Is anyone else struggling with this practice compared to the Meditation Circle?

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  • #128585

    Anonymous
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    Hi Folks,
    I’ve been working with this material on a regular basis, and whilst I find the intellectual quality of the discussion fascinating and relevant, when it comes to the meditation I find it very difficult to get beyond the intellectual content. The Meditation Circle material established a kind of body centric comfort zone, whereby development seemed largely about alignment, breathing and sensitivity to anatomically physical and emotional energy as a preparation for Inner Dissolving. With the Tao Te Ching, I’m a bit lost with the internal sense of breathing ‘death and life’ and ‘hope and fear’, although I ‘get’ the ideas intellectually. Sometimes I get a hint of connected stillness behind the monkey mind, but often I’m reduced to mechanically following Bruce’s instruction whilst working on maintaining my alignments and continuing to ‘polish’ aspects of the Meditaion Circle practices. In some ways I feel like I’m going backwards. Is it just me struggling and the rest of you are well on the way to folding the TTC into your practice?

    #132600

    Anonymous
    Guest

    I’m still in the middle of the Meditation Circle program and haven’t done these two meditations; but I Iistened to them. My impression is that Bruce is trying to train us to smooth transition between inhale and exhale. This is a serious goal to achieve, because only after one has achieved the feeling of breathing disappearing the true meditation could start. And you can’t get this ‘breathing disappearance’ feelilng if you still have choppy breath clearly devided on inhale and exhale. Sometimes it is called ’embrionic breathing’. I can say that this approach is consistent throughout Bruce’s teaching. Remember how he teaches bagua. One of the main points in the beginning is to make a change in walking direction in such a way so that the nervous system remains undisturbed. So focus on the transition/change again.

    The intellectual shell that Bruce designed for the meditations might help to some extent because different people react on different things and/or images.

    THis is my understanding anyway; and I could be totally wrong. WOuld be interesting to hear from other students.

    #132601

    Anonymous
    Guest

    …..thanks Igor, a helpful and interesting perspective. I had assumed that Bruce’s TTC ‘dialogue’ and ‘practice’ elements are about ‘opening’ the text as a vehicle for meditation, and perhaps this breathing cultivation is part of that synergy. Although I’m familiar with the need to smooth out the transitions between inhale and exhale ( from Longevity Breathing, qigong, tai chi and meditation ), ’embryonic breathing’ as described in the media has seemed somewhat esoteric and/or caught up in pseudoscience mumbo jumbo. Hopefully a few more folks will ‘chip in’.

    #132602

    Anonymous
    Guest

    Re ‘Embrionic Breathing’, when I first came accross this idea it was described as ceasing of breath at all. Well, one can stop their breathing for 1-2 minutes, but how about 10-15 minutes? I agree this sounds a bit outlandish. Another interpretation of EB I’ve come accross is making breath so smooth so that one can’t feel any bodily parts moving during breath including feeling of air going through air passages in nose and down to lungs; and including such smooth expansion/contraction of the chest and back muscles during breath so that one can’t feel it at all. That second interpretation makes total sense to me because it lies fully in explainable area, not in some imaginary world.

    Sorry for slightly derailing your thread.
    Igor.

    #132603

    Anonymous
    Guest

    Hi, Colin.

    I’ve found these two meditations very strong. Somehow I find it… well, not easy, but possible to physical breath in these ideas, not through visualization but as a real feeling. I think the Med Circle practices were really helpful for me to get a solid foundation. I’ve moved on and have been doing inner dissolving ever since the end of the Circle. That’s really working for me – though I have so far to go – but I’m finding getting to a deeper, quieter place is easier. I combine that with the bagua meditation practices, which is a complete system in itself but also integrates with everything Bruce teaches, and maybe that’s helping me access these meditations. Part of it for me as working with the heart/mind. That provides a really deep basis to work from. I don’t do these TTC meditations every day, but several times a week, sometimes on the train home from work (thought it’s much deeper when I’m not distracted).

    Just one small bit of advice, if I may (and as usual, take all this with a serious grain of salt). Try to loosen your expectations and don’t be so judgmental during your practice. One of the important early bagua meditations deals with exactly this and I’ve found it very useful. That said, I know what it’s like to wonder if you’re doing it right or wasting your time. Then again, maybe these meditations aren’t for you and you should move on to inner dissolving.

    Anyway, good luck with your practice. take care

    mjn

    #132604

    Anonymous
    Guest

    Hello, Colin

    For what it is worth, I like Matthew find these two meditations almost totally physical. This is what I like about Bruce’s teachings. The first meditation after 45 minutes of almost nothing, suddenly my right and left channels opened and became really dominant of my awareness. Also on the start of my out breathe I can feel a pulse moving up from the bottom of my spine. This has been consistent through the past two months.

    So I was excited for the second month. I started doing the fear and hope breathing and broke out in hives on my left channel side. They didn’t go away until I stopped this meditation. So I must have some fear issues that need to be dissolved. I have tried it several times but only for short periods, no problems so far. I am sure this is just an atypical response.
    I try to stay out of my head and feel what is going on. Thats just what I experienced. Dana

    #132605

    Anonymous
    Guest

    ….thanks Igor, I see there’s a ton of stuff abot EB on the Internet, but I’ve not come across any mention from Bruce or his senior people.

    #132606

    Anonymous
    Guest

    ….thanks Matthew. I’m focusing on Outer Dissolving as part of my qigong practice, and hope to get back to Inner Dissolving in due course – once I’ve made more substantial progress with OD. Thanks for the expectations advice, well taken. I’m sticking with the TTC materials, and am beginning to find some sense of connection through relaxing more into feeling, and to stop ‘trying’!.

    #132607

    Anonymous
    Guest

    ………. many thanks Dana, it’s really helpful to hear about others’ experiences.

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