FreeTheStig

Living Aboard, Close quarters Practice aboard a 30ft boat, aka my home.

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Ahoy,

 

I live aboard a small boat. Part luxury and part austerity, it suits me well. The motion of the ocean is often violent enough to prevent and semblance of physical stillness. That and the space limitation, as there is not enough space to perform a pushup in the gangway, and about an inch over head when standing upright. The weather is often crummy so I practice inside. Deer Excercise, Microcosmic, Standing, and sitting is the extent of my morning, weather permitting. Cramped boat living has its upsides, but results in a stiff uncirculated body. If anyones has a recommendation for a minimalist sequence that can be done stationary, without hands over head, or any wide stance or space consuming movements I am eager to try them out.

 

Thanks,

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I am not quite sure what you are looking for exactly when you say practice, but you posted this in the taoist forum so I would guess you are looking for some 'taoist' practices. It sounds like you are already doing some good practices. IMO, a very good overall practice is quiet stationary standing and sitting meditation. Relax the body as much as possible and calm the mind, keep the back naturally and comfortably straight, bring your awareness to lower dantian for a moment, with breathing slow, soft, deep, natural, and relaxed, and then forget about everything and think about and focus on nothing in particular and continue meditating. This can be done in sitting or standing posture. This can be described as taoist 'wuji' meditation/cultivation practice, although various other traditions may have similar practices.

 

Practicing both postures (standing and sitting) is advantageous in my experience. If you have any health issues, giving more emphasis to the standing posture may be more beneficial at first. This practice is very simple and requires little space, however this is a very direct and very effective internal cultivation practice in my experience. Other forms of moving qigong are useful as a supplement in further helping bring the body and meridian/channel system into balance, and also in providing needed exercise to the body if you don't get much physical exercise otherwise. Moving qigong practices can also help to prevent qi stagnation and can further balance out the qi after practicing the sitting and standing meditation, but you can also do the same by practicing a qigong closing routine after meditation practice such as patting down the full body with the hands and massaging the neck and shoulders and back of head area. Really that is the essence and core of internal cultivation practice, and the potential is there to go far with this simple practice, and it doesn't cost a cent to learn as well. :) Sure there are no complicated or mysterious esoteric looking moves and such to catch and hold the mind's fancy; but, in my own experience anyway, this is a very beneficial and effective and very direct cultivation practice. If a person practices simply and practices regularly (daily is best), and is able to properly calm and relax the mind and body and just allow things to progress naturally without interference from the the mind (without paying too much attention to or focusing on the body or any sensations effects that may arise), and without trying to control things or trying to cause things to happen, then beneficial results should come at a natural pace.

 

It is advisable to learn under the guidance of an accomplished teacher to assist with any questions or issues that may arise and to help keep things progressing in beneficial way, but if a person doesn't have access to a teacher they can still make good progress in improving health and improving well being *if* they practice naturally and in a balanced way such as described above. That is a big if though, as many people do end up varying from the above guidelines in various ways even though they may think they are practicing naturally and not using the mind to interfere with the process, and think that they are relaxing, etc. For that reason it is advisable to be learning from and be under the guidance of an accomplished teacher. If a person doesn't live in close proximity to a good teacher, there may be opportunities to learn at workshops and continue practice on their own between visits to the teacher.

 

Good luck in your practice. :)

 

P.S. I wanted to clarify something. Although standing meditation is a stationary form of internal qigong meditation, when practiced properly it does boost and promote qi and blood circulation, balance and improve the function of the internal organs, and also acts as a form of exercise for the ligaments, tendons, muscles, and bones etc. in various ways. Therefore standing meditation can be a very good overall practice when one doesn't have much space for practice.

 

Also, in standing meditation, arms can be down by the side with palms somewaht turned to face behind to keep the armpit area open, or palms can be held with arms circular (with shoulders down and relaxed) facing the navel area or the mid chest area in embracing tree fashion. Palms down by your sides or facing navel area is probably better for beginners, although some teachers from martial arts traditions teach holding palms facing the mid chest area right from the start, for some reason. Not sure what the reasoning is for that, but my former tai chi teacher taught me all these posture variations.

Edited by The Way Is Virtue

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Tai Chi Ruler practice might work for you. I've been doing this version for over a year now. It cultivates the 8 extraordinary channels and amps up the chi in your hands and feet. I love it! It's a moving practice, but it takes a VERY small space.

 

http://www.amazon.co...f=cm_cr_pr_pb_t

 

If you go to the Masterworks International website, you can watch some of the DVD and get a feel for the practice. (Doing the practice MUCH more slowly than shown has been more effective for me...) Adeha PS Interesting doing the rocking if the boat is rocking too!

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Tai chi ruler is good for concentration but it restricts the movements and the distance between the hands and arms.

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Here is a Michael Winns version of the Pan Gu qi gong form. I find it to be powerful and relaxing, and there is only hand movements. Here's the youtube

 

He's sells a DVD of it, which includes a few other forms.

P.S. I think boat living is pretty cool. What body of water you floating on?

Edited by thelerner

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It sounds like you are already doing some good practices. IMO, a very good overall practice is quiet stationary standing and sitting meditation.

 

Agreed. http://www.youtube.com/user/StandStillBeFit Some type of standing post is really going to be your best bet espicially if the space is ultra small.

 

While some type of yoga / the 5 tibetans / tai chi / flowfit etc would be my preference for stretching, standing give will give relief to that "stiff uncirculated body" feeling (seems counterintuitive but try that 10 day stand still be fit program above and see if the practice resonates with you)

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