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[rain]

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[dwai]

I would like to deepen and cultivate my meditation technique. I practised Zuowang on a daily basis on my own for over a year, but now it has been long since last time I had enough daily discipline. I think I need a teacher.

I see myself practising qigong and meditation until old age. My qigong grandmaster lives in Norway

but I havent yet encountered the person who could give meditation guidance.

I practise qigong on a daily basis, yoga and tkd 3-4 times a week. My meditation is not yet disciplined enough.

I dont travel a lot, but I have relatives both in Puerto Vallart in Mexico, Chiang Mai in Thailand and in Michigan USA. I have planned to visit family in Chiang Mai this fall...

 

China is far away Aiwei....

 

I would sincerly appreciate some thoughts or suggestion on what you would recommend.

 

I just read Arnold Mindells "The Shamans Body" by the way. A great book with a big heart. He has teached at Esalen, but I really dont see myself in a big place. I have friends who have been there.

 

When you refer to meditation, what kind of meditation are you talking about? What have you been working on?

 

What do you hope to achieve with the Meditation practice?

[rain]

When you refer to meditation, what kind of meditation are you talking about? What have you been working on?

 

What do you hope to achieve with the Meditation practice?

 

thank you for your questions.

 

Enlightenment of course. Since I am not to bright yet. Hehe.

Gaining good healthy energy and not pollute my surroundings.

 

I practise "sitting and forgetting" I have described the concrete steps earlier if you look up my earlier posts.

no mantra. no teacher. just a doing that came as a natural response to a wish to balance the flow of energy between mind, body and emotion. For a start. I am very thankful for the silence that "arrived". But I now find I am clinging to this experience, and am full of "shit" wishing it to reappear, thinking it now a "copy", nothing ever is the same bla.bla. and trying to control everything. And I dont like that and feel I need guidance.

I guess I am just repeating this "mindfuck" that I do so "well". (excuse my language). And that I should resume to my task.

 

I was searching for a way to calm down the stress and mental chatter. Uderstanding that there is a world, - literally, between mentally grasping something and physically forming it.

Seing that I have continously fought with constructing and deconstructing in my artwork, it has been madly uncomfortable to be stuck between these energetic polarities. Thus I have been naturally drawn to the concept of physically experience these polarities and search for a way to merge them

 

So forget the enlightenment and bright health for the time being, and focus on babysteps...I am not quite sure what I am after. I just think I am once again stuck And I believe I am on the right track here when it comes to discipline, and yes it appeared to me yesterday standing under a pinetree, breathing its energy that what I was asking for was right there in its stillness.

But I believe there is a tradition, of very detailed training, and that there are mature people who have done this traing and are capable passing it on to a student.

[zenbrook]

But I believe there is a tradition, of very detailed training, and that there are mature people who have done this traing and are capable passing it on to a student.

I was going to throw in my two penneth upon first reading your post - I'm glad I held off.

 

My initial take was to suggest you trust yourself and your path - follow your heart and allow your natural wisdom and awareness to guide you - but the above post shows real maturity and you're right, there are people out there who work hard and have something to offer others. It sounds like you've reached a place in your practice where such a teacher can challenge you to take the next step.

 

That being said, the pine tree's wisdom should not be overlooked and neither should your own. It takes real presence to know when one's meditation becomes 'stuck' and real bravery to attempt to move forward from this point. You have my admiration.

 

I'm sorry I cannot suggest anyone myself who may be able to help, though I'm sure you'll get many good suggestions from the others here. I do, however, wish you all the very best and thank you for your sharing and your honesty.

 

Peace,

ZenB

[Eric23]

thank you for your questions.

 

Seing that I have continously fought with constructing and deconstructing in my artwork, it has been madly uncomfortable to be stuck between these energetic polarities. Thus I have been naturally drawn to the concept of physically experience these polarities and search for a way to merge them

 

 

 

Art is my avocation and when I'm on a creative roll, stillness of mind is almost impossible. The imagery is always there and problems/issues with how to get it on a piece of paper occupy most, if not all of my mental capacity. I've learned to just roll with it and accept it as part of being an artist. I still stand and put the time in with my practice. Letting the thoughts and images come and go has become part of the artistic process. From an art perspective, one of the hardest descisions is knowing when to walk away from a piece. There comes a point when fiddling with it (constructing and deconstructing) ruins the spontenaity of the original vision. You have to walk away from it and consider it done. Move on to the next project.

