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Showing results for tags 'Meditation'.
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Alright, just for the record, i am not trying to troll or anything. To complete level one of most systems, i believe one must meditate in total concentration. How would i meditate in total concentration, what am i supposed to feel while meditating, what is it supposed to be like. Can i just visualize myself breathing while meditating, or must i have nothing in my head at all, not even visualizations? Can i look straight at my eyelids without thinking anything, will this work? And my second part to my topic is, what is standing meditation, and how would one build chi with it?
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I'm a big music fanatic and work in the music business. I cherish world music and have been listening to it since the mid 80's. I'd like to start a music thread - find out what others listen to to relax or meditate. I use Spotify to listen to music nowadays - I pay the $10 so that I can take my playlists with me on my phone and iPad. It's free if you just want it on your PC. Here's a link to an album on Spotify that is fantastic: Joseph Tawadros – The Prophet (Music Inspired By the Poetry of Kahlil Gibran)
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If you were scheduling a retreat, how would you lay it out on a timeline and what would you put in the slots?
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Hello Everyone! I thought I'd introduce myself, give some background, and explain my goals for utilizing these forums. Hopefully someone might be able to point me in an appropriate direction after reading. Soon I will be leaving on a sustainable agriculture initiative to work with some tribal peoples in South America. I will essentially be spending two years in a very remote place without running water or electricity with a decent amount of free time. This to me seems like the perfect opportunity to get some real work/practice done in qigong/yoga/neigong/neidan/weidan/etc and/or the other techniques discussed in these forums without the usual distractions of daily life. So, I've been digging around in the forums for a few weeks, as I wanted to do my due diligence before posting. After hours reading through with seemingly hundreds of tabs open on my browser, I feel I haven't made much progress in finding truth. Threads tend to devolve into arguments and heresay. So I'm hoping those with a little more experience can help me discern the Dragons from the Snakes. Who is legitimate? Who are the frauds? Wang Liping, Dr. Jiang Feng, and John Chang appear to be authentic in achieving a high level of mastery in their various lineages. David Verdesi is a controversial figure to say the least. Can anyone say with confidence who has real attainment and is worth pursuing as a teacher and mentor? I would love to hear your recommendations about where to start my journey. I hear one can injure themselves pretty severely if they train incorrectly. I'd like to eliminate that option from the get-go. Here are the books I own so far: -Opening the Dragon Gate - The Making of an Authentic Taoist Immortal trans by Thomas Cleary -Ling Boa tong Zhi Neng Nei gong Shu - Wang Liping and Richard Liao -Daoist Neigong - The Philosophical Art of Change by Damo Mitchell -Both of Kostas Dervenis books The Magus of Java and Nei Kung: The Secret Teachings of the Warrior Sages -2 of Bruce Frantzis' books on the water method of Meditation: Relaxing Into Your Being and The Great Stillness I would certainly also appreciate your recommendations as far as resources and books. So far all of the complex metaphors and translation issues has been fairly confusing to me. Does anyone have a preference for a translation of the Dao De Ching? I'm also beginning work with a yoga instructor so that hopefully I will be able to sit in Full lotus position by the time I leave for South America. Lastly, I wanted to share my motivations for pursuing this path. Obviously they are multifactorial, but ultimately it boils down to simply a yearning to understand the nature of existence itself. Who and what am I? Why do I or any of us exist? How much potential do I have, and how can maximize my ability to make a positive impact on the world? Don't get me wrong, of course I'm psyched about the abilities that supposedly come along with that understanding, but to me those are just awesome side effects and great tools for helping people. Anyway, I wish everyone the best and look forward to hopefully hearing from some of you soon!
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I live in the town Umea in northern Sweden. I have been interested in meditation and healing and wants to increase my energy to help my self and others. I also had an whiplash accident 11 years ago and got problem with tiredness, bad sleep and pain after that. I am also interested to learn more about personal and spiritual development.
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Are Zen's Mushin and Mindfulness compatible? Mushin would seem to share (only certain) traits with Mindlessness. (The primary difference that I can see is one of deliberation. Mindlessness is incidental. It isn't chosen. It may very well be a sort of default, whereas Mushin is deliberate - or at least attempted).
