Monthly Archives: December 2008

Don’t turn at the knee

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Walking into work this morning, I almost slipped on the slushy pavement. I put my foot down heel first and was able to regain my balance before toppling.  Perhaps it was due to all that Chen taiji heel sliding step I used to practice, or maybe it’s just having better balance overall ;)

Last night’s standing session consisted of 4 postures held for 25 breaths each. I only lost count once and that was during the universal post posture. I was doing standing in the same room that my wife was playing video games, and I got side tracked for a bit.. my bad. But, if you’re “good”, then you should be able to do meditation anywhere, right?

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Don’t turn at the knee

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2

Walking into work this morning, I almost slipped on the slushy pavement. I put my foot down heel first and was able to regain my balance before toppling.  Perhaps it was due to all that Chen taiji heel sliding step I used to practice, or maybe it’s just having better balance overall ;)

Last night’s standing session consisted of 4 postures held for 25 breaths each. I only lost count once and that was during the universal post posture. I was doing standing in the same room that my wife was playing video games, and I got side tracked for a bit.. my bad. But, if you’re “good”, then you should be able to do meditation anywhere, right?

Continue reading →

Counting Breaths and Complimentary Practices

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I received a comment with some nice insights from CS regarding ‘Counting Breaths’:

… I advise beginners to practice at Level 1 by feeling the slight coolness inside the nose during the in-breaths and counting only during the out-breaths. This helps hold the mind on breath and also on a concrete easily sensed body sensation. Level 2 is focusing on body sensations and breath sensation. Level 3 is formal sitting meditation.

Source: Comment on Counting Breaths in Zhan Zhuang

In my own practice, I had focused on the tip of my nose during the inhale but never thought about the ‘cool sensation inside the nose’. I did a couple of breaths using this and I could really feel the sensation. Nutty!

As I was reading further on some tips and tricks of Counting Breaths, I realized that I already do the ‘count one, one, one until the end of the exhale’. I had been doing this so my counting does not get sidetracked, however initially I thought it was ‘not the way’.

Anyhoo, for more tips on the practice, I would highly suggest you check out the Counting Breaths – the way of life.  Be sure to check out the Counting Breaths section as it contains links PDFs of tips as well as the complete booklet titled Counting Breaths and Complimentary Practices (65 pages!).  Major hat tip to C.S Rao for sharing his tips on the Counting Breaths practice!

Tidbits – 12/1/08

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I went to the gym yesterday afternoon and boy and I feeling great, though a bit sore. It has been close to 2 weeks since I have been to the gym with my main excuse as recovery from my bronchitis. So, I took it slow with an easy-going pace yesterday.

The workout started off with roughly 20 minutes of elliptical cardio work.  Luckily for me, I always have an iPod loaded with audio books or I would probably get bored out of my mind.  After the cardio, I did my rounds of weight lifting. I keep things like and don’t exert myself too much. My goal is for general fitness, so I yesterday I did 2 sets of 10-12 reps on each machine.

After the weights, I went into this room in the corner and did some ab crunches on the balance ball. I am quite fond of working out on the balance balls as they require you to engage your core muscles for stability. This room had some balance boards that you could stand on and do other strength resistance exercises, but I was not that adventurous.

So far, I have lost roughly 7% of my body weight and I am roughly half way to my goal of losing 15%. Yeah!

Tidbits – 12/1/08

Posted by —

3

I went to the gym yesterday afternoon and boy and I feeling great, though a bit sore. It has been close to 2 weeks since I have been to the gym with my main excuse as recovery from my bronchitis. So, I took it slow with an easy-going pace yesterday.

The workout started off with roughly 20 minutes of elliptical cardio work.  Luckily for me, I always have an iPod loaded with audio books or I would probably get bored out of my mind.  After the cardio, I did my rounds of weight lifting. I keep things like and don’t exert myself too much. My goal is for general fitness, so I yesterday I did 2 sets of 10-12 reps on each machine.

After the weights, I went into this room in the corner and did some ab crunches on the balance ball. I am quite fond of working out on the balance balls as they require you to engage your core muscles for stability. This room had some balance boards that you could stand on and do other strength resistance exercises, but I was not that adventurous.

So far, I have lost roughly 7% of my body weight and I am roughly half way to my goal of losing 15%. Yeah!