[dwai]

 

I was searching for a way to calm down the stress and mental chatter. Uderstanding that there is a world, - literally, between mentally grasping something and physically forming it.

Seing that I have continously fought with constructing and deconstructing in my artwork, it has been madly uncomfortable to be stuck between these energetic polarities. Thus I have been naturally drawn to the concept of physically experience these polarities and search for a way to merge them

 

So forget the enlightenment and bright health for the time being, and focus on babysteps...I am not quite sure what I am after. I just think I am once again stuck And I believe I am on the right track here when it comes to discipline, and yes it appeared to me yesterday standing under a pinetree, breathing its energy that what I was asking for was right there in its stillness.

But I believe there is a tradition, of very detailed training, and that there are mature people who have done this traing and are capable passing it on to a student.

 

Hi, a non-expert for sure (as sure as the day) that I am, somethings from my own experience tells me that the Universe will re-arrange for you when your intent is right.

 

Back in 2002/3, I had started rigorous Tai Chi and pranayama/mediation techniques (albeit self-taught) and I had teachings via a series of dreams (most folks would consider me as being reasonably "sane"). Perhaps most folks don't consider "Dream teaching" as valid, but it was real as it gets and that was real meditation.

 

Maybe the teacher is out there, right within your sight, but you are not able to see him/her?

We sometimes close our mind to possibilities because of pre-conceived notions of what "should be". My Tai Chi Teacher tells us that we need to hold a beginner's mind, without which learning cannot happen (I'm not saying you aren't doing that, but simply that it is recommended).

 

however, most of times, I don't know what the heck I'm talking about...

[rain]

Hi, a non-expert for sure (as sure as the day) that I am, somethings from my own experience tells me that the Universe will re-arrange for you when your intent is right.

 

Back in 2002/3, I had started rigorous Tai Chi and pranayama/mediation techniques (albeit self-taught) and I had teachings via a series of dreams (most folks would consider me as being reasonably "sane"). Perhaps most folks don't consider "Dream teaching" as valid, but it was real as it gets and that was real meditation.

 

Maybe the teacher is out there, right within your sight, but you are not able to see him/her?

We sometimes close our mind to possibilities because of pre-conceived notions of what "should be". My Tai Chi Teacher tells us that we need to hold a beginner's mind, without which learning cannot happen (I'm not saying you aren't doing that, but simply that it is recommended).

 

however, most of times, I don't know what the heck I'm talking about...

 

 

thanks to all of you.

"beginners mind" is a beautiful advice.

Sometimes though I suspect I hide there...

Interesting to hear from another one who works with canvas and paint. Yes when on "the roll" it sure is action and reaction, no silence, at most the bliss of intense consentration.

[Spectrum]

Have you been practicing your tai chi chuan everyday?

Edited August 7, 2007 by Spectrum

[rain]

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Edited April 18, 2008 by rain

[Spectrum]

yes as I said.

 

-but not today. first time since i was out with chicken-pox and 41,5 degrees celcius.

 

Wow! Good recovery to you.

 

i like my qigong and will do it before bedtime.

 

It's the best! I found the best spaces between mental and physical before bed and upon waking. Da Liu in his book Meditation and Tai Chi Chuan did a form of gazing before bedtime mixed with fire breathing. Best taichi "flow" practices seems to happen 30 min after waking. No mental attachments of "the day" to cling to. Just free empty space. At night working w/ the chi and circulating seem of the best order, but everyone has to find their chi cycle and go with their training schedule.

 

Same w/ chi gung. Even when sick... a short burst of chi gung breathing, or standing practice, or even sitting practice (align all 33 vertibra), or laying down!!!... will bring you into tune or assist a natural process towards that chi flow state of being. It's important to FEEL when you are on your up swing to practice a little and when your body is saying rest... rest ... let go... fall backwards... sleep. We live between so many states we're the singular lense and balance is in flux at times.

 

why do you ask?

