I have recently created a new little mindfulness technique for myself, and I find it so powerful that I must share it with you. I call it blood meditation because it requires you to pay mindful attention to your inner blood flow. Here is how it works:
- Set a timer for ten minutes and sit down comfortably with an erect, proud posture and your hands resting on your lap.
- Close your eyes, relax your belly, and start breathing slowly into your heart—and out from your heart (you may put your right hand on your left chest if that helps you focus on the heart within).
- At the tenth outbreath, focus on your blood spreading out from the heart into your aorta and arteries. Be fully present in your blood, flowing with it, breathing with it, enriching all parts of your body with its warmth and nourishment. Feel your blood pulsating into your face, fingers, genitals, and toes. Follow your blood wherever it flows.
- Whenever you get lost in thoughts, guide your attention back to your heart and spread out again with your blood.
After ten minutes, when you are done being in your blood, tell me in the comments what you experienced. Personally, I have found that as my consciousness becomes bloodier, my meditative state deepens radically.
Further Reading
- New Meditation Mindset
- Non-Spiritual Mindfulness Training
- MBSR Mindfulness Challenge – Part 1 [Introduction]
- The Path to Mindcoolness #7 – Gratefulness
- Practice Mindful Gestures of Gratitude
Vadim Kulikov says
July 16, 2017 at 8:50 amWe tried this with my girlfriend today. For both of us it was difficult to feel the blood flow because we were not used to it. I even put my hand on my throat and my wrist to feel the pulse, because otherwise I couldn’t feel the blood flow at all. But by the end of the meditation we started finding ways to feel it better. At some point I felt the pulse and some vibrations (is it blood?) in my throat, head and arms without touching them. Interesting experience because it reminded how something so primitive and basic can be hard to notice. I am sure that with practice it will become easier to feel it and concentrate on it.
Dom says
July 16, 2017 at 10:26 amHey, Vadim.
I’m glad you’ve tried it. When I first started focusing on my blood flow, it was nothing but a visualization exercise, but over time, I gradually moved from pure cognitive imagining to more visceral feeling. Still, the question remains what exactly and objectively I am and even can be aware of when I try to be present in my heart and blood (see, e.g., Fahrenberg et al., 1995, and Garfinkel et al., 2015).
I have, however, found a relatively reliable reference point: whenever I’ve physically exerted myself in an extreme way (e.g., sparring or heavy lifting), I strikingly feel my blood pulsating, especially in my face. What I experience during Blood Meditation seems to be just a very subtle form of that.
Thanks for sharing your experience!
— Dom