 sThis is the intro to Taoist meditation on Bruce Frantzis' Energy Arts Taoist Water Method Meditation page which aptly sums up what meditation is about:
"Meditation is the only practice used by virtually every genuine spiritual tradition throughout the ages to look inside and discover our innate nature. Meditation leads us to the timeless questions:
He goes on to talk about why people are attracted to meditation and suggests 3 main reasons:
For more about each of these, click on the links above to go to the page on his website. He is an incredibly experienced meditation teacher and someone from whom I have learnt a lot. The title of 'Master' gets bandied around a lot but for him, it is appropriate. His mastery comes from a very long time spent on all the Energy Arts and practice. Another teacher of mine said that with 'time, practice and perseverance, you can accomplish all things' - if you would like to practice, the time (!) is Tuesdays at 8.35pm at the Evergreen Wellness Centre in Letchworth. A 5 week block of classes starts on Feb 21st but you can have a free taster class any time. More details on the Classes page. Email if you have questions or are interested in a class.
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 I am enjoying the poems posted on Facebook This morning I looked up at sky on hearing the beautiful sound of a formation of geese as they wheeled over my garden. I particularly like this poem by Mary Oliver, "Wild Geese". The line 'You only have to let the soft animal of your body love what it loves' seems particularly appropriate for Qi Gong. |
 | One of my meditation teachers said that meditating was a bit like driving a car at night- when you drive at night you focus on the light and don't look at all the stuff in the dark at the side of the road, because if you do you will veer off the road and crash! I like this metaphor and find it very useful to help me focus when I am meditating. |
When I meditate I feel lots of physical sensations which I often want to resolve or remove as they are not always pleasant, or I will get caught up in thinking about whatever comes into my awareness and lose my focus. If I remember to keep looking at the lights and where I am going, I am able to find my way back to the centre of my head, notice my breathing and create and destroy roses out in front of me, essentially not worrying about 'solving' anything I am experiencing. Lots of things are happening when I meditate but the quality of my meditation is revealed after I finish- i.e. in how I feel and how I 'am' as I go about my daily business after a meditation session.
Another interesting question is what are the headlights pointing at? Or to put it another way, where am I heading, what exactly am I focusing on and why am I meditating anyway? Why don't you see if any of the following ideas/metaphors about what the 'lights' are pointing at/shining on resonate with you:
Another interesting question is what are the headlights pointing at? Or to put it another way, where am I heading, what exactly am I focusing on and why am I meditating anyway? Why don't you see if any of the following ideas/metaphors about what the 'lights' are pointing at/shining on resonate with you:
- They are pointing at your own answers, your own information
- They are pointing at the (your) truth.
- They are pointing at the god of your heart
- They are pointing at you
- They are pointing at your higher nature/self
- They are pointing at you as spirit
- It doesn't matter!
Although this article is quite old now, it is still quite interesting, although not necessarily going to motivate you to meditate- what do you think?
Tuesday, Jan. 10, 2006
How to Get Smarter, One Breath at a Time Scientists find that meditation not only reduces stress but also reshapes the brain
By LISA TAKEUCHI CULLEN
At 4:30, when most of Wall Street is winding down, Walter Zimmermann begins a high-stakes, high-wire act conducted live before a paying audience. About 200 institutional investors — including airlines and oil companies — shell out up to $3,000 a month to catch his daily webcast on the volatile energy markets, a performance that can move hundreds of millions of dollars. "I'm not paid to be wrong — I can tell you that," Zimmermann says. But as he clicks through dozens of screens and graphics on three computers, he's the picture of focused calm. Zimmermann, 54, watched most of his peers in energy futures burn out long ago. He attributes his brain's enduring sharpness not to an intravenous espresso drip but to 40 minutes of meditation each morning and evening. The practice, he says, helps him maintain the clarity he needs for quick, insightful analysis — even approaching happy hour. "Meditation," he says, "is my secret weapon." Everyone around the water cooler knows that meditation reduces stress. But with the aid of advanced brainscanning technology, researchers are beginning to show that meditation directly affects the function and structure of the brain, changing it in ways that appear to increase attention span, sharpen focus and improve memory. One recent study found evidence that the daily practice of meditation thickened the parts of the brain's cerebral cortex responsible for decision making, attention and memory. Sara Lazar, a research scientist at Massachusetts General Hospital, presented preliminary results last November that showed that the gray matter of 20 men and women who meditated for just 40 minutes a day was thicker than that of people who did not. Unlike in previous