 

Because once you learn a true classical style like tai chi, all the elements of the language are there for you to work with. The peices of the puzzle i guess you could say. Our job is to put the peices of our puzzle together. Whoever we are. Looking at how they go together is one way. In any situation in which problem solving becomes essential for survival success as a pattern is easiest to see and demonstrate in the physical world. Wuji Yin Yang TaiJi Bagua. The pieces.

 

The Perfect Move:

 

1. Get out of the Way

2. Redirect

3. Technique

4. Setup for the next Perfect Move

 

Tai Chi as a classical art encapsulates a group of physical ideas, ideas that are not expressed in words. Moving ideas that demonstrate methodically through both the flow of practice and the reflections of analysis, the intelligence inherhent inside and out of the form. Every move being different but the same as the next. One long move. One long Perfect move. A signpost on the Way to the next perfect move.

 

i am in third part of nei ging gong.

next step is luo han.

 

Am i right in assuming wuji is an integral part of all your form training?

 

i realize that i do have more than enough to attend to.

i am lazy, and strive to keep it simple.

 

Simple is good. Lazy can mean easy if you do it less more often. Set small goals. Essentials set the tone for the cander of the practice. Keep it simple. Adjust gait while you walk. You might find yourself looking for a strip of grass close by to drop into a subtle wuji and word on figure 8'ing from leg to leg to feel what's going on. You might just drop everything for a few moments, you never know.

 

(that is; keeping it simple seems for me very difficult. I feel scatter-brained).

 

Making the practicve physical w/ postural adjustments that accompany your breath awareness is primary. Fixing your gaze is primary. Wuji was shown to me w/ half closed eyes w/ peripheral awareness. Like all the edges of the bubble. Fixing your gaze is a way to quiet thoughts because it is physical as much as mental. If your a kinesthetic person this is the window to let go of your ego. For the selfish it becomes another technique and will only work a couple times then on to the next thing. most important thing in your practice is to keep letting go of what you feel you have learned.

 

There is no physical world that exists but as an extention of the swimming pool of chi that it exists as a harmonic of. How we move through this starts as a vibrating string of a meridian, a fillament humming inside this fleshy bag of water and crystal bone. Blow on the ember. Protect life. Guard what is Sacred. There are those who would use "technique" for their own vices. It's important to leave your ego at the door.

 

great links. thank you for sharing them. must admit i enjoyed "the mountain hermit" the most. i just visited the great canyons in the south of france. most useful for me to ponder the connection between qi and poomse, beginners mind-learning, and the fear of falling/the disbelief in flying.

 

You nailed it right here. Boy look at that Dipper. Your heart is in it.

 

i really dig synchronicity and dreams. mixed with your generous reflections, they are great as map and compass.

 

I enjoy the authentic dialog. You are looking for the next level. It shows. Reeling Silk.

Edited August 14, 2007 by Spectrum

[rain]

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[rain]

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[Spectrum]

wuji, wudang, wushu..

 

Traditions, Arts and People. Mostly Artists and Seekers the same as many on this board.

 

i am ignorant you know. but i want to show you this. please look up the last sequence in the middel videoclip from the mudo-galla on u-tube with the classical music. it is a wushu team...

 

http://www.mudo.no/

 

the guy is doing something i have been naturally drawn to. it is blissfull to watch him.

i think he is actually "being" wuji... is that possible?

 

without seeing something resembling the swirling magesty that must have touched your senses I can only say yes. I will watch him on my next trip to a city. The mountains call.

 

i have been naturally drawn to circular shapes by the way. i have produced a series of "mandalas",

( "in singing and dancing is the voice of the law"

(some zen dude)

 

Arnt' we all? Tinkering with little more then sticks and rocks for 6000 years you'd think we could remember how this puzzle fit together.

 

Goto my album here titled: Geometry

 

http://www.sacredcircuits.net/gallery/main.php

 

I have used mandalas as single point meditations in which I would swear the same effects that optical illusions use to overlay your eyes can be used to superimpose geometric "ideas" onto your consciousness, and not just in concept, but in both visual and kinesthetic modes of awareness. So simple. Endless variations. Once the window is opened and you get a breath of fresh air, the Taoist tradition says play with it and you'll be tickled. Ride it when you need to, yet it is hard to grasp, like a Tiger or Snake, but the underlying geometry most certainly falls into the realm of sacred art / geometry via it's associated energy pathways, residule cinibar fields, frequency awareness changes, and everything that in any saturday morning cartoon. It's all actually pretty comic book like. I mean imagine if we saw everything frequency pattern that was humming about us in the middleo f a city. YOU'D BE BLIND!

