Guest guest Posted July 31, 2009 Report Share Posted July 31, 2009 Yoga into meditation breath Posted by: " JiNN " jinnproduction ukemike Wed Jul 29, 2009 9:32 pm (PDT) Hi everyone! Hope everyone is doing wonderful. I have noticed a little problem I have been having. The problem is that when I do my asanas, I use breath control. After the asanas, I sit down into meditation and it takes me a long time to just let my body breath instead of controlling the breath. Basically the release of the control of the breath is taking too long. I know you just have to relax, but are there any tips/hints on how to do this quick? Thanks Mike ------------- Hi Mike i tried writing earlier, but the email went out in the wrong format and didn't pass through. you could try a few things to get your mind away from the strong breathing. you could place your hands in angeli mudra and recite aloud a sutra over and over. the sutra could simply be the words, " the lotus sutra " . that could take the mind off the strong breathing. you could sit to meditate at a time different than the conclusion of your yoga practice, at which time your breath will be more calm. in the tradition of pranayama, heavy breathing is involved, if i'm not mistaken, and that is considered a meditation in itself. you sound like you just want to do quiet meditation after asana practice. you could label your attention to the breath as a thought, " oh, my mind is paying attention to the breath " and move on. cheers, Arturo Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted August 9, 2009 Report Share Posted August 9, 2009 hi mike, may i ask where your focus is when you sit in meditation? are you following the breath in and out? are you focusing on a point in an area of the body like the head, the nostrils or the stomach? sometimes there is confusion with the instruction of watch the breath, the practioners mind runs in and out with the breath following the breath pattern and maintaining a busy mind. a busy mind will maintain a busy body and busy breath. a better practise is to observe the breath almost like a third party and still maintain awarenss of the body by finding an anchor. one of the best anchors or focus points is the heart centre, it enables full body awareness of the sensation of the breath in the body and keeps the attention away from the head, the head can be a little busy to focus on. metta kim Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted August 9, 2009 Report Share Posted August 9, 2009 Thanks for this, Miss Kimbha.... D On Sat, Aug 8, 2009 at 10:01 PM, thekimbha <thekimbha wrote: hi mike, may i ask where your focus is when you sit in meditation? are you following the breath in and out? are you focusing on a point in an area of the body like the head, the nostrils or the stomach? sometimes there is confusion with the instruction of watch the breath, the practioners mind runs in and out with the breath following the breath pattern and maintaining a busy mind. a busy mind will maintain a busy body and busy breath. a better practise is to observe the breath almost like a third party and still maintain awarenss of the body by finding an anchor. one of the best anchors or focus points is the heart centre, it enables full body awareness of the sensation of the breath in the body and keeps the attention away from the head, the head can be a little busy to focus on. metta kim Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted August 10, 2009 Report Share Posted August 10, 2009 Hi Kim! >>may i ask where your focus is when you sit in meditation? the rims of the nostrils >>are you following the breath in and out? No, because just as you explained, you cannot focus the mind if you run it from place to place. >>one of the best anchors or focus points is the heart centre, it enables full body awareness of the sensation of the breath in the body and keeps the attention away from the head, the head can be a little busy to focus on. So keep the point of concentration on the heart chakra? Isnt that a little harder because unless you opened/awakened/arroused your heart chakra, you are not going to " feel " much. When you are focusing on the nostril rims, there is always the brushing of air to the skin so you can always " feel " the sensation there. Thank you for your reply. Mike On Sat, Aug 8, 2009 at 7:01 PM, thekimbha <thekimbha wrote: > > > hi mike, > > may i ask where your focus is when you sit in meditation? > are you following the breath in and out? are you focusing on a point in an > area of the body like the head, the nostrils or the stomach? > > sometimes there is confusion with the instruction of watch the breath, > > the practioners mind runs in and out with the breath following the breath > pattern and maintaining a busy mind. a busy