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Maureen Peters's avatar

If you would like to practise with meditation, I acquired these pointers from other people, maybe they'll be of some use to you as well:

Focus on your breaths, try to do abdominal breathing. I learned this by laying on my back and trying to move the hand someone put on my lower stomach up and down by only taking deep breaths. Breathe by expanding your abdomen, use the lowest muscles you can move there to achieve this. Relax your shoulders and try to keep your chest completely still.

It's okay if you can't completely empty your mind. Pay no attention to your thoughts, just let them go without focusing on them if they appear. Concentrate on what you're doing.

Relax your fingers and your toes, try to keep your head still. Do not force this, you can move slightly if you're uncomfortable. Take a few breaths. Relax your hands and feet. Feel how warm they are. Next, slightly tense the muscles in your legs, and let this tension go after a moment. Repeat this with your arms. Focus for a moment on your face. Smile slightly, or frown. After that, let that expression slide of your face. Check your shoulders. Are they still relaxed? Breathe slowly in for a few seconds until your lungs are completely full, hold your breath for about the same time, and breathe out. Do this by simply relaxing your torso so that the air slowly leaves your body.

Focus on the sounds inside your body, the beating of your heart, the rush of air in your lungs. Listen for a while to these sounds. After that, listen to the sounds you produce, the slight rustling of your clothes, your breath when it is leaving your body. Then listen to the sounds in the room. The ticking of a clock, the sounds a pet, or a friend makes by simply being there in the same space as you. Take your time to try to find the rythm in these sounds. Shift your focus to the outside of the room you're in. Are there birds? Is there a rustling tree?

If you're able to distinguish sounds you're making yourself, try to adjust them to the other sounds you're listening to. Become a part of it.

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The good lord woman, I'm not going to read/do all of that version:

Breathe in slowly through your nose for a few seconds, hold your breath, and breathe out through your mouth. I think the 4-7-8 seconds version should be the most relaxing. Count the seconds. Focus on that.

Be aware of your body, try to relax the tense muscles. The only muscles you should feel are the ones you use for breathing.

This is also suitable to do when you're feeling stressed or if you're trying to fall asleep.

-

Last but not least, please start slowly with this. Build it up.

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Maureen Peters's avatar

For a culture that has always prided itself on being the most 'down-to-earth' it is surprising how many people here are interested in meditation. After all, most seem to believe it is on par with astrology and 'healing stones'.

Firstly, my French teacher. She told to me how to empty my mind, how to stop paying attention to my thoughts and just 'be'. Secondly, my theatre teacher, who taught me how to use my breathing as a way to relax mentally and physically.

And lastly, the two sweaty, coarsely built kendoka who explained why I should stop and just *listen* every now and then while I was nursing a bleeding blister at the bottom of my little finger and drinking warm sake from a delicate little cup.

But it might just be me. I could very well be the one who gravitates towards this subject or the people who talk about it.

I can remember how I as a little girl played with the rice my mother kept in a large bucket. I submerged my hands, skooped the rice up in my hands and focused on the feeling of the rice pouring down from between my fingers. Again and again, until my mother told me to go play outside. There was also a teacher who told the class I was in to "only draw what you see, don't draw what you think you know". I can't remember his face, but I can still hear the tone of his voice when he told us this.

Whenever I feel overwhelmed nowadays I tend to shut myself down to a meditative state. It got easy. I've sat with people in a room without even realising I started meditating.

Usually it's pleasant, but there are moments when you should take care. I can feel detached when I meditate for too long, or if I do it too often. Most people approach it too candidly in my opinion. The positive absolutely outweight the negative here, but if you don't build this up gradually there is a chance you can get emotional or depressed. After all, you open yourself up to your own feelings, while taking away your defenses. Take care if you have some unresolved issues.

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John Wheatley's avatar

Thanks for sharing this.

Personally I've never found anyone advocating stillness or meditation in the West; the closest are structures like 'Mindfulness' which have organised themselves into institutions (a rather Rationalist approach).

