Full Lotus is a state of being.

[idiot_stimpy]

Be careful promoting full lotus on thetaobums it pisses people off. haha.

 

But yeah all the qigong masters I know about rely on full lotus for long meditation - 4 hours nonstop full lotus every night to recharge the energy.

 

 

I didn't realize you're the pythagoreanfulllotus himself!!

 

Welcome back.

[voidisyinyang]

Since people are still reading this thread then I'll bump it back up.

Yes qigong master Chunyi Lin says if you want to see if someone is a real qigong master then just see how long they can sit in full lotus in ease. One time a cafe owner said that I regularly sit in full lotus for hours at a time. haha. But that is nothing compared to a real qigong master who will do 49 days nonstop in full lotus meditation! http://qigongmaster.com

 

[gendao]

On 3/9/2015 at 12:59 PM, C T said:

Its more useful to full-lotus the mind than it is the body. 

 

Plenty of people can get into and maintain the physical posture with ease

Lol, ORLY???  IME, I've known of only very, very few people that can maintain full lotus with ease!

 

Although I would agree that certain abilities, like psychic energy healing, are not dependent upon it.  Which is not to say it might not still enhance them, but that one can be a born natural with such abilities even without being able to sit in full lotus.  Conversely, I doubt that being able to sit in full lotus easily would immediately grant those abilities, either...although it might help pave the way...?

 

For example, I don't know this woman, but:

Quote

Sarah said: 'I was always a strange kid. I didn't know that others couldn't see alternative stuff - I don't just see what's there, I see all sorts of other shapes, colours, forms.'

When I look at people, I see their energetic form. So I closed it down; I didn't talk about it. I tried to be as normal as possible.

'At 21, after developing quinsy, an abscess in my throat, I had an out-of-body experience and I was looking down at myself - and I thought, "Yep, it's still there".'
'When you have the ability to hold this shamanic energy and to use it for the good of people, if you don't use it, you get ill because it gets stuck and becomes distorted, which is why I had all those car crashes and different illnesses.

'The moment I stepped up and said, "OK well I'm going to do this now", I got better. Everything went. I cured myself while learning to use my shamanic energy effectively.

'I didn't take any prescription medication for any of these things, followed an alternative medicine route of homeopathy and self-care - gentle exercise, walking, rest - and shamanic journeying and self introspection.'

Edited November 18, 2019 by gendao

[Spotless]

"Chunyi Lin qigong master said 20 minutes of full lotus = 4 hours of any other type of meditation."

 

Humorous 

[Spotless]

On 3/10/2015 at 1:11 AM, idiot_stimpy said:

On 3/8/2015 at 9:18 AM, Innersoundqigong said:

Be careful promoting full lotus on thetaobums it pisses people off. haha.

 

But yeah all the qigong masters I know about rely on full lotus for long meditation - 4 hours nonstop full lotus every night to recharge the energy.

4 hours nonstop full lotus every night to recharge the energy.

 

Is this also part of what you were taught - that it is "to recharge the energy"?   Specifically - is this what Chunyi Lin conveyed?

[ralis]

1 hour ago, Spotless said:

4 hours nonstop full lotus every night to recharge the energy.

 

Is this also part of what you were taught - that it is "to recharge the energy"?   Specifically - is this what Chunyi Lin conveyed?

 

I think the purveyors of the efficacy of the full lotus pose is more hype than substance. I have not in all my research found any substance to back up this claim.

[Taomeow]

11 minutes ago, ralis said:

 

I think the purveyors of the efficacy of the full lotus pose is more hype than substance. I have not in all my research found any substance to back up this claim.

 

Full lotus is one tool (out of many) in a method for internal cultivation.  Like any other tool, it can be used with maximum efficiency when used as intended only.  And like any other tool, it can be abused.  A needle is for sewing garments or making embroideries but you can also throw it into a roommate's soup.  Or you can prick your own finger trying to sew on a button.  Or you can try a needle for embroidery on silk on a leather jacket and conclude it's useless.  Or you can't thread it because, e.g., you have presbyopia.  And so on.  But the needle is fully external, so it's much easier to "research."  You can look at a piece of silk embroidery and ascertain its efficacy.  Sort of.  You still don't know how making something like this (see below) would make you feel.  