mind will maintain a busy body > and busy breath. > a better practise is to observe the breath almost like a third party and > still maintain awarenss of the body by finding an anchor. one of the best > anchors or focus points is the heart centre, it enables full body awareness > of the sensation of the breath in the body and keeps the attention away from > the head, the head can be a little busy to focus on. > > metta > kim > > > Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted August 11, 2009 Report Share Posted August 11, 2009 hi mike, focusing on the rims of the nostrils is a common practise and it is not wrong but as i mentioned in the last post it can be a busy place. It can sometimes be hard to gain full body awareness from that focus point. good question about the heart chakra. my answer is, when you focus on something, what ever it may be, you gain more awareness and understanding of the area of attention. As my teacher says, what came first, the chicken or the egg. In the beginnings of my practise, i found great benefit and advancement in keeping my focus on the heart centre. I was amazed at the sensation i encountered long after my formal sit. that said, in this meditation the anchor is at the heart centre but the awareness is of the whole body. in one of the other posts to this question, someone suggested doing your formal sit at another time. maybe give it a go. I keep my breath quite steady and calm throughout my asana practise and have no issue with sitting after. I do sit before asana practise also, i find my mindfulness and my body awareness is strong after this and helps me to listen and gain in my asana practise. i think experimentation is the key, practise over theory, see what works best for you. look forward to you thoughts. metta kim Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted August 12, 2009 Report Share Posted August 12, 2009 Hi Mike, Aren't you suggesting something like a " GUIDED MEDITATION " ? I had to learn all this stuff on my own which gives me my own set of biases and predjudices. Also, I'm focusing primarily on esoteric Buddhist practices so I'm sure that you can easily understand the amount of conflict that I encounter between the two philosophies and practices. I like INCLUSION as apposed to EXCLUSION and so I search for the " equalities " , that state/condition of calm which is the resultant phenomena that enables the individual to partake of the actual practice. Samadhi, is a little different in Buddhism than in Ashtanga practices. Maybe I don't even have the right word associated with the concept. I have the hindu names for all the chakras, all be it, not with me today, but when I person focuses on the condition of say, the heart chakra, or the chakra corresponding to the nostrils (Mudalehara chakra, or something like that?) we are totally consumed by the physical sensations, tactile-consciousness, of the body or that part of the body we are focusing on. THIS, IMO, detracts from the meditation thus requiring the practitioner to waiste time wondering what it is they are doing wrong, etc. > full body awareness of the sensation of the breath in the body and keeps the > attention away from the head, the head can be a little busy to focus on. colette: (laughing) A little Busy? One of the most difficult aspects of meditation, that I've just become aware of, in the Buddhist community, is the INABILITY of the student to calm their mind, to grasp their mind, to allow their mind to resemble a completely calm pond that reflects the image above it clearly. For me, I can't help but to have recognized the countless rerferences, in Buddhist doctrine, to THE FACT that the mind is turbulent and needs to be calmed, YET, there is an endless amount of students that seem to simply ignore this FOUNDATIONAL REQUIREMENT causing them to end up asking rediculous questions that have no meaning other than confusing the majority. I am not too familiar with the methodology and terminology in the Hindu practices of Tantra, Yoga, etc, yet I clearly recall my beginings in MEDITATION, PRANAYAMA, etc, where I found that IF I HAD NOT BECOME FULLY CONSCIOUS OF MY ENTIRE BODY, THEN BECOME CONSCIOUS OF EACH AND EVERY LITTLE COMPONENT THAT MAKES UP THE ENTIRE BODY, THEN, WITHOUT THAT CONSCIOUSNESS, I would never have been able to pursue loftier objectives. You chose to discount Kim's focus on the heart chakra and direct her to a focus on the nostrils. This may be all well and good, however, the prajna as it travels the shashumna will contact the heart chakra first and either find an open lotus or not. Is it wrong to dwell on the hypothetical " un-opened " lotus before traveling on to the nostrils? If the objective is to achieve a union of the Yin and Yang, the positive and negative, the Shiva