JOSHIN KOKYU HO
The 'Spirit/Soul Cleansing Breath'
Copyright © 2003 James Deacon

[A beneficial stand-alone procedure, Joshin Kokyu Ho is also a component of the Hatsurei Ho meditation.]

Joshin Kokyu Ho can be practiced either seated on a chair, stool or bench, or in a cross-legged posture, or in the seiza posture.

As with all the developmental practices, choose a time and place where you are unlikely to be disturbed.

And wherever you are doing this exercise - indoors or out, make sure (if seated on the floor) the floor/ground is both comfortable and warm. Do not practice this on cold floors/ground, do not practice in the cold, generally.

Sit up straight (comfortably so - no need for rigid military-style posture - this will only impede the technique).

Rest your hands, palms up, on your legs / in your lap.

Close your eyes and 'hara-centre' yourself: focus your awareness on your seika tanden - an area deep inside your body mid way between your navel and the top of your pubic bone.

For a few moments, simply 'be' - silently and restfully 'watching the breath': loosely focussing on the natural rhythms of your breathing. There is no interference with the natural process - no seeking to consciously breathe - merely to be aware that you are breathing effortlessly...

After a few moments - with the focus of your awareness still at your seika tanden - in your mind's-eye see and feel the Reiki energy flowing down from above, as a stream of crystal clear light. And as you breathe in - naturally, effortlessly - the light floods into your crown, and flows down throughout your body into your seika tanden.

In the moment before your body - naturally, effortlessly - begins to exhale, be aware of the light: feel it growing stronger and brighter, radiating throughout your entire body, dissolving and dissipating all trace of stress and negative tension, and supporting the positive energetic integrity of your entire being.

As your body exhales, be aware that you are emanating the light from every single pore - from the entire surface of your being - and the light radiates out in all directions to infinity.

Continue in this 'awareness of the light' for as long as you feel comfortable.

Allow your body to maintain its own natural breathing rhythm. There is no interference with the natural process - no seeking to consciously breathe - merely to be aware that you are breathing effortlessly.