Regulating the mind & the cycle of stress

[joeblast]

That kinda reminds me of the inner smile & 6 healing sounds...any of you tried those?

[jfraser]

Joe.

I just started to play with the inner smile, but not the sounds yet.

Do you have the book on same, or did you get your information off of the Web?

What has worked the best for you so far?

I was reading a Tibetan Buddhist Web page on compassion and loving kindness lately, and developing these virtues begins with and towards the self, and works it way gradually outwards. Thich Nhat Hahn's books and the Inner Smile develop an important quality, loving kindness and compassion towards ourselves, in addition to discipline, concentration, etc. And to see Kwan Yin, the Bodhisattva of Compassion, as not outside us in a symbol or image, but inside of us, is also important, for we are ultimately all One. Kwan Yin overcame all fear, and reached Unconditional Love. I have a deep respect for that!


James

[Dvivid]

Dr. Yang's next DVD, which comes out May 1st, is Understanding Qigong DVD4. In it he teaches Four Seasons Qigong, utilizing the 'healing sounds'.

[joeblast]

James,

I own a couple of Mantak Chia's books and have browsed through 3-4 others at the bookstore. He seems to mention it often (I believe a large part of Cosmic Healing concerns the topic...I own TanTien Chi Kung where there is a chapter, and there's an appendix on it in Bone Marrow Nei Kung.) I first read about them in some of Dr. Yang's books, then found some links that someone posted here pointing to a couple articles at Chia's universal tao site that had a little more information on them. The sounds practice is great as part of a complete after meditation practice, I found them very refreshing.

I've been doing that as part of meditation and it seems to be of benefit. Prior to doing those exercises I think I had too much qi built up at the third eye (like the 'fly paper' analogy Dr. Yang uses in his Small Circulation book) and smiling helped it feel like qi was circulating a little better. Right now I'm still doing mostly embryonic breathing, small small circulation (curious why it was never mentioned in any of Dr Yang's other books before SC...) and I've done some small circulation, but I know I dont have enough qi built up to really feel it properly. Darn regulating...

Dave, thanks for the info on that DVD, it will definitely be on my list! I was about to buy 1 & 2 but I ended up finding a really good deal on Chia's 51 DVD set, so I just bought those this weekend. I will still get Dr Yang's DVDs though - I have thoroughly enjoyed every book of his that I've read and have especially been impressed with Embryonic Breathing & Small Circulation! (enough so, that imho - both should be on the shelf of anyone that meditates...)

[carissa]

James, I tried it...

(Quote:
"In" Breathing in, I know I am breathing in
"Out" Breathing out, I know I am breathing out


"Deep" Breathing in, my breath grows deep
"Slow' Breathing out, my breath grows slow


"Aware of body" Breathing in, I am aware of my whole Body
"Relaxing body" Breathing out, I relax my whole body


"Calm body" Breathing in, I calm my whole body
"Love body" Breathing out, I love my whole body


"Smile" Breathing in, I smile to my whole body
"Ease' Breathing out, I ease my whole body


"Smile" Breathing in, I smile to my whole body
"Release" Breathing out, I release the tension in my body


"Joy" Breathing in, I feel joyful
"Peace" Breathing out, I taste the source of peace & joy


"Present moment" Breathing in, I dwell inthe presentmoment

"Wonderful moment" Breathing out, it is a wonderful moment.


"Solid" Breathing in, my sitting is solid
"Stable" Breathing out, I feel stable.


If you try this for several times, let me know how it works for you. )


It worked wonderfully...very calming and peaceful. I have been working at sinking blocked chi in my neck (I THINK it's blocked chi...it's DEFINITELY a knot)... and this helped me to mentally work at relaxing my whole body! I went through the exercise 3 times... I think next time I will go through each pair 3 times before moving onto the next...

ie.

"In" Breathing in, I know I am breathing in
"Out" Breathing out, I know I am breathing out

"In" Breathing in, I know I am breathing in
"Out" Breathing out, I know I am breathing out

"In" Breathing in, I know I am breathing in
"Out" Breathing out, I know I am breathing out

then go to:

"Deep" Breathing in, my breath grows deep
"Slow' Breathing out, my breath grows slow

"Deep" Breathing in, my breath grows deep
"Slow' Breathing out, my breath grows slow

etc.

I am a newbie, and for the first couple weeks I have had an insatiable appetite for everything qigong...but I now know that I need to go back to the basics first...

anyway, thanks James!

[jfraser]

Do each one as many times as you feel like, and don't limit your self.
10 or more is recommended for the third one, "breathing in I feel my whole body, breathing out I relax my whole body". The rest experiment were you need to focus, and put emphasis there. This will change over time.

Another one from the same source is as follows:

1.In ,... Out

2.see myself as a flower,... I feel FResh

3.feel myself as a mountain,... I feel solid

4.I am a vlrst pond of water,... I reflect the sky and mountains

5 I am vast space,... I am infinate freedom

I am glad the first one worked so well for you.

James

[carissa]

Thanks again, James!

