Favorite moving meditations?

[esque_ish]

I live with chronic conditions (including ADHD and Ankylosing Spondylitis) which make seated/stillness meditations a lot less accessible to me than for the trained monks many ancient meditation techniques were designed for.

Aside from walking in nature, gardening, and practicing yoga, what are some of your favorite meditation techniques that promote deeper focus and trance states in sustained, somatic ways?

 

[Lurking Magician]

This is probably a little too much specific, but I have similar problems staying still, and one of the best trance states I've ever reached was while snowboarding. I had nothing in my mind except for the wind, the snow, and the speed.
So, maybe some individual sports? Running? Cycling?

 

[esque_ish]

This is probably a little too much specific, but I have similar problems staying still, and one of the best trance states I've ever reached was while snowboarding. I had nothing in my mind except for the wind, the snow, and the speed.
So, maybe some individual sports? Running? Cycling?

I've already got an electric bicycle on its way to me - great call.

 

[FraterFraxinus]

You could look into Qi gong

 

[querent k]

I live with chronic conditions (including ADHD and Ankylosing Spondylitis) which make seated/stillness meditations a lot less accessible to me than for the trained monks many ancient meditation techniques were designed for.

Aside from walking in nature, gardening, and practicing yoga, what are some of your favorite meditation techniques that promote deeper focus and trance states in sustained, somatic ways?

Oh, absolutely making art ... and sometimes also a bit of doing sounds with a Stylophone Theremin, bells/singing bowl//chimes/etc, playing around with microphones (feedbacking or put in a 'noise box')

 

[rice candy]

My favorite is Ba Duan Jin Qi Gong. That's been my go-to for years now and I strongly recommend it daily. Only takes a few minutes to do.

 

[Morell]

Moving meditations are many you can do... Some are pretty enjoyable.
Dancing
martial arts
playing some videogames (tetris, mortal combat styled games, simply games not requiring much of thinking but demand focus)
drawing
walking
writing
knitting
etc...

 

[Accipeveldare]

I live with chronic conditions (including ADHD and Ankylosing Spondylitis) which make seated/stillness meditations a lot less accessible to me than for the trained monks many ancient meditation techniques were designed for.

Aside from walking in nature, gardening, and practicing yoga, what are some of your favorite meditation techniques that promote deeper focus and trance states in sustained, somatic ways?

I am aware there is a buddhist technique that involves walking while meditating, but i have never tried it or researched it.

 

[Ananda]

I live with chronic conditions (including ADHD and Ankylosing Spondylitis) which make seated/stillness meditations a lot less accessible to me than for the trained monks many ancient meditation techniques were designed for.

Aside from walking in nature, gardening, and practicing yoga, what are some of your favorite meditation techniques that promote deeper focus and trance states in sustained, somatic ways?

Vippasana while noting (aloud preferably).

 

[reverendsteveii]

I live with chronic conditions (including ADHD and Ankylosing Spondylitis) which make seated/stillness meditations a lot less accessible to me than for the trained monks many ancient meditation techniques were designed for.

Aside from walking in nature, gardening, and practicing yoga, what are some of your favorite meditation techniques that promote deeper focus and trance states in sustained, somatic ways?

flow arts and music, particularly drumming. personally i do bar flair and contact juggle w a ball and a staff, and play several instruments. the thing with flowy activities like this is that if you're doing them right, they're right on the ragged edge of what you can accomplish if you concentrate and as such are actually a way to train concentration. If I'm flowing, or if I turn on the metronome and just start improvising on the drums, i've got no choice but to either stay focused on the moment and the task at hand or fail miserably. IME the key is that it should be skill-based and improvisational but with defined failure states. Without the skill basis there is no need to focus, without the improvisation the mind can split between the unconscious working through a routine and the conscious just doing whatever, and without the defined failure state there's no mechanism to detect and correct a loss of focus. With those three things, movement becomes meditation.

 

[Digiquo]

flow arts and music, particularly drumming. personally i do bar flair and contact juggle w a ball and a staff, and play several instruments. the thing with flowy activities like this is that if you're doing them right, they're right on the ragged edge of what you can accomplish if you concentrate and as such are actually a way to train concentration. If I'm flowing, or if I turn on the metronome and just start improvising on the drums, i've got no choice but to either stay focused on the moment and the task at hand or fail miserably. IME the key is that it should be skill-based and improvisational but with defined failure states. Without the skill basis there is no need to focus, without the improvisation the mind can split between the unconscious working through a routine and the conscious just doing whatever, and without the defined failure state there's no mechanism to detect and correct a loss of focus. With those three things, movement becomes meditation.

