How Has Your Practices Changed Over Time?

[thelerner]

I'm getting away from long breath cycles. I used to be more into very long in and outs. Probably a prideful hold out from old Ki-Aikido breathing exercises. Now I try to let it go and be more aware of the states between breaths or nothing at all.

 

I'm getting more into sound. How they echoe through my body, which sound hits where. In the shower I'll chant the Shma prayer (ala Ecstatic Kabbala book) and do some other vowel type chants. Just like chigung can be just arm waving without linking the movement to greater energy fields. Chanting something with a sacred property links sound, inner and outer, to emotional/inner power and meaning.

 

Michael

[...]

this is a very intersting thread topic =) it leads to much reflection..thanks man =)

 

you know, I have practced rather intensely (if I may say so myself!) breathing techniques... breathing in itself (ie pranayama,) never showedresults equal to other practices. I find that in the best meditation techniques I pursue, the breathing mechanism is a mere nuisance.

this is not to say that breathing hasn'tbeen ideal in supplemental aspects. when I have done excercises similiar to bone marrow nei kung, it is wonderful.. as a tool. now, I find, I can 'inhale' the chi into my body with only my mind.. which means, of course, that the 'breathing the chi into your body' is simply a meditative tool.

 

I have had promising resultsfrom several other exercises... though despite such results, I never seem to stick with the practices. I know, that one day, if I were to somehow muster the discipline and circumstances.. I could possibly combine these techniques for awesome, awesome results.

these are:

bhanda locks . after just a week of half hour-hour of practice a day, I can feel dense energy in my spine.

inhaling and solidfying chi in the lower tan tien this was a practice I experimented with not so longago after I read 'the magus of java'. it had a similiar, perhaps better effect than the bhanda lock technique on my spine. after much practice, it seemed that the chi I was solidifying in my LTT was being pushed up my spine.

microcosmic orbit such a fundamental excercise for taobums I don't need to say more,

 

 

judging from my past experiences with these excercises, I really, truly believe that with right eating, and celibacy, I could cultivate such a large mass of dense, manifest energy in my spine as to force a kundalini awakening. I think I could do it in a matter of 3-6 months, (mayhaps less, I really don't know!).. perhaps in a monastary-type setting I would be successful.

 

BUT.... the practice I always find myself coming back to.. inbetween, before and after all the others... is inner-awareness. I simply 'feel' my soul.. (I wouldn't call it qi, or jing.. but believe it is probably shen...) from this follows bodily detachment.. there develops a sort of recognized distinction between my manifest, physical body and it's ego, and my.. uh, soul I guess. lol.

 

the latter practice is much more satisfying than the prior, (which concentrate on dense energy for the pruposes of purfying the physical body, I guess...) but I believe that the prior practices, if I could be successful in pursuing them to the end, could provide a much mroe immediate WHAM.. and could, in the long run, probably be of more benefit for my latter excercises.

 

 

but wait... I guess there would be no reason why I couldn't practice everything at once. I mean, the prior excercises or active.. the latter passive... hmm =p

[Pero]

In the past, most of my practice was meditational (microcosmic orbit etc.), with little moving (or standing) qigong. For the last year or so, the practice has reversed. I now do mainly moving and standing qigong and very little meditation (especially compared to the past).

But that will change as I intend to restart practicing microcosmic orbit meditations. I`ve kind of been in two extremes, mostly meditations and mostly qigong (although I usually include meditation in the meaning of qigong). So now, I`ll try to find more balance - try to have the sitting, standing and moving practice. And lying (dream) practice in time as well.

 

 

Since you`re doing vowel chants try experimenting with vowels and their relation to elements (organs).

 

A (ah) - Fire (heart, small intestine)

U (ooh) - Water (kidneys, bladder)

E (aeh, pronunciation like in the word ever) - Wood (liver, gallblader)

I (ee, like in "in") - Metal (lungs, large intestine)

EU(euh, don`t know how this vowel is called in English, in Slovene it`s a "half-vowel") - Earth (spleen, stomach)

O (like o in over) - Fire (triple warmer, pericardium), but also connected to Earth

 

All vowels done together (and with hand movements) have a very balancing effect, and stimulate the flow of energy. Each individual vowel effects its corresponding organ. I`m not sure what effect they have if you just chant them (like aaaahhhhhh) as I have not done it yet, I think it just stimulates the particular element. However, with specific melodies you can balance, calm, or strengthen (can`t find the right word) the corresponding organ (specifically emotions).

 

The vowel and element (organ) correspondence here is Daoist.

[Yoda]

the big change that I'm looking for is to go a year without a big change.