[joeblast]

I've been doing a lot of my meditation lately using earplugs - they helped me learn how to do abdominal breathing better. Basically with your ears blocked (-35db is close enough to 'blocked', esp in a quiet room...) you can hear your breath a lot more prominently. Before I tried using them, I thought my breath was slender enough and all ab - but by using them, I could hear the breath in my nasal cavity, throat, etc...much more prominent than necessary. That allowed me to realize that I wasnt exclusively using the abdomen to breathe! It didnt take me long to train my breath so that I could no longer hear it with the earplugs in - BIG difference between before and after.

That allowed me to get my breaths a lot longer and get me to a much more relaxed state, given me a much clearer idea of what 'wuji' means. The only weird sensation I've had so far with it is this odd feeling of 'fatness'...of sorts...almost as if I were more aware of where my nerves actually were...or almost as if I felt my flesh in a much different 'light', as if I were more aware of where nerves werent(?) (If anyone's played Unreal Tournament, there's a mod in there where your character gets fatter and fatter the more frags per minute you rack up...it felt like that, almost like the stay-puft marshmallow man...) Also the feeling of breathing so slowly (relative, of course) that it almost doesnt feel like you're breathing...but you still are...

I was kinda fried after work yesterday, almost wanted to take a nap, but sat and calmed the mind instead...after a timeless 40 minutes, I felt far better than if I actually did take a nap...

Q...any reason meditating with earplugs might not be a good thing? I dont exclusively meditate w/ earplugs, but perhaps 50% of the time...

[jfraser]

Great post, Joe.

James

[joeblast]

thanks...I think that's one of the keys to get yourself to a calmer state with longer breaths - not using your bronchi and above in breathing, keeping them relaxed, letting the air flow - the breath you 'hear' is turbulence in the air passageways, which is a naturally energy consuming process in and of itself. when you use the diaphragm and LDT exclusively to breathe, you need to have the motions pronouced enough (and properly) in order to get the breath regulated efficiently (i.e. no energy is taken from the breath via turbulence.) its been tough to coordinate everything fully - this is something I've inferred from all of my reading - that the optimal path towards regulating breath in that manner is to have all respective parts reach their positive and negative limits of excursion simultaneously. (didnt want to confuse by using yin & yang to describe the process, although it can certainly be put in the context.)

[jfraser]

What does the following post mean?

"

...that the optimal path towards regulating breath in that manner is to have all respective parts reach their positive and negative limits of excursion simultaneously. (didnt want to confuse by using yin & yang to describe the process, although it can certainly be put in the context.)"

I don' understand "limits of excursion simultaneously".
Please clarify and explain.
James

[SunTzu]

Q...any reason meditating with earplugs might not be a good thing? I dont exclusively meditate w/ earplugs, but perhaps 50% of the time...

I'm not trying to provide authoritative information, cause I too am still learning a lot on the subject. But my teacher always told me when meditating (Small/Large Circulation etc.) it can be very dangerous when you are being disturbed by sudden sounds or actions. The Qi then scatters (I hope it's the correct word) through the body instead of being lead.

So in that case I would say it's even safer to use the earplugs than not. The only thing that comes to mind is that perhaps the feeling of the plugs themselves can distract you in the beginning.

[Dvivid]

Yes, I think on a physical level, using earplugs is a good idea. To build a good habit, and train the mind, and the ability to lead the Qi. And if this is your only goal, I think plugs are probably fine.

Mentally though, after you've developed to a point, I think probably its best to move on and stop using earplugs. This way you may develop these meditation skills deeper such that you become able to practice in any real-life situation, without needing plugs.

And, from a classical Zen/Chan perspective: again I think its okay to use them to train and develop good habits to a point. But eventually you'll want to gravitate away from needing them, and relying on them for your practice. Ulitmately we strive to develop our ability to meditate when sitting, and then during walking, working, interacting with others, etc., until we're able to maintain our meditative state at all times.

In ancient times, monks who fell into the habit of only meditating while sitting with their eyes closed were chastised as becoming "tubs of black laquer" - meaning they were not really engaged in human existence, and progressing in their meditation practice.

But, we're not monks.

[joeblast]

James...I'll explain, but let me also point ya over to dictionary.com, its always helpful in getting your point across if you're not sure on a word.

When applied in this context, excursion is basically the distance your innards travel whilst breathing. (I pretty much used the concept from my original understanding of loudspeaker anatomy; driver excursion is how far the speaker can travel and still stay mounted to the basket!)
So with that in mind, a NAB example would be if you are pushing the huiyin out on inhale, it would reach its max at the same time your breath reaches its max. Depending on your breathing strategy at the time, it will differ slightly with different intent in breathing. I've seen numerous places where Dr. Yang has mentioned keeping the huiyin movements gentle, so I'm not intending on max = 100% of your range of movement; just breathing strategy as a whole.

SunTzu always humble, its cool man - we like having the input! I have very sensitive ears and I've been in bands for many years, so I'm quite used to using them. (used to swim when I was young, had a vicious case of otitis media...it got bad enough that they had to puncture my eardrums and vacuum out my inner ears...I can still to this day clearly remember the pain of the puncture and the pleasure of the vacuum...most people dont get to experience an inner ear massage of sorts!)

Dvivid, excellent point! That's why I dont always use them, I dont want to get overly accustomed to having them present to the point where they would become a detriment (distraction?) not having them. My intent was exactly to promote good training - much like one would use a medicine ball for a sport, but no way you'd find one in the game!