Searching for clarity of thought...

[vyapada]

G'day!

I don't come across many people in my day-to-day life who are sufficiently interested in meditation to the extent that they actually try it. I figured that this was a good reason (and because I can't sleep - 5:32am!) to try and share experiences and techniques with other semi-like minded individuals.

This post was sparked by my experiencing a period of clarity of thought due to meditation this morning. It was long overdue, probably the first time this year! Thankfully it has helped me realise what's really going on in my life, and not the personal and professional troubles I've been perceiving as real/self existent.

I've had a lot of success with two different kinds of meditation; a Buddhist style and Daoist style.

The Buddist style is really quite straightforward, sitting on the edge of my bed with my feet on the floor whilst paying attention to my breathing/channeling Qi into my brain/third eye region.
The main difficulty I've had is with the relaxation of my body, especially my eyes - but I've found that if I let my eyes roll toward the ceiling, they and the rest of my body relaxes quite well.

The Daoist style is something I've thrown together myself, but probably isn't original. I find it works really well to overcome the pain I get while walking.
I hold my hands in the Taiji palm position and on in inhalation I move my arms from a relaxed attention position to a circle - as though I was holding a large disc leaning against my body. On the exhalation I move my hands down and away from my body through the attention position until they are pointed horizontally away and my arms are held slightly away from my body. Done quite rigorously, this really promotes a Qi flow to my fingers and mental focus.

I'm really interested to hear from you all about your own practices and techniques, and I hope that this is a suitable post for the Open Topic thread.

Cheers,

[Scott Sonnon]

Chris,

How are you applying RMAX in this topic? I'm unclear.

[vyapada]

Coach,

I've read a lot about RMAX, but unfortunately I haven't been able to read everything that's been published in print or otherwise on the topics I'm interested in.
I've read a little on this forum of how people have been bridging the gaps of their experiences outside RMAX to those within (especially with regard to breathing) and I was hoping that a few RMAX practitioners could help others make the jump. I've become interested in this organisation through hearing many stories of beneficial practice through using their material, and I was wondering about the experiences others have had with their material in this area. As we can only devote so much time to certain things, I think this is my way of learning that if in this 'area', RMAX is for me - perhaps it can help others make the same decision. I certainly know RMAX is for me in the 'physical area' (if we're going to separate them!).

In this way it was my intent to have others share their experiences so that others may learn from them, and commence upon a path of learning that they might otherwise not have considered.

I hope this has clarified what my post is about, I have a habit of not being very specific/direct in my questions. I hope that I didn't post inappropriately.

Cheers,

[Scott Sonnon]

You're right. It isn't possible to 'separate' experience: physical, mental, emotional. These are all artificial distinctions - centuries old obsolete concepts.

As such RMAX focuses upon 'moving meditation' - 'stability through mobility' - 'stillness through motion'.

[Glenn Sunshine]

If I may elaborate on Scot's koan there, the difficulty you're having is one we've seen on this board on and off for a while. An analogy to what you're trying to do would be reading. Chinese characters represent not sounds, but entire words. As a result, they have certain advantages, notably that you can use the same writing system for multiple languages. The Latin alphabet uses symbols that represent sounds (well, morphophonemes, but I don't want to get into that); it also has some advantages, notably ease of use and learning. What you're trying to do is to say "I've been studying traditional Chinese writing for a while now, and I want to incorporate some work with the Latin alphabet into that. What's the best way to do it?" This is a logical idea--after all, they're both reading--but it doesn't work because the underlying principles between the two systems are radically different. They both produce good results, but not the same results and they don't go about doing it the same way. The cultural and theoretical underpinnings are so different as to make them a poor mix.

Does that make sense to you?

Yours,
Glenn

[vyapada]

Glenn,

Thanks for a really great explanation! Without much experience in RMAX I can now see why I'm getting hung up on my preconceptions.
I hope that I didn't test your, or Coach Sonnon's patience with my questions. With systems that are so revolutionary, I'm sure you'll find lots of ignorant people like me with heaps of questions! ;)
I'll try and keep my questions at bay until I'm more knowledgeable and well-read.

Cheers,

[Glenn Sunshine]

Chris,

No problem--we're here to try to answer questions and to help out people who come to learn. We've all got a ton of baggage and ignorance we need to overcome, and those of us who are here have found RMAX to be a useful tool in getting to know our bodies (and minds) and recovering what we were made to be able to do. Our comments are based on our personal explorations and experiences that we want to share with a community of fellow travellers on the same general route. So no worries about questions--we've all been there and we're a remarkably patient group with people who don't come with attitude.

Yours,
Glenn

[Scott Sonnon]

Beautiful said, Glenn!

Chris, there is no test of patience, and ignorance is something we each face and collectively illuminate in a never ending process of growth individually... together.