First issue: Questions and Answers

1. Why Do I Always Feel Drowsy When Meditating, Even After Sleeping? What Should I Do?

If your body has been in a suboptimal state of health for a long time, your energy field may become dense or murky. This makes it easy to feel drowsy during meditation. Here's how to deal with it:

1. Take a short nap before meditating. If you still feel drowsy afterward, it’s okay—just stick with the practice for 15–20 minutes.
2. Find stillness in movement. During daily activities like walking or working, try to keep most of your attention on your heart chakra. When your attention returns inward, your energy will follow.
3. Use the "pause" in breathing to accelerate purification.Inhale deeply into your abdomen, then hold your breath. While holding, place your attention on the abdomen or wherever energy feels blocked. If lying down, you can rest your hands on your abdomen and feel the subtle energy channels gradually opening. The longer you can stay in the breath-hold (while staying completely relaxed), the better. This method mainly helps in two ways:
   • It enhances your sensitivity to energy (Qi). As your awareness of Qi strengthens, your method needs to shift: simply observe without expectation or attachment.
   • It helps break open smaller, blocked energy channels, which leads to purification of the energy body.
4. Avoid being too relaxed or too tense while meditating. Too loose, and your posture collapses—bringing on sleepiness. Too tight, and energy can’t flow in. You need to find the right balance between relaxation and structure, which will come with consistent practice.
   Over time, the drowsiness will ease. Later, if karmic energy ("业报之炁") surfaces more strongly again, some drowsiness may return—but you'll gradually develop the awareness to catch it as it arises.

2. What If I Feel Agitated, Restless, or Flooded with Thoughts During Meditation?

1. If you tend to avoid your emotions in daily life—repressing them and keeping most of your attention in your head—your bodily sensations may be ignored for a long time. As a result, heavy energies accumulate in the chest and abdomen. When you meditate, these neglected energies start to surface, leading to restlessness or agitation.In this moment, don't resist with your mind. Don’t try to suppress or control. Instead, gently meet these sensations with your awareness. Don’t judge them as “good” or “bad.” Simply feel. When you truly allow yourself to feel, the energy will begin to release naturally.
2. Restlessness during meditation may also signal that energy is breaking through small, blocked energy channels. When this happens, remind yourself:
   “This is not me—this is just energy moving.”
   Then gently return your awareness to your breath and your heart center.

3. What If I Feel Numbness in My Legs, or Pain in My Lower Back or Spine During Meditation?

1. When energy flows smoothly, meditation typically doesn’t cause pain. So if you feel pain, it’s often a sign that energy is blocked. Bring your awareness to the painful area (which might also hold energy knots), and support the process with your breath. Don’t resist or avoid the sensation—just be with it. In time, the pain may gradually lessen.
2. Keep your spine upright. Slightly tuck your chin so the neck aligns naturally, and let the crown of your head feel lightly lifted, as if suspended. This posture helps energy rise from the lower body upward.
3. If the pain continues, you can modify your posture—switch from full lotus to half lotus, or use a chair. The goal of posture is to support your practice, not to restrict you. Adjust your body mindfully to what feels sustainable in the moment.

4. What If I Experience Intense Emotions, Crying, Chest Tightness, Dizziness, or Nausea During Meditation?

1. These intense sensations may occur when energy is breaking through past blockages and releasing old emotional imprints or energetic memories. This is a normal and healing process. All you need to do is allow it to unfold, and stay present with gentle awareness.
2. If the energy feels overwhelming, you can open your eyes, move your body slightly, or change your posture. This can help reduce the intensity. When you feel more stable, you can return to your meditation.
3. When we fully allow emotions to rise without resistance, they dissolve like clouds in the sky. But if we fight or suppress them, they tend to remain stuck.

5. Do I Need to Practice with Mindfulness, Love, Compassion, or Joy?

1. If our spiritual practice is only about working with thoughts—and not about returning to the heart in the present moment—then no matter how refined it appears, we’re merely constructing a “spiritual self,” which can become yet another obstacle on the path.
2. Returning to awareness isn’t about becoming someone more mindful. It’s about aligning with the presence that’s already here, right now.
3. While our practice may begin from a place of pain, the path is ultimately a return to love. When we allow ourselves to reconnect with love, compassion, joy, and peace, we rediscover the true nature of the heart.
4. To return to the heart is to return to the now. The true heart doesn’t exist in memory, imagination, or mental analysis—it lives only in the awareness of this present moment.