Practicing out in the open

[de_paradise]

The display of what your doing can affect others, even if you do not speak.

 

Some guy doing some qigong in the park, doing some yoga or meditation. Woop de doo.

 

Its something.

 

Lately I've taken up practising yoga routine in the the park at the chateau, its fairly empty in the morning but theres always some people around. Today, I went up at a later time just to walk around, and saw in the exact same spot as I practise a guy who apparently was pretty beginner, was doing yoga. I dont know if it was coincidence, but lets just assume he saw me and decided, cool, people do yoga here and its a good thing to do.

 

I was listening to a video where Robert Thurman was explaining how monks and monasitics were counterbalances to militarism.

France has been getting pretty mititaristic again, police are everywhere cracking down. There is an answer, something you can do to help create a space, it may not be what you say, but what you do. Edited May 9, 2011 by de_paradise

[manitou]

Yes - I agree - doing our thing out in the open raises questions in other people's minds; who knows what happens to that person as a result of their inner question? Maybe not today or tomorrow - but the question will remain.

 

One of my 'practices' is to fully zone out face down on the grass - no thoughts, just meditation. I was doing this in my front yard one day when a car actually stopped and a man ran over asking if I was alright. He saw an old woman laying on the ground and probably thought she was hurt or dead. I do it in the back yard now.

 

Practicing in the open does have its consequences, lol.

Edited May 9, 2011 by manitou

[ShaktiMama]

The display of what your doing can affect others, even if you do not speak.

 

Some guy doing some qigong in the park, doing some yoga or meditation. Woop de doo.

 

Its something.

 

Lately I've taken up practising yoga routine in the the park at the chateau, its fairly empty in the morning but theres always some people around. Today, I went up at a later time just to walk around, and saw in the exact same spot as I practise a guy who apparently was pretty beginner, was doing yoga. I dont know if it was coincidence, but lets just assume he saw me and decided, cool, people do yoga here and its a good thing to do.

 

I was listening to a video where Robert Thurman was explaining how monks and monasitics were counterbalances to militarism.

France has been getting pretty mititaristic again, police are everywhere cracking down. There is an answer, something you can do to help create a space, it may not be what you say, but what you do.

 

My first thought, "if people wanna start their day with a good laugh...watch me do my practice."

[Otis]

I haven't thought so much about the benefit to others, largely because my public practice forces me to surrender projection.

 

But that's the beautiful benefit to myself. When I spin my staff or do Qi Gong at the beach, I am confronted by my self-consciousness, which is always trying to project my wishes and fears on passersby. "How do they think I look?" comes up, in various ways, as stray thoughts.

 

My practice then becomes the reminder to surrender my projection, to let go of this fake judgmental version of "other people" that my head has conjured up. Let those "other people" be unknown and utterly out of my experience. They stand there, they face my direction, but I don't need any stories in my head, guessing what is going through theirs.

 

Practicing at the beach was how I started letting go of this fake "other people", but my public interaction videos were the next step in the process. Go out and dance or do a stunt, in plain view of other people, and not let it bother me.

 

This helped me realize that throughout my life, "other people" have embodied my inner judge for me. Everywhere I looked, I saw judgment, because of course, it was my fear of judgment, projected upon these others.

[henro]

It's always a trip when I practice outside in China. My teacher has class in the park of course, which is a major thoroughfare for people going to work in the morning, and is packed with people doing tai ji and qigong. I'm the only white guy out there so it's a spectacle. Lot's of people stop to watch the foreigner, I can't think about it. When he singles me out to do a form by the end there's usually a large group that has stopped. Kind of like practicing in a fishbowl. I think it's helped my concentration for sure. I'm not sure how it affects the Chinese. There's probably a bit of "what a crazy foreigner" going through their heads. . . .

[manitou]

It's always a trip when I practice outside in China. My teacher has class in the park of course, which is a major thoroughfare for people going to work in the morning, and is packed with people doing tai ji and qigong. I'm the only white guy out there so it's a spectacle. Lot's of people stop to watch the foreigner, I can't think about it. When he singles me out to do a form by the end there's usually a large group that has stopped. Kind of like practicing in a fishbowl. I think it's helped my concentration for sure. I'm not sure how it affects the Chinese. There's probably a bit of "what a crazy foreigner" going through their heads. . . .