studies focusing on Buddhist monks, the subjects were Boston-area workers practicing a Western-style of meditation called mindfulness or insight meditation. "We showed for the first time that you don't have to do it all day for similar results," says Lazar. What's more, her research suggests that meditation may slow the natural thinning of that section of the cortex that occurs with age. The forms of meditation Lazar and other scientists are studying involve focusing on an image or sound or on one's breathing. Though deceptively simple, the practice seems to exercise the parts of the brain that help us pay attention. "Attention is the key to learning, and meditation helps you voluntarily regulate it," says Richard Davidson, director of the Laboratory for Affective Neuroscience at the University of Wisconsin. Since 1992, he has collaborated with the Dalai Lama to study the brains of Tibetan monks, whom he calls "the Olympic athletes of meditation." Using caps with electrical sensors placed on the monks' heads, Davidson has picked up unusually powerful gamma waves that are better synchronized in the Tibetans than they are in novice meditators. Studies have linked this gamma-wave synchrony to increased awareness. Many people who meditate claim the practice restores their energy, allowing them to perform better at tasks that require attention and concentration. If so, wouldn't a midday nap work just as well? No, says Bruce O'Hara, associate professor of biology at the University of Kentucky. In a study to be published this year, he had college students either meditate, sleep or watch TV. Then he tested them for what psychologists call psychomotor vigilance, asking them to hit a button when a light flashed on a screen. Those who had been taught to meditate performed 10% better — "a huge jump, statistically speaking," says O'Hara. Those who snoozed did significantly worse. "What it means," O'Hara theorizes, "is that meditation may restore synapses, much like sleep but without the initial grogginess." Not surprisingly, given those results, a growing number of corporations — including Deutsche Bank, Google and Hughes Aircraft — offer meditation classes to their workers. Jeffrey Abramson, CEO of Tower Co., a Washington-based development firm, says 75% of his staff attend free classes in transcendental meditation. Making employees sharper is only one benefit; studies say meditation also improves productivity, in large part by preventing stress-related illness and reducing absenteeism. Another benefit for employers: meditation seems to help regulate emotions, which in turn helps people get along. "One of the most important domains meditation acts upon is emotional intelligence — a set of skills far more consequential for life success than cognitive intelligence," says Davidson. So, for a New Year's resolution that can pay big dividends at home and at the office, try this: just breathe.
Copyright © 2006 Time Inc. All rights reserved.
Tuesday, Jan. 10, 2006
How to Get Smarter, One Breath at a Time Scientists find that meditation not only reduces stress but also reshapes the brain
By LISA TAKEUCHI CULLEN
At 4:30, when most of Wall Street is winding down, Walter Zimmermann begins a high-stakes, high-wire act conducted live before a paying audience. About 200 institutional investors — including airlines and oil companies — shell out up to $3,000 a month to catch his daily webcast on the volatile energy markets, a performance that can move hundreds of millions of dollars. "I'm not paid to be wrong — I can tell you that," Zimmermann says. But as he clicks through dozens of screens and graphics on three computers, he's the picture of focused calm. Zimmermann, 54, watched most of his peers in energy futures burn out long ago. He attributes his brain's enduring sharpness not to an intravenous espresso drip but to 40 minutes of meditation each morning and evening. The practice, he says, helps him maintain the clarity he needs for quick, insightful analysis — even approaching happy hour. "Meditation," he says, "is my secret weapon." Everyone around the water cooler knows that meditation reduces stress. But with the aid of advanced brainscanning technology, researchers are beginning to show that meditation directly affects the function and structure of the brain, changing it in ways that appear to increase attention span, sharpen focus and improve memory. One recent study found evidence that the daily practice of meditation thickened the parts of the brain's cerebral cortex responsible for decision making, attention and memory. Sara Lazar, a research scientist at Massachusetts General Hospital, presented preliminary results last November that showed that the gray matter of 20 men and women who meditated for just 40 minutes a day was thicker than that of people who did not. Unlike in previous studies focusing on Buddhist monks, the subjects were Boston-area workers practicing a Western-style of meditation called mindfulness or insight meditation. "We showed for the first time that you don't have to do it all day for similar results," says Lazar. What's more, her research suggests that meditation may slow the natural thinning of that section of the cortex that occurs with age. The forms of meditation Lazar and other scientists are studying involve focusing on an image or sound or on one's breathing. Though deceptively simple, the practice seems to exercise the parts of the brain that help us pay attention. "Attention is the key to learning, and meditation helps you