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This might look a bit too new agey for some but I like the spirit and generosity and think there's some worthwhile prayers and meditations (supported by evocative background music): http://www.theangelsofatlantis.com/angels/
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Hi, I would like some down to earth advice, please. Having ate some food, I read a chapter of a book, and then got into bed. Could not sleep so meditated. Not in a hardcore Zen fashion. Just nice and easy, let events flow and settle sort of thing. I could feel my body processing the food. There must be a chaka gate there which takes energy out the food? When my body had processed the food, I felt a whole lot lighter and more settled in my meditation. After a few minutes I felt an intense pressure at forehead. It felt like it was going to pop. I was a bit scared. I quickly rolled over and concentrated on few other things. I would like to know what such a intense pressure signifies? Should I have allowed it to pop ? Just before I felt this pressure, I also felt some kundlini-syndrome worms wriggling down my forehead. Sorry if I don't use the right terms but I don't know them! Reply however or as technically as you like; I have a good ability to comprehend this subject as I'm already reborn from my initial conception inside the One.
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Recently saw this cover on Time magazine regarding mindfulness training. Documented lots of studies regarding mindfulness and its benefits. It's good to see it get attention. And that it is being presented from a more technological and secular viewpoint is interesting.....but makes sense. Religion has failed society.....so it's better to share meditation from a technological viewpoint. http://content.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,2163560,00.html http://sfinsight.org/MindfulRevolutionTIME.pdf My 2 cents, Peace
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Using all my spare time for over a year I have developed a web app to make some suggestions to answer a few commonly asked questions on this forum; Which path to take? How can I heal / cure myself of “x” health issue? I have this problem in my meditation, what do I do? The app is centred around providing effective and practical suggestions derived specifically for each individual user. The best thing about it is that you can get a lot of the great benefits of TCM and put things into practice right away without needing to learn piles of TCM theory. All you need to do is answer a questionnaire that takes 10-15 minutes, after which the app will generate a customised health cultivation program for you. Meditation, exercise and diet issues are addressed for each individual user aimed at bringing the body back into a state of balance where the possibibilty of extraordinary health can be achieved. However I would like to say that although the underlying capabilities are working, it is a work in progress and has a pretty basic looking interface. In the future I hope to make it look fancier, but until then when I can review the situation, the whole system is free to use. In the meantime I would be greatful if you could give me some feedback, inform me of any problems you face while using the webpage, or if you find the app useful it would be great if you 'liked' the facebook page (you can find it on the front webpage of the site www.healthcultivation.com). This app shouldn't take the place of advice given by your doctor. If you have health issues you should always see your doctor first. Check out the app at: Online TCM Diagnosis To use the diagnosis system you must create a login account (free), so that your answers get saved when you proceed to the next step, saving you from needing to re-enter answers at a later date. I spent heaps of time making this so i hope some people can benefit from it.
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Our dreaming mind has access to certain imaginative abilities not fully realized by our waking minds. It can 'take' us places as seemingly real and memorable as our actual experiences. Recently, while in a deep state of meditation, I had tapped into this ability. To my back was a smooth sandstone cliff. It passed onto my left and angled away around a point. There was no rubble or scree, and at the base of the cliff the red stone turned into a shallowly submerged floor of wave-rippled sandstone. It was ocean water and salty. When I slipped into the shallow water it was as deep as my chest and warmed by the noon hour sun. The only waves on the surface was caused by myself. The water was otherwise smooth and still. I could see, further out (200-300 feet?) some sort of nature stone breaker and could faintly hear the ocean lapping against it. I suppose it was where the sandstone floor abruptly rose and dropped off into the ocean. I'm not sure. I didn't give it much thought. I was more focused on the feel of the rippled sandstone floor on my bare feet and the colour of the clear water over the red stone. Slightly greenish it was - or maybe it wan an optical illusion. It was comfortable and unbelievably refreshing. I was calm and at peace. I also know that, not only did I create this location, but that I was in complete control of it. I didn't 'happen upon it' and gain control - I chose it. But real?! When I looked at the sun I would squint. I could feel the water, its temperature; I could smell its freshness and warmth; I could feel the air and breeze; the goosebumps across my bare shoulders and upper back when I came too far out of the water. It was all real yet totally within my imagination. I was not asleep. It was early morning, about 6:30 am, and still dark out. It was cold that morning. Somewhere around -30 degrees © with the windchill... and I was on the bus, going to work, meditating. I chose when I left the large sandstone tide-pool. I was awake on the bus, deep in mediation, and acutely aware. ~ We are not our memories. We can't be our experiences. Because we remember and experience our dreams. I was never at that tranquil tide-pool; but I have the experience and memory of it.
