Read The Tao of Stress: How to Calm, Balance, and Simplify Your Life for Free Online

really good. Kent explained to
    Jack how important good posture is for both physical and
    psychological health and told him that this was one of the things
    he had learned from his qigong practice.
    Concentration
    Because Taoism recognizes the problem of distractibility, it includes practices for developing, cultivating, and sustaining attention. Sustained attention is concentration. Taoist meditative practices often develop concentration by having practitioners focus their attention on the lower dantian and maintain it there, without dwelling on anything else.
    When the mind drifts (and it will) as you practice the various forms of Taoist meditation, simply ignore the thoughts that arise. Don’t dwell upon or think about them, whatever they may be. Don’t make judgments about how poorly you’re doing. Just acknowledge that you’ve been distracted and return to your focal point. If you don’ t dwell upon or judge thoughts when they arise, they will naturally be extinguished. For thoughts and judgments to remain, we must continually dwell upon or 28
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    Basics of Taoist Meditation
    feed them. If they are to be sustained, we must give them energy. When we stop providing energy to them, they simply pass from consciousness.
    As you consistently and regularly practice this process, you will train your attention and concentration to remain more focused and less distractible. By continuing to practice, you’ll learn how not to provide energy to negative thoughts and chronic threat- based thinking, which will allow these thoughts to dissipate. This will help you slow down and reduce your chronic stress.
    Breathing
    Well over two thousand years ago, Taoist literature pointed out that improper breathing is a problem both physically and psychologically.
    Improper breathing is rapid, shallow, difficult, and strained. It isn’t even or free- flowing. It doesn’t originate from our center. It is clearly linked to chronic stress and unhappiness.
    In Taoist practices, proper breathing is essential for health, longevity, enjoying life, and removing chronic stress. It’s also necessary for spiritual development. Proper breathing, which is fundamental to Taoist meditation, originates from our center and is deep, slow, even, and free- flowing.
    It is continuous, unbroken, subtle, relaxed, extended, and quiet. Proper breathing takes two primary forms: The first is inhaling through the nose and exhaling through the nose. The second is inhaling through the nose and exhaling through the mouth.
    In Taoist practices, attending to and concentrating on the breath
    refines our breathing. This removes tension and stress from the body, empties the mind of agitation, frees us from entanglement with the affairs of the world, allows us to relax, and unifies body and mind with the universe.
    Practice Awareness of the Breath
    To provide you with a more experiential understanding of improper
    and proper breathing, take a few minutes to simply direct your awareness to your breathing. Don’t think about it; just focus on it. If you find yourself getting distracted from focusing on your breathing, simply 29
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    The Tao of Stress
    acknowledge that you’re distracted without making any judgments
    about it, then refocus on your breathing. Focus on your breathing for about five minutes. If this seems too long, adjust the time frame to what works best for you.

    * * *
Now reflect upon what just happened. What did you notice? What
    did you feel? Were you inhaling and exhaling through your nose?
    Did you inhale through your nose and exhale through your mouth?
    Did you breathe entirely through your mouth? Was your breathing
    rapid and shal ow, or slow and deep? Was it quiet or noisy? Did you find yourself getting distracted? If so, what did you notice about your breathing when you were distracted? Did it change? Were you easily able to refocus on the breath? What happened to your breathing the longer you stayed focused on it? Did