voluntarily regulate it," says Richard Davidson, director of the Laboratory for Affective Neuroscience at the University of Wisconsin. Since 1992, he has collaborated with the Dalai Lama to study the brains of Tibetan monks, whom he calls "the Olympic athletes of meditation." Using caps with electrical sensors placed on the monks' heads, Davidson has picked up unusually powerful gamma waves that are better synchronized in the Tibetans than they are in novice meditators. Studies have linked this gamma-wave synchrony to increased awareness. Many people who meditate claim the practice restores their energy, allowing them to perform better at tasks that require attention and concentration. If so, wouldn't a midday nap work just as well? No, says Bruce O'Hara, associate professor of biology at the University of Kentucky. In a study to be published this year, he had college students either meditate, sleep or watch TV. Then he tested them for what psychologists call psychomotor vigilance, asking them to hit a button when a light flashed on a screen. Those who had been taught to meditate performed 10% better — "a huge jump, statistically speaking," says O'Hara. Those who snoozed did significantly worse. "What it means," O'Hara theorizes, "is that meditation may restore synapses, much like sleep but without the initial grogginess." Not surprisingly, given those results, a growing number of corporations — including Deutsche Bank, Google and Hughes Aircraft — offer meditation classes to their workers. Jeffrey Abramson, CEO of Tower Co., a Washington-based development firm, says 75% of his staff attend free classes in transcendental meditation. Making employees sharper is only one benefit; studies say meditation also improves productivity, in large part by preventing stress-related illness and reducing absenteeism. Another benefit for employers: meditation seems to help regulate emotions, which in turn helps people get along. "One of the most important domains meditation acts upon is emotional intelligence — a set of skills far more consequential for life success than cognitive intelligence," says Davidson. So, for a New Year's resolution that can pay big dividends at home and at the office, try this: just breathe.
Copyright © 2006 Time Inc. All rights reserved.
Why don't I meditate more often when I have the chance and I know it is good for me? This is a question I have as an experienced meditator. For people who have not meditated but perhaps are interested, but have yet to get to a class to try it out, there is a similar question, perhaps along the lines of: I know I am interested but why haven't I gone along to a class?
Part of the reason may well be the same for both questions: you may be suffering from some spiritual inertia- this is basically where your life force energy is a bit bunged up which literally makes it difficult to move and difficult to access some energy levels, resulting in inertia. For me it appears when I recognise that I will probably feel better if I meditate but I choose to watch something rubbish on TV instead, or do some unimportant (compared to feeling more myself) task which leads to the 2nd point .....
It is easy to judge the space we are in and think that we should be somewhere else- a kind of spiritual guilt - so if you consider coming to meditation class, you might think you are not good enough and can't come because you have not been meditating enough or are not good enough in some way. This is not true!
The answer is to just come along and dive in. It sometimes takes a while to clear out the energetic 'gunk' we inevitably accumulate as sensitive beings but as you do more meditation the beneficial effects build up. Come and give it a try, the more people who come to a class, the more powerful the effects are for everyone.
Finally a video link to a Headspace cartoon about meditation which I like and that you may enjoy. I hope it works, but let me know if it doesn't
Mac link
Windows link
The next session of weekly classes in Chi Gung (Qi Gong) and/or Meditation starts on June 11th.
Part of the reason may well be the same for both questions: you may be suffering from some spiritual inertia- this is basically where your life force energy is a bit bunged up which literally makes it difficult to move and difficult to access some energy levels, resulting in inertia. For me it appears when I recognise that I will probably feel better if I meditate but I choose to watch something rubbish on TV instead, or do some unimportant (compared to feeling more myself) task which leads to the 2nd point .....
It is easy to judge the space we are in and think that we should be somewhere else- a kind of spiritual guilt - so if you consider coming to meditation class, you might think you are not good enough and can't come because you have not been meditating enough or are not good enough in some way. This is not true!
The answer is to just come along and dive in. It sometimes takes a while to clear out the energetic 'gunk' we inevitably accumulate as sensitive beings but as you do more meditation the beneficial effects build up. Come and give it a try, the more people who come to a class, the more powerful the effects are for everyone.
Finally a video link to a Headspace cartoon about meditation which I like and that you may enjoy. I hope it works, but let me know if it doesn't
Mac link
Windows link
The next session of weekly classes in Chi Gung (Qi Gong) and/or Meditation starts on June 11th.
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