Circles Practice
What is the point of this circles practice, how does it benefit me, what's it for?
This circles practice is an embodiment meditation, that when practised with attention, focus and intention will lead you into a trance state. In terms of brain wave, you will be entering into a theta wave 4-8Hz state, which is optimum for visualisation, perfect for reprogramming the mind, and accessing your ability for healing. Through entering this state you can learn much more about your subconscious mind.
You will literally bypass your ego defences, and limiting beliefs can be challenged and reconsidered. This is all about concentration, which is a skill in itself. Your ability to focus and concentrate will be greatly enhanced.
This is a potent practice, it’s impossible to condense it and do it justice in a 2000 word blog. At least if I can give you an overview, a little understanding of its value, I can inspire you to practice with enough intention and determination, that you will find out for yourself its beauty.
Through practice and focused attention you will find more intricacy within each movement, and discover more depth in your own body.
With the increase of internal awareness comes much greater ability to move and coordinate the body with greater precision. This is beneficial for everybody, but especially the striking martial artist will greatly improve their ability to move and deliver force. The understanding and self knowledge of the structure and efficient use of the body can’t be matched through any other modality I’ve come across.
What is it?
The practice starts with a vibration exercise to free the body of tension, become more grounded, and release the technical mind. you require firm grounding, but also require relaxation, to perform quality of movement. There is a constant balancing act going on, between hard and soft, tension and relaxation. Through this shaking of your body you will begin your inward journey of embodiment, as your mind becomes immersed with the sensations and feelings within, and slowly the mind becomes more quiet as its engaged completely in the present.
Now you will explore six different spiralling circular movements. Each can be practiced for any length of time but between two to five minutes will be enough to start. Each person will have their own expression through each movement, there is no right or wrong, the movements can be large or small, intricate or gross, tight or loose, fast or slow, its all dependant on the individual, their body type and needs of that day. The point is to dive as deeply as possible into your body and feel with increasing depth into yourself. You will notice where you might feel blocked or stuck in your movement and you can focus into these areas bringing fresh energy and awareness to enliven your whole system.
Each time you practice you will feel further, and become more aware, layer after layer, the subtlety of the human mechanism, slowly it will reveal itself to your conscious mind. Notice how the breath can support the physical movement, and how with this awareness, you will soon find that the breath is moving you, at this depth it now becomes a breathing practice first and a moving practice second. This is the next level, where the acuity of feeling and proprioception becomes so subtle, the physical body may only be making micro movements but the breath and internal movement of the subtle force, is hugely significant. This is the point of internal awareness and control, where you can really adjust and heal your body and mind. You will also find that through gaining control of the internal workings of the physical body, it will greatly enhance the quality, control and accuracy of your larger movement. Its like upgrading your camera from 100MP to 400MP but in terms of movement quality and efficiency. Ride the wave of each spiralling movement, gradually discovering deeper and deeper recesses of your physicality, feeling and awakening deep into your muscles and joints. At this point it is almost as if the wave takes you, like surfing, there is a perfect balance of surrender, and control.
Connecting more and more to this energy, this life force inside of you, becoming more and more sensitive to it.
You need to make this a reality for yourself, this is not just your imagination, it’s a real feeling that you can tap into. At first your imagination can help you but eventually it must be your own experience. The imagination is also a useful tool in gaining this connection, and in visualising, but it’s just a doorway to the real feeling and sensation. Don't think which way to move, feel which way to move.
After these six movements you have reached a deep level of embodiment and physical awareness, now you will fully surrender to the force giving away all couscous thought, and immerse yourself in your own inner world. There is no thought or premeditated action. You are not consciously thinking about how to move, you are sensing your breath move in and out of your body, feeling the sensations in your body and how they connect to your inhale and exhale. Now allow the breath to move you in anyway it wants to. This is truly a blissful feeling, and a real moment of peace as you surrender the mind into complete embodiment, thought subsides, as you explore and heal your body. Things may sprout into your conscious mind, images, feelings, and realisations, as traumas and past impacts on your system are brought to awareness and dealt with and released through breath and movement.
