Zen Master Pacfan and Taoist Andre.

[Andre]

Everything above is brilliant... Far more than I expected to get back when I asked the original question...

I have lots to respond with but not much time to post right now, but I had another quick question..

I'm wanting do to some sort of practice that takes me out of my day and I can concentrate on relaxing, letting go etc. I found a Yoga video laying around and have done that twice, but it's not as relaxing as i'd hoped. A lot of the poses are straining and in my current not-so-fit state, it's more of a workout.
I'm thinking maybe tai-chi although i've found it hard to find any instruction on that, online anyway... I might go hire something on DVD..

A secondary question. I also would like to start a quick meditation each night.. It's very difficult because I don't have any time alone in my house. I have a lot of tasks to do, and would have to fit meditation in between them, adding to the resistance of coming to peace in the middle of that. I also don't really have a place in the house that is private and peaceful, and where I won't be interupted.. I have a small spare bedroom that is like a store room where old clothes and boxes etc are thrown everywhere..
It's the quietest room in the house though so i'm guessing this could be my place for it...

Do you have any tips for meditating in such an environment, or think I should try cleaning the room and preparing it in some way to be more relaxing?

I know that I need the time out of my day to let stuff go...

I've been on holidays from work for the past 4 weeks. For the first 3 I ran around doing all the things I thought I needed to do so that I could relax. Clean, paid bills, worked on my business idea, gardening etc... It was a relatively good feeling and I felt a bit of peace of mind that I had wiped these things off my mental checklist. -- But last Monday, even knowing that I still had stuff to do, I dropped it all and sat out in the sun for hours just reading. I was probably only outside for about 4 hours, but I felt better than night "achieving nothing" that day, than all the others where i'd gotten a tonne of stuff done... I also felt like i'd dropped a lot of mental tension that i'd carried my whole holidays...

I always feel like, if I have spare time in the evenings after work, I should spend it completing tasks so I can tick them off my list and hence, let go of the mental tension of it being needed to do.... I always feel like given spare time, I should be "productive" and that will make me feel better...

But i'm realising that sitting down for 30 minutes of peace at night is a thousand times better for me in just about every way, than searching for the next task to complete... My brain always tries to convince me that sitting down and thinking about and doing nothing is a waste of "time" - In meaning that time can be converted into productivity and "doing things" that need to be done... But taking the time out last week to just relax didn't even take me away from my tasks, and was more rewarding that "completing things".

So i'm sold on meditation or time out, being as valuable as anything else I could possibly have to do at night..

try laying down tense your toes relax them ,tense your feet relaxthem,tense calves relax them,al legs,relax,buttocks relax,stomache ,relax,back,shoulders,arms,neck ,jaw,face head .then you can relax totally and float away in it.
noise shouldnt really bother you so long as its not emotioanlly charged like an argumant etc the its all just background.

To get up early and meditate into the first morning sun is of real benifit.


There are free tutorials on some different meditations online,some are very good.

The American Monk has some free stuff online which is very cool too.

There is another guy an Asian fellow who puts up free meditation lessons too.

more later. watching ufc..

[Andre]

Mate there are so many ways and people find their own way for their own reasons at the right times.
Yoga can lead you in there through tension and relaxation and breath.

If you watch only your breath it works too.

There is a way also that you breathe in ever decreasing breaths in sync with the golden mean or the fibbriconni mathmatical pattern of life.

Whatever way you find,your going to benifit from heart and mind becomming more in sync.

My choice is different yet again and takes a certain amount of regimentation, theres no use me explaining it I cant but its called the Mer ka ba if you care to search and is from the wisdom schools of the middle east.

Another reported highest of meditations but from within yoga and from the north east in India/tibet etc is called Gayatri. It is split into three parts Mantra,Japa and Dhyana ,(the use of sacred phrases repeated)
It also incorperates finger positions, breathing and proper prounounciation of the sacred sounds as triggers and how to raise the kundalini through the gayatri meditation.
Kundalini is the life force or chi energy from within your reproductive system and if you can reverse this flow so it goes up your spinal column you will be in heaven mode. Gayartri is very involved and is from the Hindu and kristnas.
These types of meditations illuminate all those on the path of practice and produce the highest bliss, creativity and success.