Importance of a routine

[Lotus7]

Hey Bums,

This may be a topic more suited to the personal practice discussion, however I will post it here for now. That being said, how high do you place your spiritual "routine" on your list of daily priorities? Prayer, meditation, yoga, qigong, breathing exercises, etc.- I know from experience that it is quite easy to talk about putting these things into practice, but quite another story to actually execute them into a daily, consistent regimen.

 

So my second question is: If you have a daily system, what all does it entail? What do you find works best for you? I must admit I am doing a bit of fishing here, as I am trying to get a solid routine down myself. For me it is about getting over my laziness and just doing it. I am going through a lot of personal changes right now, and am ready to really buckle down and start growing. For example I am looking to start a morning meditation session along with qigong. (I am just now learning about qigong. The spiritual and physical benefits interest me very much.)

 

So if you care to share on your experience, I know I could benefit from any advice, as well as the rest of the bums. There is a lot of wisdom here.... so lets SHARE

 

Love and Light, Matt

[Protector]

Well, one good way to get into doing something is being around people who also do the same thing you want to do

You could talk to these Taoist people on these Taoist forums

You could also make your environment reflect what you like to do

People who like movies put movie posters on their walls, for example

So if you want to do horse stance everyday, put kung fu movie posters on the walls, talk about it a lot, bother tao bums with it, and in your journal write: OK, I said I will do this and so I've done it this many times today

That helps me

[ChiDragon]

Hey Bums,

This may be a topic more suited to the personal practice discussion, however I will post it here for now. That being said, how high do you place your spiritual "routine" on your list of daily priorities? Prayer, meditation, yoga, qigong, breathing exercises, etc.- I know from experience that it is quite easy to talk about putting these things into practice, but quite another story to actually execute them into a daily, consistent regimen.

 

Love and Light, Matt

 

IMO Qigong is a combination of meditation and breathing exercise. I still can't figure it out why people thought they are two separate entities.

[skydog]

Well I do many hours of different practices everyday- for example today I was having perception problems (suffering) so I did the tibetan fire exercise of imagining I was burning all obstacles to do with these topics,allowing negative beliefs to come up and be looked at while positive beliefs come and solve the problem. After 20 minutes I was shocked. Did this for an hour or so in total today. Playing with sexual organs whilst doing vipassana and self massage. What I imagine stillness movement to be for 10 minutes 4 or 5 times. Taking my dog for a walk imagining everything is energy, contemplating it. Reading the Tao teh Ching. Playing the drum and making my own healing sounds and laughing. Sitting Meditation.

 

I rarely stick to any specific. Do this method everyday at 6am kind of thing, I just find it completely against the flow of natural life, too structured. Also it seems to be the mind coming in to say look I am in control now sort of thing. However possibly it means "Im" being undisciplined and discipline is a way to silence the mind? Everything is a paradox. Personally I am interested in learning to see energy then I can "see" what works and what doesn't, however I already can when Im aware of how I feel and the better I feel the better the energy. However most emotions come from the mind. But its crap to be in a shitty mood and contemplate "oneness" etc. It would be better to contemplate appreciation. However I'm not really sure.

 

Also how do I make my own personal practice journal? I tried to make mine but it went in the discussion bit instead.