Where does it come from
This is a long story!! It’s been a long time in the making, my first experience of this embodiment was when I was in South Korea, training in the martial art of Taekwondo. At the time I was experimenting with meditation, specifically designed for the martial arts, involving some visualisation and embodiment, whilst sitting in crossed legged position, and also whilst sparring. I used to run up the nearby mountains and sit on my own in the wilderness. There would be an echo pulsing through the ether of the monks chanting and playing their drums. I used to sit and practice my visualisation techniques, and focus on my breathing, then I would start to let my breath move me in anyway it wanted, just feeling where it wanted to take me. I’d get lost for hours just feeling into myself, stretching and moving, then I would practice my martial arts by kicking the pads I had tied to the trees. Those meditations and breathing movements would feel incredible.
It was the most peaceful place on earth, deep inside myself, just following the breath and sensation. There is no mind in that state, and I’d always come back down the mountain refreshed and feeling energised and with greater awareness.
This feeling stayed with me and I continued to practice my meditations into my boxing career. I took up yoga, to go deeper into the internal world. Fighting was the ultimate stimuli to deepen my meditation and sensitivity. I was obsessed with this aspect of being a warrior. I took to practicing chi gung daily also, and began seriously seeking, the spiritual and energetic realms. This is when i stumbled on a local Korean chi gung school. I felt an affinity to this place and enjoyed being around the Korean master, he reminded me of my masters in Korea, and my master from 8 years old, Master Yoon, who had such a big impact on me as a kid growing up. At the school we practiced some of the breath and embodiment methods I had already been practicing in Korea. There was the vibration exercise, which after some time became ecstatic. The way my body was moving almost freaked me out. I was shaking so hard, but with what felt like perfect balance and control. I could feel my roots connecting deeper and deeper into the earth, and with that connection, the tension in me completely dissipated, and I could feel the weight of my fists. As I shook, I realised that I have this exact sensation in the ring, where my fists feel heavy, and I’m bouncing, feeling the force travel through my foot and up through my body and into my hand. I had felt this feeling before, but never to this level, never to this depth. I imagined what it could be like taking this level of meditation into the ring.
There was another brain synchronising movement that we practiced. I had a few very interesting experiences with this. One energetic and one physical. After a long period of time focusing deeply on this movement, we began to pick up speed, and our aim was to express through this movement unlimited power. I let the movement take me and visualised fire, my body moved quicker and quicker, but with no tension. The momentum built at an incredible rate, and I found myself rooted to the spot, throwing my entire body weight side to side. Again I realised that this was an experience I had whilst boxing, but never quite to this level of awareness and rootedness. I left feeling so much power stored up in me and went straight to my boxing training session. I was getting ready for a Southern area title defence.
That day when I hit the pads the spiralling chi gung movement was still in me, and as I smashed the pads I felt perfect control, fluidity, and relaxation. Every shot felt like a knockout shot. It was like I had unlocked my movement and my awareness, and there was no more struggle, just a flow of powerful energy.
Another time we used this method, we went in deep for some time, then to the expression of power. Now, I think it was significant to go through the power phase or layer first, as all tension and blocks in the body have to be freed and unlocked to access more subtle layers. So once we had been through this phase, we then focused on our heart centre and were told to express love. What happened next was truly mind blowing. I suddenly felt a wave of electricity come down into the top of my head, pulse through my whole body and down through my feet. My movement completely changed, my palms faced up and it felt like my hands were on fire. With my eyes closed, I saw in my mind’s eye, my daughter in front of me, and I moved my hands one by one scooping what felt like electrical fire, all around me and moving it towards my daughter, and what seemed to be a bubble of her own energy in front of me. A wave of emotion burst through me, and tears came although I tried my best to hold it back. The class came to an end, and something had really happened there. I couldn't really believe what I had just experienced, it was far too real for me to have imagined.
This is where the bulk of the circles session comes from, but I have pulled on multiple modalities that I know have helped me to access the desired state.