I've meditated in some way or another since I was around 9-10. I started by sitting cross-legged and focussing on my breathing, trying to breathe as slowly and deeply as possible. I was a little git as a kid and got into a lot of trouble, but around the time I started meditating I really started to calm down. These days, I work on a few basic methods, like inverted counting, microcosmic orbit, and softening the core. Whilst the second two are more related to qigong/neigong than straight meditation, they have meditative qualities. Just this week, I was given a bit of aggro by the local town drunk after I walked past him whilst he was peeing in a bush. He started following me, effin' & blindin'. Things got slightly physical, but I even during the hassle, I recognised my breathe going slow and deep, and my structure relaxing. All the basic meditative qualities I work on.
I have never done qigong, and I don't do any qi stuff, but I do really like the microcosmic orbit. Did it all the time for a few years and kind of forgot about it. Thanks for the reminder!
No worries I don't approach it from a "Qi" perspective, but as a mental/visualtion exercise in tandem with breath-work (which I consider "qigong" to be).
I do find using qi flow as part of the visualisation to be beneficial though (not sure how you'd do it without!). I've found it can be a great way to "scan" yourself, because of the way it focuses your mind on where you feel the flow getting bogged down. Good for posture, too. Interestingly, when I was doing it all the time, I found that touching the tip of my tongue to the roof of my mouth gave a tingling sensation very similar to putting your tongue on the anode and cathode of a 9v battery.
If you haven't got access to a good teacher I would recommend the Mahasi Sayadaw method.Its Buddhist but you don't need to be a Buddhist or even religous to get a lot of benefit from the method.Meditation isn't just about sitting for half an hour a day on a cushion but rather keeping mindful throughout the day.At first this can be tedious and frustrating but after a while it makes even the most mundane tasks far more interesting. Vipassana Meditation Exercises, by Mahasi Sayadaw: Part 1, Basic Practice
Don't think the analogy fits. From the Rinzai site I found-"Practice methods characteristic of the Rinzai tradition include zazen (seated meditation), a highly developed use of koan meditation and many practices training the breathing and subtle energetic systems." Sounds like the latter.Not that it matter.Wrong meditation make you mad as a hatter! (Not to imply that what you were describing will!) Thought it odd as none of the long time Zen practitioners I've known ever described their meditation methods as anything like what you described.
