If You Can’t Sit Still, Try This Moving Meditation

In my previous Patheos blog, I discussed the fourth step of my Brain Education method, which is called Brain Integrating. As you may remember, it’s all about getting the various layers and hemispheres of the brain working together. Like all the Brain Education steps, there are hundreds of exercises, from hand coordination games to energy dancing, that can help you get all the parts of your brain working together.

Among them, however, there is one exercise that stands out—Brain Wave Vibration. If there were only one exercise that you should do to help integrate the brain, I would recommend this one. It is simple, easy, and fun, and its results, when practiced diligently, can be amazing. In my time teaching this technique, I have encountered countless people who have used it to heal from a variety of mental and physical ailments.

Calming Your Chattering Mind

You may remember that the brain stem, or primitive brain, is one of the “layers” of the brain that needs to be integrated with the neocortex and limbic system for “vertical” integration. The great thing about the brain stem is that, if you get out of its way, it knows exactly what to do to get your body and brain back into balance. Unlike the other layers of the brain, it is completely uninfluenced by the “thinking” mind and works entirely subconsciously to do all the things that it does—regulating organs, breath, heartbeat, stress response, digestion, and myriad other important functions in the body. Brain Wave Vibration is like a moving meditation that quiets the thinking mind and relaxes the body so that the brain stem can get the body and brain back in sync.

Like other forms of meditation, it slows down your brain waves to help you reduce stress, calm your mind, and become receptive to new, more self-supporting beliefs. At its core, the practice utilizes basic vibration exercises to stimulate the brain stem, calm higher frequency brain wave activity, and circulate the body’s qi energy. By tapping into your body’s inherent rhythm, you are able to release tension and reach states of deep relaxation similar to that achieved through traditional sitting meditation. It can be done anytime, anywhere by people of all abilities, with or without music.

How to Do Brain Wave Vibration

To do Brain Wave Vibration, you can be seated in a chair or sit on the floor in a half-lotus posture. To strengthen your concentration, if you prefer to use music, listen to percussion music made up of simple beats. You may also want to dim the lights in the room where you practice.

1. Straighten your lower back, comfortably relax your chest and shoulders, and rest your hands on your knees, palms up. Gently close your eyes and pull your chin in slightly so that your spine and head are aligned.
2. Mentally feel the inside of your body, going from your head to your neck and down along your spine. Move your consciousness slowly from the top of your body downward, as if doing a scan. When you reach your lower abdomen, concentrate your awareness there.
3. Make loose fists and gently tap your lower abdomen with your fists, palms up, alternating between left and right hands. You want to tap 2 inches below your navel. This is your body’s energy center, and tapping strengthens the energy of this spot and makes it warmer.
4. As you continue to tap your lower abdomen, move your head, spine, and upper body to a natural rhythm. You’ll get the feeling that you’re pounding a drum to some beat, and you’ll sense an inner rhythm and excitement rising up.
5. When your movements become rhythmic, begin shaking your head gently from side to side. Without moving too forcefully or rapidly, try to feel your central axis. That’s where your spinal cord passes and the center of your autonomic nervous system is located. Starting there, let go of the tension from your neck to your shoulders through the movement of gently shaking your head.
6. Shake slowly at first, then a little faster once you’re comfortable with the exercise. If you feel any weariness or hot energy in your head, keep breathing it out through your mouth.
7. Continue exhaling through your mouth. Feel your breathing becoming lighter and more natural as the blockages in your chest open up and tension is released through your exhalations.
8. Once your body feels relaxed and loose, slow your vibrating gradually and stop. Rest your hands on your knees. Focus on your breathing for a while and stop the exercise.
9. Try this exercise for five minutes in the beginning and gradually increase to 30 minutes.

In Touch with Natural Rhythms

Interestingly, Brain Wave Vibration is similar to many healing dances performed by primitive cultures around the world. Perhaps we modern people, with all our fancy gadgets and technological wonders, have forgotten all about the technology we were born with—the kind that allows our bodies to heal and to find equilibrium. As our culture becomes more and more fast-paced, however, it becomes all the more important to find ways to recover our internal balance. Brain Wave Vibration is a simple way to get back the natural rhythms of our bodies, and to reconnect with the rhythms of life itself.