What to do when you visit people in the hospital?

Lots of folks tell me they don't like visiting the hospital becausethey feel like it has lots of ghosts and other "etheric beings" aroundand they want to protect themselves. They always feel like they arebeing attacked.So what do you do if that's the way you feel, or if you have to crossa graveyard or some other scary palce and are scared of "ghosts" andother things--whether or not they really exist? What do you do to protectyourself, or at least settle your mind so you calm yourself (should it not work)?

Simple. The method comes from China, and is based on theobservation and cultivation work of Buddhism and Taoism and theEsoteric School of Buddhism. Did you ever notice that babies are always clutching their hands?Babies are defenseless, so the only thing they can do when threatened is cry andcluth their hands. When they clutch their fists, they usually wrap their fingers aroundtheir thumbs. If you are sensitive you'll notice that when you place your thumb at the base of your third finger and wrap your otherfingers around it and press, that pressure point stimulates all the chi in your body to rise upwards.

Hence, that's the method.That's what you do when you enter scary places-- place your thumb inyour hand and wrap your other fingers around it in a fist and SQUEEZEso that your chi goes up.With your yang chi rising upwards, nothing much can attack you successfully or attach to you... remember, a lot of cultivation science has to do with yin andyangchi rising or falling.

Rising is healthy/protective and falling is usuallyrelated to a state of weakness, illness, sickness or death. Manypeople who are dying can no longer hold their urine or feces, which isrelated to losing their downward chi, and that's another proof of this method.

So there you have it. A five minute lesson on something simple and unobtrusiveyou can do if you have to visit the hospital or someplace scary. Whetheror not it works, it certainly calms people's minds because then theyfeel they're doing SOMETHING and get on with the task at hand anyway.So there you have it -- skillful means that work.

Extracted from "Meditation Expert" newletter.