WUDANG FIVE IMMORTALS TEMPLE

I’ve been meditating at home for about a year and a half every day, twice a day, for 20 minutes at a time. I always meditate alone, with no music, and I repeat a specific mantra in silence. I also sit in a chair while meditating. Of course, the experience of meditation at the Temple is quite a different experience, and I think that one of the reasons is that I was able to meditate with other people. Together with the context of the meditation – seated at an altar, accompanied by music, etc., it takes on a different form: a more, I would say, complete form. You really feel that, energy-wise, you are not alone.

The music also helped, because I could feel both the vibration and sometimes, a kind of beckoning from the music, even in the sense of helping me to bring my attention back to the Dantian and my breath.

The greatest challenge for me was to find a physical position in which I could be comfortable. Again, when I meditate at home, I am seated in a chair, and not having one was problematic. However, I believe that during our last meditation I began to find a better position. Having a numb feeling in the legs is a troublesome experience because it makes you tense when you should be comfortable.

Either way, the second meditation was better than the first one. We meditated for about an hour but it felt like 25 minutes. I was surprised when Shifu ended it, because I thought we were only in the middle of it.
At the beginning of this second meditation, I also had a sensation that I had never felt before. I felt intense emotions, and even cried a little bit. I thought about a certain person and, I don’t know why, I felt that person’s suffering and loneliness so deeply, as if I were actually that very person. Soon after, I tried to bring my thoughts back to the Dantian, and after some time I relaxed.

While Li Shifu was reciting the Scriptures, I felt such power in the prayers (should we say Incantations here?). I have more experience with Catholic prayers (I am baptized) and rituals, and I noticed some similarities between them. They seem to summon the attention of higher dimensions and I felt, while listening to Shifu, like I was meditating.