Living in clown world while also being immersed in social media can naturally disrupt your peace of mind.
We all get stressed from time to time, so I thought I’d provide a few old-fashioned meditative/relaxation/mental exercise techniques.
These exercises all emphasize the same goal: relaxation. Choose the one that is best for you, or combine and alter them to suit your needs. These types of exercises employ the mind in order to influence the vital energy, and through that, the body itself.
Preparing
First, find a quiet, calm place where you can sit comfortably, or lay down, whichever you find more relaxing. If lying down, don’t cross your arms or legs, lie as straight as possible, without tension. If sitting, crossing your legs in a meditative posture may be helpful.
Close your eyes. Hold your arms with a slight bend and with your palms facing upward. Take a few deep breaths, begin to relax yourself, then perform one of the following:
#1:The Ashes To Ashes Method:
Imagine a deep red flame springing up from your toes. The flame starts up, its fuel, your tension. As it burns a portion of the body, visualize the smoke rising skyward. The smoke is tension and stress being released from the confines of your body. Imagine your body falling to ashes, deep grey, black, still, as the tensions are released. You may feel as if you are sinking into the surface you are resting upon.
If there are spots of extreme tension, imagine the flame burning even hotter as it uses up the tension. Return the flame to any spots where tension reappears. If so inclined, you may wish to repeat to yourself silently, “all tension and stress rises away in the smoke” or something along that line, to reinforce your imagery and feeling.
When the flame has encompassed your entire body, take large breaths, and as you do, visualize your body being “inflated” as it returns from the ashes, filled with a white energy, ready for action and renewed and released from tensions. You may wish to repeat to yourself silently, “fresh energy is being gathered within” or something similar, to reinforce your imagery and feeling.
Take as long as you like during this (and the following exercises) at every stage.
This technique can also be used with a violet flame, instead of a red one, to encourage a flexible state of mind and body.
#2: The Bubble/Steam Release Method:
Picture all of your tensions as a form of ambient energy, perhaps of an yellow, whitish, or greenish tone. Go through each area of your body and visualize it just floating away, 
perhaps in the form of bubbles, steam, or just a glow which descends from the color of the energy mentioned, to a red, and then invisible.
You may wish to feel it replaced by another type of energy, especially if you intend to perform another meditation afterwards. This technique is amazingly invigorating if you perform it correctly, the energy which you replace the “steam” with charges your whole being.
The Four-fold Breath
At the beginning and end of the previous exercises it is advisable to perform what is called “The four-fold breath”.This is also a useful standalone technique, one which may be performed at any time.
Begin with several deep breaths, then take a long inhalation, lasting to the count of four. Hold this breath to the count of four. Exhale to the count of four, and do not breathe for the count of four.
Before you are practiced in the fourfold breath, it might be tiring or dizzying. Continue the breath until you can perform it easily. It is also beneficial to extend the count to eight or more seconds on each of the four phases as you get used to the exercise.
The Harvesting Meditation
This exercise utilizes the fourfold breath, while also focusing on body centers.
Focus on your navel center. This center is located 2-3” below the navel opening. The reason for this is that when the body grows, the external navel opening moves upward from its original position, while the internal point remains aligned with the spine.
Relax your breathing, and your mind. Breathe in deeply without strain, holding each phase of the breath, including the rest after breathing out, as long as you can comfortably do so. (see above: the four-fold breath).
Keep your mind focused on your breath, dismissing stray thoughts as they arise.
When you have reached a state of deep relaxation, visualize an iridescent energy entering your being with your inward breath. This is a visualization of the vital force that sustains the body. Take this energy into your navel center, depositing it with your exhalation, and letting it settle with your pause between breaths.
Repeat this several times.
After practicing this for a while, and getting used to it, you can shift to the heart center (in the center of the body, at the level of the heart).
With your inhalation, bring the energy into your navel center, and let it rise to the heart center through the center of the body and deposit it halfway between your throat and navel with your exhalation.
This technique is further extended to raise the energy to the brow center (pineal gland) after a long period of practice.
This meditation may be performed as long as you deem important or necessary, but should at least encompass 15 minutes of linear time.
When you are finished, be sure to bring the energy back down into the navel center with an inhalation and deposit. This insures that there will not be any negative effects from the meditation. The navel center is the point of physical stability and is a safe grounding point for meditative practice.
In this exercise, the mind is basically instructing the body to maintain itself, so even if you do not believe in subtle energies, the exercise still has a beneficial effect on the body and mind.
Afterword
Hopefully these techniques will be of use to you in maintaining balance and clarity. Future articles will deal with conceptual-level inoculation and protection techniques.
