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| Subject: yoga, tai chi, healing movement | |
Author: omseeker | [ Next Thread |
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] Date Posted: 8/04/07 14:32 Hello Does anyone here practice any kind of yoga or tai chi or dance or any other ways to destress? i have begun yoga recently and am taking it slowly. blessings and peace seeker [ Next Thread | Previous Thread | Next Message | Previous Message ] |
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Author: Pilgrim [ Edit | View ] |
Date Posted: 8/04/07 18:15 Welcome to the garden Omseeker! :-) I mostly just meditate but find a good walk always helps. [ Post a Reply to This Message ] |
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Author: Paganwolf [ Edit | View ] |
Date Posted: 8/04/07 21:37 Welcome to the Garden I practice Thai Chi sometimes. I learned it when in Japan. It does help one to unwind at times. Blessings, love and light Paganwolf )0( [ Post a Reply to This Message ] |
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Author: Rowan [ Edit | View ] |
Date Posted: 10/04/07 9:49 Hello Omseeker, nice to have a new face in the garden :) I generally do Yoga to de-stress. Have a couple of vidoes/DVDs which I do after work. I'm taking it slow too, cos now in my 40s, not a supple as I was, and I find if I'm not careful i can overstretch. But I feel so fantastic after a session. Really relaxes me. Walking (especially in the countryside) is also a great way to wind down and forget your troubles. Nothing more lovely than being surrounded by the natural world. My garden - couldn't survive without it - however stressed I feel, an hours worth of digging, planting, nurturing and simply hanging out there, with birds and insects amongst the flowers, soothes me totally. Tai chi - I have a DVD. think it's probably a great way to relax, but probably better with a class, as i tend to lose concentration on my own. Finally, if I feel very wound up, I do simple meditation. usually just concentrating on breathing in (whilst thinking the words "breathing in") and the same on the out breath ("breathing out"). Nice to do that whilst watching a candle flame. And I have a lovely recording of a Secret Garden visualisation as an alternative (tho i sometimes fall asleep then! LOL) Blessings, Rowan x [ Post a Reply to This Message ] |
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Author: jade [ Edit | View ] |
Date Posted: 10/04/07 12:56 hi there welcome to the garden, hmm rowanmoon is a great one to talk to for tai chi, as ive been to some classes she runs they were fab. I wouldnt say i do it religiously but i do like yoga and tai chi for the purposes of focussing the body inwardly, i use them when i want to meditate but want to feel the fluidity of movement as well. The breathing techniques for them both i find relaxing and meditative. dance is great. i tried belly dancing, much harder than it looks but great fun. I did a chakra dance once, that was good. I think really best thing to do is try everything for yourself and see what feels right to you. have fun learning. jade [ Post a Reply to This Message ] |
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Author: whitewolf [ Edit | View ] |
Date Posted: 11/04/07 23:46 Welcome omseeker. I do dance/movement which has inspiration from yoga / chi gong / tai chi and the likes. What type of yoga are you doing? I hope you're enjoying it, certainly good for de-stressing :) [ Post a Reply to This Message ] |
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Author: zenwind [ Edit | View ] |
Date Posted: 14/04/07 16:11 I mainly practice tai chi chuan and qi gong. I love it and find it wonderful. I also like whitewolf do my own kind of dance/movement. Hope you are getting on well with the yoga and welcome to the garden (I think I have rub shoulders with you before in the garden but I may be imagining it)... namaste zenwind [ Post a Reply to This Message ] |
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Author: Omseeker [ Edit | View ] |
Date Posted: 15/04/07 14:13 Hello, Thank you all for the nice responses. I am getting on well with yoga though am starting to think a class is not for me. I am finding people competitive there and a bit snobby (the teacher does not seem to be developing the side to yoga about connectedness and unity just the exercise bit) - it seems a bit ironic that people are competing at how supple they are and getting a little 'show offy' when the roots in yoga are so far removed from this. Though sometimes in spiritual circles there is a lot of competitivenss isn't there or bragging to be the most spiritual. Do you find? Not on this board though. It can be worst out of everywhere on the net!! Yes ZenWind I have lurked here a while and did pop to say hello to you in a different thread, I think perhaps because you mentioned being buddhist as I am or perhaps because you mentioned something that stirred me to answer on the few days I am actually connected to the net. I am a bit more new to buddhism though than you - 3 years young but I have found my home in buddhism. thanks again for replying. all the best and peace to all seeker [ Post a Reply to This Message ] |
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Author: Rowan Moon (Happy) [ Edit | View ] |
Date Posted: 1/05/07 1:10 Hi Omseeker, great that you are into Yoga, Tai Chi etc. !! I have found that Tai Chi has helped me with my Reiki too, it really opens the energy channels. I have been fortunate that my Reiki Master also teaches me Tai Chi too! As Jade Wolf Says, I have taken a few souls through the prelims of Yang Short Form, which is the one most folk start off learning. very easy!! It so happens we are organising a Tai Chi and Therapy camp in Essex in June, which Jade wolf will be helping at!! If you feel drawn to that, let me know and I can let you have more details. It is a camping thing, very relaxed on part of our extended organic farm. I have a fab freind who alas is in NZ at present, but she is a member of the Order of Western Buddhists. I have learned a lot from her and with the Reiki connection it is also some thing I like to relate to - the total feeling of trust and non- judgement of others is just so right. Welcome to the Garden, I am quite a newbie, I pop in and out when I get a mo, but all are great here and it is surprising what you learn!!! Om Mani Padme Hum, Namaste, Rowan Moon. xx [ Post a Reply to This Message ] |
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Author: whitewolf [ Edit | View ] |
