Shelli~
I've written quite the response to what was probably a
very simple 'yes or no' type question so in the interest of common human
decency, I'll turn this into kind of a really crappy 'Choose Your Own
Adventure' where you can either pick the Cliff Notes version or the
Non-Cliff Notes version. If picking the Cliff notes version, simply read
the response then skip down to the second row of colons :) If reading
the unabridged response, enter at your own risk ;)
"Do you meditate?"
CLIFF NOTES VERSION: Why yes. Yes I do.
BEGIN NON-CLIFF NOTES VERSION HERE:::::::::::::::::
To
me practice is where all the present stuff becomes difficult. The
concepts are a little hard to grasp at first - it takes experience and
playing around with what present mind is, like how present is present
mind? LOL Then once I've thought about it a great deal actually working
with it is another completely different challenge. I do sitting
meditation for about 35 minutes daily now. I had been on a trip out west
recently (end of July) and kind of fell off the routine, but I've
gotten things back now, but the mindfulness part is still difficult.
Also I'm working on another kind of standing meditation for about 20-35
minutes everyday too.
Its easier to work on immediate
mindfulness to me with the standing, because I'm more focused on
different body systems: how my structure is aligned, what muscles are
tensed, which ones are relaxed, relaxing more, relaxing more without
losing the structure, paying attention to breathing, dropping my
intention all the way through the floor (this one probably need more
explanation, we'll save that for later ;) ) then there's the burning out
of the muscles at certain points which is takes a lot of focus or maybe
I should say NOT-focus - like you have to separate yourself from it.
Since I've been working on this stuff, its super clear that your body is
not you. Your mind isn't really you either. There's something else that
is deeper that is the heart of your being. You can disconnect your body
from that 'heart' and the same with the mind - or at least the thinking
part of the mind. There's an awareness part of the mind that rides
above the thinking, not sure about disconnecting that (actually I
haven't even thought about disconnecting that until I just wrote it
right now). Anyway... this is probably waaaaay too detailed of an answer
for your "Do you meditate?" question. Its nice to write stuff down
though as it kind of clarifies thoughts and makes them easier to
communicate.
I do the sitting, standing and then I work on
other Tai Chi exercises (I've been doing Tai Chi for about 4.5 years now
and started teaching about a year ago). I've never been very hippie-ey
or mystical or any of that so its interesting, because the more I mess
with stuff the more weird stuff kind of crops up that falls into to
those categories - to the point where I'm shedding a lot of my skeptic
qualities. Being a skeptic isn't very fun anyway. I like and definitely
adhere to the idea(s) that there is just some shit you can't explain
scientifically right now, maybe in the future there will be more details
uncovered but then there will be other unexplainable things. To me,
being a skeptic takes all the wonder out of life. I'd rather have wonder
and be a little more esoteric in my beliefs than be more scientific and
have no wonder. It just seems like a funner time. And really making
stuff funner is kind of the point ;)
END NON-CLIFF NOTES VERSION ::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::
::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::
My
name is Shane. For the last 18 years I've record bands in my own
recording studio as my primary source of income. I do martial arts (Tai
Chi and Brazilian Jiu Jitsu). I write music. I write poetry. I drink
copious, borderline obscene, amounts of tea which I prepare more
Chinese-ey than say British-ey. I find it easier to have female friends
than male ones, perhaps because I was raised primarily by my mother and
grandmother. My recording studio is in the basement of the house I grew
up in which is now in my name where I have lived for 34 years. I played
in a band that toured across the country playing very many bad shows
(LOL). I love all the things I do. Sometimes I wish I made a bit more
money doing them, but I see that happening in time.
I started
trying the internet dating thing, because I don't find myself in social
situations all that often, plus I thought it would just be a new,
different experience, which it is. I haven't found many promising
connections through here - the physical meeting still trumps all in my
opinion - all the numbers can line up and the photos can look great, but
there is nothing on the internets that can quantify or qualify that
physical spark or connection.
Esta es un digital tarjeta mas grande o un libro pequeño. Yo no sé ;)
-Shane
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