 

Those parks with their hanging birds are wonderful, lol. I, a very white woman wearing a bright yellow raincoat, walked alone around Shanghai very early one morning. I happened upon one of those wonderful parks - and in one corner of the park all these people were dancing to Western music (in addition to all the tai chi going on in the park). This very old Chinese woman wearing the traditional black outfit came up and asked me to dance. There I was. Mambo-ing with another woman in a park in China at 6 in the morning. Best morning of my life, just about---

 

There's a trick to not worrying about what others think. Practice not looking people in the eye for a while (not people you're talking to, of course) - just people you pass on the street, in the elevator - wherever. Just don't make eye contact with strangers. After doing this for a while, it has the odd effect of not caring at all what you look like or what others think. I think the reason this works is because subconsciously we may be looking for the approval of others we pass by; approval in their eyes. When we stop looking for it, we stop caring so much about it.

[Trunk]

I grew up here in the L.A. area, now back as an adult. In most parks, now, there's at least a scattered few doing qigong / tai ji. Influx of asian populations over last decades.

[mYTHmAKER]

We have class out in the park. tourists are constantly taking pictures. Some want to pose with us.

Hey if you can make someones day or vacation why not?

[Otis]

There's a trick to not worrying about what others think. Practice not looking people in the eye for a while (not people you're talking to, of course) - just people you pass on the street, in the elevator - wherever. Just don't make eye contact with strangers. After doing this for a while, it has the odd effect of not caring at all what you look like or what others think. I think the reason this works is because subconsciously we may be looking for the approval of others we pass by; approval in their eyes. When we stop looking for it, we stop caring so much about it.

Ah, I think that's it's own thread: meeting and not meeting strangers' eyes.

 

For me, the first step was to learn not to care, but now I am seeking to come back again, meet other people's eyes, and learn again to care (not about what they're thinking, which is forever a mystery, but about them).

[manitou]

Ah, I think that's it's own thread: meeting and not meeting strangers' eyes.

 

For me, the first step was to learn not to care, but now I am seeking to come back again, meet other people's eyes, and learn again to care (not about what they're thinking, which is forever a mystery, but about them).

 

Ah yes, you're right. The black dots inside each other's eyes. The consciousness going from one human to another, one human to an animal, an insect to a dog. Eye to eye. Somehow there is a framework here. When an animal is challenged the first thing they look at is the eyes. A dog barks at you and looks at your eyes, not your waist.

 

Somehow this is the framework for consciousness. Why don't you start it, lol? My threads always bomb. It would be a good one....

[deci belle]

My first thought, "if people wanna start their day with a good laugh...watch me do my practice."

hahahaa!!❤

[Adishakti]

[Otis]

[Sloppy Zhang]

What do you think about the possibility that, through your repetetive practices, you have created an energy vortex in that spot? A positively attractive energized spot.

 

This tends to happen to me a lot. The result- all the good practice spots are taken And I don't want to meet new people, I wanna practice!

[hagar]

This tends to happen to me a lot. The result- all the good practice spots are taken And I don't want to meet new people, I wanna practice!

 

My exact experience!

 

My antidote was to approach pretty crowded places that have some ambience to them, and some space.

If your practice is good, then you will be left alone. And if the practice improves, the place will empty, and you will find yourself alone in the best spot.

 

My master went to the site where Lao Tzu's shrine is located in China. As he tuned into the energy of the site, the huge area with kiosks, tourists, and noisy children running around suddenly turned silent. And finally the area was almost empty. He explained that if you align with the information that is there, and of a certain quality, you induce this effect.

 

h

[Sloppy Zhang]

My exact experience!

 

My antidote was to approach pretty crowded places that have some ambience to them, and some space.

If your practice is good, then you will be left alone. And if the practice improves, the place will empty, and you will find yourself alone in the best spot.

 

My master went to the site where Lao Tzu's shrine is located in China. As he tuned into the energy of the site, the huge area with kiosks, tourists, and noisy children running around suddenly turned silent. And finally the area was almost empty. He explained that if you align with the information that is there, and of a certain quality, you induce this effect.

 

h

 

Hmm, will have to try this.

[rain]

Practising outdoors in the fresh air! is lovely as long as my feet are dry and temperate and ther is no chill wind or rain.

