Yonkon

Dear Bums, my meditation sessions are getting longer and longer now. The focus is there, but my body aches after a while. What is your approach? Just staying with the pain, making it conscious, growing with the pain? Or is a more gentle approach appropriate? I thought about changing from cross legged sitting into another posting after every 40 minutes. (Maybe my knees or laying on the back?) Would love to hear your perspectives!

@Apech@awaken@Vajra Fist Thank you for your perspectives! Intuitively speaking, reducing movement makes sense. But when it hurts badly, i don't want to force it. This is a position that feels good to me even for longer periods. Are there some downsides when you meditate like this and not in lotus position?

Thank you! I can't speak chinese, so getting into the books will not work. But I will check out the QA.

Since my Kundalini Awakening some years ago i developed something that is described by some as automatic yoga or spontaneous yoga. When i let go, my body begins to move on its own. When i am lying down, my body slowly twists, bends and sometimes shakes. Sometime my body goes into classic hatha positions, but most of the time it's a dynamic blend between different kinds of stretching and yoga. Most of the time this is very pleasurable, sometimes even blissful. But here is something i noticed. When i do this longer than 50 minutes, i go very deep. I am not too experienced, so i get scared when i go to deep. I worry about not doing it "right" and screwing something up. Because i go freestyle, without any guidance or rules, i worry that it could be damaging to me in some way (it definitely feels great and develops without force) I just let it happen as my body pleases. My question is: should i trust my body completely? Should i just let myself "fall" into the pit, fall so deep as my body wants to? Or should i be cautiousness with these kind of practices? Maybe only follow a teaching and don't go wander on my own?

I tested out a fair share of spiritual practices and qiqong seems to be the most suited for my personality so i want to commit. (I love to move and i can't sit still) But now a questioned entered my mind: Has qiqong the same purpose as sitting meditation or yoga? I want to become healthy in body and mind, calm my being and open my heart. Is QiGong the right practice for walking this path? Imagine that i commit to a life long mastery of Qiqong, where would this lead me, what will get out of the practice? Another Question that is related: will all practices lead me to the same thing the one way or another?

Thank you all for contributing, this forum is truly something special. I learned a lot but also i have thousand more questions as a result. A main theme that i picked up is that it is wise to choose a certain style/school and commit to it. I feel overwhelmed with the diversity of styles but one thing seems to attract me the most: "Zifa Gong", "Katsugen", "Spontaneous Qigong" - There are many names for it and this topic attracts me endlessly and i always come back to it. There are many names of this "automatic healing force" but sadly i can't find any in depth and high quality material about it. There are no courses in my area and i have no luck finding a book about this topic. So if any of you can help me out i would be very grateful. I really want to explore this phenomena but i don't know where to start.

What's the difference between qigong and Taiji? And where would i start with Taiji if i don't have a teacher around?

great, thank you!

Awesome, thanks! Sooo, where to start? The amount of information seems a bit overwhelming.

Can you explain what you mean with Shiv Asna and with the recapitulation?

wow this is great! Sounds very intuitive. See my post above for my "awakening". I am also interested in your grounding techniques!

For everyone who wonders, i described my "kundalini awakening" in my Introduction Thread: Also after this experience my body changed quite dramatically from being weak and unenergetic to very fit and strong. And girls suddenly where interested in me that was nice too :D

Thank you for bringing me to the conclusion that i over identify with kundalini and that it is probably not the case. It was the first thing that i found that described my symptoms but i will leave this narrative now. Thank you, very insightful. I'm sure that i didn't reach the end, my body feels quite restless far from ease and stillness. With what practice should i continue after i reach this stage? If i had to choose between Agenda and Letters on yoga, wich one should i choose?

What would be the benefit of doing so?

Hey guys, i have the opportunity to go into physiotherapy and get my spine corrected. I have my doubts and i thought the best way to gather different perspectives is to ask here. My main concern is that through forcefully straightening the spine, my body gets damaged. I have strong tension in the neck area and i am certain that it is a result of blocked emotions and trauma. Heal the trauma and the neck is free. But maybe through physiotherapy i get faster relief, maybe even helps with the healing process? So has anybody done something similar or can share his experience or point of view? I would highly appreciate it.

