Our Body Is a Playground: Bowing for Health and Vitality

I did bowing meditation this morning while focusing on the energy flow in my body. My body flowed gracefully from a standing position to kneeling to resting my forehead and arms on the mat below me. One hundred and three times I went up and down, moving every joint and muscle, sweating through every pore, and circulating the ki energy throughout my body.

It took me just 20 minutes, but by the end I had had a good aerobic and meditative workout. Many people think they need to go to a gym and buy training shoes and other equipment to be healthy. But by doing bowing meditation, you can do a full-body work out from the comfort of your own room. I know that if I continue to do this practice every day, I do not need to worry about my shoulders and other joints becoming stiff and painful with age. The repetitive motion of the bowing will keep them active and keep the ki energy flowing freely through them. Bowing meditation creates the healthy energy flow of su-seung-hwa-gang (water up, fire down). This energy state releases all toxic energy and calms your brain waves.

Bowing meditation goes beyond a physical workout. Even in the face of a day that on the outside looks the same as the one before, after doing 103 bows I feel energized, purified, and refreshed. The goals of my day feel clearer and I’m ready to get started.

The daily bowing meditation trains my mind so that I’m in better control of my body. Since I began doing 103 bows every day, I’ve reduced the amount of food I eat by one third. I’ve realized that my body is a playground; it has good equipment to play with. I can have fun and learn from my arms and legs, fingers and toes. Through bowing meditation I’m making friends with my body.

As with any friend, I am sensitive to how it feels. With such a close connection to my body, I can self-diagnose its ailments. I could easily sense if I had aches in my toes, weakness in my knees or hip joints, or an imbalance in my spine.

By playing with my body well, I know I will be full of health and vitality regardless of my age.