Meditation

I've never really bothered with Meditation, I did try it but I soon got bored. I remember a funny incident when I was doing jui jitsu for a while ( a japanese type jui jitsu)...we were sort of meditating & someone farted out loud. It sort of Broke my peace & tranquility as I started laughing, well everyone did.
 
I get some seated meditation in a couple of times a week teaching a morning wellness class. We usually end with a short bit of meditation, the only problem is I need to keep an eye on the time, so I rarely get into it!

Sitting down too much is certainly not good for your health, but how many of us will happily sit and watch a film or an hour long TV show? Or regularly drive an hour or more to work?

I think worrying about more than half an hour sitting down is excessive. Just don't spend all day sat down and try to get up at least once an hour to move around. All of those studies are short term responses, people will actually deliberately induce this kind of thing with blood flow restriction training for increased muscle building. As with everything serious health issues can make something unsafe, for most of us, it's fine. The real danger is cumulative sitting e.g. 8 hours a day, 5 days a week for 20 years.

Go meditate for an hour if you want, just go for a walk too, and get a standing desk.

On moving meditation, forms are indeed a great method. Focusing on your movement to get them right at first means a less busy and flitting mind. Once you know it inside and out the brain can switch off and the body does what it needs to. I have found this most noticeable in competition; multiple times I have started a form and the next thing I know I'm finishing it, and I have no idea if I've done it all or done it correctly! I am assured by my friends and the medals that I have! 😂

Deliberate walking can also be a good method of moving meditation, paying close attention to your steps, the shift of balance etc. Anything which focuses your mind and stops it from drifting around as it usually would.

On the flip side, sometimes it is good to be quiet and let your mind wander. At these times you can come up with bright new ideas, solve problems you've been working on, and generally be more productive and inspired than you might otherwise be. Modern life is too full of distraction and both quiet thinking and quiet not thinking have their place.
When you let your mind wander in a reverie of daydreams, your brain’s ’Default Mode Network’ becomes very active (it’s in my slides!). During meditation the DMN is deactivated so these activities are not likely the same thing.

After lunch, Lord Kelvin (the physicist) would hold a hollow metal sphere in his hand as he drifted off into a hypnagogic state and came up with interesting ideas. If he drifted too far into sleep, the sphere would clatter to the floor, waking him up to write down his ideas!

I occasionally have brilliant(!) musical ideas as I drift or fall sleep, so I used to keep a tape voice recorder (pre-mobile phone) to vocally record my genius melodic ideas. To my great pride, when I listened back to next musical hit in the cold light of the morning , they sounded like a Howler Monkey being whipped with an old leather belt 🐒🙄😄

I agree that modern life has too many distractions so I deliberately leave my phone at home when I go out for a walk or shopping (shopping lists are back to being written on the back of used envelops) and I’ve deleted all my social media subscriptions in order to pull myself away from my damn phone. It’s a lonely strategy however, as the rest of the world is neck craned-down staring at their device 🤷🏽‍♂️
 
I've never really bothered with Meditation, I did try it but I soon got bored. I remember a funny incident when I was doing jui jitsu for a while ( a japanese type jui jitsu)...we were sort of meditating & someone farted out loud. It sort of Broke my peace & tranquility as I started laughing, well everyone did.
It was unlikely a fart you heard, but the sound of someone entering the first stage of enlightenment! 💨😇
 
You laugh, Jimmythebull, but if someone near you becomes fully enlightened, make sure you’re wearing a hazmat suit, carry an umbrella and have earplugs inserted 😳
Someone mentioned in the thread sitting & meditating was unhealthy but check out this love Guru. Make love & Meditation. So a good workout, Meditation & an Orgasm...😅
 
When you let your mind wander in a reverie of daydreams, your brain’s ’Default Mode Network’ becomes very active (it’s in my slides!). During meditation the DMN is deactivated so these activities are not likely the same thing.

After lunch, Lord Kelvin (the physicist) would hold a hollow metal sphere in his hand as he drifted off into a hypnagogic state and came up with interesting ideas. If he drifted too far into sleep, the sphere would clatter to the floor, waking him up to write down his ideas!

I occasionally have brilliant(!) musical ideas as I drift or fall sleep, so I used to keep a tape voice recorder (pre-mobile phone) to vocally record my genius melodic ideas. To my great pride, when I listened back to next musical hit in the cold light of the morning , they sounded like a Howler Monkey being whipped with an old leather belt 🐒🙄😄

I agree that modern life has too many distractions so I deliberately leave my phone at home when I go out for a walk or shopping (shopping lists are back to being written on the back of used envelops) and I’ve deleted all my social media subscriptions in order to pull myself away from my damn phone. It’s a lonely strategy however, as the rest of the world is neck craned-down staring at their device 🤷🏽‍♂️
You are really very funny! I love reading your posts. Keep it up.🤣
 
I do enough sitting meditation for 8 hours a day on the job. I don't want anymore of that. That's how I got into this high blood pressure mess in the first place. I've converted part of my lunch break into martial arts training.
I try the get up every 30m or so even if it's just to move around the room. I used to make the mistake of sitting for hours and my psoas hated me.

