On Apr 17, 2006, at 8:22 AM, sparaig wrote: > > It does not advocate "control" but leaves it to the individual to > > find a medium between attention and total relaxation. When this is > > not done properly you get problems like those often seen in TM: > > falling asleep and slouching, bad asana or posture--see the old > > thread here on "torpor" during TM practice and the numerous reports > > of sleeping during TM. For a good example of bad vs. good posture > see > > the CBS sunday morning video recently which showed slouching TMer's > > and then a group of mindfulness meditators in excellent posture. If > > you talk to experienced meditators who observe TMers, one of the > > common observations is that TMers "don't know how to sit". And it > > causes problems, particularly with excessive thoughts. > > Or perhaps this is all projection on your part...
Actually it's the direct experience of many TMers. There are typically two prerequisites for mantra-diksha: one is posture, the other is correct breathing. What you find when this is ignored is problems arise which could have been prevented if you are just taught the proper way in the first place. But that's what happens when the purity of the tradition is distorted, a common feature of some McMeditation techniques. > > All beginning meditators will have an aspect of their practice where > > they return to discursive thought and then return to their > meditative > > object. If you read the article (which it would seem you did not) > you > > would see clearly where the mechanics of this are clearly described > > as the preliminary stages of this method--but it is only a beginning > > part. Eventually attentional stability and vividness increase. Not > > attaining this and being stuck in continuous patterns of discursive > > thought is likened to trying to look at a star through a telescope > > while bouncing about on a bicycle--there is no stability with which > > examine consciousness with. > > > How does consciousnes examine itself? I thought the article answered this very nicely. Are you sure you read it? > > And what the hell is "discursive thought?" "Mind chatter". In Sanskrit it is called "vitarka". To subscribe, send a message to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Or go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/FairfieldLife/ and click 'Join This Group!' Yahoo! Groups Links <*> To visit your group on the web, go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/FairfieldLife/ <*> To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] <*> Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to: http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/
