Comments on: What If You Could Meditate without All That Sitting Around?

By: Peter Levine

Peter Levine — Tue, 03 Jul 2018 18:08:36 +0000

In my experience, there are good teachers of bad things; and bad teachers of good things. (For example, I have had teachers in university who were geniuses, but had not the slightest ability to convey their understanding to the students.) Teaching is an art in itself. One has to have the ability to understand the mentality of those who are uninformed, and know how to bring the subject into focus for them. Sometimes we find a good teacher of good things. I consider you a good teacher, especially because I get the consistent feeling that you really want to help us, in a heartfelt way. That enables me to open my heart to you in turn. Sometimes my mind wants more technical understanding of what’s going on with this stuff called “Qi”, what it is, how it works, how the techniques effect its movement in specific channels, and how I can learn to to collect it, store it, move it, etc. with the power of my mind. But then I tell myself that in time, when we are ready, you will share what you feel we can absorb. My kind of mind really wants a conceptual basis, rather than learning to do things by rote……….but my wife is the opposite. She doesn’t care how things work; just likes to push buttons. I tend to think that having an analytical scientific understanding of the variables in a system facilitates our ability to apply the principles in creative ways. So far you have put forward the principles of softness of the heart, mind and body, alignment, balance, strength and flexibility, and a basket-full of techniques. Maybe that’s where we stand in 101. I’m looking forward to getting into some purposeful creative engineering with this stuff called Qi. But in the meantime, I’m definitely getting enough juice to keep me coming back for more. Thanks, Peter

By: Sifu Anthony Korahais

Sifu Anthony Korahais — Tue, 03 Jul 2018 13:09:02 +0000

In reply to Ray Morneau.

I prefer Un-Guru, Ray. 🙂

But you’re very welcome!

By: Sifu Anthony Korahais

Sifu Anthony Korahais — Tue, 03 Jul 2018 13:08:27 +0000

In reply to Peter Levine. Like anything in life, there are good teachers and bad ones!

By: Peter Levine

Peter Levine — Tue, 03 Jul 2018 02:00:45 +0000

The problem is not with people who are trying to meditate. The problem lies with the people who teach meditation. The people who teach meditation have a rediculous goal. They want to turn off the mind. Completely! The reason they want to turn off the mind is because they hold the philosophical idea that we really don’t exist. Imagine such absurdity. They have so much trouble and difficulty with the “self” that they have come up with the idea that there is actually no self. They not only think that there is no self. They also think that the ultimate truth is a state of selfless oneness into which we can all merge. In that state, there is no individuality, no relationships, no activity, no enjoyments. How boring!!! But because these people are so miserable living with themselves, they are attracted to the idea that there is no self. It is like having a credit card with a very large debt on it. So they want to bring the debt up to the zero point. But it never occurs to them that they can also have a card attached to an account with a very large positive balance. They can have a bank account with a million, or a billion dollars in it and have a card with which they can access that account. But they can only think of eradicating their debt and bringing their balance up to the zero point. So that is their kind of meditation. They want to make everything into zero by turning off the mind. And they tell people they can become happy in that way. And the innocent people who trust them also try to make the mind into a zero. It is like thinking, “I have a miserable life. Therefore let me commit suicide.” They are saying, “I have a terrible mind. It is so hard to live with. Therefore let me extinguish it.” They have no idea that there is another alternative, viz., to make the mind healthy, balanced, wholesome and harmonious, which is what we are doing in qigong. So naturally, those who try to adopt the zero orientation will have a hard time. Because it is artificial, unfulfilling, boring, We can never be free of desire. But there are desires that can fill the mind and heart with unlimited upliftment. The conclusion is that this kind of meditation, to turn it all off, to make the mind zero – this is for less intelligent people.

By: Ray Morneau

Ray Morneau — Sun, 01 Jul 2018 17:59:29 +0000

Wizard-Guru-Sifu!!
Thank You!!!
1973 I started Transcendental Mediation with the Maharishi … lasted several weeks … finally connected with You and Flowing Zen in 2014 and I’m able to stick with this more than a mere several weeks … I see no problem making another 40 years here … mythical, legendary, relaxing!!! 😉
Merci mille fois! Namaste!

By: Sifu Anthony Korahais

Sifu Anthony Korahais — Mon, 15 Jan 2018 23:13:36 +0000

In reply to Marla. I'm sorry to hear it, Marla. Unfortunately, I've heard the same story from hundreds of different people. Hold your head high. Qigong definitely counts!

By: Marla

Marla — Sat, 13 Jan 2018 04:00:55 +0000

Thank you for clarifying the types of meditation. I did a six month quiescent sitting meditation course and it was hell. It made my depression much worse and so I gave up on the idea of meditating. Later I discovered Kirtan and love it (though didn’t think of it as meditating) ! When I came across Qigong I also loved it, too. But I wasn’t taught that it was meditation, too. When people asked me if I meditated, I said no, because I only thought of static sitting. So now, thanks to you, I can hold my head high and say yes, yes I do meditate!

By: Sifu Anthony Korahais

Sifu Anthony Korahais — Fri, 12 Jan 2018 12:41:41 +0000

In reply to Jens / Mr. Grok’n’Roll.

Yes, those are the two main methods on the internal side. This article is mainly about the external side — sitting, standing, moving, etc.

So now we have 8 different choices for meditation. 🙂

By: Jens / Mr. Grok'n'Roll

Jens / Mr. Grok'n'Roll — Fri, 12 Jan 2018 11:10:24 +0000

Interesting way to categorize meditation.
So far, I’ve only used the categories “focused” and “open-monitoring”.
Focused means paying exclusive attention to one thing, e.g. the breath (or at least trying to).
Open-monitoring means just observing anything and everything that goes on – without judging, without getting caught up and stuck in any of it (or at least trying to).

Sitting quietly for me was just one way to do both of these. But I’ve also done both while walking. lying down or standing.
So it never even occurred to me that people might be stuck at “sitting quiescently”.

Thanks for sharing.

By: Chris Papadopoulos

Chris Papadopoulos — Thu, 19 Jan 2017 16:38:35 +0000

Hi Sifu Anthony, This is such a beautiful, articulate, enjoyable, and enlightening piece of work. I have been practicing Vipassana meditation for about a year and am enjoying just focusing my mind on the ‘in’ and ‘out’ breath, every now and then I might turn my attention to doing a body scan for 15min. As part of my Taiji practice I do standing meditation also for 15min. thanks again for all the links and info