As a long-time proponent, practitioner, and intermittent instructor of martial arts, I’d strongly recommend you get involved in an exercise program, possibly team-based or even martial arts, to deal with your stress. Finding an outlet can be as helpful as meditation. Some hobbies are also good. I won’t be specific or exclusive; I’ll assume you’ll be smart enough to figure out what can and can’t work.
The point is that a repetitive activity can lead you to a meditative state as well as the traditional take-a-pose or sit-and-concentrate forms. I’ll digress a bit here to share a condensed version of an oft-repeated legend:
A bodhisattva travelled from India to China to spread the teachings of the Buddha. After gathering interested disciples in the northwestern area of Hunan province, he discovered they weren’t in any shape to handle the intense focus and breathing exercises required, much less the asceticism and difficult poses. First, he needed a set of preparatory exercises, work-teachings to get the new disciples prepared. Punch line: The monastery he opened is known as the Shaolin Temple. If you hadn’t guessed, “Kung Fu” translates to “work teaching” in a rather rough manner and has come to be indicative of a certain style of martial arts.
I’ll leave the quibblings of legend and history and philosophy and linguistic translation to denizens of the rec.martial-arts.discussion groups. There’s already quite a lot of it out there just focusing on various points of the paragraph above.
My point here is to remind everyone that doing something can lead to no less of a meditative state than doing (basically) nothing. The key is to get past the preoccupation with mechanics and analysis and move to a state where you’re not thinking. While riding my bicycle, I’ve found myself at the top of Mount Helix and realized, “Wow! I just spent the last twenty minutes pedaling and navigating without actually entertaining any thoughts!” My friend has experienced periods of being ‘in the zone’ during which he’s written thousands of lines of computer code without having to stop and contemplate what’s next. My sword instructor deeply admires the baseball players who can really focus, mentally slowing a 130MPH fastball down to a snail’s pace and swinging at just the right nano-second –or not; he equally admires the batters who can let go of that last pitch, dismiss ruminations of what coulda/shoulda/woulda happened and focus on the next screaming knuckleball. There are times when I start a Tai Chi or Karate form and let my brain turn off so my body can simply flow through the movements of the pattern until its finished.
These are meditative states. The common component is the cessation of thought, and you can get there by kneeling and staring at the tip of the Buddha’s nose or by slipping into ‘the zone’ while sparring, running, pulling weeds, dancing, playing music, stretching, sewing – whatever. My brother tells me I used to do it while watching TV; you probably can’t do it while solving puzzles or reading or surfing the Net; we would all prefer you avoid practicing while operating potentially-hazardous machinery (including vehicles) or posting responses to Straight Dope boards.
Expanding to include the OP’s reason for starting the thread, a great way to improve your condition would be to take the time and energy to focus on your own needs (health, stress, personal growth, etcetera). If you happen to experience moksha along the way, so much the better. Focussing back on the question itself, yoga is a fine path to meditation and there are many varieties of yoga. Tai Chi, Chi Gong, Tea Ceremony, and Flower Arranging are also well known asiatic paths to meditation, each with numerous variants. Western methods could include the study/practice of music, chess, or needlepoint.
Best wishes to you on your endeavor.
—G!
Whatever gets you through the night…
It’s all right!
‘t’s all right!
—John Lennon with Elton John
Walls & Bridges - Whatever Gets You Through the Night
