Meditation: The 4 Primary Skills

By Paul Cavel

Part 1 : Making the Body Conscious

Unlike other spiritual traditions, Taoism starts the process of awakening the mind by focusing on the body. Training protocols are embedded in neigong, that is internal techniques that clear out and upgrade all the systems and subsystems of the body, qi and mind, paving the way for more advanced meditation practices. These include the lofty pursuits of non-attachment, unification of self by way of Emptiness and, ultimately, union with the Tao through discovery of the unchanging root of the universe.

But whether or not you have spiritual aspirations, or you wish to follow the Water Method for that matter, four primary skills form the foundation of ALL meditation practices. Each must be honed and refined in order to actually meditate. Thinking is mentation, not meditation, and just keeping thoughts at bay — i.e. stopping the mind’s constant chatter — must be addressed in order to enter into a truly meditative state.

The 4 Skills

The four primary skills that underpin and determine the results you experience in meditation are:

1. Presence — the ability to be in the here and now.
2. Awareness — the ability to be conscious of what is.
3. Focus — the ability to guide and direct the mind.
4. Concentration — the ability to stay on point to generate a continuum, a stream of consciousness.

The Quality of Presence

The ability to use meditation as a tool to create profound change is governed by the quality of your practice and that quality is governed by your level of presence. Whatever you are present to in meditation and for how long governs the potential outcome of your effort. Presence is the underlying foundation of higher and more nuanced aspects of meditation. When you “meditate” for one hour, you might only be present for five minutes, maybe even less.

Traditionally in the East and by definition, a master is capable of being continuously present and therefore has the ability to very powerfully affect the subject of their attention. (Note that this is not the definition of a "master" as used in the West, which is essentially only a title, a sign of respect for a teacher. It does not communicate one's level of skill in any given subject.) Beginners — which we all are to varying degrees, unless or until we become a true master — drift in and out of conscious awareness and presence, creating an intermittent, peek-a-boo experience. If we compare this waxing and waning presence to the accelerator of an airplane on the runway, the aircraft would never take flight, as the engine revs would not produce enough thrust or speed to takeoff. It is the continuous application of the engine’s thrust that allows momentum to build and flight to become a reality.

Once your ability to stay present is developed to a reasonable degree, you can become more consistently aware. This awareness creates the momentum necessary to enter into the realms of actually resolving the issues you encounter. Resolving ever-deeper issues is the purpose of all ancient meditation methods.

Through Presence, Awareness Grows

Through presence, awareness grows. When that awareness is focused on the body, the body becomes more conscious. For example, when you focus your mind on a body part, qi-energy and blood are drawn to that location. Qi follows the mind's intent; and blood follows qi. With increased qi and blood flow, the focal point is flooded with life-sustaining energy and nutrients, which together upgrade the felt sensations in the localised area. With this heightened awareness, you can more easily feel deeper into subtle sensations in the area — that which is under the surface, not only the gross or intense sensations.

Feeling into your body not only changes your experience of and relationship to your body, but allows you to go deeper into your being, especially into the energetic, emotional and mental realms. From there, you can begin the process of recognising the state of your qi, emotions and mind. This awareness is what enables you to eventually let go of all that is negative or life-diminishing. 

In the beginning stages, simply recognising what is negative or detrimental to your development and having the willingness to let it go — whatever "it" is — can be enough to send you in the right direction. That is, if you encounter a superficial or recent blockage, the attitude that you wish to make a change for the positive might be sufficient to shift it. If, however, you encounter a long-term, ingrained trait or pattern, you will likely need to exert a lot more effort and more advanced meditation techniques will be required to generate the significant shift that you seek.

Becoming Present

Presence is not only necessary for meditation, but for all neigong or qi-based exercise, e.g. qigong, tai chi and bagua. If you develop presence in meditation, it can be applied to any chosen task, including your work, hobbies and relationships. How many people complain that their spouse, partner, friend, colleague or subordinate does not listen to them? The inability of one or more parties to be present is one cause of this disconnection and it is becoming more common in this Age of Big Data.

In your neigong practice, the degree to which you are present directly correlates to the results that you can achieve. In meditation practice, each stage of your development requires ever-more subtle levels of presence to qi. You start by becoming present to your physical body, but soon you can delve into the emotional and mental realms within yourself.

That is all fine and well, but awakening to the emotional and mental debris encrusted in your body can create a rollercoaster ride for the mind, and cause dissociation — the opposite of being present. There is no question that it can be challenging to remain present when the mind encounters the energetic, emotional and/or mental realms of either the past (e.g. memories, traumas or analysis), or the future (e.g. hopes, fears or planning).

When charged, stored energies in the body are accessed, often times the mind swings like a pendulum between the past and future. You need an anchor, a focal point on which to focus your mind and stay in the present moment: the Water Method uses the physical body as the anchor. Keeping the mind firmly rooted in the physical body allows the release of emotional/mental energies that have become trapped in the flesh — without the need to journey with them, i.e. to space out! This is why Taoists give so much credence to making the body conscious. 

The natural progression within the Water Method, practiced for millennia, is to begin the process of awakening the body, becoming present to, and releasing physical and energetic blockages through the practice of neigong, which can be deepened — in body, qi and mind — through meditation. The preparatory phases of neigong training also develop presence and awareness as a byproduct of putting your attention on your body in order to awaken the kinaesthetic or “feeling” sense. For this reason, neigong training offers the most efficient means for initiating unity, Realisation of self and direct experience of universal essence, which is why all Taoists practise qigong.

Sign up for any online or in-person course and receive access to my Taoist Breathing & Meditation online course — 23 guided practices on whole-body breathing and Outer Dissolving available to stream 24/7.

In Part 2 we’ll discuss how to expand your awareness ... coming soon!