I really like this suggestion. As a musician myself, these are all very poignant bullet points. I should really start hammering home learning how to improvise and grab a metronome. If I'm playing a piece I know very well I can often slip into a state where I'm completely one with the piece I'm playing and I can infuse it with whatever emotional weight comes to me in the moment. But I can't improvise for shit so every little mistake shakes me out of it and I have to either play on and ignore it or if it's especially egregious practice that section in particular over and over. That's part of the practicing process of course, but it's rare for me for that practice phase to ever truly end and turn into mastery.

 

[HoldAll]

I mainly practice walking meditation in nature which you've already mentioned. Another possibility would be

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which I love because it's way easier due to fewer distractions coming from the environment. What's so fascinating about it is that you only move as the spirit moves you, which means that you don't have to follow a set choreography as in taiji or perform specific exercises as in qi gong but only move spontaneously (and that may include not moving at all for some time!); neither is it about expressing oneself or violently venting one's feelings. The way it's practiced in the Subud system is that you surrender totally to god but the way I prefer to do it is to let go of all my conscious volition and let my body move of its own accord. It's mostly subtle movements, like shifting my weight, allowing my arm to rise slowly, then standing still for a while, whatever comes up. I never analyse what I'm doing, I just let it happen while my thoughts drain away.

Hands-down the best method of achieving trance for me is the slow basic step (ginga) of capoeira angola and some variations thereof. Forget all you think you know about that Brazilian martial art, capoeira angola is slow-mo and hypnotic, and its music even increases the trance effect (I've written about it in my forum journal). It's gentle swaying, sometimes pausing and breaking the rhythm, taking a small step into a different direction, stopping for a moment, leaning back a bit and performing some sluggish hand movements, then continuing… in some way it's like Latihan, I never know what I'm going to do next.

 

[Accipeveldare]

I mainly practice walking meditation in nature which you've already mentioned. Another possibility would be

Please, Log in or Register to view URLs content!

which I love because it's way easier due to fewer distractions coming from the environment. What's so fascinating about it is that you only move as the spirit moves you, which means that you don't have to follow a set choreography as in taiji or perform specific exercises as in qi gong but only move spontaneously (and that may include not moving at all for some time!); neither is it about expressing oneself or violently venting one's feelings. The way it's practiced in the Subud system is that you surrender totally to god but the way I prefer to do it is to let go of all my conscious volition and let my body move of its own accord. It's mostly subtle movements, like shifting my weight, allowing my arm to rise slowly, then standing still for a while, whatever comes up. I never analyse what I'm doing, I just let it happen while my thoughts drain away.

Hands-down the best method of achieving trance for me is the slow basic step (ginga) of capoeira angola and some variations thereof. Forget all you think you know about that Brazilian martial art, capoeira angola is slow-mo and hypnotic, and its music even increases the trance effect (I've written about it in my forum journal). It's gentle swaying, sometimes pausing and breaking the rhythm, taking a small step into a different direction, stopping for a moment, leaning back a bit and performing some sluggish hand movements, then continuing… in some way it's like Latihan, I never know what I'm going to do next.

I do something similar to this in the shower with music, i just let it carry me through the water while my eyes are closed

 

[ElectricEgregore]

I would recommend also having a look at Mantak Chia's Qi Gong books, many are about the use of sexual energy and have a tantra like approach,
but they are overall very useful with many illustrations and are a modern classic already.
It can help that some of the illustration style are a bit goofy in western terms :3
But also keep in mind some of these can be more of an energy/adhd enhancement.

Posted a collection of most of his works a while ago here.

What may help in general is a combination of a few things - depending on your day/state of mind.
You could for example train yourself by cultivating a sports + detox/meditation routine.

For example - regular sports + sundays with digital detox and fasting + short but regular meditation +
daily detox rules that are complementary - like no screen time after for example 9 pm,
so screen time/too much thinking (meaning going for movement/doing things) for 45-90 min after getting up and so on.
That might give some stability.

In regards to adhd - many need some form of sports of movement to be able to meditate -
So you could go 1. for full on cardio 2. for weight based less heartrate pumping sport 3. for isometric holds/yoga type exercises and then
after one of these and a (cold or james bond) shower for example for the aforementioned Qi Gong -
and finally for meditation. Breath work can be no.1 for you to be fair - but I just remembered my shared book collection,
that's why I posted this here.

By the way meditation + back issues: a good 30 bucks meditation pillow (better try it in some shop)
is a gamechanger for sitting straight.

Favor to y'all!