Suggest edit — Meditation

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---
imported_by: wikihub-q7gz
scraped_at: 2026-01-30
source_gdoc: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1Vfm09rHTbUwXn_55rED55oIkJJpa1QTXmGx3a36VItA
source_url: http://meditation.jacobcole.net
title: Meditation
visibility: public
---

\`             [[systematicawesome]] \> [[meditation]]

See also: <http://meditation.connectordocs.com/>

\#connectordoc

started by <jacob@ideaflow.io>

How to Get into Meditative Practices

Resources on how (and why!) to get into meditation and related practices in an enjoyable way, the stories of how people got into them.

[Quickstart Guide](#h.ja5875iow8jg)        [2](#h.ja5875iow8jg)

[Why Meditation is Awesome](#h.uvxp36wldjv2)        [2](#h.uvxp36wldjv2)

[Great Starting Points](#h.qn0gg592y19f)        [3](#h.qn0gg592y19f)

[Video/Audio](#h.zda8zwhp8mpq)        [3](#h.zda8zwhp8mpq)

[Experiential](#h.7l5qge3nvgcx)        [3](#h.7l5qge3nvgcx)

[Great Courses you can take to get into it](#h.pqqh9e99gzbc)        [4](#h.pqqh9e99gzbc)

[Recorded (many free)](#h.1yw54zkadsyi)        [4](#h.1yw54zkadsyi)

[Live](#h.ocs9cib1t8qt)        [4](#h.ocs9cib1t8qt)

[Great Tutorials](#h.sa8pywxkxlz4)        [4](#h.sa8pywxkxlz4)

[Noticing and releasing thoughts](#h.bfuxeslsdx0h)        [4](#h.bfuxeslsdx0h)

[More Great Books](#h.zfepm76poi3f)        [6](#h.zfepm76poi3f)

[More Advanced Resources and Tricks](#h.6zuin4be6fbm)        [6](#h.6zuin4be6fbm)

[Insights that Could Change the Whole World](#h.he3914y66cky)        [7](#h.he3914y66cky)

[Profound / Powerful Quotes](#h.argtx1ostxsp)        [7](#h.argtx1ostxsp)

[Why Meditate Sunrise Tai Chi ~Ramel Rones](#h.xairs5acz86j)        [7](#h.xairs5acz86j)

[“Qi from the earth into the sword” There are No Secrets ~Cheng Man Ching](#h.76yugci9pljz)        [10](#h.76yugci9pljz)

[For Reference](#h.kl6t65u86w9d)        [12](#h.kl6t65u86w9d)

[Great Masters](#h.ysqn6uwkfhc7)        [12](#h.ysqn6uwkfhc7)

[Relevant Places](#h.agwkqvrgo4mz)        [12](#h.agwkqvrgo4mz)

[Related](#h.p76dioscri0u)        [12](#h.p76dioscri0u)

[Conversations that introduced meditation](#h.ulrn5zvl4ato)        [14](#h.ulrn5zvl4ato)

[Scratch Notes of Related Interest](#h.hfcpcy3i6qnn)        [15](#h.hfcpcy3i6qnn)

See also: <http://lifechange.jacobcole.net/> • <http://qigong.connectordocs.com/>

# Quickstart Guide

1.  Try this now! Quick and easy way to start experiencing something different and generally feeling better, especially if sluggish or depressed: [Donna Eden Daily Energy Routine](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Di5Ua44iuXc) (Acupressure point tapping + more; 10 min). Feel the effect!
2.  One angle of the goal of meditative practices: it's the skill of getting your brain to produce "theta waves" on demand. And these waves aren't just figures on an EEG – they reflect a dreamlike subjective experience that grants you a new set of tasteful aesthetic lenses on the world. Read this 2 page overview on meditation & related from the book [Sunrise Tai Chi](https://www.amazon.com/Sunrise-Tai-Chi-Beginner-M/dp/B0008DB77Y): [thetawaves.jacobcole.net](http://thetawaves.jacobcole.net/)!
3.  Read/do at least one item from each of: [Why Meditation is Awesome](#h.uvxp36wldjv2) and [Great Starting Points](#h.qn0gg592y19f)!