 

 

[doc benway]

I find it humorous to read the narrow-minded and dogmatic proclamations about this or that tool, this or that method...

We all need different things and this changes with time.

It's nice to see that people find something they think is working for them.

Not so nice to see when they are not changing or growing, just becoming infatuated with another object.

[Earl Grey]

I've struggled to enjoy doing full lotus for several years now, and really can only do half lotus in my own system of practice for Flying Phoenix, which still leaves me needing to prop up my legs with the assistance of my hands to "lock them" and then spend about 5 minutes after the meditation to "wake up" my legs as the lack of circulation is extremely painful.

 

I would love to be able to sit in full lotus for 4 hours a day or more if I could to have a better opinion on this.

[doc benway]

On 11/13/2019 at 9:30 AM, voidisyinyang said:

Yes qigong master Chunyi Lin says if you want to see if someone is a real qigong master then just see how long they can sit in full lotus in ease.

 

I would love to hear from Chunyi Lin just how accurate are all the statements he is credited with on this site...

 

[Taomeow]

6 hours ago, steve said:

 

I would love to hear from Chunyi Lin just how accurate are all the statements he is credited with on this site...

 

 

One assertion ascribed to him here is actually a version of something I heard from Wang Liping: an hour in full lotus taoist meditation has the same benefits as ten hours of the same meditation in a different position.  However, he also pointed out a few crucial distinctions:

 

if you sit in lotus but not in a specific meditation that is part of your cultivation practice -- say, you're very flexible and sit in lotus watching TV -- you will have absolutely nothing gained except maybe some extra flexibility in the joints (if you're doing it correctly that is -- if not, you may just rely on overstretched ligaments and gradually lose as much structural integrity and leg strength as you gain flexibility, which is not a very desirable trade-off.)  Sitting in lotus while your mind isn't sitting, so to speak, is about as cultivating as crossing your arms.

 

Also, he said that it is not any indicator of any "level of accomplishment," just something that one may want to master on the way because it's like an upgrade of practice that makes it more efficient.  If you were born with that upgrade already in place, it will maybe give you an initial advantage, whether you will be able to use it or lose it depends on many other factors.  There's many difficulties to overcome and if you already find some of the things you are to do easy, it absolutely doesn't guarantee that everything else will be as effortless.  So, if you can, preferably sit in lotus -- but don't get cocky about it, there's absolutely no reason for that.  You may find it easy to sit in lotus but difficult, e.g., to visualize, or to not visualize, to handle intrusive thoughts, to integrate insights, to have the discipline, or even just the time, and so on.  There's many factors at play.  Lotus is one -- if you can't sit in lotus but everything else is a breeze (duh), then you may have to spend as much time as someone else who can sit in lotus but can't figure out, for instance, how to cultivate compassion, or humility, or whatever the blockage is that the lotus won't remove mechanically.  It's not some kind of plunger against any and all hairballs of the spirit.  It's just something that aids your consciousness in removing them...  Anyone who thinks it is this mechanical plunger has a good chance to create a shit storm using it, not much else.

Edited November 20, 2019 by Taomeow

[liminal_luke]

I´m reminded of a yoga class experience I had years ago.  I used to be very flexible and there was this one pose the teacher had us doing in class (not full lotus) that came effortlessly to me.  In an attempt to challenge me, the teacher offered a few more difficult variations but nothing made the pose any harder.  She finally gave up saying I was unfortunate because there was nothing the asana had to teach me. 

 

It´s probably true that I didn´t learn anything from that yoga position, but twenty five years later I´m still thinking about the comment she made that day.  Sometimes it´s the effort that difficult challenges call forth from us that ends up making the difference. 

