Energy Drinks & Zazen: The secret formula or impending doom?

[woodcarver]

I don't know anything about chi or the potential dangers of this but... energy drinks and zazen facing the wall works like nobody's business. I'm being hurled deeply into reality randomly throughout the day without even trying. At times it's actually terrifying. How long can you last?

[Ish]

Hold on, you lost me, what is "reality" ?

[joeblast]

Energy drinks and meditation... *facepalm* I now have another line for that list of most ass backward things ever.

[soaring crane]

energy drink, like Red Bull and Monster???

[woodcarver]

Hold on, you lost me, what is "reality" ?

 

Oh yeah well what is is. Is anything?

 

Better yet, imagine me just eating a sandwich completely naturally. That is my response.

Energy drinks and meditation... *facepalm* I now have another line for that list of most ass backward things ever.

 

Why?

 

energy drink, like Red Bull and Monster???

Yes. If the idea of zazen is to just go crazy until you're mind doesn't feel like it anymore, why not just accelerate it?

[ValleyStream]

Is this a troll thread?

[Rara]

Lol, just got back on to the forum today. Thanks for the entertainment guys XD

[woodcarver]

Is this a troll thread?

No, the boner thread was a troll thread.

[ValleyStream]

Well, I am not familiar with Zazen so I don’t know if energy drinks will aid or impede with that technique.

 

Yet, I would think that excessive anything in a nutritional sense would not help any kind of meditation. Usually energy drinks have excess sugars and caffeine so i would not personally intake one prior to a session.

 

I know that some types of energy drinks have less caffeine and no sugar.

 

5 Hour Energy is a good example, its main energy components are caffeine and B12 vitamins. (As much caffeine as a typical Pu-erh Gong Fu tea session)

 

If you really want to have an energy drink before meditation i would say that tea or coffee (1 cup) with some honey would be your best bet (nutritionally and financially). No excess sugars or caffeine. No foreign chemical doing whatever it is that they do to your body.

[woodcarver]

I don't even touch 5 hour energy. There's like 2-3 caffeine pills in those little things! I admit though that the crash was smooth.

 

I do tea and coffee sometimes, too

 

But in uber traditional zazen, you don't even use any mental techniques to calm your mind. You just let it run and it's the perfect posture what grounds you. Aside from the caffeine relationship, the simplicity of zazen works well with taoist philosophy!

 

Results, people!

Edited September 22, 2014 by woodcarver

[ValleyStream]

I don't even touch 5 hour energy. There's like 2-3 caffeine pills in those little things! I admit though that the crash was smooth.

 

Also, (after a bit of reading) you are right. A 5 hour energy has 200mg caffeine; which is over double of Pu-erh ceremony. So i retract my previous comments of it being equivallent or even a good choice. I just avoid all that BS and stck to the herbs and beans.

[woodcarver]

Probably wise, I'll switch over in case this is truly bad practice or once I've exhausted the resource. I do need to be more healthy...

[Bud Jetsun]

No two beings can take the same path to liberation, nor could any other being know the correct path for YOUR liberation.

 

Anything that gives one an alternative perspective offers the potential for new insight.

 

The goal of people spending years sitting is to make the delusions perpetually created by sober-mind cease. Progress doesn't occur from doing the same technique identically each time, I personally find it counter-productive to meditate the same way twice.

 

The goal of meditation is not to simply become disciplined at the act of practicing meditation, it is to make the profound realizations of impermanence, the reason to live unlimited compassion, to cease all belief and gain the understanding that if one is having thoughts, one is in a state of self-imposed delusion.

 

It's not coincidence that so many psychoactive plants are used to make teas for spiritual practicing cultures.

 

When you've made whatever discoveries await your mind through meditation while under the altered perspective your energy drink offers, perhaps move to trying homemade nettle tea. Add nettle leaf to simmering water until it works for you. Requires about 40 leaves to make a pot that works for me. I find it to be an indescribably empowering helper for giving the perspective and insights needed to break through to new deeper levels of mediation.

 

Many beings who achieved Buddha-mind regularly enjoyed various plant teachers before they gained there own awareness of Moksha.

 

Many beings who have no understanding of Buddha-mind or Moksha will also tell you plant teachers have nothing to offer.

Edited September 22, 2014 by Bud Jetsun

[dust]

Chan/Zen tea ceremonies have been around for centuries, based on tea's use as an aid to keeping awake and aware during meditation. Why not break from tradition a little and energy drinks a go? I don't like the taste of them, but if you do... go for it...

 

 

 

The goal of meditation is not to simply become disciplined at the act of practicing meditation

 

Right on

Edited September 22, 2014 by dustybeijing

[woodcarver]

Chan/Zen tea ceremonies have been around for centuries, based on tea's use as an aid to keeping awake and aware during meditation. Why not break from tradition a little and energy drinks a go? I don't like the taste of them, but if you do... go for it...

I don't like the taste either but boy do they make me crazy.

 

No two beings can take the same path to liberation, nor could any other being know the correct path for YOUR liberation.

 

Anything that gives one an alternative perspective offers the potential for new insight.

 

The goal of people spending years sitting is to make the delusions perpetually created by sober-mind cease. Progress doesn't occur from doing the same technique identically each time, I personally find it counter-productive to meditate the same way twice.