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I was wondering if any one knew about the effects of amanita muscaria if one practice tai chi and/ or Taoist practices. I know that most drugs are yin base so unless you are practicing magick you cannot take it, but amanita muscaria seems different because it seems to access the subtle energies. I want to know if anyone has taken amanita muscaria and knows if you lose your chi from it?
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I was wondering if any one knew about the effects of amanita muscaria if one practice tai chi and/ or Taoist practices. I know that most drugs are yin base so unless you are practicing magick you cannot take it, but amanita muscaria seems different because it seems to access the subtle energies. I want to know if you take amanita muscaria, do you lose your chi from it?
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I have a friend whom has ADD and was considering recommending some meditation techniques to him in order to help with his current state. I have read several articles that say Meditation helps treat it but was wondering if anyone can share personal stories of its effectiveness? My 2 cents, Peace
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I have a dedicated cultivation/meditation and practice sexual q-gong pretty much consistently now. Even though I have a partner I treat the relationship as an extension of the cultivation, which is good for the "relationship" part because I am always ready for her to share herself with me as the raw yang-desire (from the jing) is never satiated. This isn't a bad thing though! The idea is to take what is primarily an animal desire, let that flow through me, feel it, note it, but make the conscious choice to not waste this energy, and instead transform that into a yin-feeling. After that's done, i sort of have this feeling of "what is the big deal about?", and can cater with love to my partner's needs in a totally non-selfish manner. Even when my partner isn't around I get aroused normally during the day. I attempt to sublimate this energy. The best way I have found so far is, if I get a hard-on or lustful thoughts, to sit naked and cross legged in a quite room and meditate on the desire itself. Naked because it is, in my opinion, a relatively innocent way to feel in touch with your sexual center without being overly lustful. It's important to allow the lust feelings to pass through you (the horniness plays an element) but to make the intuitive realization that the desire comes from emptiness. I find it's best to envision myself in a situation in which I acted on lust, and to decide whether I would truly have been happy or not. Once I've let it go, I find that doing yoga is a great way to get rid of some of the heat. It's odd, but I feel like the true enlightenment comes when you feel sexually "full" and verified as a human but without the animal desire to commit an act of lust. Lust is an obstacle and I am curious to see if through enough cultivation I could rid the desire completely. By the way - I discovered that diet did play a role after all. My nocturnal emissions reduced to almost none since getting a partner, but especially after I became a vegetarian and stopped eating lots of "violent", dense or salty foods. I eat fruits and vegetable dishes with mild spices, and get protein from nuts and beans which are less harsh than meat. I also feel lighter and overall have more energy. Anyways - thoughts on all this?
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I am reading a book: http://www.amazon.com/Demystifying-Out-Body-Experience-Exploration/dp/0738730793 In it the author teaches an energy exercises, where you think about an area, like the top of your head, and you direct energy down through your body, out through your feet, and back in and up again. No mental imagery or visualizations. No looking at the areas of the body where this is occurring. No matching your breathing to it. I think I understand it, I feel the energy as warmth and I follow it with my mind, feeling it, as it slowly (and I mean slowly) goes through my body. Some areas are energetically blocked, and I just direct my thoughts to them and feel until I actually can feel the warmth. I have added to this a practice of doing the same thing at the base of my spine, gathering energy there. I have had some very vivid dreams from this, and I may have actually projected, because in one of my dreams I was in a car that flew out over a cliff, so a definite sense of flying. Also longer dream recall. Well I have been struggling in my meditation practice, and obviously energy is not flowing very well in my physical body, so I thought, OK, let's, metaphorically speaking, kill two birds with one stone! Tomorrow I intend to meditate on the movement of energy in my body, focusing on that as I send it down from the top of my head, out, and up through the soles of my feet. I think this is a really cool idea, but what do you folks think? I appreciate your advice! - DreamBliss
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I'm experiencing pain and stiffness at the moment when I sit in meditation. I'm wondering whether sitting upright with no support just causes tension? Either way, it's very distracting and not too pleasant. When I then consciously slouch I feel better...but then it's like I'm doing more stretching exercises rather than meditating. Simple breath meditation just seems to be harder for me these days than say 6 months to a year ago. Perhaps my back is just shaped differently. Long car journeys in an erect seat also hurts a lot after a couple of hours. Does anybody have any clue as to what this could be? The doctor once said that it's just because I'm used to slouching and that I need to train my back muscles up by doing yoga exercises but since then, I've been more mindful of posture yet still it seems to be a problem.
