BigSkyDiamond

and for starters, think of them as physical practices. focus on the physical, on your physical body. not spirit, not your etheric body, not energy, not your light body. feet on the ground run cold water over your hands and wrists, up to the elbow. sit on the edge of the tub and put your feet under running cold water.

practical tips to stay grounded while around others. if it is unsettling (ungrounding) to be around others, then limit the time and duration. spend as much time as you can NOT being around others so you can get a clearer sense of what is you and what is yours set and maintain and keep clear personal boundaries in all interactions and association with others. cultivate activities in your life which are grounding: put your hands in the dirt, lots of time in nature, walk on the dirt paths or grass when possible, hang out with trees, garden, houseplants. spend time sitting on the floor for any daily activities. when i was working full time in an office, surrounded all day by 30 or 40 people literally all in the same (big) room i took every opportunity that i could to be by myself. So every lunch and every break i left the building and went outside and either walked in nature or sat in my car reading. I also willingly took on any tasks and duties during the work day which included walking outside the building. Everyone on my team loved this because nobody else wanted to do these tasks. for some, being around other people makes them feel more enlivened (it charges them up like a battery) they find it to be positive and actively seek it out. For others, being around other people is draining and exhausting and unsettling, they find it negative and actively seek to limit it. I am in that category. a good rule of thumb i have used is that whatever amount of time is spent "out in the ethers" then an equal or greater amount of time is spent on physical grounding activities such as hands in the dirt gardening, walking in nature. if someone spends 2 hours where they leave the body, then spend at least 2 hours walking in nature or hands in the dirt gardening. Balance is essential. same is true for receiving any type of body work. if a bodyworker knows what they are doing they will tell you this as part of your after care. if you receive "energy work" then it has to be grounded afterwards for your own balance. I traveled to Canada to receive a series of sessions of bodywork from a practitioner. It was all "hands off" meaning without touch. She requires her clients after sessions to not only rest and drink a lot of water, but to physically go outside and walk in nature for several hours. get in the habit of picturing roots coming out of the bottom of your feet, and growing deep deep into the earth. Root yourself to the earth.

"Do planetary alignments matter?" They matter to those who hold that as an interest.

There are forms of meditation which are simple and straightforward. Meditation is not a monolith. Nor are beliefs about meditation in "the West" a monolith. yes for that specific tradition named, that is the case. i find it it is helpful and educational for me to learn about these specifics with regards to a range of different paths on this forum. this increases my understanding. so thank you to all who are sharing insights and information from their own practices.

and sometimes i also need blunt or graphic reminders for myself at times, to keep me from spinning out, things like: "Resentment is like eating rat poison and waiting for the other person to die." When i am in a less than lofty mindset, then i use less than lofty inspirational tools. I meet myself where i am at.

Yes. Thank you for this. That's part of what was confusing me. Because I draw heavily from the Dao in my own meditation practice. And I rely heavily on the Tao Te Ching in daily life. So for me i would say i align with the Tao Te Ching, but not necessarily with the religion of Taoism, or the practices of Taoism, or neigong practices, or martial arts. I practice qi gong, but only those types that are NOT martial in nature. This helps me clarify my own practice and integration into my daily life so it is in alignment with my values, ethics, and beliefs.

Yes, this, thank you.

I remember once in therapy we were discussing the homework which the counselor gave me, which was along the lines of "feeling some warmth" towards well the people i was LEAST inclined to give that to. I flat out refused with of course my own long drawn out litany why i absolutlely could not and would not do that. She however insisted that it was necessary and required (my homework) me to come up with ONE positive thing about every person in my life i found "difficult". It was torture but i did it. I was in the midst of a very messy painful divorce including court appearances (hence the therapy was needed) so that was the person i had the hardest time coming up with something positive. But I did and i was very proud of myself, and i found that the technique actually worked, when i noticed myself getting upset or angry or spinning in drama, i conjured up the positive thought, "He is really good at picking out the best peaches in the grocery store." That was 32 years ago, and it is still a technique that i use today. To find one positive trait in any and every person that annoys me for whatever reason. And i have to agree with post above that regarding the last item on the list, it works most effectively for me when bringing up warm feelings of the heart, to do it from the level of my soul, and not from the level of my personality. At the soul level yes it feels genuine. Whereas at the personality level i can trip myself up.

Thank you for courteous and helpful response. So then neigong and "inner alchemy" type of work it sounds like. Yes, quite different from the Dzogchen and Zen practices which i use.

don't put words in my mouth and don't tell me what i am and am not doing and with regards to an out of balance emotional state, the hostility and vitriol in post above are duly noted.

bold above has me curioius. in layman's terms what is an example of a Taoist meditation? is this maybe talking about neigong "inner alchemy" for specific purposes? compared to say in layman's terms this: deep breathing, rest in awareness, observe, allow, stillness, silent, spacious (i guess i am most familiar with what is termed above as"Buddhist forms" as it has been pointed out to me that what i am doing most closely resembles Dzogchen)

