Certain kinds of exercises have always played an important part in many meditation traditions, such as T'ai Chi Ch'uan in Taoism, Shao Lin Temple boxing in the Ch'an sect of Buddhism, and yoga exercises in India. Also, for those who really develop good concentration, spontaneous movements will come naturally from their bodies from the meditation. Especially for beginners, it is a very good idea to coordinate exercise with meditation. It may not be necessary for someone who already sits very well. Beginners or inconsistent sitters may think they're relaxed, but are unconsciously tense, and the harder they work, the more tense they get. Also, because they are sitting immobile for a long time, problems may develop in various parts of the body, such as pain or poor circulation. Exercise is a good technique to correct these problems and keep the blood flowing throughout the body. The person whose concentration is very good will not have this problem-his blood will flow very smoothly.

LH: During the first few days I really got a lot from the exercises and it completely changed my attitude towards the body as an instrument for meditation. Usually when I meditate I tend to get away from the consciousness of the body, ignore it, but this really helped to integrate the body. Also the very fast and very slow walking in between sittings was a way of actually engaging the body in the meditative act. Maybe, Shih-fu, you could speak a little bit about fast and slow walking.

Shih-fu: In slow walking, a person's mind should sink downwards, figuratively speaking. When the mind sinks downwards, the spirit rises. Concentration moves downwards when we're doing the slow walking. Normally, people's minds are floating upwards, going out in all directions. This is a very scattered, flighty condition of mind, not at all stable. When the mind sinks downwards, it will settle down.