What Is Meditation?

Meditation teachers Ed and Deb Shapiro say that meditation is not what you think.

However you try to define meditation, it's not that. -- Swami Brahmananda

Through many years of being involved with meditation we have seen how easily people miss the point, mainly because they take the practice and themselves too seriously. Many "try" to meditate but their minds are so busy they get frustrated and quickly believe they are no good at it. Others turn into diehard advocates of a particular method or technique and become like a salesperson trying to sell a product.

Just like yoga, people want to own meditation and to believe that their technique is the best one. They give it a name: TM, Vipassana or Kundalini meditation and sometimes make outrageous claims of what can be achieved, but that is not the point. Meditation is not a technique -- being quiet happens by itself, not because of following the breath in and out, reciting a specific mantra or creating a visualization.

Teachers, through their compassion, have created the many methods and techniques in order to help their students to concentrate and focus their minds, to be one-pointed. No one technique is better than another; they equally give our monkey minds something to do other than drive us bananas. Many of the practices known as meditation are actually concentration; they bring the mental energy together so the mind is less fragmented. But this is not meditation. Read more

Tantric Massage Tips

Tantra teacher Al Link gives some Tantric massage tips that can make both giving and receiving a massage more pleasurable.

Massages are easy to do as well as fun to give and receive. You do not have to have any training to give your mate a thoroughly satisfying massage, although if you would like more guidance there are some excellent books and videos available.

Giving each other a massage as a first course of sexual play adds to your entire experience. Both partners are able to relax, leave the world behind, and be in the moment together. With massage, a woman’s body begins to awaken for arousal—her erotic side receives the time and attention she needs to “get in the mood”. A man whose body is relaxed so that his energy can flow more freely is able to last much longer. Read more

Share All Chakras in Yab Yum

Tantra teacher Sasha Lessin gives a chakra exercise that couples can practice together.

Sit facing each other. Have your partner drape her or his legs over your thighs; bring his or her feet together behind your tailbone. Snuggle your genitals together. Rest your left hands on each others’ lower backs; right hands behind each other shoulder blades.

Together, chant and, as you do, waken each chakra. Imagine running energy from your perineum, genitals, belly, throat, heart, brow and crown--chakras 1-7--into each other’s.

Breathe in and out when your partner does; synchronize your breath. Then syncopate your breath: inhale through your nose as she or he exhales through the mouth. Exhale through your mouth toward her or his nose as s/he inhales through it. Pause together after each inhale and exhale. Read more

Qigong Demo with Master "John Chang"

This video shows a demonstration of chi energy by a qigong master. He claims no special powers, saying meditation is his secret.

How Meditation Might Ward Off the Effects of Aging

A study at a US Buddhist retreat suggests eastern relaxation techniques can protect our chromosomes from degenerating.

... After several years of number-crunching, data from the so-called Shamatha project is finally starting to be published. So far the research has shown some not hugely surprising psychological and cognitive changes – improvements in perception and wellbeing, for example. But one result in particular has potentially stunning implications: that by protecting caps called telomeres on the ends of our chromosomes, meditation might help to delay the process of ageing. Read more