YES. The practice i use, and what works for me, is silently (not aloud) saying "God bless you" to everyone i encounter. I remember decades ago reading that if someone worked in a restaurant or diner, that the surefire method to receive good tips on a consistent basis is to say silently to everyone who walks into the restaurant, "God bless you" whether they were your customer or not, whether they were well behaved or not. And belief in God is not required, it works anyway. This left a lasting impression on me. I especially like to use it during meetings at work and during performance reviews or any other nerve-wracking meetings with my supervisor or anyone else in leadership. Yes in my experience it is effective and beneficial. YES. The HeartMath Institute has a lot of research in this area. I attended a conference where they did a demo and we got to sit and be hooked up to the equipment which measures "coherence" and then watch our reading which was tangible and visible seeing the change on the output, when we changed what we were feeling inside. You can visually see jaggedy broken chaotic output when feeling angry or resentful for instance. They also sell a gadget which a person can purchase to confirm measure see variations to get a visual sense of how their heart state is or is not in coherence. Individuals use this and organizations also, and beyond that there is also the global impact. "Heart Coherence, as defined by HeartMath, is a state of optimal physical, mental, and emotional functioning that can be learned and cultivated to enhance well-being and navigate life with greater ease and resilience" here is a sample of output. There are more charts, graphs, research findings at https://www.heartmath.org/research/science-of-the-heart/coherence/

like the saying, we are a human being, not a human doing.

it is an abstraction to the extent that it remains only "an idea." when it is put into practice, it becomes a practice.

thank you for the additional insights, very interesting. it touches also on something else which i give thought to often, and that is the parameters of and relationship between "meditation" and the "rest of" my daily life. i keep a log of time spent daily, how many hours or minutes, on "walking in nature" and "qi gong." There is no separate category for meditation. The time i spend daily sitting in meditation is recorded in the qi gong category, because qigong teacher said that "quiet sitting" is not only part of qi gong, but that it is the most important part. My view (and goal and intent) is that what I develop and cutlivate in "formal" sitting meditation (the deep breathing, the pure awareness, the silence stillness spacious) all carry over and spill over into my daily life. That they become and are the foundation of how i go through my day no matter what the situation or circumstance. So, not limited to or compartmentalized to the hour sitting on the floor. Thanks again for the thoughtful input on various elements.

when i hear "what exactly meditation is" it conveys, implies, gives the impression that it is cut and dried and definitive. definitive: of a conclusion or agreement done or reached decisively and with authority. for meditation, as seen on this board, there is not a definitive "what exactly meditation is" rather people have a range of beliefs, views, opinions, thoughts, ideas about meditation, how they use it in their life, and what it does and does not do. So yes the post does say divergence of thought, but what jumped out at me was the part "what exactly meditation is." we may be saying the same thing. I just wanted to emphasize that there is a range and it is not one size fits all.

not what meditation is. rather, the beliefs a person holds about what meditation is and the beliefs about how it is used in their life and the beliefs about what it can and can not do that in itself makes for a very interesting discussion sort of like "what place does Divinity hold in your life" "what role does meditation hold in your life"

regarding bold above i absolutely DO sit down and do deep breathing for all of these: calming down when i am upset, yes settling my feelings or thoughts when they are in disarray, yes when i am physically unwell, yes the core of my sitting meditation IS deep breathing (and allowing and pure awareness) which has the effect for me of (a) calming everything down, and also (b) brings remarkable clarity to whatever it is that is associated with the upset or dis-ease. Because (c) the relaxation, stillness, silence, and spaciousness have the effect of de-escalating whatever is spinning out in my thoughts, emotions, or pain body. for me it is not a "substitute" for other healthy supports in my life. But it is a core component (if not THE core component) of keeping my life (and all levels of my being) in balance order and harmony. So in the parlance of the post above it is not what i do "after" getting it together. It is what i do that actually brings about and is the mechanism for getting it gogether. otherwise it's like someone telling me to only take medicine when i am healthy and well to begin with. for me that is backwards. it's the other way around. sitting meditation for me is one of the most (if not THE most) healthy, nurturing, nourishing, loving self-care paractices in my daily life.

YES. Both Volumes 1 and 2 are suitable for just staring out. Here are links to guidelines for practice from the official website for Flying Phoenix qi gong (taichimania.com) The first link is a suggested training schedule and right from the start it indicates YES both seated and standing can be done. "For an intensive start: practice one standing and one seated meditation everyday for two weeks." Training Schedule https://www.taichimania.com/trainingschedule.html Essential Guidelines https://www.taichimania.com/essentialguidelines.html Official site https://www.taichimania.com/chikung_catalog.html

i always like the side by side images of brain and walnut Dr. Fatemeh Aghanasiri tells us, "Walnuts are the same shape as the human brain. The ultimate super food, walnuts are now being served up as brain medicine for many reasons, not the least of which is because they are replete with omega-3 fatty acids, an essential fatty acid to keep the brain functioning normally."

the physical universe yes has a beginning and an end. it is finite. our union with the Divine has no beginning and no end. it is eternal and infinite. in the beginning God created. the created has a beginning and an end. the Creator does not. always was and always will be.

yes, we are beings with free choice. that includes whether to comply with what is permitted on this forum, or not

"if thine eye be single thy whole body shall be full of light" depending on a person's framework, that light could be: glory of God, unbounded awareness, or _______. (that is my own personal view of a quote from a holy book, which has found its way into both secular and non-denominational use. It is from the Sermon on the Mount, in Christian scripture.)

perhaps along the lines of let thine eye be single a devotional puts it this way, "When our eye is single, it is focused. It gives direction and allows us to see that which is of greatest importance. It means ...purposeful and directed. There are no distractions, detours, or deviations. We remain on task."

1. Yes. A person benefits even from a single exercise. 2. Are you able to do any of the seated exercises in your current condition?