Blogs related to Meditation
Wu Xing (Five Elements) Meditation
The guiding principle of this meditation is the maxim, “The Yi (wisdom mind, intention) leads the Qi. The Qi leads the blood.” That is, when calm and clear attention and intention are brought to part of the body, the Qi is led there.
Rick Interview on UK Health Radio, “The Natural Healing Show”
I was interviewed last week by the amazing Catherine Carrigan for her show on the UK Health Network: The Natural Healing Show" Catherine is a medical intuitive, an Amazon #1 Best Selling Author, and teaches yoga and qigong. Her website is www.catherinecarrigan.com She is a powerhouse! In this interview, we talked about "Meditation in Stillness. Meditation in Action." It is a topic I have written about a lot lately, and I gave a weeklong meditation retreat at Kripalu in March with that title....
Meditation in Stillness. Meditation in Action. A Review.
I had the honor of teaching a five-day meditation retreat at the beginning of March for Kripalu Center for Yoga and Health. It was called "Meditation in Stillness. Meditation in Action." I was joined by the wonderful Dr. Renee Rhodes, clinical psychologist, who helped people to integrate all the new information and experience. There was an opportunity for some real growth in a very short time, and Renee helped make that as smooth as possible. We finished up just in time, finishing right before...
Meditation in Stillness. Meditation in Action. At Kripalu March 1-6, 2020
Is this your year to get a handle on meditation? Are you ready to take a major jump into bringing a calm, centered state of being into your life? Have your attempts at meditation left you frustrated and unfulfilled? Does your peace and equanimity dissolve when you step away from the cushion and return to the daily grind? Is your practice just not FUN? If you would like to dive into the deep end of the pool and maybe emerge with a whole new look on life and a brand new sack of tools, then...
Feel First, then Do. Opening the Eye of Flesh.
"Push. No push." "Punch. No punch." In my many years studying with him, Grandmaster William C. C. Chen would often exhort us to let go of excessive effort with paradoxical words like that. Taijiquan is filled with paradox, which can be confusing to those looking for a simple, clear map of what to do. We wanted to understand this very strange martial art that insisted that the way to effective power was by relaxing muscular tension, yet "everyone knows" that muscular contraction is what enables...
Meditation in Action, Part 3: Open and Closed Systems
In class last week one student was asking about "storing qi" in the dantian (the lower abdomen; aka: "the elixir field;" aka: "the sea of vitality.") Another student had heard that we should do standing meditation to get the feet really hot to generate qi in the body. The idea was to build up so much internal qi that it could be directed outward like shooting a gun. These are ideas and approaches that have been around for a long time, and I'm sure they are useful to create certain effects and...
Meditation in Action-Part Two
Let's pick up from where we left off in Meditation in Action-Part One. If we can agree that meditation is any practice designed to bring the mind temporarily into non-conceptual awareness, the gap between thoughts, Pure awareness...or as I prefer, non-objective awareness...then that opens up the pantry. We then have choices. Vipassana guys like their approach. As do TM, Zen, Taoist, yoga, and mindfulness practitioners. Each has its particular flavor, and we live in a glorious age where you can...
Meditation in Action- Part One
In 2010 I visited an exhibit of the paintings of the Zen master Hakuin at the Japan Society in New York City. Hakuin is the guy credited with creating the most famous koan...the one we all know..."What is the sound of one hand?" His paintings communicate powerfully.One of his favorite subjects was Daruma (Bodhidharma), the monk who brought Buddhism to China and is said to have taught martial arts to the monks of Shaolin Temple. One painting particularly struck me, due mainly to the Hakuin...
Instant Meditation? What Does That Even Mean?
I've gotten some pushback lately about my use of the term "Instant Meditation." It was felt that calling it "instant" trivializes the long hours that experienced meditators spend in their own practice, as if all the same results could be gotten in an instant. This surprised me. I hadn't considered that it could be read that way. Did I need to call it something else, or just do a better job of clarifying what I meant? What I was trying to say with "Instant Meditation" was that substantially...