An Introduction to Seongye Practice

"This has changed my life. I mean, I'm a bit of a sceptic, but this really does help," a long-timer meditator informed us as we waited for our logo-ed t-shirts and sweatpants to be delivered to us. "Help with what?" I wondered as we were getting changed. "I can't help feeling this is a bit...cultish," Lauren whispered, confirming my own feelings of bemusement.

Avoiding eye contact with one another to prevent bursting into laughter as I felt a smile flicker at the corners of my mouth, we began the energetic bouncing routine, shaking out the impure energy generated by negative thoughts, being sure to actively imagine burying them deep beneath the surface of the earth. "If you do not do this it is pointless; they will just stay on the surface of the room and can flow back into you."

Seongye practice, as I understand it, is based upon the belief that the body is made up of interconnecting energy lines. These lines become blocked through stress of the mind or body, and through meditation exercises may be released to encourage the flow of positive energy.

With this in mind, alongside rolling on the floor like hyenas, we were instructed to "breathe from [our] Danjeon". This is essentially the muscle that contracts when you cough, but according to this practice is the place we store energy but without this understanding cannot function. Allegedly this is where we breathe from as babies, but as we get more stressed as we grow older, the higher our breathing becomes.

We were also told to concentrate on a time when we were young and free and to contemplate what is preventing us from being "the person we want to be". We had to contract all our negative feelings into a ball inside ourselves, project them from our Danjeon onto the palms of our hands, roll them up our arms, down our sides, and through the soles of our feet and bury them deep under the surface of the ground. I imagined mine was blue.

Cynicism aside, it was an opportunity for a good stretch and some self-reflection.

That is, until the lecture began.

The title of this week's discussion was "Wavelengths and Antennae". I wasn't sure how science played a part in this very spiritual process, but I was to learn. All around us are waves. Yes. I learnt that in school; I still believe it might be true. Waves transport energy. Sound so far (no pun intended). This is also how "vital energy", or "Gi", is transported throughout nature. The ultimate goal is to be awake to this vital energy so that we may be as one with nature.

If a little far removed from science as we commonly perceive it, I think there is some beauty in this notion of understanding and being close with nature. However the cynicism dropped as soon as they said that once you are proficient at releasing negative energy, the centre for Seongye practice in Seoul will issue you with your own personal antenna (an imaginary aerial on the top of your head, depicted as yellow in the slide show) that you may use to transmit and receive vital energy from in the world. This transmits to a larger, physical antenna that is on top of the centre, and there are some hundred-odd such others across the globe.

Some people (such as Van Gogh and Mozart) are blessed enough to be at one with nature from birth, and can receive pure energy from nature which they express in their arts. So to suggest that when you stop practicing this form of meditation the centre will take away your imaginary antenna, it all got a bit much for me. "To begin with we just do the exercises for our health and for ourselves. But it is good to know that this kind of thing is possible, and is something we can aim for."

Despite the fact I will not be parting with my money with the aim of getting a personal aerial, if you have differing opinions on the potential on this kind of meditation you might like to drop by the centre in Insadong, Seoul (tel. 02 722 6653). Their website doesn't work, but it should be at www.suseonjae.com. Since they already subjected us to fake meditation advertisement photographs at the end of our session, I figured I may as well give them a free shout-out. They did give us free tea after all.