# Why Meditation is Awesome

- Old, good writing: [Why Meditation is Awesome, or How to Achieve the Beginner's Mind](https://sites.google.com/view/whyisitawesome/meditation-yoga-tai-chi-qigong?authuser=0)
- Do you like getting a massage? If so, you can give yourself an epic internal massage with just the right yoga poses

- I found myself in a very "Stuck in my head" place a couple days ago and got my way out of it by exploring my body and finding this ridiculously tight muscle on my calf, just inside my shinbone
- Also, have you had acupuncture before? or reflexology? (btw, imho one tool that it's worth becoming adept at is the Yoga Tuneup ball <https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F33KYLdDHp0> )

- you need a set of balls, a yoga block, some instruction, and some exploration / trickiness to figure out how to push hard and where to push https://www.amazon.com/Yoga-Millers-Therapy-Balls-Purple/dp/B00ERFBX9G/ref=sr_1_5?dchild=1&keywords=yoga+tune+up&qid=1605611207&sr=8-5

- Experiential: see a great craniosacral therapist, osteopathic doctor who does hands-on manipulation, or massage therapist <http://bodymasters.jacobcole.net/>
- [Desikachar on the meaning and purpose of yoga](https://drive.google.com/file/d/1Pq53lXNspSudpaFFUpqlAyuqHBIA7ieH/view) (My favorite six pages of philosophy, of any sort, I have ever read.)
- [Passage on the experience of Kundalini Awakening](https://drive.google.com/open?id=1ekNQpVwCd2q4RXqYyyOeN-9LGkQ-SDlp&authuser=0) from [The Biological Basis of Religion and Genius    ](https://www.amazon.com/Biological-Basis-Religion-Genius/dp/094113606X/ref=sr_1_fkmr1_1)
- [Heidegger’s idea of “das sein” (“pure Being is underrated”)](https://drive.google.com/file/d/1ccn7QcfBVNgRIPTHdPDhAGOBUCbkC_qq/view)
- [The Art of Learning](https://www.amazon.com/Art-Learning-Journey-Optimal-Performance/dp/0743277465) #book \#TaiChi

- "Chen would look into my eyes from 20 feet away, quietly assume my posture, and relax his elbow a half inch one way or another. I would follow his subtle instruction and suddenly my hand would come alive with throbbing energy as if he had plugged me into a soothing electrical current."  ~The Art of Learning  #quote
- "Tai Chi is the only time of day I feel I'm fully oxygenated”

- Floating in a private heaven quote \#qigong
- \#AGoalOfMeditation Touching the profoundness of the universe. Perhaps relates to a deep curiosity.\
  <https://youtu.be/HX-TpHlx1As> 2:07 “Everything is Brahma, everything is spirit, everything is light. Even as the man who was engrossed in crying in watching the tragedy in the motion picture when he suddenly looks at the beam and sees the beam has created everything he says: ‘Everything is shadow and light! How could I feel sorry about the tragedy picture?’

So is the perception of God.” ~Paramahansa Yogananda

"...There is one purpose, to get the beam."

# Great Starting Points

## Video/Audio

- [Donna Eden Daily Energy Routine](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Di5Ua44iuXc) (Acupressure point tapping + more; 10 min)
- [Bhastrika Breathing “Bellows Breathing.” “Yogic Coffee”](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NH0ZdkGSAPU) (2min)
- [Desikachar on the meaning and purpose of yoga](https://drive.google.com/file/d/1Pq53lXNspSudpaFFUpqlAyuqHBIA7ieH/view) (My favorite six pages of philosophy, of any sort, I have ever read.)
- [Pranayama.jacobcole.net](http://pranayama.jacobcole.net/) (Breathing exercises; 1 hr, or you could start with Ex 3: Extending Breath at 35:57)
- Intense Qigong intro set <https://vimeo.com/286706414> (1hr, profound; [brief intro](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w76_3vnyvS4))
- [Qi Gong for Anxiety and Chest Tightness w Jeffrey Chand](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_ZDCslmNHRI) (less intense)
- \#todo Sabrina classes
- \#todo Roger 2 min short satisfying breath meditation
- See also: <http://mentalstatehacks.jacobcole.net/>

