Last week, I was discussing my hesitancy to recommend B.K. Frantzis' Relaxing Into Your Being: The Water Method of Taoist Meditation Series, Vol. 1 [Paperback]. Yet, because of some results I experienced, I wanted to offer it to those who might find it useful.
First, I think it would be helpful to understand the author's view of meditation:
A commonly overlooked point in some meditation traditions is that, if you wish to meditate solely to become physically and mentally relaxed, you run the risk of never gaining spiritually. People use chi gung for relaxing and avoiding depression, as if it were an antidepressant drug. Meditation can certainly calm or relax you, but its highest purpose in Taoism is to make you aware of the center of your being; that is, to find spirit and emptiness, the essential components of Consciousness itself. This level is beyond states of physical and mental relaxation; rather it is relaxation into your being or "soul."
The various exercises that Mr. Frantzis offers seek to address and eliminate the blockages we have that keep us from getting into a calm and relaxed state so that the meditator can directly experience the inner Oneness with Consciousness. He shows the reader how to find these blockages and dissolve them. It's very powerful.
How do I know it works? A quick story. As you know, I am almost never wrong. I am wrong maybe as often as a third blue moon on the sixth Tuesday of the month during an odd-numbered leap year. Well, I was frustrated at home trying to fix something that wasn't cooperating, got mad and said some hurtful things to my Significant Other. I cooled off, thought about it, and very simply apologized to my Significant Other. I mean, when you're never wrong, you never have to apologize, right? Well, after my Significant Other got off the floor after a dead faint, we cleared the air and felt better. I thought later that the dissolving practices that Mr. Frantzis' book taught me must have made that possible. Any improvement is welcome.
There is a second volume to this series. I hope to report to you about it in three years or less. Wish me luck.
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