Most people either believe it to be mysticism (as you say), or something that would be nice in theory, but they don't make the time in practice.

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General High Ping's avatar

There's something ultimately quite special about finding a writer who's work you actively want to engage with. With everything seemingly so partisan these days it seems almost quaint to find a writer where i don't feel like i have to be on guard against a forced narrative.

There'll be quite a few people i'll forward this to as i think its a wonderfully stated piece.

Congratulations on Miyazaki pt2, its great having non hyper politicised content where two people can just sit and discuss things to heart.

Have you considered a look at Death Note? I'd be interested to hear your views on justice, morality and human nature.

Best wishes :)

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John Wheatley's avatar

I'm glad you enjoyed the article, and thanks for your support. I'm not averse to reviewing Death Note on Creative Liberty, we'll see how it fits in with the rest of the schedule.

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Florian of Sweden's avatar

Really loves the article. I’m glad you’re doing your own stuff, you were always my favourite presenter on Lotus Eaters but it felt like you were very different ideologically, less dogmatically hateful and more contemplative than clickbait.

The article was interesting but I was wondering if you have dabbled with any of the dharmic religions? I can highly suggest the Bhagavad Gita and the dao de jing(which works very well with the Gita)

I know in china people are culturally Daoist and many Chinese will quote from it, such as Bruce lee’s famous “be like water” would you say Zen Buddhism underpins the Japanese moral conception of the world?

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John Wheatley's avatar

Thank you for your kind words. I've followed a bit of the Dao, but have yet to explore the Bhagavad Gita at all. I think there's a strong component of Daoism in Eastern Buddhism, which made its way over to Japan and syncretised with Shinto; there's a good deal of influence from both religions/philosophies in Zen.

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Merula Esther's avatar

The piano playing was lovely, John! You seem to be a person of many talents 😉.

I was wearing noise cancelling headphones and the sound was pretty good. Your set up did seem to pick up a sound that may have been tiny barking dogs in your neighborhood (or building) at around 10 minutes and 26 seconds, but I could be wrong.

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John Wheatley's avatar

I know exactly what that sound is - unfortunately I couldn't remove it without harming the piano audio. Glad to hear the rest of the audio is working smoothly.

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Sneaky Hermit's avatar

Key words= “Ordered emptiness.” Wow, I actually meditated along with the audio (sounded nice, btw). Have you read much about similar benefits being gained through certain physical tasks? While working on my masters I discovered doing things like painting with no goal in mind for a bit would allow me to focus on research & writing papers. Now I keep a “Buddha board” on my desk. So good for the overly anxious (& hyperactive) mind. Forgive my ignorance on this topic, and it may not be the intent, but I find the kōans especially amusing! Just remember wherever you go, there you are. 😉

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Maureen Peters's avatar

If you would like to practise with meditation, I acquired these pointers from other people, maybe they'll be of some use to you as well:

Focus on your breaths, try to do abdominal breathing. I learned this by laying on my back and trying to move the hand someone put on my lower stomach up and down by only taking deep breaths. Breathe by expanding your abdomen, use the lowest muscles you can move there to achieve this. Relax your shoulders and try to keep your chest completely still.

It's okay if you can't completely empty your mind. Pay no attention to your thoughts, just let them go without focusing on them if they appear. Concentrate on what you're doing.

Relax your fingers and your toes, try to keep your head still. Do not force this, you can move slightly if you're uncomfortable. Take a few breaths. Relax your hands and feet. Feel how warm they are. Next, slightly tense the muscles in your legs, and let this tension go after a moment. Repeat this with your arms. Focus for a moment on your face. Smile slightly, or frown. After that, let that expression slide of your face. Check your shoulders. Are they still relaxed? Breathe slowly in for a few seconds until your lungs are completely full, hold your breath for about the same time, and breathe out. Do this by simply relaxing your torso so that the air slowly leaves your body.