and Shakti, then isn't it counter productive to discount the heart chakra? Achieving this hypothetical union is very similar to being able to cognize the singularity of the MIND-BODY-SPIRIT; without grasping the complexity of the heart chakra, then, the student will be missing a major part of the totality of MEDITATION. Just my thoughts, thanks for the chance to re-touch my foundational points. toodles, colette ashtangayoga , JiNN <jinnproduction wrote: > > Hi Kim! > >>may i ask where your focus is when you sit in meditation? > the rims of the nostrils > > >>are you following the breath in and out? > No, because just as you explained, you cannot focus the mind if you run it > from place to place. > > >>one of the best anchors or focus points is the heart centre, it enables > full body awareness of the sensation of the breath in the body and keeps the > attention away from the head, the head can be a little busy to focus on. > > So keep the point of concentration on the heart chakra? Isnt that a little > harder because unless you opened/awakened/arroused your heart chakra, you > are not going to " feel " much. When you are focusing > on the nostril rims, there is always the brushing of air to the skin so you > can always " feel " the sensation there. > > Thank you for your reply. > Mike > > On Sat, Aug 8, 2009 at 7:01 PM, thekimbha <thekimbha wrote: > > > > > > > hi mike, > > > > may i ask where your focus is when you sit in meditation? > > are you following the breath in and out? are you focusing on a point in an > > area of the body like the head, the nostrils or the stomach? > > > > sometimes there is confusion with the instruction of watch the breath, > > > > the practioners mind runs in and out with the breath following the breath > > pattern and maintaining a busy mind. a busy mind will maintain a busy body > > and busy breath. > > a better practise is to observe the breath almost like a third party and > > still maintain awarenss of the body by finding an anchor. one of the best > > anchors or focus points is the heart centre, it enables full body awareness > > of the sensation of the breath in the body and keeps the attention away from > > the head, the head can be a little busy to focus on. > > > > metta > > kim > > > > > > > > > Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted September 19, 2009 Report Share Posted September 19, 2009 My pleasure, sir king! metta kim ashtangayoga , Darrell King <DarrellGKing wrote: > > Thanks for this, Miss Kimbha.... > > D > > On Sat, Aug 8, 2009 at 10:01 PM, thekimbha <thekimbha wrote: > > > hi mike, > > may i ask where your focus is when you sit in meditation? > are you following the breath in and out? are you focusing on a point in an > area of the body like the head, the nostrils or the stomach? > > sometimes there is confusion with the instruction of watch the breath, > > the practioners mind runs in and out with the breath following the breath > pattern and maintaining a busy mind. a busy mind will maintain a busy body > and busy breath. > a better practise is to observe the breath almost like a third party and > still maintain awarenss of the body by finding an anchor. one of the best > anchors or focus points is the heart centre, it enables full body awareness > of the sensation of the breath in the body and keeps the attention away from > the head, the head can be a little busy to focus on. > > metta > kim > > > Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted September 20, 2009 Report Share Posted September 20, 2009 I've been knighted! Awesome.... D On Fri, Sep 18, 2009 at 9:03 PM, kimbha <thekimbha wrote: My pleasure, sir king! metta kim ashtangayoga <ashtangayoga%40>, Darrell King <DarrellGKing wrote: > > Thanks for this, Miss Kimbha.... > > D > > On Sat, Aug 8, 2009 at 10:01 PM, thekimbha <thekimbha wrote: > > > hi mike, > > may i ask where your focus is when you sit in meditation? > are you following the breath in and out? are you focusing on a point in an > area of the body like the head, the nostrils or the stomach? > > sometimes there is confusion with the instruction of watch the breath, > > the practioners mind runs in and out with the breath following the breath > pattern and maintaining a busy mind. a busy mind will maintain a busy body > and busy breath. > a better practise is to observe the breath almost like a third party and > still maintain awarenss of the body by finding an anchor. one of the best > anchors or focus points is the heart centre, it enables full body awareness > of the sensation of the breath in the body and keeps the attention away from > the head, the head can be a little busy to focus on. > > metta > kim Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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