"gaining a seat"-What I know by me4u

I spent about 7 years and then some immersed in all things to do with the Esoteric.This came out of my his/hersstory studies which as it delved further back in to antiquity,with the help of Fraziers' "the Golden bough" and the mid 19th century work by Higgins "Annacolypsis",I became a regular at samual wisers books.I became very friendly with the manager who eventually introduced me to "mira" and her twin daughter 'Tira ' and "..."DEERA'.Mira was a working astrologerI went through everything at wisers books.The philokalia,Rumi,zen,korean zen,theosophy and a lot of ouspensky and Gurdjieff.I studied these two completely and deciphered many of the so called "secret" exercises which mainly involved splitting ones attention on a physical sensation while remaining free from arbitrary thoughts.Charles Tart later wrote a book containing the previously hushed up exercises(hushed so as to keep folks paying),which confirmed my insight.After trying out much Ibecame commetted to a formal practice.I started with the Tibetan Kagyu Lineage which is Mahayanist then made a final several year long commitment in the thravadan forest monastery teaching.Thai forest boodism is a major foundation for IMS(insight meditation society and Spirit Rock in marin.One is well served by committing themselves to an exact daily formal practice for enough time to c any result.No matter what,its great to gain a seat.This happens after sitting in various lottus type positions in formal meditation.These and the sitting technique are explained all over.One starts to savor the morning twenty minute sit or late evening sit.After a time by just taking the position the mind loses its power and becomes a "smoke"generator".Jon cabbott Zinnauthor of "wherever you go there you are "and "full catastrophe living"Has great guided meditation tapes of varying length that can be ordered.I had a modest but costly Japanese Zaffu set with the larger ,more flat bottom cushion with the tall puffy Zaffu cushion on top.One keeps it somewhere special.Burning incense is good for the meditation session because eventually the smell itself has a great calming effect.After years of learning and practicing I dicovered that I was so insecure that the hidden motivation for formal meditation class was to feel superior to others.I promptly lived as scandalous a life as I could after that,letting my mind go to where angels fear to tread.I am now ready to re-institute some formal practice and have made travel plans to go somewhere where the topic of these types of considerations is paramount.here is a link to a talk by dr Zinn and a guided meditation.Zinn started the stress reduction clinics now integral in many hospitals.He doesn't consider himself a teacher nor a boooodist instructor.I took a weekend retreat with him and found him to be a fine,witty and generous man.http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3nwwKbM_vJc please cut and paste to link.ooopsy