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Meditation for emotional alchemy in the face of major disaster.
Dr_D posted a topic in General Discussion
Here is a great tool to help any being affected by the typhoon. http://goo.gl/97CR2R In light, Dr. D-
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Hi Tao Bums, Just as some tao bum suggested me, I've started a "program" of 15 minutes daily of sitting meditation. Just sitting there and trying to focus on the space between thoughts. Some days is very difficult : The 15 minutes pass like a second, and my mind hasn't stopped any single milisecond. Other days I can focus some seconds on that space, it feels good and generates insights. Although it's all very subtle and I of course I am in the very beginning. I started adding 15 minutes of "free movement" after the sitting meditation. That is, I stay still and wait for my body to tell me how he wants to move. That is normally movements with the pelvis, hands, neck, hips, normally in circles. Also, some violent gestures, some caring gestures, some sexual gestures, some gentle dancing gestures, moving the body in waves or circles, joy movements, etc. However, yesterday I got very scared : I started to use my hands as claws, I was something between a wild animal and a crazy paleolithic raw carnivore, I was gesturing like tearing apart some flesh and furiosly biting at it. I was very scared but said to myself : Just don't judge this, just observe and let it happen whatever it is. It continued. It was very primal, very violent. After a while it ceased and much more gentle gestures came. I am still a bit shocked that this was inside myself. Is this the "shadow" ? Or what is this ? Is it ok to keep on doing like that or will I awake dark forces inside myself ? What does that mean ? Please advice! My best wishes to all the tao bums.
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I think too often we are 'sold' on the fantasied, romanticized imagery of meditation, and I think this might be harmful. My favourite are the pictures and especially landscapes associated with meditation. (Try googling meditation landscapes). I know I can't sit on a beautiful sunny ocean shore and have any hope in hell to meditate. The sheer beauty of the surroundings are a brutal distraction. (But then again, I could be wrong. Maybe we're supposed to get to a point where we can 'tune-out' the surrounding beauty.... naah). I think the Venerable Henepola Gunaratana agrees: "We have certain images of meditation. Meditation is something done in quiet caves by tranquil people who move slowly. Those are training conditions. They are set up to foster concentration and to learn the sill of mindfulness. Once you have learned that skill, however, you can dispense with the training restrictions, and you should. You don't need to move at a snail's pace to be mindful. You don't even need to be calm. You can be mindful while solving problems in intensive calculus. You can be mindful in the middle of a football scrimmage. You can even be mindful in the midst of a raging fury" Mindfulness in Plain English, pg. 93 My first (chance) encounter with mindfulness (before I even had a name for it) was during my Black Belt Examination. It was quite profound. But wouldn't have described myself or my actions as anything remotely close to quiet, tranquil or slow moving. I wonder sometimes whether there's an unproductive industry out there that - really - only sells the idea of meditation. All the imagery and trappings; but little to no substance. I think this might be the illusion of meditation. I also think we should be careful of this; to be mindful of it.
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During my meditative training, I have uncontrollably been heating up and getting those "cool" rushes of heat through my body. I've decided to start learning how to gain better control of my energy rather than letting it run wild and leaving cold when I want to be warm and hot when I want to be cool. I've found some info on tummo and how to heat up your body but I haven't found anything on how to reduce body temperature to cool down. Anyone know of anything that might help me with this?
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I have been studying various martial arts now, manly Wing Chun. And I am looking for an internal art to straighten my outer, if any one has an art that I should try I would appreciate your suggestion.
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Hello, Someone asked me for the meaning of something they experienced during meditation and I don't understand It's meaning myself. She said she saw a background of pitch black and suddenly 3 large gray streaks appeared in the center. Does anyone know what this could mean? Each time she meditates she also hears voices talking and singing and when one male voice in particular starts talking and singing the rest would quiet down and listen as if he were making a speech. Could she be picking up an astral meeting of some sort? She says he sounds benevolent.
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Hello! One question that's been on my mind recently... What is the significance of the number 9 in Taoism? I have heard it referenced so much in texts and in meditation tutorials, breath cycles appear to go around in 9s (rather than 10s that I've been familiar with in other traditions i.e Zen)
