As you have read in philosophy (if not be sure to click philosophy in menu and have a look ). As a human being we travel a lot and often spend too much time in artificial electro-magnetic fields. These kind of fields (antennas of phone companies/high voltage circuits/ all kind of machines that are run by electricity/ cellular phone etc.) can make us act in a hectic manner. This leads us to being stressed which takes us away from our inner center.The inner center is the powerhouse that keeps us going. It is crucial to have a “power house” full of energy and calm to be positive in society. It is also important to spend at least one hour a day in natural electro-magnetic fields like parks, woods, lakes, mountains or the sea-side. We forget to get advantage from the core elements like water, fire, soil and wind.
Today I want you to focus on the core element of fire.
There is no greater way to describe fire like it is done in DJ TIESTO’S masterpiece
“THE ELEMENTS OF LIVE.”
Fire has an unbelievable attraction to many of us. It is the beauty of it, but the same time the respect of it. We all have an inner fire that burns for something. That fire has to be nourished but should not be over used, because of the danger to burn out. Let me show you two meditations you can do, to bring back the power to your inner fire using the power of the core element itself.
MEDITATION ONE: “THE CABIN OF REFUELING”
In the first pic above you can see a very nice fire place in the mountains with all wooden furniture, it is snowing outside, and as you can see there is also a big screen with the AO Open playing.
I want you to close your eyes and to start imagining the fire place. The cozy atmosphere it gives to the room. You sit right in front of it, on a big, super-comfortable couch and you can hear the fire crackling. Just give yourself the time to get into this mood.
If you have problems with it you can also use a video on you tube with giving you the original sound of it (vid down).
With the sound “on” you can immediately sink into that atmosphere. You will notice after short time that your thoughts calm down and your mind starts to be quiet, only enjoying that nature sound. That is the time that you start “recharging”. Try to maintain that status for about 5-10 minutes. If you want you can use the breathing techniques from BLOG NO.2 of January 2nd. You will see how easy it is to relax and to let go of everything.
If you did so NOW try to get back to the imagination of you sitting in that room in front of the fire place. Now slowly change your focus upwards to the screen. You see the stadium of the AO Open. Start to imagine seeing yourself playing a match on that court. Keep the crackling of the fire, surrounding your ears and try to become as sharp as possible with seeing yourself flying over the court with sound technique, highest economy of moves and efficient tactics. Best way is to imagine first 0-4 shot/points and to go higher when being able to keep a clear picture for longer time. What you are doing right now is practicing your brain and your neuronal pathways to be ready to do so in reality too. This meditation should always start with a isolated core element visualization, before going into a combined meditation of refueling over the core element and practicing visualization of match patterns for example for your tennis development. You can juggle any time with the parameters of your meditation and visualization. You can imagine a more “minimalistic” furniture and environment, or seeing yourself on the practice court from another perspective. Let your fantasy work that out.
Use that pic above to manifest your status quo on relaxation and quality of visualization. You can print it out and laminate it so you can use it every time you meditate. Take a wooden figure from a old table game to represent yourself in the circles of intensity.
MEDITATION TWO: “THE CANDLE MEDITATION”
The candle meditation is perfect to calm down and get rid of negative stress. It is perfect to do in the hotel room when on tour. Place yourself about 20-30 cm in front of a candle and light it up. Observe from the beginning how the wick fires up and the flame becomes bigger until it reaches it‘s full capacity. Watch the flame flicking and notice the blue part of it, nearer to the wick. Do so for a couple of minutes until you start to feel relaxed and are ready to start the meditation. Start breathing in the 4-4-4 rhythm (four seconds in-four seconds hold-four seconds out). If you have thoughts just let them pass your mind. As more relaxed you become you will be able to clear your mind from questions. Just breath and be there in the moment, observing this miracle of nature. Feel and enjoy it‘s warm light. Do this meditation as long as you like.You should feel totally relaxed and refreshed to bring the meditation to an end. You can do a shortened flame meditation almost everywhere with a lighter.
Try both meditations out and benefit from the core element „fire“.
All the best COACH DIMI