Date Posted: 15/04/07 14:19 It's a shame the class your in has a competitive / snobby vibe - and that it is missing the spiritual side. Perhaps it will give you a 'taster' of postures and the likes so that you can practice in your own space, or with a close friend? Blessings whitewolf [ Post a Reply to This Message ] |
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Author: jade [ Edit | View ] |
Date Posted: 16/04/07 15:53 hello Omseeker, yeah i find the competativeness of spirituality on the net quite a drain. But you gotta laff. I guess that people need to seek their own ways in life and they will do it in the ways they feel most comfortable. a friend of mine is a yoga instructor and she says that a lot of classes she has been to they concentrate on only the physical side and not the spiritual. its a shame because thats what yoga is all about. anyway nice to chat to you suzi [ Post a Reply to This Message ] |
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Author: Omseeker [ Edit | View ] |
Date Posted: 27/04/07 19:49 Thank you for your replies. competitiveness in spirituality is truly silly. Whitewolf. I am spending time with two dear friends trying out the postures. Zen, as you are a Buddhist is there any chance of bending your ear about buddhism sometime, off list of course as this is a pagan forum. thanking you seeker [ Post a Reply to This Message ] |
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Author: Paganwolf [ Edit | View ] |
Date Posted: 27/04/07 20:45 Why do you feel you have to discuss Budhism off forum? One of the things about Gaias-garden is that many people with many paths come here to discuss? for every event, each of us whatever our path has a point of view and we know that each others opinion is listened too, problems with are faiths are discussed in an open an constructive way and explaining without ridicule, the mannerisms of our path so we may all learn from others and that expands our knowledge. Zenwind has often given me advice, useful advice which wouldn't be apparent or obtainable from a purely pagan/witches point of view. The only thing I have noticed about Gaisa-garden is here, we are of many people, many paths but one family Blessings, love and light Paganwolf )0( [ Post a Reply to This Message ] |
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Author: zenwind [ Edit | View ] |
Date Posted: 1/05/07 19:53 Hi Om Seeker Sorry to hear of your experiences with competitiveness. I guess many people are conditioned that they need to compete with other people to develop themselves. Sort of the ides of looking for some artificial yardstick 'out there' to measure themselves against. Comparison is a very bizarre concept to me at a heart level, though I understand it psychologically....but I cannot imagine the tree comparing itself to the sky?! tee hee. In spiritual settings I find upholding that notion particularly uncomfortable. Certainly as you say odd for yoga, though the emphasis in that class may be for fitness only. But to set up what to me seems a man made artificial dichotomy of 'me' over here versus 'you' out there just would feel very strange for yoga. I guess nothing I want can be gained from anybody else, though I may be taught otherwise through society etc. We are all of a weave in this wonderful universe (or so I believe). The context is key I reckon; if people have fun and it gets them excited (in sport or board games etc) and don't hurt each other all good... but I would feel the need to keep an eye on whether it is causing me or others pain, or nurturing false notions of inferiority etc that create suffering...so is very cool you have found a nice encouraging group with whom to explore! The Latin derivative (or so I am told) gives a meaning of competitevness much more like cooperation: 'to seek together.' - bit different! I am very happy you find both paganism and buddhism interesting and you find peace and wellbeing through your experiences with them. Feel free to ask me whatever you like [though I don't have any answers ;)] Happy trails.... namaste zenwind [ Post a Reply to This Message ] |
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Author: OmSeeker [ Edit | View ] |
Date Posted: 7/05/07 13:03 I find what you say very interesting ZenWind and certainly resonates for me. That is what I love about pantheist buddhist and pagan outlooks rather than the particular branch of christianity with which I was raised (don't want to genearliase to all xianity). But the idea in my birth family was that there was one soul out to compete wtih all the other souls for a place in heaven and to dominate over rivers, lands and animals as if this was the way it is. I have never felt this in my bones. Rather I have felt is so much a buddhist or hindu or some pagan views, sharing one soul with everyone. And what you say I feel deeply but not heard it expressed so well ie) all a weave in this wonderful universe. I guess having insights though is necessary for you to feel it and live it out in a path. I guess once you close your mind to it you are nver open to those expriecnces of oneness. WHen did you experience a view like this and does meditation help affirm your path? It seems all buddhist mediate LOTS but I do find my displicne wavers. Are you in a sangha and does it help? thanks blessings and togetherness seeker [ Post a Reply to This Message ] |
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Author: zenwind [ Edit | View ] |
Date Posted: 18/05/07 20:21 Hi From a buddhist stance, certainly for me finding that place of love and clarity beneath the ego and self preoccupation through practising meditation brought shifts in me. And over and over it increased that sense in me that the universe and all creatures are mutually interdependent and vital. I have a sangha with whom I meet every month, sometimes two. They are mostly buddhists but that isn't the point really, is nice to find people who believe in a path of peace as the only way to live in this world, to share silence with them and a sense of relating beyond words and ideas, and to share energy with those who are interested and motivated to find ways towards harmony and reduction in suffering for both themselves and other. Ultimately the sangha is all beings animate and inanimate. To me anyway it is our community in the world. Nice chatting my friend namaste zenwind /\ [ Post a Reply to This Message ] |
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Author: Mel [ Edit | View ] |
Date Posted: 23/05/07 16:46 Yes! YES! to find the peaceful solution at all times. To notice when love prevails naturally and feel it. Blessings, Mel. [ Post a Reply to This Message ] |