Then later when I'm en Fuego in the kitchen, it's important for me to sit and chill, and that's when I do seated meditation...and then shower because I usually smell like grilled onions and elephant garlic.
 
I've never really bothered with Meditation, I did try it but I soon got bored. I remember a funny incident when I was doing jui jitsu for a while ( a japanese type jui jitsu)...we were sort of meditating & someone farted out loud. It sort of Broke my peace & tranquility as I started laughing, well everyone did.
The Shaolin call this "transmission beyond the scriptures".

It's viral.
 
It’s great for overhead presses…with Annie’s ‘Encyclopedia of Bodybuilding’ in the other hand!
Arnold´s book is just BS. 6 day a week routines absolute madness. High volume workouts which are no use to anyone but suited the money machine at the time. Arnold & the weiders. I have the book myself & honestly made much better progress with half the work.
 
I find meditation very difficult. It’s not really ‘zoning out’ or being lost in some sort of reverie, but for me it’s akin to balancing an upturned broom on your fingertip or spinning plated on a cane!

I keep my eyes half-open and gently looking at a spot 2 metres before me on the floor, but my vision spread out laterally and vertically to avoid falling asleep and silencing the mind’s chatter a little. I sit in a Zen-prescribed manner, body aligned, pelvis rotated anteriorly, hands held in the Rinzai manner. Then I start by mentally counting the breaths…in various ways, sometimes in Japanese so it can’t be done mindlessly and automatically...hitotsu, futatsu, mittsu etc if thoughts enter my mind, I don’t attach to them but let them float away. If I engage with them…I’m hungry…what’s for breakfast…oh I like breakfast…breakfast TV is rubbish though…weather girl is sexy, though…dammit! ‘One, two, three…’ I start again. After 30 minutes or so and some kinhin or some Ah-un breathing, I sit again but don’t count my breaths. Just sit in silence and ask myself, ‘Who am I?’ and wait to see what arise. ‘Who am I?’, ‘Who am I ?’ again any extraneous thoughts are let go of, released and I ask, ‘Who am I?’ into the silence.

It’s hard for me to do and until my garden dojo is finally built, I don’t have a very pleasant place to sit. But for some reason I continue doing it…
 
I find meditation very difficult. It’s not really ‘zoning out’ or being lost in some sort of reverie, but for me it’s akin to balancing an upturned broom on your fingertip or spinning plated on a cane!

I keep my eyes half-open and gently looking at a spot 2 metres before me on the floor, but my vision spread out laterally and vertically to avoid falling asleep and silencing the mind’s chatter a little. I sit in a Zen-prescribed manner, body aligned, pelvis rotated anteriorly, hands held in the Rinzai manner. Then I start by mentally counting the breaths…in various ways, sometimes in Japanese so it can’t be done mindlessly and automatically...hitotsu, futatsu, mittsu etc if thoughts enter my mind, I don’t attach to them but let them float away. If I engage with them…I’m hungry…what’s for breakfast…oh I like breakfast…breakfast TV is rubbish though…weather girl is sexy, though…dammit! ‘One, two, three…’ I start again. After 30 minutes or so and some kinhin or some Ah-un breathing, I sit again but don’t count my breaths. Just sit in silence and ask myself, ‘Who am I?’ and wait to see what arise. ‘Who am I?’, ‘Who am I ?’ again any extraneous thoughts are let go of, released and I ask, ‘Who am I?’ into the silence.

It’s hard for me to do and until my garden dojo is finally built, I don’t have a very pleasant place to sit. But for some reason I continue doing it…
I was actually talking to a woman today about the Guru video i posted. she´s well into yoga & meditaion. Just found out after our conversation. She knows the guys videos & seems to like it. Hell..i´ll howl like a hound dog if i get my way...hahaha
 
‘Who am I?’ and wait to see what arise. ‘Who am I?’, ‘Who am I ?’
You may be making a fundamental mistake with this (or any question) while meditating Zen-like. "Who" infers identity (and thus, ego) which comes with a whole bunch of mental baggage - exactly what you're hoping to get rid of. Most deep answers don't come when sought after. Go for "mushin" and allow answers to enter, without asking. Reminds me of the fable of the Yellow Emperor and his Night Colored Pearl.
 
For his birthday, one of his students gave the Dalai Lama a box with a ribbon around it.
When he opened it he found it was empty inside.
Aha, he said, just what I wanted!

Before anyone starts rolling their third eye at me, it was a joke. :)
 
For his birthday, one of his students gave the Dalai Lama a box with a ribbon around it.
When he opened it he found it was empty inside.
Aha, he said, just what I wanted!

Before anyone starts rolling their third eye at me, it was a joke. :)

eyes-rolling-roll-my-eyes.gif
 

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