nine tailed fox Posted August 2, 2012 Hi guys pls share some good concentration exercises...... i have found that concentration is the most essential skill necessary to reach meditative states...... and most people lack it..... 1 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Diamond Spectrum Posted August 2, 2012 Single Point Exercises -Thumb Tack Drill: How long does it take for the wall to disapear from your peripheral focus after fixing your gaze on the center of a thumbtack. Pushing the thumbtack in at the onset. -Hanging the Weight: holding a one to two lb barbell weight from wuji in such a manner as to hang the weight through it's hole into the upper corner of the room. Suspending your thought on the manner in which you expend effort on such a small matter. -WuJi: suspend the weight of the body Dissolve sensation of effort. Relaxed Poised Active State of Waking Rest Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
konchog uma Posted August 2, 2012 Shamatha. Letting your mind rest in the breath, watching the breath. When your mind wanders and you catch it, bring it back to the breath. With practice, you can attain a state of less and less thoughts and more and more concentration. Its that simple, but its not that easy lol! Very little practice beats shamatha for building concentration, thats why it is the backbone of Buddhist meditation. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
zerostao Posted August 2, 2012 focus on the flame of a candle and be aware of every flicker ,motion, color, expansion, flames within the flame, etc 2 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Simple_Jack Posted August 2, 2012 Hi guys pls share some good concentration exercises...... i have found that concentration is the most essential skill necessary to reach meditative states...... and most people lack it..... I suggest you google the Vijnana Bhairava Tantra. It's a text from Kashmir Shaivism that lists 112 different types of meditations for practioners of varying proclivities. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Diamond Spectrum Posted August 3, 2012 "Diana's Bath" Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Diamond Spectrum Posted August 6, 2012 (edited) Candle Gazing aka Scrying Da Liu wrote some good pieces on it. Edited August 6, 2012 by Diamond Spectrum Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
eye_of_the_storm Posted August 6, 2012 I'll second Trataka / Fire Gazing /. Candle Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Everything Posted August 6, 2012 (edited) Hi guys pls share some good concentration exercises...... i have found that concentration is the most essential skill necessary to reach meditative states...... and most people lack it..... You naturally focus upon that which you are passionate about, because you have less resistance to it. Yet, you can also learn to focus on things that are neutral. For example, you can't focus on something or person you have lots of resistance towards. It will not clear the mind. So you focus on a cat or a wall or a fly or a leafe or a neutral vison. You have to decide what feels least resistant to you. For example, if you love a woman, you enjoy watching her breathing in and out as she lies down with you. You naturally focus very well on these kind of things. Avoid unnatural things such as TV. What TV does is they edit the films, especially nowadays, to make them very chaotic and fragmented, throwing your mind all over the place untill it becomes totally confused, disoriented and unable to have a clear focus. Thats the whole purpose of tv. To cause chaos and then create a new corrupt order in your mind. For example, the harmony of selling and buying commercialized products become attractive to the mind after it is totally confused and disoriented from all the chaotic edditing techniques and rapid information bombardation. If you do use youtube during the day, try to avoid videos that have allot of edittig in them. There are plenty of people who speak naturally without editting 30 minutes worth of recording and compressing all sound and vision into 3 minutes. No one lacks concentration. Its just that what they concentrate on is no longer stable. See your mind as water. It seeks harmony and balance and calm and rest. It can only do so if you bring it to the proper environment. The environment of your mind is chosen by your focus. You can always focus on your breath. For it shall always be there with you. It is wonderful. Edited August 6, 2012 by Everything Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Gemstone Posted August 6, 2012 http://www.amazon.com/Concentration-Guide-Mental-Mastery-Sadhu/dp/0879800232/ref=sr_1_2?