Your practice?

Hello, here on the forum we sure talk alot about non-duality, or what is sometimes referred to as “altered” or “different” (causal) states of consciousness.

I'm simply curious about what you do in practical terms in order to realize the truth, or these “altered states”, directly, not just through philosophical inquiry?

Myself, I practice Zen, and take long solitary walks almost every day. Then generally, every waking moment of my life is devoted to the burning question - “What is this?” When I'm with friends, when I'm alone, when I'm shopping, when I'm playing concerts, when I'm working, etc.

What's your practice, if any?

:)

Re: Your practice?

I haven't done any practice at all over the past four months or so, due to a number of demands on my time at present.  Well, I take that back – I did two weekend sittings during that time, and I also lead meditation twice a week in my classes.  But my own regular personal practice routine has suffered over the past few months.

Normally, over the past couple years, my practice has been mostly rooted in TSK – which consists of inquiry practice and some experiential / awareness meditations.  Like you, Is, I often also use “ordinary” routines or tasks as occasions for inquiry or practice, such as during my regular walks at work or in the evenings at home.

I used to do a number of other practices - Diamond Approach, vipassana, certain Tantric and Dzogchen meditations.  But it has been awhile since I've taken any of them up.

Re: Your practice?

Hi Is

I don't have a regular practice these days, other than what you and Bruce mentioned, i.e. “I often also use “ordinary” routines or tasks as occasions for inquiry or practice, such as during my regular walks at work or in the evenings at home.”

Very occasionally I do full TM-siddhi sessions (1 hour plus), as well as more regular but short sessions of tai chi & yoga breathing.

On the more mundane side for example, the day before yesterday, I was walking back to my parked van after a day of teaching taiko drumming to kids with learning disabilities. While thinking that I needed to make time to clean my van one of these days, I spontaneously took a deep breath and became aware of the “subtle whole-body tension” that is being discussed in another thread here. At the same time, I had a clear recognition that much of my waking time is spent looking at my life as a problem to be solved. I threw my head back and laughed and laughed standing there in the car park. A really deep laugh not unlike some of the “diksha” movies you linked to previously on youtube. And then lo and behold I click onto Gaia and there is a great new post from David about that very realization….woo woo!

So, one of the main “routine” ways in which I “practice” is by communicating with you wonderful people on here. So thank you David and everyone on the pod.  :-)

Does that count?

Cheers everyone!

James

Re: Your practice?

Hey, Is.

Well, I am also big on walking meditation. At times that was an especially big thing for me. It still is, but at one point I was sometimes very intense about it. Sometimes I would just drift, as it were, as long as there was nothing I needed to pay attention to (like cars), and other times it would be more concentrative, like paying attention to my feet or something else.

Now it is not concentrative on form in the way that it once was unless there is some form that might run me over or something, but it seems to me that the occassional meditation on form laid the groundwork for a more formless meditation.

I often have deeper insights walking than sitting, though, and each time it happens, each time I go for a walk, actually, I think, “Maybe instead of sitting meditation each morning I should go out for a walk instead or some combination of the two,” because first thing in the morning I sit on one of these. A chair like that was endorsed by Jon Kabat-Zinn once, who was really the person that got me committed to meditation, so I got one and have been glad I made the purchase. Mine has an ankle cushion, which is a nice feature, but what I have been contemplating recently is cutting a half circle in the wood underlying the seat cushion in the back in the middle so that there isn't any pressure at all on my coccyx. I might alternatively get a second or better one of these, which I have been using ontop of the kneeling chair recently.

I also sometimes do a chi gong meditation on that chair that involves streaming energy (yes, the subtle kind!) up the back and out the third eye center and into the hands, among a few other variations. Sorry, Is, don't mean to antagonize you; it just came out, and you asked.  :)

Getting energy to circulate like that is held to be an important practice in integral circles. In the recent book by Patten, Wilber, et al., Integral Life Practice, this practice, the Micosmic Orbit (taught in a different way in that book) is presented as one of the core practices, and Wilber has said that most people find that useful. He has said that subtle energies “pretty much know what they are doing” (like biological energy—we don't have to beat our hearts consciously, for example), but he suggests a little attention to that circulation.

Sometimes I also do some standing meditation, which sometimes also includes chi kong or Taoist postures, and every time I do that as well I think, “I should do more of this.” Would you like an anecdote that will enlarge your perspectives and perhaps make you think I am really new age?  :)

Okay, here it goes, at risk of seeming really new age—I wrote my chi gong instructor a few years ago simply to thank him because I had left without saying goodbye. He had really tried hard for me and gave me just a little more attention than he gave most people, I think. He was a very giving teacher and would work with all kinds of people, even if it was difficult for him—and a few days after I wrote him my chi gong practice suddenly came alive. I had energy in the tan tien that I didn't have before and haven't even had since. Skeptical? Well, it was quite profound, and I had experienced him filling my kidneys with energy from across the room so many times, pounding energy on my back, sending it to my hands etc., and he had claimed also to be able to effect things from great distances, so it seems most likely that he did some remote energy sending.  :) It was a really profound experience, really!  :)

I also do some lying-down meditation, which some people advise against but which works for me. That's basically an exterior view. On the interior it is some kind of integration of the three faces of Spirit, though sometimes I will just work with one and sometimes it all seems irrelevant.