 

I digress. Quiet River Runs. Still Mountain. Is.

 

Spectrum

Edited August 17, 2007 by Spectrum

[Spectrum]

Art is my avocation and when I'm on a creative roll, stillness of mind is almost impossible. The imagery is always there and problems/issues with how to get it on a piece of paper occupy most, if not all of my mental capacity. I've learned to just roll with it and accept it as part of being an artist. I still stand and put the time in with my practice. Letting the thoughts and images come and go has become part of the artistic process. From an art perspective, one of the hardest descisions is knowing when to walk away from a piece. There comes a point when fiddling with it (constructing and deconstructing) ruins the spontenaity of the original vision. You have to walk away from it and consider it done. Move on to the next project.

 

Would you say that there are common themes in your artistic pursuits in which could possibly be navigated to greated depths in a sustainable altered state of consciousness? Or is it just a bunch of squiggly lines breathing?

 

Being an artist there is such a thing as "art madness". We all get it. If your an artist and you don't do art, your not an artist, your just crazy.

[Eric23]

Would you say that there are common themes in your artistic pursuits in which could possibly be navigated to greated depths in a sustainable altered state of consciousness? Or is it just a bunch of squiggly lines breathing?

 

Being an artist there is such a thing as "art madness". We all get it. If your an artist and you don't do art, your not an artist, your just crazy.

 

So so many years ago in high school, I wanted to become an architect; took drafting/mechanical drawing classes. Architecture didn't pan out, wound up spending my entire adult life as a cartographer. So my work life is spent developing very accurate, tightly done maps. This has spilled over into my art and my style is rather realist (although other artists have told me I'm a surrealist). Never the less, what I would really like to be is an impressionist, however my mind just simply doesn't work that way. So yes, I'd like to try doing art in an altered state of consciousness just to see if it would loosen me up. I've really considered doing acid or shrooms (have only done one hit of grass in my entire life-not a drug user at all) just to see what my art would look like. The past several years have been devoted to figurative work, you can add shading and shadows to squiggly lines breathing.

[hagar]

So so many years ago in high school, I wanted to become an architect; took drafting/mechanical drawing classes. Architecture didn't pan out, wound up spending my entire adult life as a cartographer. So my work life is spent developing very accurate, tightly done maps. This has spilled over into my art and my style is rather realist (although other artists have told me I'm a surrealist). Never the less, what I would really like to be is an impressionist, however my mind just simply doesn't work that way. So yes, I'd like to try doing art in an altered state of consciousness just to see if it would loosen me up. I've really considered doing acid or shrooms (have only done one hit of grass in my entire life-not a drug user at all) just to see what my art would look like. The past several years have been devoted to figurative work, you can add shading and shadows to squiggly lines breathing.

 

My girlfriend is an artist, and a cultivator, and has run into these kind of issues herself. This is only my perspective, and I hope you don't see this as imposing my view on yours, as it is only my opinion.

 

I haven't read this entire thread, but from what I see you write here, the problem is not that you are unable to break through into a different state of consciousness so that you can create the art you want. Your aspiration towards impressionism is fine, but only an idea. Usually, hitting a rut in the creative process is not related to wanting to conceptually or formally be somewhere else. It is the opposite that is usually the case (for most artists that I have talked to).

 

From a cultivation perspective, creative work always starts from what is there, either on a conceptual, formal, or craft-oriented perspective. The context form which you start is always going to influence your work, and should never be seen as an obstacle, but as a resource. So I guess if you feel like your realist mind is running loops around your desire to be impressionistic, maybe you haven't gone all the way? Maybe you're not dwelling totally in what is and thus maybe you are not realist enough? If you go all the way with something, it usually transforms into something else, just like stillness and yin, when it reaches its apex always shifts into yang. Impressionism for me has always been an early fusion of what would later be called surrealism and realism.

 

You don't need drugs to break a pattern creatively. You only need to dwell totally in what is there.

