MODULE 9

Golden Thread
Circle Walking Meditation
(Intermediates)

BRUCE FRANTZIS
Copyright© 2011 Bruce Frantzis

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 Table of Contents

Golden Thread Circle Walking

Meditation (Intermediates) .................... 5
Overview ..................................................................... 5
Phase 1: Experiencing the Central Channel ........... 6
Phase 2: Opening and Distilling the Mind ............. 6
Phase 3: Gaining a Sense of Space .......................... 6
Phase 4: Letting Go of Blockages ............................ 8
 Golden Thread
Circle Walking Meditation
(Intermediates)

Overview
In the beginning, most practitioners cannot find stillness inside their central
energy channel. Too often they are taken over by the potentially ceaseless move-
ment of energetic experiences within it and fall short of finding what the Taoists
call the "golden thread" of still awareness that runs through the central channel.
The golden thread is always present, and functions as a point of stability in midst
of (potential) confusion.

This four-phase Circle Walking meditation will help you find your personal gold-
en thread of still awareness within. Let go of rushing to get to the next place and
take your time with each phase of the practice-that is, as my teacher Liu once
advised,"lf you would like to arrive sooner rather than later:'

© 2011 Bruce Frantzis-AII Rights Reserved.

6 Bagua Mastery Program

Phase 1:
Experiencing the Central Channel
This precursor phase will help you realize the meaning of stillness within the
central channel. With your best relaxed effort, use the internal opening and
closing movements during Circle Walking to continuously alternate moving your
chi in and out of your central channel.

Initially, do this in coordination with the opening-closing and inward-outward

twisting of your legs. Later, add your arms and torso. Eventually, something
inside you will shift. Instead of only having the thought or intent of your chi
moving in and out of your central channel, you start experiencing it as a
consciously, visceral and felt experience-what I call "the real deal:'

Phase 2:
Opening and Distilling the Mind
Next, encourage and allow your mind to open, if only slightly, and release any
sense of contraction. Allow your mind to become very still and quiet of its own
accord-without using any force.

During this spontaneously arising event, let whatever mental, emotional,

psychic states or even karma that might become activated-i.e., yin-yang, in-out,
energetic, emotional, mental or psychic movements of the mind-be absorbed
into your central channel. In gradual stages, your central channel and spirit will
naturally become ever-more quiet.

Phase 3: Gaining a Sense of Space

Soon your central channel will begin to gain of a sense of space without
contraction. As the swirling energies in your central channel and mind gradu-
ally and completely slow down, obvious aspects of thought and perception

© 2011 Bruce Frantzis-AII Rights Reserved.

 Module 9: Golden Thread Circle Walking Meditation 7

seem to come alive and stir inside. However, they will no longer be disturbing.
Eventually, the internal space inside and whatever arises in the mind peacefully
coexist simultaneously without any hint of anxiety, or other uncomfortable or
disturbing qualities.

In time, you will notice that this state begins to translate and carry over to your
normal daily activities, enabling you to live in your inner meditation "cave"
without needing to be in a physical one. You will still be able to live and function
well in your daily life, including rapidly Walking the Circle, amongst all the inher-
ent chaos.

As this practice phase settles and stabilizes within your being, it will lack the
outer appearances very commonly associated with what many ordinary people
think a "spiritual being" might or should be. Most people who arrive at this point
(possibly even you one day) don't seem very special, appearing very ordinary as
they go about their daily activities.

Very often, this image is not what is expected or wanted from a holy person.
People are looking for a particular type of energy or external demeanor to
manifest-some mythological variation of Jesus Christ or Buddha. Commonly,
if this human manifestation is mentally ethereal, calm and projects significant
light or psychic energy toward the receiver, then meeting this manifestation of a
spiritual being makes the unaware person very high and expansive. They can go
so far as to believe that they are the holy one, attributing the qualities to them.

However, usually as a person moves toward the central channel's stillness (within
movement), everything from the raunchy to the sublime can be comfortably and
seamlessly accommodated within their personality. All and everything becomes
natural, so it's irrelevant whether any kind of personality manifests within their
behavior.

Yet as everything becomes still within your depths, you gain a constant and
immense sense of spaciousness that never leaves and which continuously
seeks balance within yourself and others. This internal spaciousness is non-dual

© 2011 Bruce Frantzis-AII Rights Reserved.

8 Bagua Mastery Program

(Buddhist term) or tai chi (Taoist term) as activity and stillness effectively and
seamlessly fuse inside you.

So without limitations there is simultaneously the lack and presence of

experienced internal activity and the ability to effectively engage with whatever
must be. The only way, the only place from which this usually happens is within
the central channel.

Phase 4: Letting Go of Blockages

As Phase 3 deepens and stabilizes with minimal effort, if the energies moving
in and out of your central channel contain anything untoward (i.e., blocked or
disturbing), your next task is to simultaneously stay present to it and your central
channel.

If you can stay with it, the disturbances naturally release, let go, dissolve and
vanish. The chi of the blockage becomes reabsorbed into your system and
is made useful. Your internal fixations let go and shortly thereafter become as
though they had never existed. Continuous repetition of this again and again
creates ever-greater internal stability within your meditation and life.

Gradually, as this internal stability strengthens within, you find you can quickly
sort out all kinds of unsmooth yin-yang emotions and mental and psychic states.
The sheer act of any blockage moving into the central channel ends it. They
revert back to an un-polarized, non-dual or tai chi state from where the offending
yin or yang originated, which brings them to their resolution.

When your ability to bring any disturbance to your central channel of energy
becomes strong enough, you can begin getting glimpses of the seventh energy
body (the body of individuality).

However, in order to bring this process about while Walking the Circle, your
central channel must first open, awaken and become continuously and fully
functioning.

© 2011 Bruce Frantzis-AII Rights Reserved.