Clear your mind with meditation by calming the mind and body. Meditation is one of the more challenging in nei gong training. Therefore, it is actually best to begin early on in the training so that practitioners have more years to fine-tune their practice and achieve higher levels in meditation. You can start very simply by being aware of your breath. There are three general areas to nei gong training: the fast (martial arts), the slow (qi gong and tai chi), and the stillness (meditation). Stillness allows for diving deep into one’s mind, and since the mind is very complex, it needs more time to ‘experience’.
Standing meditation is actually a misnomer. It is actually 站桩zhan zhuang. It translates as standing post. It is different than meditation because it’s purpose is to develop internal power. Although it is ¼ physical and ¾ mental, it is actually a practice for qi flow, structure training and relaxation in difficult positions, not a time for internal search for peace that sitting meditation can provide. For all martial arts and some qi gong, this training is basic. There are lots of stances. And all have their different goals.
There are several different names for sitting meditation: 打坐 da zuo or practice sitting, 静坐 jing zuo or quiet sitting and 禅坐 chan zuo or zen sitting. Other traditions might have different names as well.
Sitting meditation can be the simplest, yet the most difficult because you are learning to quiet the active mind. But anything worth doing is difficult. So, don’t be scared off by difficulty. It is best to have at least some qi gong practice before really delving into meditation. The reason is that first a basic background in experiencing and understanding qi is needed. Qi gong provides that experience and offers a base for your meditation to build upon. Moreover, the movement of qi starts to open the meridians, so the meditation already has a ‘jumpstart’.
Sitting meditation practices vary greatly from different traditions. All of them are correct because of their goal. Everything from learning to relax and calm an active mind of mindfulness meditation, spiritual of Buddhism or Daoism, and even the Confucian practice of examining if one is a good person or not. All are to bring awareness to personal growth and mental understanding.