## Experiential

- \#todo Cacao Ceremony <https://worldchangers.us/> breathing different tones at each chakra, like panting animal
-

## Great Courses you can take to get into it

### Recorded (many free)

\#TaiChi Jet Li course <https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wcFqdJmJuJA>

\#qigong <https://forestrock.com/> – quick clips – also has class library you can pay and sign up to access

(Not a course, but technically a complete system) Intense Qigong intro set <https://vimeo.com/286706414> (1hr, profound)

Donna Eden Energy Medicine – How To Transform And Manipulate Your Body’s Energy Systems To Create Faster Healing And Be In Tune With Your Own Natural Healing Energies <https://www.mindvalley.com/energy-medicine>

Notes: [energymedicine.jacobcole.net](http://energymedicine.jacobcole.net)

Jeffrey Allen takes you on a journey to discover your non-physical self

How to Tune Into Your Spiritual Energy to Empower Your “Real World” and Live in Duality

Learn FOUR Powerful Yet Simple Energy Techniques To Tap Into Your Spiritual Body So You Can Easily Fine Tune Your Physical World For More Health, Wealth, Love, Inner Peace and Clarity.

<https://www.mindvalley.com/duality/masterclass>

### Live

[Roger Cole Zoom Iyengar yoga classes ( Tuesday 11 a.m. PT)](http://rogercoleyoga.com/classes/roger_cole_yoga_classes.htm)

Tai Chi \#feelQi <https://www.wccchenonline.com/>

\#qigong <https://forestrock.com/> – classes

\#qigong <http://www.sfhunyuan.com/> #SF

\#qigong \#private <https://bionicinstitute.com/>

10 day Vipassana retreat <https://www.dhamma.org/en-US/index>

Shinzen Young \#vipassana phone classes

### Friends’ Favorite Intro Meditations

#### Ways to introduce someone to meditation in 2 minutes or less

Victoria K – feel vibration meditation <https://www.orenjaysofer.com/blog/2018/mindfulness-tools-for-pain>

Feeling like really, really teeny into the seat underneath you. Whatever you're sitting on, and maybe that's the chair or you're on the ground. And think about what's below that. So it's probably, dirt or soil and more ground and tune into each frequency and vibration that you feel.

## Great Tutorials

1.  ### Noticing and releasing thoughts

From [The Mind Illuminated: A Complete Meditation Guide Integrating Buddhist Wisdom and Brain](https://www.amazon.com/Mind-Illuminated-Meditation-Integrating-Mindfulness/dp/1501156985)

\[Inline image omitted — original Google Doc has embedded image; see source for original.\]

One thing to add to these basic meditation instructions in Mind Illuminated. For me, what the instructions don’t answer is “why do this anyway?“

In qigong, the whole purpose of “power standing” meditation (zhanzhuang) to “build energy” in the body, until your fingers and body feel like they are brimming with life and wellness.

I find the practice of “noticing a thought and letting it go” a mental way of doing same. Noticing something I was about to go do and letting it go enables me to “re-capture” the mental and physical energy that I was about to go spend on that thought or action, and then either bask in it or repurpose it for something else. It’s all part of the endeavor of “not letting the energy escape“ or transmuting transient sparks of directed motivation into a purer abstract “energy”. This also is the point of the principle of “forbearance.” It’s not some sort of severe austerity, it’s about getting the energy you were about to spend back, and thereby “building energy.”

A further interesting observation: it seems the more distractible you are, the faster you can progress in this practice (though it may be more challenging): you have more sparks you can “notice and release” and recapture the energy of.

