Miffymog

I've been drawn to both in the past just because they each have large elements that I resonate with which happen to be very similar. As far as the poll goes, it does kind of depend what kind of Buddhism you are referring to. But for me, feeling autocratic on this one - Chan Buddhism is Buddhist, not least because it's there in the title

But doesn't Green Tea itself contain caffeine?

What? Are you sure? Damn it!!!

Gooooo Citttaayy

I kind of miss out on that. There's no one team that I support and I can't really bring myself to start with one now. I just enjoy following what goes on, but I don't have that passion for an individual club. So, ummm, go everyone!!!

Yeah I am doing green tea also. I still have some coffee here and there but I do not feel as good as when I do not. The coffee amps you up too much and the green tea is more steady energy. I am weaning myself from coffee altogether.

I've been caffeine free for two months now. It started when I had this stomach pain that wouldn't go away for month. I decided to look at my diet and the first thing I did was remove coffee and tea. I had three days of cold turkey, with head aches and mad fluctuations in temperature. I then broke the back of it and felt quite a bit better. It didn't solve my stomach pains though. They were later traced to an inflamed appendix which, thank god, sorted itself out without needing an operation. I like to think doing ZZ helped with this, but I've really no idea.

As for caffeine, I don't have a stressful or hard life, so I don't miss it. But, if I have just one cup, I then want another for the next 3 days, so I completely exclude it from my life. Green tea, fruit teas, cup-a-soups, Bovril and Ovaltine have been the replacements. I do feel better, but I also miss coffee on a weekend morning.

I'm currently unemployed which is rubbish as you have loads of time and no money. The best thing to do is volunteer during the day as everyone else is at work anyway so it gets you out the flat and away from pesky internet forums ...

Monday - work as a receptionist at an organisation that helps find housing for the the homeless.

Tuesday - conservation work at a nature reserve, mainly involves litter picking and keeping the paths free from overgrowth

Wednesday - organising archived files for an organisation that works with drug addicts

Thursday - more conservation work, this time at different location each week, currently removing invasive balsam from riversides

Friday - office work, again organising archived files, but this time with an organisation that works with the disabled.

This is actually all just to stop me from being left to my own thoughts too much - always a dangerous thing ...

I remember I left my first retreat half way through as it wasn't right for me. Then, when I found a meditation style that suited me and I'd been practising it for a while I went on another retreat using that same form of meditation and it was a good experience. So there might be better ones out there for you.

I'm sure someone mentioned on these pages a while ago that often advanced practitioners of ZZ actually slowly rotate the tail bone while standing. I don't have anywhere near that level of body awareness nor control, but it might tie in with what you're saying.

After the excitement of last season, I'm really looking forward to this one too. Also, there're so many teams that could win which only makes it even better !!!

As for Arsenal out of the top four, I know this is unlikely, I was just looking to create a bit of controversy ...

The bookies have City as favourites, but because United don't have Champions League I'm putting a tenner on them to win. I'm not a United supporter though, they're just where my money's going

Top 4

1 - United

2 - City

3 - Chelsea

4 - Leicester

So, I reckon no Champions League next year for Arsenal, Liverpool (who are gonna bomb) and Tottenham ...

This link covers some of these concepts ...

http://www.thedaobums.com/topic/41125-consciousness-and-the-double-slit-interference-pattern/

Thank you for the suggestion, Spacester.

I'll second that as I've just ordered a second hand copy from Amazon.

There was a time that I had to be trained not to shit wherever I happened to be. Those were the good 'ol days...

Don't worry - those days will return sooner or later ...

Mudfoot, where are you getting your information? 

umm ... you get all these conflicting opinions here, for free, on the TheDaoBums website ...

but I still love reading what gets posted so I'm not complaining ...

"She’s got dyed blonde hair, pouty lips and a steely blue stare, just like a sadistic nurse in a mental hospital"

...

EU are going to put caps on banker bonuses, so in Britain they can get 50 Mil $ as a reward for shafting us rather than 5

Oh yes, one of the main attractions of London is the freedom these bankers get. However, France have just proposed giving expats different tax laws to locals in an attempt to temp city boys to Paris ...

Bye Bye EU banking system......all this money printing has eventually landed on European shores. At the same time Bitish property speculators stage a run to get their money back and find the doors locked. One has remained open but given its investors a 17% hair cut.

 

US is hovering on the edge. They are the monetary super volcano. This time the ripples from Brexit might well set it off.

I was almost getting a sense of this ... the 4 main American banks have just all said they'll keep their European head quarters in London (although there may be large scale relocation of staff). I was wondering why they all chose to do this now. It's clearly out of pure self interest, but I couldn't work out what they were benefiting by doing this. Is it to minimise those ripples you were speaking of?

I have been meditating for a while and i may not do it at the same time each day but i try to and i do it regularly, like almost everyday. I will try to do it at the same time each day, thanks for the tip.

 

I take it controlling the breath is not good? Last 2 questions so it's ok to just concentrate on the LDT and not breathe in it? 

 

Thank you very much

Hmmm, I'm not really able to help you much more I'm afraid. There are some practices where you intentionally, very carefully, slow the breath down. I've never done this so I can't really advise on this kind of thing. So I'm not sure what more to say in regards to controlling the breath.

As for focusing on the LDT or breathing into it, again, I can't really advise here either. Some say 'just put your attention in it' others say put your 'Yi mind in it'. This kind of means applying as little awareness as possible. Or, this can be explained as effortless awareness. Sometimes when you put your awareness on something, it can actually create a mild amount of tension, and this is something that you don't really want when focusing on the LDT. That is why, in fact, why I don't focus on the LDT as I don't feel I could do it properly with out proper instruction. So, whether you just put you awareness in it or breath in it is, again, beyond my knowledge and experience, sorry.