Greetings, I have the feeling that most yoga courses, especially the mainstream ones, are crazy fast. This one instructor jumps from one pose to another and i can't even get 3 breaths in between let alone become more aware of my body. It is so hyperactive! But the thing is even the more spiritual and consciousness focused courses and videos are still way to fast for me. To be honest it annoys me a bit. I am a rather slow person, when i walk to buy some grocery even old granny's are speeding past me So my question is, are those courses, especially hatha yoga, supposed to be fast? Is there maybe a reason for the speed, has it an effect? Or is it just a product of our hyperactive and restless culture? I would love to get some outside perspective on this.

Yes Yes that's it, thank you - this is my wish. Man do i love this forum. This sounds very interesting, though i don't quite understand it. Do you mean "information" in the esoteric knowingness sense or more literal, like i could download information about how to cook an Omelette just right? Niice, thank you will check it out.

Dear Bums, through lucky circumstances i find myself in the possession of a lot of free time for the next half year. Besides a business project and developing my relationship, i want to work towards a goal that is dear to me: to feel relaxed, very deeply. A part of me tells me that it is quite selfish to pursue relaxation, it doesn't help anybody! But the other parts of me says that people will benefit and be positivly influenced by a calm and relaxed spirit. Also it feels nice! The second voice is louder by far so i make this post. The thing is i am a total noob. I know a tiny bit about standard meditation and almost nothing about more body oriented practices like hatha, qi qong and tai chi (by the way, whats the difference between tai chi and qi qong?) I don't know if it's even wise to "Pursue" a state of mind and body, i think it's an attachment itself to want relaxation but i don't know how to handle that. Basically, i am clueless. My Goal is to deeply sink in to my body, like when i was a child and listened to music or relaxed in the sun. I am 21 year old, and everything feels like a rush. When i read a book i think of the next one to buy while still reading the introduction. When i walk the dog i hurry. When i eat i devour. Maybe you can relate? I am lost. Should i ground myself in breathing? Should i "just let go"? Should i do hatha yoga, qi qung, tai chi or another one of the thousand exercises out there? Should i focus on family, on relationships? Read more books? Exercise more? Exercise less? Find the root cause? Stop Overthinking? Maybe some of you can guide me, or give me subtle pointers to the road i want to travel. I would be thankful for everything. Cheers PS: I want to go there

I always thought it's the other way. First you accept, then you feel bliss...

Nice, will do. It's a bit off topic but i have a related question: Can i practice meditation like "sitting still" while lying down on the ground? I find it more comfortable and can focus better, but i heard that the spine must be straight and upwards because of energetic reasons.. What about that?

so basically i should sit still and accept existence as it is? Don't know if i got you right.

To be honest I already got that, i'm a music fanatic and love writing songs and producing music. But lately the purpose of all behind is lacking. Sure it feels nice and is fun, but sometimes it feels kind of meaningless. Sometimes i think it's even something like masturbation, i just do it to pleasure myself. Of course there is nothing wrong with that per se, but i want to create music with a real purpose. To really help people and give something back.. So i want to slowly make a shift to contribution, away from soley self pleasure. And it's kind of hard and scary because my sense of meaning and purpose is radically shifting... but it seems to me that this is the path i have to walk.. I will figure it out.

Hey there, i feel a bit down and thought that here i maybe find help. In most aspects of my life, i'm struggling. Nothing really serious, i'm a pretty average joe. I'm not in a crisis. But for more than a year now, i seem to be stuck. It feels like that i froze, and now everyday is the same. This is a huge step up for me - before that i would have big ups and downs that really sucked the spirit out of me. Now everything is ok, "ok" in the blandest and most boring sense. First i started to escape the blandness of life with drugs: smoking dope, experimenting with psychedelics. I realized that this is not the answer for me. Then i started with spiritual practices. I tried so many different techniques, but i always quit after a while. I've done doing nothing, focus on the breath, mantra, visualisation, hatha, kriya, 9 breaths of purification and tsa lung. Now i start with doing nothing again and it's so frustrating. I cling to the idea of "progress", because progress means escaping the blandness. Most likely the answer is "accept the blandness and love it" but i can't. Maybe i'm scared to do that, maybe i don't know how. I just don't know what to do. Not in a desperate sense, more like in the ending scene of finding nemo: (great movie by the way) The last seconds perfectly capture my feeling. I don't have a purpose. I'm don''t have a cause that i want to fight for. I'm just floating in ocean, trapped in a plastic bag. Can anyone relate to this? Any help is appreciated.

Now i'm intrigued. When i could only start with only one and add the second later, with wich practices should i beginn?

The Thread is dying so i wanted to thank you to all who contributed so far, you guys really helped me out Have a nice one