# More Great Books

[Religiousness in Yoga: Lectures on Theory and Practice ~Desikachar](https://www.amazon.com/Religiousness-Yoga-Lectures-Theory-Practice/dp/0819109673)

[Sunrise Tai Chi ~Ramel Rones](#h.p76dioscri0u)

[The Mind Illuminated: A Complete Meditation Guide Integrating Buddhist Wisdom and Brain](https://www.amazon.com/Mind-Illuminated-Meditation-Integrating-Mindfulness/dp/1501156985)

^ highly recommended starting point for meditation, philosophically agnostic just teaches the techniques to get results from meditation

Mastering the Core Teachings of the Buddha

^ pragmatic dharma book, useful for a map/highest level overview of where you are going in meditation ("enlightenment") and how to get there.

[Science for Greater Mindfulness](https://www.amazon.com/Mind-Illuminated-Meditation-Integrating-Mindfulness/dp/1501156985) ([preview](http://yoga.jacobcole.net/)) \#philosophy \#practice \#profound

Zen Mind, Beginners Mind

There Are No Secrets ~Cheng Man Ching

\#complete The Complete Book of Chinese Health and Healing, Guarding the 3 Treasures ~Daniel Reid

Shambhala: The Sacred Path of the Warrior ~Chögyam Trungpa

# More Advanced Resources and Tricks

<http://qigong.connectordocs.com/>

[Cheng Man Ching Yang Short Form 37](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q43VN1YkrGE)

[William CC Chen's Tai Chi Chuan 60 postures](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EQOuWk1z_Bo&t=116s)

\#TaiChiTrick [Update bodymechanics tai chi chuan 2016](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Pr3hIb8jkys)  ~William C C Chen

See also: <http://mentalstatehacks.jacobcole.net/>

# Insights that Could Change the Whole World

\#todo

“Ah! That’s strange.” Noticing every inner voice

"Tai Chi is the only time of day I feel I'm fully oxygenated” ~The Art of Learning

<http://lifechangingthings.jacobcole.net/>

# Profound / Powerful Quotes

### experiencing yourself as 2 input streams, one from outside, and another inside.

### Why Meditate [Sunrise Tai Chi ~Ramel Rones](https://www.amazon.com/Sunrise-Tai-Chi-Simplified-Longevity/dp/1594390835/ref=sr_1_5?crid=DDLC4NBI5KGS&dchild=1&keywords=sunrise+tai+chi&qid=1606806432&sprefix=sunrise+tai+chi%2Caps%2C520&sr=8-5)

One angle of the goal better: it's the skill of getting your brain to produce "theta waves" on demand. And these waves aren't just figures on an EEG – they are reflect a dreamlike subjective experience that grants you a new set of tasteful aesthetic lenses on the world. Here's 2 pages on it from the book Sunrise Tai Chi: [thetawaves.jacobcole.net](http://thetawaves.jacobcole.net/) !

### <span style="overflow: hidden; display: inline-block; margin: 0.00px 0.00px; border: 0.00px solid #000000; transform: rotate(0.00rad) translateZ(0px); -webkit-transform: rotate(0.00rad) translateZ(0px); width: 624.00px; height: 665.33px;"></span>

\[Inline image omitted — original Google Doc has embedded image; see source for original.\]

### “Qi from the earth into the sword” [There are No Secrets ~Cheng Man Ching](https://www.amazon.com/There-Are-No-Secrets-Professor/dp/1556431120/ref=sr_1_1?dchild=1&keywords=there+are+no+secrets&qid=1606807797&sr=8-1)

\[Inline image omitted — original Google Doc has embedded image; see source for original.\]

# For Reference

## Great Masters

<http://bodymasters.jacobcole.net/>

\#taiChi

Cheng Man Ching

William C C Chen \#alive

[Benjamin Lo](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o8pCHvGVNf0)

Classes

Meditation headset

## Relevant Places

Naropa University, Colorado

Yasha

Sofia University Palo Alto

# Related

See also:

