Training Notes for Meditation!
Here are a few helpful notes and ideas to aid your meditation training.
First and foremost don’t forget to relax and breath. For awhile go through your list of necessary things to prepare, focus and get started. Try not to develop any bad habits or skip any steps or it makes life difficult later when you try to correct a long, on-going habit.
There isn’t necessarily a best time of day to practice meditation. When ever you get the opportunity to have a great session of practice is the best time. Take advantage of that time to slow the world down, breath well and cultivate some positive energy.
Something that is of great importance is frequency of practice. It is very important to practice meditation EVERY day! Even if you only get five minutes in one day it will help maintain your skill with focus, listening, multitasking, visualization and cultivating. I always tell my students that each day you meditate builds skill like stacking a sheet of paper for each day but skipping one day takes ten sheets off the pile. It doesn’t matter if you spend your next day off meditating for fifteen hours straight it still only add one sheet of paper, but miss the next day you lose ten. Ten minutes of meditation a day will build great skill over time!
Another question I get frequently is how long should I meditate per session? At first you might only make it ten minutes or so before you are exhausted and lose concentration. Once you build up though 45 minute sessions are about perfect. After that 45 minute mark the mind seems to just want a rest and it becomes increasingly difficult to focus and multitask. If you wish to go longer simply take a short break, relax and your mind will be recuperated in its abilities quickly for you to continue training. I have found with my own training that three 45 minute session spread out through the entire day build more skill and sense of peace than one 3 hour session.
Don’t forget after training to perform your closing and then follow through by maintaining the calm, euphoric feeling you just created. Relax and enjoy the time going by. Use this feeling to be a positive force for yourself and others as well. It is the attitude received from meditation that will inspire others greater than any skills from martial training. People aren’t inspired by fighters, they are moved by heart, spirit and honorable intentions which is the balance of powers that meditation offers.
Follow the link to return back to our step by step guide to meditation!
https://taoofkungfu.wordpress.com/meditation/step-by-step-guide-for-basic-meditation/
For more information on Chan meditation check out books like;
Chan (Chinese Zen) by Shih, Jian-Liao – a free book handed out in some Buddhist temples with great detail and very well written insight into the art of meditation. There are also many other great sources to be found with a little searching but remember nothing replaces practice!
Best of time with your training! As always…Thanks for reading!
道功夫精神少林
The Tao of Kung Fu 道功夫 
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