them take a particular stance. They’ll bend their legs, they’ll sink. They’ll sink their arms into a position. They might close their fists, they might have open hands, but they do this thing. It’s called rooting. Why are they doing that? Well, they’re trying to do two things. They’re trying to stabilize their arms, their legs, their body, they’re trying to stabilize. But they’re also relaxing. So if you tense your arm like this and you touch, you’ll feel there’s not very much sensation. But when you relax, you find that sort of stable point and you can relax into it, you’ll realize, oh wait, this is a lot, I’ve really increased my sensitivity. So you see what’s happening here? The rooting is a kind of relaxation that simultaneously sensitizes the mind, makes it more alert, more acute, but also stabilizes it so it doesn’t start running off and getting scattered. So you’re trying to get this sensitization and stabilization that are interpenetrating to each other. Now think about how much that would matter in a martial arts situation. You’re coming into a situation, there’s gonna be all this unexpectedness. If you start flailing around because of the unexpectedness, you’re easily uprooted. If you just sort of lock in, your ability to sense what’s going on and respond is lost. You wanna find this optimal relationship between sensitivity and stability. Now you may be saying, well, I’m not gonna get into any fights. I hope that’s right, by the way. Because when you have your fight, even if you win, you lose. You lose a little piece of your soul. So what’s the point of, well, the point is transfer. Think about entering into a situation in which you wanna enter into a deep dialogue with another human being the way Socrates does. And Socrates is all just sort of scattered, right? And he’s, uh. Then his capacity for entering into the deep conversation is lost. But if he’s just rigid and closed in upon himself and holding onto his position no matter what, you can’t move me, I am so stable. It’s true, I can’t. But then what’s the point of the conversation? How will the dialogue take? How will it lead both people? You wanna be sensitive yet stable, stable yet sensitive, yet sensitive so that you can optimally flow within any situation, especially situations of dialogical encounter. So being able to root is really important. So often when I’m doing these discussions that I have with people, I’m engaging in these Socratic practices in a way that they might not know. I’m doing Tai Chi Chuan. They don’t know it. Sometimes they do. I’ve had people look at one of my videos, especially when the other person was sort of very interruptive or hyperactive, and they’ll say, you were like doing really good Tai Chi there. Yes, exactly. I take that as a very encouraging compliment for which I’m grateful because I aspire to that. I aspire to be able to have that rootedness so that I’m not easily overwhelmed, but I can also flow into the situation. I’m aware of what’s going on. In the meditative tradition, this is called sitting as still as a mountain, but as alert as a warrior. This is a phrase used, by the way, within Buddhist traditions that are often committed to nonviolence. So how do we do it? How do we do it? How do we get that? And how do we learn it in a way that can transfer to most of our life? Well, if you think about Taoism, you can think about the very famous yang yin symbol, with the black and the white and the black dot and the white dot and the white dot and the black area, showing that they’re flowing, right, showing that they’re flowing, they have this flowing balance and they interpenetrate each other. We’re trying to get a mind that is open, yet centered and stabilized. It can flow out into yang, but it can also return to yin, and it has these so that they interpenetrate each other. Now how would you do this practice? Well, first of all, you go through your centering practice. You do all three centers. I won’t repeat that now, but you make sure you center mind and body, you center your attention, you center your attitude, get centered. Now I’m gonna describe the practice to you, and what it looks like, what it feels like. So let’s say you’re centered, your eyes are closed. I want you to imagine a space just slightly above your head, and then as you inhale, you’re expanding in all directions, almost like you were inflating a balloon, a perfectly spherical balloon in all directions. You inhale, this is you opening up, this is you expanding your awareness, expanding your connection to the world, right? As you inhale, don’t hyperventilate, but you inhale and you expand. And then as you exhale, you let everything gather back together. This is the yin, you come in, you come in. So inhale, exhale, and then you find that spot. Oh, right there, that’s about right. Where it is for you is where it is for you. Don’t imitate what I’m doing, imitate the way I’m doing something. Inhale, exhale, and the last little bit of the exhale and that little space in between the breaths, it’s like I’m opening and melting and draining, and I’m coming to what’s called the third eye traditionally. And from there, but even from the center of my head on that axis, I inhale out, I exhale in. Opening, melting, draining to the throat. Inhale, remember all directions, 360. Inhale, opening, exhale, gathering. Opening, melting, draining to the heart. Inhale, opening, exhale, gathering. Opening and melting and draining to the solar plexus. Inhale, opening, exhale, gathering in, falling back towards the center, yang into yin, yin into yang, do you see? Opening, melting, draining to this area called the dantian. This is eventually where you want your breathing to be when you’re meditating. Don’t force it there, let it naturally fall there over time. But here you center around there, it’s about, the tradition says one finger below your navel, three fingers in. I don’t know if that’s precise, but something like that. Inhale, exhale, and then opening and melting. Melting, draining to where that center axis is touching what you’re sitting on. Feel that point. Everything is drained there like a pool of liquid. And now you let it sink into the earth. Imaginally, imagination for the sake of enhancing perception. You let it sink like the root of a tree, rooting. It’s sinking into the earth, connecting you, stabilizing you downward. But also nourishing you, energizing you, sensitizing you upward so that you’re then sitting as still as a mountain, but as alert as a warrior. So you center, find your three centers. Go through that rooting practice. You may wanna replay that sequence so I can talk you through it while you’re doing it. Once you feel that sweet spot, that optimal grip between yin and yang, and you feel rooted into the earth, then begin your meditation following your breath, labeling your distractions, befriending yourself. That is the rooting practice. Thank you.