Edited November 20, 2019 by liminal_luke

[Taomeow]

53 minutes ago, liminal_luke said:

I´m reminded of a yoga class experience I had years ago.  I used to be very flexible and there was this one pose the teacher had us doing in class (not full lotus) that came effortlessly to me.  In an attempt to challenge me, the teacher offered a few more difficult variations but nothing made the pose any harder.  She finally gave up saying I was unfortunate because there was nothing the asana had to teach me. 

 

It´s probably true that I didn´t learn anything from that yoga position, but twenty five years later I´m still thinking about the comment she made that day.  Sometimes it´s the effort that difficult challenges call forth from us that ends up making the difference. 

 

That teacher could have said something nicer -- not that she was wrong, just tactless and possibly even envious of that ease.   

 

But this has been my experience too.  School couldn't teach me anything till the 7th grade because everything was too easy, so the neural groove for investing actual work into what's difficult was never formed.  It's a devious advantage that flips into a handicap without a warning.  By 13 or 14 everybody knows how to act in the situation "I don't know this material and it's going to be on the test so I have to study."  Well, I didn't.  I had no experiential idea of what "study" means.  So for the rest of my life I had to suffer from extra work that goes into inventing that bicycle, all those unnecessarily creative ways to get on top of my own ziran attitude (a beautiful taoist ideal but a prescription for all kinds of trouble in an adult's life in today's world).  The imprint still is, "it will just happen by itself -- it always does."  I always catch myself expecting stuff to just take care of itself and sometimes it makes me laugh but more often it makes me cry.    Then again, sometimes it just takes care of itself as expected.  

[liminal_luke]

1 hour ago, Taomeow said:

 

That teacher could have said something nicer -- not that she was wrong, just tactless and possibly even envious of that ease.   

 

But this has been my experience too.  School couldn't teach me anything till the 7th grade because everything was too easy, so the neural groove for investing actual work into what's difficult was never formed.  It's a devious advantage that flips into a handicap without a warning.  By 13 or 14 everybody knows how to act in the situation "I don't know this material and it's going to be on the test so I have to study."  Well, I didn't.  I had no experiential idea of what "study" means.  So for the rest of my life I had to suffer from extra work that goes into inventing that bicycle, all those unnecessarily creative ways to get on top of my own ziran attitude (a beautiful taoist ideal but a prescription for all kinds of trouble in an adult's life in today's world).  The imprint still is, "it will just happen by itself -- it always does."  I always catch myself expecting stuff to just take care of itself and sometimes it makes me laugh but more often it makes me cry.    Then again, sometimes it just takes care of itself as expected.  

 

I used to be good friends with a mega-wealthy woman whose family had struck it rich from Texas oil.  My friend enjoyed her money but it also caused her all sorts of problems.  She lived in boring Vancouver, Washington (sorry Vancouverites!) because she couldn´t stomach the idea of paying the higher taxes she´d owe across the river in exciting Portland, Oregon.  She had trouble dating because she always thought that guys wanted her for her bucks rather than her personality.  

 

Being at the far end of the curve -- whether it´s flexibility, intelligence, or money -- isn´t always what it´s cracked up to be.  This is something poor fools who can´t even sit full lotus will never understand.

 

 

Edited November 21, 2019 by liminal_luke

[Taomeow]

1 hour ago, liminal_luke said:

 

 She lived in boring Vancouver, Washington (sorry Vancouverites!) because she couldn´t stomach the idea of paying the higher taxes she´d owe across the river in exciting Portland, Oregon. 

 

I felt tempted to move to Vancouver on two occasions because two completely unrelated most intelligent human beings I met anywhere (after living on the East coast and the West coast) were both from there.  So I'm thinking, maybe for your friend, taxes was just an excuse, something people would be more understanding about than her real and bigger problem -- intelligence -- which prevented her from living in Portlandia?..  (Sorry Portlandians!)