Like Kafka said; If you sit still, the world will curl up by your feet and reveal its secrets...

 

hope you take this as only my opinion, which may be totally off in relation to what you're really into.

 

h

[rain]

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[rain]

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[Eric23]

Hagar and Rain,

 

Thanks for the response to my post.

 

Quoting Hagar, "Maybe you're not dwelling totally in what is and thus maybe you are not realist enough? If you go all the way with something, it usually transforms into something else, just like stillness and yin, when it reaches its apex always shifts into yang. Impressionism for me has always been an early fusion of what would later be called surrealism and realism" You're probably right. It's not so much of a creative block per se, I've got lots of ideas to work on. I'm learning to become comfortable with my style and accept it. However when I view a piece of impressionistic work that knocks my socks off, there's this feeling of why can't I paint like that?

 

Rain,

We start off every Tuesday evening figure drawing sessions with 10 2 minute gesture poses. We also eliminated the 2 hour long pose for several 20 miniute poses. It has done wonders for my drawing skills.

 

I think that underlying all of this is a part of my self that wants to hold on and not let go of anything. It's almost a fear of giving up control, and it goes beyond my art work. There is this need to hold onto what is known and what has been done before even while knowing that great wonders lie ahead if only I could just let myself change. Ergo, I meditate and per Spectrum, seek stillness

[hagar]

Hagar and Rain,

 

Thanks for the response to my post.

 

Quoting Hagar, "Maybe you're not dwelling totally in what is and thus maybe you are not realist enough? If you go all the way with something, it usually transforms into something else, just like stillness and yin, when it reaches its apex always shifts into yang. Impressionism for me has always been an early fusion of what would later be called surrealism and realism" You're probably right. It's not so much of a creative block per se, I've got lots of ideas to work on. I'm learning to become comfortable with my style and accept it. However when I view a piece of impressionistic work that knocks my socks off, there's this feeling of why can't I paint like that?

 

Rain,

We start off every Tuesday evening figure drawing sessions with 10 2 minute gesture poses. We also eliminated the 2 hour long pose for several 20 miniute poses. It has done wonders for my drawing skills.

 

I think that underlying all of this is a part of my self that wants to hold on and not let go of anything. It's almost a fear of giving up control, and it goes beyond my art work. There is this need to hold onto what is known and what has been done before even while knowing that great wonders lie ahead if only I could just let myself change. Ergo, I meditate and per Spectrum, seek stillness

 

If you see the great transformation of style in modern artists like Picasso, or even contemporary one's like Matthew Barney and all the way back to 14th century artists like Botticelli they all have one common component in the transformation of their work. It always reflected another internal transformation in their mode of perception. And these changes are always accompanied by fear and pain to some degree. It is never really about art per se, but how we see ourselves, and reality. And the canvas, the screen or the blank page will always confine and restrict. But most restriciting is our minds. So like the great masters, a leap of faith is needed, and usually a profound shift of perspective.

I think this goes for any internal work. Meditiation included. So I intuitively felt like saying that your struggle with wanting a change in style is just a part of the process, and like the Zen archer, you have to be spontaneously unspontaneous, neither forcing change nor rejecting it, neither be in or out of control. Sooner or later, it will happen. And ofcourse, it won't be you that makes it happen, it will happen to you.

Atleast that's what I struggle with in meditation.

 

h

[rain]

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[rain]

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[Spectrum]

ever read th Mullah Nasrudin?

 

No I haven't. Refs? Checking Amazon promptly.

 

yes! exactly. i have worked with shaping endless mandalas as virtual objects from exact same source.

the energy they emanate...

 

Beautiful.

 

Remember we are surrounded by symbols. cartoons can be most instructive.

 

Scary. Comparing Looney Tunes to Power Rangers and beyond.

 

Intriguing thread.

 

Spectrum

[Eric23]

My form of doodling at work is to make mandala-like sketchs using a template with circles, squares, triangles and hexigons. Been doing it for years, well before discovering Taoism. Just another interesting tid-bit as this thread gets furthur off course (but very interesting and illuminating)

[Spectrum]

Man Eric. You are SO on the path. Keep going man. You have the perfect profession for you! Check your PM. I mean your making mandalas at work AND when you practice!

Edited August 18, 2007 by Spectrum