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1344272422&sr=1-2&keywords=concentration Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Diamond Spectrum Posted August 6, 2012 http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trataka Trataka (in Sanskrit, n., त्राटक, trāṭaka, to look, or to gaze) is the practice of staring at some external object. It is used in yoga as a way of developing concentration, strengthening the eyes, and stimulating the Ajna chakra. In its first stage, the practitioner fixes his attention on a symbol or yantra, such as the Om symbol, a black dot, or the image of some deity, and stares at it, paying attention to each thought and feeling as it arises, and letting them go, so that the mind is completely absorbed in the symbol. The practice continues until the eyes begin to water, at which point they are closed, and relaxed. The second stage is staring at a candle flame. The practice is the same up until the eyes begin to water, after which the eyes are closed, and the yogi tries to concentrate on the after image, and hold it for as long as possible. At first, it will be a real after-image, but later, it will exist only in the mind's eye, and the exercise in concentration comes from trying to maintain it there for a long period of time. Trataka is supposedly the technique which sadhakas use to develop psychic powers. Trataka on the Sun or one's own mirror image is considered to be extremely powerful, but without a guru's assistance it can be dangerous to try these. 1 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
eye_of_the_storm Posted August 7, 2012 (edited) ^ Cool I wouldn't worry about the guru and danger so much though... I wouldnt worry about it at all in fact Edited August 13, 2012 by White Wolf Running On Air Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Aetherous Posted August 11, 2012 I don't think it's about "concentration" (like how cherry juice is the concentrated essence of cherries) as much as it is about releasing the mind through bringing attention back to something (so it's more like having a small taste of a fresh cherry, smellling its fragrance, seeing its deep red juicy color, feeling the soft texture on the tongue, etc). The word concentration reminds me of a student with intensely stressed brows, gritting their teeth over endless math equations. You don't want to stagnate or condense the mind by forcefully focusing...but you do want to calm it. With a calm mind, you can pay attention in a healthy way...then you can "concentrate" on something rather than be scattered, because you're quiet. The wind tries to concentrate the lake waters, and it becomes turbulent...the lake actually spills over onto the beach and rises in the air with its waves, becoming scattered...but when the wind turns into a healthy breeze, the waters become still and can reflect the clouds in the sky. Or throw a closed plastic bottle into a campfire...fire tries to concentrate the air within the container...then you get an explosion of the container. Whereas if you just have a container left open, the air is naturally all within the empty space. I think paying attention to something external, like a flower, while letting thoughts and feelings go...just noticing all of the intricacies of such a small thing...is the way to go. Do you realize how little we notice when we label something, like a purple flower? The words leave out so much of what it actually is. We get an overall picture but, do you realize that a "flower" is made up of so many things? Almost an infinite amount of parts...how many can you count? I bet there are more parts contained within each part that you categorize! Notice...look closer...the whole world is like this. It's important to get out of the head and take note...then you are someone who is aware. Good to have a dedicated session of this for at least 10 minutes a day to calm the mind. The candle method is similar. The candle is a flame rising upward, so you're cultivating the central channel and fire element at the same time of calming the mind. Or if you look at a steaming cup of tea, that is also somewhat similar (one of the few times that you will see water rising, which is interesting). Anything that you use can be good...as long as you're using the key of letting go of thoughts that arise, and noticing the details of your external object in a very relaxed and open way...like you are a healthy calm breeze barely touching the waters....like you're slowly savoring the essence of a single cherry...like you're an open container. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Diamond Spectrum Posted August 13, 2012 Scotty, Food is a good meditation. Fixing the concentration is exercising the attention, the blade of the mind, the attitude of a cat ready to pounce is perhaps a good analogy, a mind which is open is not tense, but ready, watching clouds pass, reflecting the moon. Consternation and frustration obsession and psychosis have their own ends. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
fizix Posted August 13, 2012 So many overlook the the physical exertion aspect of concentration..... laziness, it's not all about visualizing rays of light coming out of your butt.... get off your butt and cultivate true concentration by honing your will through physical exertion; everyone wants to master the mind without mastering the body... internal martial arts/mind yoga is bottlenecked without balance of the physical, external counterpart. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Diamond Spectrum Posted August 13, 2012 In re reading your words, I would like to form the idea of a distinction between placing the attention on a sense, or placing it THROUGH the sense. This would be like gazing at the candle until the candle is gone. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
eye_of_the_storm Posted August 27, 2012 This would be like gazing at the candle until the candle is gone. Is this similar to staring into space and the room begins to disappear? Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
