A little meditation experiment

Xue Sheng

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I stopped meditating sometime during December but the last two weeks I started again but I wanted to see if meditation had any effect on my day so I came up with a little experiment, nothing fancy, nothing any scientist would except the results from but it worked for me. I did not meditate a long time, only a few minutes each day, on those days I did it at all

What I did
  1. Breathing exercise
  2. 5 to 6 minutes of seated meditation.
  3. Yoga tree pose for about 3 breaths
  4. Yoga based standing shoulder exercise
On the days I did it 9 days out of 14, I felt pretty good all morning and had lots of energy

On the 5 days I did not meditate I was generally tired and low on energy all day lone

Anyone else have any similar experience?
 

EddieCyrax

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I recently have had surgery for a non-MA related injury that has put me on the sidelines for the next 12ish months.

Prior to this I only meditated on an occasion.

As I have very limited physical capabilities in the near term, I have begun a process of visualization (MA) and meditation. My experience so far is similar to yours.
 

Jenna

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I wonder why you stop your meditation in December XS?
 

Jenna

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XS yes I think it would be arduous to bring yourself to a meditative state if you are depressed and but so now you try this experiment because you have a little doubt whether the meditation works at all? And could I ask please what is your metric by which you measure your meditative practice working or not working?
 

Transk53

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Sorry to have to intrude, but this thread has stopped me dead. Google-Fu here I go then. Thanks OP :)
 
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Xue Sheng

Xue Sheng

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XS yes I think it would be arduous to bring yourself to a meditative state if you are depressed and but so now you try this experiment because you have a little doubt whether the meditation works at all? And could I ask please what is your metric by which you measure your meditative practice working or not working?

The experiment is actually a side effect of me paying attention to my mornings and how I felt on any given day. I felt better on the days I meditated than the days I didn't. It is not an in-depth experiment as much as it is being aware (mindfulness) and self discovery.
 

Jenna

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That make sense yes.. cultivating right mindfulness and right concentration seems at odds with our western way of things do you think?? I like very much your experiment XS taking that right mindfulness a step outside of meditative practice to look at that practice itself is very clever.

I should like to have a temperament like yours for meditation and but I cannot stop running after my thoughts that is why I am interested in your experience and experiment.. Jxx
 
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Xue Sheng

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The temperament can be learned, it takes time and does not always come easy, and if I learned it, anybody can.

Tried another little experiment with this over the weekend, I will know more tomorrow as to if it made any difference at all.
 
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Xue Sheng

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I did not meditate all weekend and I was having trouble sleeping all weekend too. So I did my meditation yesterday and last night I still had issues, just not as many so it may or may not be related. But I did have a lot of trouble with getting my mind to cooperate during meditation too

Meditated this morning as well, things went well, and I had a similar result as I had before, except I still feel good and have a lot of energy. I generally do not get this far in my day with this much energy, especially when I am not sleeping well. I am thinking that the longer I do this the better the effects.

Tonight I will be adding Wuji standing back in and see what that does.
 

Dinkydoo

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Interesting thread. I have had trouble sleeping for as long as I can remember and this can be from anywhere between taking an hour to fall asleep on one day out of 7 or really struggling to get more than 6 hours every night for a week solid. I used to do a bit of qigong and standing meditation 5/6 days per week but stopped doing this with any regularity when I jumped into the second year of the degree I'm doing two years ago. This was mainly due to trying to balance a hectic work/study schedule and training time. I can't remember my sleeping problems being as bad when I did meditate regularly and I've been meaning to get back into it again, so I think I'll start my old morning routine again tomorrow morning - 5 minutes of standing meditation and working quite quickly through the 8 Pieces of Silk Brocade.

It does make logical sense that practicing clearing the mind and feeling your energy on a regular basis could help with an 'over active' mind at nightime.

I can remember being more relaxed in general and focussed during training when I used to meditate. I'm looking forward to starting again.
 

tshadowchaser

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I should start meditating in the morning to see if it works for me. I do meditate at night but find it must be a few hours before I go to sleep or else I stay awake for a few hours after I stop meditating.
 
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Xue Sheng

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Started working with Taoist Microcosmic Orbit Meditation again this morning, after the mediation I have been doing since I started this post. Nothing big, in the beginning it is simply focusing on the lower Dantien (yoga it is the swadhisthana chakra).

Lower dantian (下丹田, Xià Dāntián): below the navel (about three finger widths below and two finger widths behind the navel), which is also called "the golden stove" (金炉 pinyin: Jīn lú) or the namesake "cinnabar field" proper, where the process of developing the elixir by refining and purifying essence (jing) into vitality (qi) begins.

What I have been doing is also rather simple
1) Breathing exercise: Sit on the edge of a chair, Inhale naturally (abdominal breathing) for 4 seconds, hold for 4 seconds, exhale for 4 seconds. Repeat 6 to 8 times
2) Sit on the edge of a chair, Inhale naturally (abdominal breathing), Count the exhalations 1, 2, 3, 4, 5. Repeat starting again at 1. Do for 5 to 6 minutes.

Now I added the Taoist meditation. Currently also 5 to 6 minutes, but that one will go to 30 to 45 minutes as time goes on and the focus also changes. However I have never gone past 30 minutes when I did this before.
 

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