chiseled away at my practices

[Pranaman]

I took advice from the many stillness meditation advocates and cut out all of my wandering practice and have decided to practice mindfulness and t'ai chi, that's it. I'm reading Mindfulness in Plain English. I watch BK meditation on google video but i'm not sure whether to feel my breath fill my lungs, or go down the middle of my body. how long would you do this meditation per session? Any online resources?

[Ryan T.]

I took advice from the many stillness meditation advocates and cut out all of my wandering practice and have decided to practice mindfulness and t'ai chi, that's it.

 

Who are you studying t'ai-chi under?

[Pranaman]

Who are you studying t'ai-chi under?

 

Gregory Fong

[Andrei]

I watch BK meditation on google video but i'm not sure whether to feel my breath fill my lungs, or go down the middle of my body.

 

 

how long would you do this meditation per session?

 

according to the video you should meditate minimum as many minutes as your years age. I must accept that this rule is a bit difficult for me at this point but I am a beginner so my meditation sessions are 15-20 min.

[Pranaman]

according to the video you should meditate minimum as many minutes as your years age. I must accept that this rule is a bit difficult for me at this point but I am a beginner so my meditation sessions are 15-20 min.

those pictures seem obvious but if I have the picture wrong I could be very wrong. Could you explain?

[Guest sykkelpump]

I took advice from the many stillness meditation advocates and cut out all of my wandering practice and have decided to practice mindfulness and t'ai chi, that's it. I'm reading Mindfulness in Plain English. I watch BK meditation on google video but i'm not sure whether to feel my breath fill my lungs, or go down the middle of my body. how long would you do this meditation per session? Any online resources?

you have missed the whole point watch it again,you should concentrate on the breath so the thoughts slow down and eventually dissappear. you should not feel the breath or following it.thats qi gong.in the bk video it is just an illustration of the breath is getting shorter and shorter at a certain stage.breath naturally and concentrate on the breath.you just use your breath to focus on instead of using mind activity on creating a mantra or wisualize something to concentrate on.

 

 

"At the beginning of genuine anapana breathing exercises, one just watches their breath. After a very short while, the breath will calm down to become long and soft. As this external breathing dies down to a point of near cessation, the chi of your inner body will start to become activated.

 

However, this internal chi is not the same as the external wind used in respiration. Rather, it's the real chi of the body which has tremendous transformative power. This is the chi that will open up your chi channels.

 

When the expiration ceases and the mind quiets down, we arrive at shamatha. This is the state of "stopping" or "halting" but we got there by following the breath rather than thoughts. Same end target, different method to get there! We get there and then the real chi of the body, when the external respiration ceases, gets kick-started and ignited to start arising and circulating through the body's meridians.

 

If you continue relaxing the body and mind, and don't become frightened or tense up during this period of cessation, this inner breath will really come to life. Taoists call this the "internal embryo breathing", and it has a tremendous power to transform the physical body. So if you can stay in this state of internal breathing without worrying about the fact that external respiration has ceased, then you can transform the body quickly and enter into deep samadhi. "

[Andrei]

those pictures seem obvious but if I have the picture wrong I could be very wrong. Could you explain?

 

There is nothing wrong if you just watch and listen and let the body heal. Just observe the processes of transformation that occur in your body. It is wrong if you force yourself or your breath. The best breath is to forget thinking at your breath. First you should pass the pain stage. I am still in this stage. The evolution is very slow, what is shown in the video could take several years, maybe the whole life or maybe several lifetimes. Different people may have different experiences and different evolution, some slower, some faster, depending if they cultivated in previous lives, or depending of the deeds accumulated in this life, or their genes or whatever...

[Spectrum]

how long would you do this meditation per session

 

Until sung/song. Then movement originates from wuji.

[Pranaman]

to concentrate on the breath, you just mean like the one point in my nose? or the entire sensation? In Mindfullness In Plain English the author says to avoid the void, is the void different from shamatha?

[sheng zhen]

Until sung/song. Then movement originates from wuji.

Spectrum, or anyone, culd you please explin the state of sung? What is the que to know that we have reached that state?

 

When I do meditation, after 5-10 minutes I notice a shift. My breath gets steady and doesent get affected by the thoughts. Its like its turned around. First my thoughts affects my breath. If I remember things that excite me my breath gets a little more excited. But after the shift it is the breath that affects the thoughts, calming them. Its like instead of a upward spiral, it has turned to a downward spiral where both breath and thoughts go more and more into meditation. Is this sung?

[nightwatchdog]

Until sung/song. Then movement originates from wuji.

 

Someone has asked for a recipe, and recieved a sack of flour.

 

to concentrate on the breath, you just mean like the one point in my nose? or the entire sensation? In Mindfullness In Plain English the author says to avoid the void, is the void different from shamatha?

 

 

To concentrate on the breathe simply means to pay attention to the sensations produced by ones breathing, without interfering with it. You may feel senstions in your nose, throat, mouth, lungs, belly, really there are so many breathe sensations, it's impossible to list them all here.

 

Pay attention. That is the most important part.

 

Pay attention.

 

This is practice is mindfulness. It becomes emptiness instantly, and without interference by the ego all by itself.

 

Spectrum, or anyone, culd you please explin the state of sung? What is the que to know that we have reached that state?

 

Sung is simply a state of relaxed, yielding, yet responsive sensitivity. It means you are open to what is, and free from tension. In meditation it refers to the "step one" of quieting the mind. Spectrum was saying, essentially, "First quiet the mind, then effortless emptiness is achieved by itself."

 

I would suggest you avoid trying to intellectually understand these things. Instead just concentrate on step one. Pay attention (in this case to the breath) and your mind will become still (after much struggle, ordinarily) and the state of wuji /satori / samadhi / realization.... whatever it is called to you.... maybe in western parlance "figuring out who you are"... happens all by itself.

 

This might happen instantly, but for most everyone it takes practice.

 

Hope this helps.

[sheng zhen]

I would suggest you avoid trying to intellectually understand these things.

Im just interested in how the taoists view these things, what the taoist names means. And to do that, I need my intellect. I do that only when Im not meditation though

 

Thanks for answering.

[bronzebow]

I've had teachers who've said to avoid the void, I've had teachers who've said to go into the void. Vipassana teachers have generally said the former. Teachers who've taught me to move into the Jhanas have said the latter. In my experience both have been very valuable for my overall progress and understanding. It's actually incredible how much I began to deepen in my understanding and practice when I let go of certain attachments to not do this or not do that and to just let the meditation open up for me.

[sheng zhen]

It's actually incredible how much I began to deepen in my understanding and practice when I let go of certain attachments to not do this or not do that and to just let the meditation open up for me.

Yes! Priceless insight!