Focus on the sounds inside your body, the beating of your heart, the rush of air in your lungs. Listen for a while to these sounds. After that, listen to the sounds you produce, the slight rustling of your clothes, your breath when it is leaving your body. Then listen to the sounds in the room. The ticking of a clock, the sounds a pet, or a friend makes by simply being there in the same space as you. Take your time to try to find the rythm in these sounds. Shift your focus to the outside of the room you're in. Are there birds? Is there a rustling tree?

If you're able to distinguish sounds you're making yourself, try to adjust them to the other sounds you're listening to. Become a part of it.

-

The good lord woman, I'm not going to read/do all of that version:

Breathe in slowly through your nose for a few seconds, hold your breath, and breathe out through your mouth. I think the 4-7-8 seconds version should be the most relaxing. Count the seconds. Focus on that.

Be aware of your body, try to relax the tense muscles. The only muscles you should feel are the ones you use for breathing.

This is also suitable to do when you're feeling stressed or if you're trying to fall asleep.

-

Last but not least, please start slowly with this. Build it up.

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John Wheatley's avatar

Put this comment on a separate thread, and I'll pin it so that others can make use of it :)

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John Wheatley's avatar

I should've put a poll question at the end to see what proportion of readers actually tried the meditation ^^

Painting is inherently meditative if done in a certain way, because the knowledge of painting is entirely non-verbal. There are lots of tasks like that, including music. 'Being in the Zone' in sports is analagous to the empty mind of Zen meditation.

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John Wheatley's avatar

This is the first article I've recorded with the new audio setup. Let me know your thoughts regarding audio (if any!) in reply to this comment, which I'll pin at the top.

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Maureen Peters's avatar

You read from paper? I thought I could hear the shuffling of pages at least twice.

This setup does seem to pick up more sounds it should not, like squeaky furniture and breathing. The breathing I don't mind, as long as it doesn't change in an ASMR session.

The audio did sound like it had a better frequency range, although that could have been imagined because you said you changed things. I only use cheap earbuds because I have a fondness of sitting on them, but I thought it sounded like it had more deep, bassy sounds and quieter moments than before.

Also, if that isn't you playing the piano I'm going to be disappointed.

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John Wheatley's avatar

It is me on the piano - you would be amazed how hard it is to find a quiet chair. Removed dozens of creaks from the final record, but some of them you can't fully remove without harming the music audio.

Cleaning up the breath sounds is going to be an uphill struggle. Previously I've been removing all of them individually, which takes ages; with the new software it's harder to do that, but there are lots of tools which *supposedly* work to clean up the whole file with much less time. Hopefully I can hit the sweet spot soon; so far the tools get rid of 50-80%, and just make the rest seem loud by comparison!

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Florian of Sweden's avatar

This might sound odd but I record audio for my upcoming YouTube videos with a duvet over my head, budget recording studio! Helps me to get great audio quality. Can highly recommend shure microphones. They are commonly used by radio stations.

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Maureen Peters's avatar

If that's the loudest you are while breathing I would personally just leave the sounds in, unless it was particularly badly timed. It was just something I noticed, not a criticism.

The people I know who record themselves regularly (a professional singer, and a band) always do this standing. Unfortunately none of them uses a piano, so I have no idea if it is possible to do the same with that instrument. I know I can play that way but I'm not tall and the only pieces I know are Frère Jacques (first part only) and chopsticks. So I never spend much time playing.

On the other hand, speaking as someone who likes music, the creaking of the musician's chair can be seen as feature. Hearing the movement of the artist can add to the experience since it shows how much they are caught up in the piece. Personally I prefer live recordings to studio recordings, they always feel a bit more heartfelt to me.

But you can always try to re tighten the joints of the chair, use some WD-40, or to wrap the chair in fluffy cloth to muffle sounds.

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What's the piece you're playing? It has the same effect on me as Chopin's Nocturnes, so I've been browing websites with classical music, but I can't find it.

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