I'm looking back in my mind to when I started out meditation and I had similar kind of issues to you. I felt that it was beneficial to do but I think I remember feeling mildly uncomfortable doing it. I had a sense of worthlessness at the time and when I first started meditating I kept feeling like I did not deserve the breath that I was concentrating on.

The good news is that it did pass and, after practice, it become something I could enjoy. This will happen with your over control of the breath. So one answer is just to set up a regular practice, like the one you've got, and things will settle down in time.

Focusing on the LDT is a very good meditation and if you feel drawn to it then, while you are setting up your practice, then definitely do this one.

If you meditate at a regular time, your body and mind become conditioned into entering into that state at that time of day. It is really this that means you make progress, rather than by intentionally inducing a meditative state by the power of the mind. It is kind of a thoughtless, thoughtless state of mind.

As the most important way you'll gain a more relaxed breath is by a regular practice, maybe shortening your sit times would help. Don't be afraid to do this if it means you can then do it more regularly.

There are then the other options of looking for a class in any of the Eastern Practices which you can attend. Directly or indirectly, they all improve mindfulness and help settle the mind down. So this would also be very beneficial.

1 - I'm not entirely sure what you mean when you say you 'can't stop controlling your breath'. Does this mean you feel extra aware of it and are unable to let it flow naturally without thought?

2 - If you've got formal instruction then its probably best you do what is suggested to you. If you're working this out on your self then this is a nice one when where you just try each one out for a number of sits and then do which one you prefer. I've tried out both and my preference is just breath naturally, its up to you on this one.

3 - Having just Googled Burmese posture, this was actually quite similar to the posture I used. Initially I tried out half lotus but it strained my knees, I also kept hearing stories of others who had damaged their knees by going half or full lotus. I've now learnt that you should only really do that if you've got other parts of your practice which concentrates on flexibility. ie practising getting into half or full lotus by merely doing half or full lotus does not stretch enough muscles and can risk injury. If, however, you've already got a good yoga practice going and you can do this kind of thing with no strain anyway, you should be fine.

4 - Just for info, what is the focus of you meditation? Is it putting your awareness on the LDT, following your breath, or do you 'just sit'?

definitely something to do with the gold and the documents in building 7 that became highly relevant after 2008. not to mention those who made money off the insurance.

I heard that the insurance was a bit of a mess. Although they had kind of insured both buildings, it was an 'either or' insurance. As in they had never envisaged something catastrophic happening to both towers at the same time so only one was actually covered. But this could just be one of those urban legends....

For me, no. The work that I do which is slightly related to Chi has nothing to do with my financial situation. The practices you read of on this website are often called internal work, and, although I do not do any Jing to Chi to Shen work, I am definitely doing what I call internal work. I am simply working to make my mind a nicer place to be.

So, this has nothing to producing money, that is an external thing. Not unrelated though, because as your story nicely demonstrates, more money can get you better instruction ... hmmmm.

Some one told me that advice is merely recycled experience, so here's my advice based on my current experiences. Your financial situation will vary up and down through out you life. While you wait for yours to be better, just find a nice practice that you are happy to do daily until that time comes. It doesn't matter how much you spend on a course if you don't practice afterwards anyway. There should be some basic material you can do before hand and just be happy with the progress you'll be making doing it until you can afford it. You will then get far more out of the course by having laid a good foundation.

Now we have exposed the media through Brexit we can all see just how biased it really is. It's woken people up.

 

We must watch the financial tricksters and political engineers who work in the dark to create conditions. Today Mark Carney of the BoE announced the possibility of QE in July.

 

The pound was rising, the stock market was stable, inflation was nominal and employment at an all time high, yet, the BoE decides to print money.

 

Let's get this straight, he wants to devalue the pound, increase asset prices, further destroy savings/pensions, increase debt, put more of our money into the pockets of the wealthy elite. He wants to print money when there is currently a low pound and high stock market ?

 

That looks awfully like the 'punishment strategy' of George Osborne for the plebs who wouldn't do what they were told. I knew they would this. Osborne will tear his head to save the day when the poor are lying in the streets starving. We need to get this stopped.

There was something that didn't feel quite right about Carney's speech. I don't really understand economics, but if I try really hard to follow the thread of an argument and I get lost halfway through, I tend to think there's a chance that was half the point. A few too many details that didn't really string together. Now, what the deeper motives are, I can't say, but I did feel it slightly unsettling.

I just press View New Content, do the PPD posts still show there?

There is the reductionist view. Remove all bells and whistles just to achieve long term stability. Then, when things are good, slowly add a new feature every-now-and-then. The only problem is that there would have to be a significant reduction in functionality, which probably would not be that popular.

ps - thanks to all the hard work that goes on behind the scenes...

I was actually reading that thread yedterday after typing zhan zhuang into the forum. So I want to start standing teice daily again. As I said in some other threads, I have tightness in my lower spine and when I breath slowly, fully and forcefully into my spine, I can pull my shoulders back for a popping sound. Should I be trying to fix my abdomen like a ball with attempt to maybe release some of this tightness by spreading the breath out instead of a natural, more fast pased breath only trying to conventrste on the LDT?

I agree with what NATURE BEEING says on this

Just do normal belly breathing...dont force anything.I also started with 20 minutes but i did read somewhere that in older times you had to be able to stand for 1 hour before you could take the next posture abd because i was a perfectionist at this time i did so.Some times it can be like 15 minutes is hard then after half an hour its great...I had the book way of power and there you build up to 1 hour.When i stood for 4 hours it wasnt one position..it was more like 1 hour wuji and than the next posture and so on.i think focus should be on inner awareness and awareness itself and relaxation not on breathing etc.