Practising in public places can be very effective, the falling from and out of the constant hum of traffic and general noise is quite profound and fulfilling in itself. The dissapearing or silencing of surroundings may well be your own inner calm ovveriding everything else.

It is not that you stop hearing, because I remember clearly choosing to hear a little girl asking her mother what was I doing, sitting silent and motionless at an airport (flight delayed several hours and a perfect opportunity to tune in and drop out) the mother answered the little girl correctly "she is meditating" thus the kid and maybe also some adults had something fresh added to her repertoir. I practise wherever, in queues, as car passenger, waiting rooms, walking, talking with people while standing..it seems to me that people are so used to people practising something or other, or just having trouble with their legs or backs and generally exercising or stretching, so at most you,ll get a curious remark or even worse..an audience if you are halfgood. If you're good..you will be too absorbed in the practise to notice or bother..probably...or just feel a faint wellbeing with sharing.

Edited May 10, 2011 by rain

[manitou]

Meditation is great for seeing these patterns pop up, but I don't see how I can surrender the triggered response, without actually going through the freak-out scenario, and laughing off the response that wells up in me. Practice, IME, is most effective when it is in the situation, rather than in the abstract.

 

 

Your own physical responses and the physical responses of others in your videos are probably causing very deep imprints in you and others. It reminds me much of a shamanic ceremony where emotions would be imprinted to the opposite. They're almost like cinemagraphic koans...

Edited May 11, 2011 by manitou

[mYTHmAKER]

My exact experience!

 

My antidote was to approach pretty crowded places that have some ambience to them, and some space.

If your practice is good, then you will be left alone. And if the practice improves, the place will empty, and you will find yourself alone in the best spot.

 

My master went to the site where Lao Tzu's shrine is located in China. As he tuned into the energy of the site, the huge area with kiosks, tourists, and noisy children running around suddenly turned silent. And finally the area was almost empty. He explained that if you align with the information that is there, and of a certain quality, you induce this effect.

 

h

 

I played Tai Chi Chuan early morning on Yellow Mountain a number of years ago.

[mewtwo]

See this is funny i was practicing some bagua circle walking in a hotel parking lot that i was staying at and i heard someone say "man that guy must be on some serious drugs" It was funny and later that day i explained to him what i was doing.

[Sloppy Zhang]

See this is funny i was practicing some bagua circle walking in a hotel parking lot that i was staying at and i heard someone say "man that guy must be on some serious drugs" It was funny and later that day i explained to him what i was doing.

 

That's awesome, you just made my day!

[Adishakti]

That's you in the Video?! Extremely bold, Otis! I think you just thought me how to meet my fears - with a wink and a smile.

 

 

 

 

 

That's why I believe in being very assertive, in confronting most of my habitual notions. Put myself into the situation that most triggers my constricted response, and practice being cool about it, seeing it as a joke.

 

I've posted this vid here before, but it's an example of where I stepped into my own freak-out zone (in this case, my fear of being seen as gay), and played my way through it.

 

Meditation is great for seeing these patterns pop up, but I don't see how I can surrender the triggered response, without actually going through the freak-out scenario, and laughing off the response that wells up in me. Practice, IME, is most effective when it is in the situation, rather than in the abstract.

[Otis]

Your own physical responses and the physical responses of others in your videos are probably causing very deep imprints in you and others. It reminds me much of a shamanic ceremony where emotions would be imprinted to the opposite. They're almost like cinemagraphic koans...

Thanks for noticing. Yes, the explorations have been very important for me, on many levels. As much of a silly prank the Rodeo Drive thing was, it has really shook up some of my flinch and flee responses. It's not like my homophobia is 100% evaporated, but that fear of appearing gay has definitely relaxed a great deal.

[Otis]

That's you in the Video?! Extremely bold, Otis! I think you just thought me how to meet my fears - with a wink and a smile.

Thanks, Adishakti. I am a big believer in growth through play. It's a very different energy than discipline and struggle, and I manage to open up a lot without overwhelming my own system. And it's fun!

[rain]

Thanks, Adishakti. I am a big believer in growth through play. It's a very different energy than discipline and struggle, and I manage to open up a lot without overwhelming my own system. And it's fun!

 

I don't get it. is really your homophobia so intense that you aren't able to let the practise overshadow your selfawareness?

thats...really...stuck...innit? no critic just...wow,..

I probably misunderstood

Edited May 11, 2011 by rain