[Why Is It Awesome – Meditation, Yoga, Tai Chi, Qigong, and some tips to get started](https://sites.google.com/view/whyisitawesome/meditation-yoga-tai-chi-qigong?authuser=0)

<http://mentalstatehacks.jacobcole.net/>

<http://yogalist.jacobcole.net>

<http://yoga.jacobcole.net/> #philosophy \#practice \#profound

<http://qigong.connectordocs.com/>

Quick fundamental intro to having awe at pure being <http://heidegger.jacobcole.net/> #awe

-----

<http://bodymasters.jacobcole.net/>

------------------------------------------------------------------------

## Conversations that introduced meditation

Second, I was reflecting on the conversation we had on meditation a while back. I felt like my explanation of why I'm so into meditative practices was good but didn't connect as much as it could have. I just unearthed some pages from an old book that might frame one angle of the goal better: it's the skill of getting your brain to produce "theta waves" on demand. And these waves aren't just figures on an EEG – they are reflect a dreamlike subjective experience that grants you a new set of tasteful aesthetic lenses on the world. Here's 2 pages on it from the book Sunrise Tai Chi: [thetawaves.jacobcole.net](http://thetawaves.jacobcole.net/) !

You're in such a "Renaissance" state in your life – so alive, productive, and creative – it seems, that you certainly don't "need" meditation. But I have an intuition you might have incredible talent for it, and that you would gain yet another superpower and art form, if you are able to build the skill of producing theta waves.

Curious if any of this connects for you. Have you explored any [[meditation|meditative practices]] yourself recently?

Jacob

P.S.  Just as interesting would be to find what blockages you have that make it difficult to produce theta waves – whether they are mental, physical, emotional, or due to the structure/busy-ness of your life

P.P.S. At some point you should meet [dkthehuman.com](https://www.dkthehuman.com/), who is a Princeton grad polymath hacker who in some ways reminds me of you ([blog](https://www.notion.so/dkthehuman/Maker-Log-c3be0bb060774c8ba296b3819ac2407b)). Also, he took an entire year off after graduating to train in meditation!

--------

Curious if any of this connects with you too!

- Also:

\#AGoalOfMeditation Touching the profoundness of the universe. Perhaps relates to a deep curiosity.

<https://youtu.be/HX-TpHlx1As> 2:07 “Everything is Brahma, everything is spirit, everything is light. Even as the man who was engrossed in crying in watching the tragedy in the motion picture when he suddenly looks at the beam and sees the beam has created everything he says: ‘Everything is shadow and light! How could I feel sorry about the tragedy picture?’ So is the perception of God.” ~Paramahansa Yogananda

"...There is one purpose, to get the beam."

## Scratch Notes of Related Interest

Book

People with Replicable “Unusual” Healing or Other Abilities \#unusalAbilities

<http://bionicinstitute.com/> – qigong healing ~ping jacob

<http://feelingmind.io/> - focusing like method that causes repeatable introspective effects, ping <markestefanos@gmail.com> if you want an intro. Founder cured own bipolar

See also: <http://bodymasters.jacobcole.net/>

<https://evolvevf.com/>

<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Orgone>

<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bioenergetics>

Each time you get distracted and return focus it’s “one rep” – therefore, the more distractible you are the faster you can get more reps in

Sheldrake -- morphic / morphogenic field

“Hundredth monkey theory” – taught monkey to wash potato

Evidence for collective unconscious of species?

Silva Method \#meditativePractice <https://www.silvamethod.com/> \<\> DirectorX

Emotional Freedom Techniques <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Emotional_Freedom_Techniques>

The Recapitulation Exercise <https://www.shamanscave.com/self-healing/the-recapitulation>

\[Inline image omitted — original Google Doc has embedded image; see source for original.\]

Qigong

---

*Source: <http://meditation.jacobcole.net>*
*Google Doc: <https://docs.google.com/document/d/1Vfm09rHTbUwXn_55rED55oIkJJpa1QTXmGx3a36VItA>*
*Scraped: 2026-01-30*