 

The goal of meditation is not to simply become disciplined at the act of practicing meditation, it is to make the profound realizations of impermanence, the reason to live unlimited compassion, to cease all belief and gain the understanding that if one is having thoughts, one is in a state of self-imposed delusion.

 

It's not coincidence that so many psychoactive plants are used to make teas for spiritual practicing cultures.

 

When you've made whatever discoveries await your mind through meditation while under the altered perspective your energy drink offers, perhaps move to trying homemade nettle tea. Add nettle leaf to simmering water until it works for you. Requires about 40 leaves to make a pot that works for me. I find it to be an indescribably empowering helper for giving the perspective and insights needed to break through to new deeper levels of mediation.

 

Many beings who achieved Buddha-mind regularly enjoyed various plant teachers before they gained there own awareness of Moksha.

 

Many beings who have no understanding of Buddha-mind or Moksha will also tell you plant teachers have nothing to offer.

I'll drink to that It gets the ego off gaurd. Got ya you son of a....

[woodcarver]

Long term consequences! Yay!

 

Alright I would not recommend this! It works way too well and I'm having trouble adjusting and functioning as a human.

[Walker]

In 2007 I once hoofed up a mountain in Tibet carrying crates of Red Bull for two nuns on their way home. In thanks we got to have tea with the abbot. His cell was well-stocked with Red Bull, too haha.

 

I DEFINITELY don't say that to encourage

drinking that stuff, I hasten to add...

[idiot_stimpy]

In 2007 I once hoofed up a mountain in Tibet carrying crates of Red Bull for two nuns on their way home. In thanks we got to have tea with the abbot. His cell was well-stocked with Red Bull, too haha.

 

I DEFINITELY don't say that to encourage

drinking that stuff, I hasten to add...

 

How peculiar!

[Rocky Lionmouth]

I'm not sure its an entirely good combo for the long haul since energy drinks have a reputation for not being good for the heart.

 

Hey, this is a sideline but almost on topic:

I have quite a few friends (most are grownups over 30) who have adhd or add and their medication is a small dose of an amphetamine analogue, they go from "all over the place" to much more "normal" and their self insights and spiritual development have increased tenfold since they got "sorted out" and helped, both in therapy and by meds, most of them credit the meds for getting int gear and learning relaxed focus, not needing to force their fledgling awareness into submission. Some of them have described similar issues that you hear from beginners in meditation, but in relation to everyday life situations.

 

I wonder about stimulants and neurology in relation to meditation and the like. I've read a lot of the effects of meditation on the brain and body and psyche, but what about the neurological predispositions?

Some of us maybe have a different hard wiring when it comes to awareness, meaning slightly more different than the larger majority, that has got to have at least some play in on meditation and such. I dont want to make assumptions about that field, simply musing...

I think i might have adhd but gimme two cups of coffe in a row and i get blurry in photos, energy drinks have the same result.

Edited November 27, 2014 by Rocky Lionmouth

[Flolfolil]

...

Edited March 5, 2015 by Flolfolil

[woodcarver]

in fact, its an added challenge.....think of it in terms of meditating vs. meditating despite someone poking you in the face repeatedly

Exactly and combined with staring at a wall/sitting in a strange position creates a mental obstacle course

 

But again now that I've done it a lot, I now know not to. Resistance is best released slowly.

 

Tea is fine.

[futuredaze]

In 2007 I once hoofed up a mountain in Tibet carrying crates of Red Bull for two nuns on their way home. In thanks we got to have tea with the abbot. His cell was well-stocked with Red Bull, too haha.

 

I DEFINITELY don't say that to encourage

drinking that stuff, I hasten to add...

Seems like a commercial for Red Bull...

 

Walker gets tired on the way up, drinks a Red Bull, gets wings, flies up to the Tibetan home. cue "Red Bull gives you wings"

Edited November 30, 2014 by futuredaze

[futuredaze]

I think the chemicals, artificial flavors, colors, etc. make most energy drinks worse than coffee or tea. Black tea and green tea have helped me when I stayed in a Soto Zen monastery for about a month this past year. I tried not to drink it much, but 5.30AM meditation was tough for me to stay focused. I can wake up when the sun rises naturally and have energy, but having to set an alarm and get up before the sun rose was challenging to adapt to. Drinking the tea would make it a lot easier to stay focused since I wasn't nodding off.

[woodcarver]

Ooh I would love to do that. How was the condition of your body after the month?

[futuredaze]

I definitely had more awareness of my body than before. I felt quite light since I was eating less food, slowly and more mindfully, and meditating more (usually about 2 hours a day, but during retreats could be 5-6 hours a day). My posture seemed to improve by staying there. I felt that I could tap into energy more easier than before, whether or not that energy was people's hidden feelings or simply being really present with the weather and elements. I still feel this way after leaving (it's been about 2 months now since I left, although I was not there for a month straight -- I stayed about 3 weeks, then left to work on other things for a while, and then returned for a bit over a week). I'm a lot more consistent with my practice than before.

 

Overall, I felt less analytical thinking when doing things around people while I was there. Normally, I enjoy conversation, humor, finding out about people, but at the monastery we were discouraged from talking unless it relates to the practice or working meditation. Hard to retrain that outside the temple, but I do feel much more calm and at peace within myself.

Edited December 1, 2014 by futuredaze