Hello, my friend!

You wrote in your personal info that you are interested in self-study, yoga and meditation. I found that fact really interesting

How long you are practising yoga\meditation? I think that also mean you like reading books, do you like reading self-study educational (ehm, I think you understand what I mean) books like psychology, medical philosophy, books about human body and mind physics, etc? Or you also read entertaining books? (Science fiction, fantasy..)

Did you train some martial arts in the past? Now I think you don`t because of guitar playing I really want to do some martial arts with deep spiritual background such muay thai or some, but fact that you can injure your fingers\hands distracts me greatly... I decided that I will become professional guitarist no matter what, so hand traumas are not welcome =|

Ok I think enough questions for now

Good to hear from you, Alex!

I've been practicing Hatha Yoga (yoga of the body) since my 18th, and have been practicing meditation for about 10 years now. The technique is called Kriya Yoga, and I find it to be the most effective technique for me.
I've also read all kind of books about self-study, studied a lots of religions, like Taoism, Sufism, Hinduism, Christianity and Buddhism. I found out that all these religions have a lot in common, and that the ancient Taoists, the Hesychas Christians and Kriya Yoga meditation is almost the same technique.
I've also practiced martial arts, started with Kyokushin Karate, later Shaolin Logfist and White Crane with Yang style Tai Chi, and Wing Tsun. Since the ancient Taoist meditations are very similar to the techniques I'm practicing now, the philosophycal and spiritual backgrounds are at my disposal.
I had the same fears of hurting my fingers, but if you have the needed focus for what you do, there's a little chance of getting hurt. You have to be able to concentrate and focus on every move you do, and if you can, nothing bad can happen, at least in my oppinion and expirience. However, you really have to meditate properly to achieve such kind of focus. I myself need to practice it a lot more...
It's very nice to hear that you want to become a professional guitarist. It is a hard work, but I'm sure you can achieve everything you want. Sacrificing martial arts for your goal is also a sign that you have a strong will and that you'll make it
What I can suggest for you is to start to practice some kind of a meditation. Make some studies and find something that suits you. You will find out that it can help you a lot in your every day life and also achieving your goal as a professional guitarist.
Cheers

I`m really stunned Zsolt! You have read, and tried so much in this world! I feel you have immense amount of will and knowledge! Kris was right, when said you are a scary person!! Joking You are very kind, that give me such detailed answer!

Maybe you can point to me some specific authors or books which I will look for and find which is really for me? I know that correct way of meditation can improve my life dramatically, as I will be more focused on what I`m doing and will know my goals and how to achieve them most effectively, and overall health will improve because of controlling your thoughts. We are what we think all day long, right?

You are very pleasant person to communicate! Oh, and thanks for the pick info

Cheers

Thank you very much, you are very kind
Probably the strongest impact a book had on me was the "Autobiography of a Yogi", by Paramahansa Yogananda. When you read it, some parts will seem to you like a bedtime story at first, but you will start to question a lot, and that can lead you to your answers and a change in your life.
Since a few years ago I worked at a large bookstore ( ), I've read all kinds of books from all kinds of authors regarding philosophy and spirituality and even occultism. You have very good books on NLP, various books that focus on how the mind works, you can read Karl Yung if you like. There are some Chinese marshal artist like Yang Jwing Ming, Mantak Chia, and you can study the life of some really strong charactered persons that are very positive, like the life of Dalai Lama, you can also check youtube.com for Palden Dorje, the so called Buddha Boy, and you can find a very nice story on him by Discovery channel as well. You can also start to study ancient Egypt, and you can realise that the very religion of the ancient Egypt is almost the same as Hinduism, with different names. If you are interested in the supreme truth, you can read about Sai Baba, Ramana Maharshi, and also Paramahamsa Yogananda's book I've mentioned.
And yes, we are what we think we are, but there's a supreme truth as well, sipmle - I am.
These are only my favorites, you should find your own way, what works best for you. It is a long road and we all have to walk it by ourselves.

Good luck

You impressing me again! Such a large pool of wisdom you gathered through the years, I`m happy that you guide me right way Hehe, I knew you was "connected" with NLP somehow! I find this very interesting, I`m not dived deep in NLP but I`d like to, I surely check Karl Yung. I heard something about Paramahansa Yogananda, I think it will be worth to read too.

You give me such a terrible amount of authors and themes to work on, I`ll take my time to check those and think of it and then I return here if something will not be very clear to me or just discuss a bit material that I will learn I think that it wouldn`t be hard for you to explain me if I had some difficulties.

Best Wishes!

This post has been edited by AlexLion: May 16 2009, 06:34 PM

Cool
Relax and ask yourself what is it in your interest right now, and focus only on that. You will cope with the rest of it later.
Cheers

Great! I already got "Autobiography of a Yogi" on russian, nice And isn`t Karl Yung with "C", Carl, or I`m mistaken?

This post has been edited by AlexLion: May 17 2009, 01:56 PM

He's name is Carl Gustav Jung, my mistake

Both of you impress me
I used to study Karate as well, many many years ago..
I've read quite a bit as well, although not as extensively as you Zsolt

I'm not a religious person at all, but I enjoy reading about religion as I find it interresting.
I hope you find your way Alex, and thanks for the great answers Zsolt


edit: spelling.

This post has been edited by audiopaal: May 17 2009, 06:31 PM

I used to study Shotokan Karate too when I was 14 years old, but I discontinued after 1.5 year. Maybe because I hadn`t strong will and wasn`t very serious about that.
Paal, it`s nice to hear that you like reading too! From GMC you are one of those people who are very kind and love to communicate And I WILL find my way!

Not going to enter the discussion, as people wiser than me wrote much already, but just for those who would want to know, Jason Becker is a strong "believer" of Yoganandas teachings, You can read about it on his website. Zsolt most probably already knew this, considering the uber cool Jason Becker lesson;)

I didn`t know that! Thanks Marek, I`ll check his site, he is one of my inspirations! And Zsolt wrote in his info that Jason is his influence too, so I think it`s not a coincidence

Thank you!
You don't have to be religious to awe some really not ordinary persons, like Sathya Sai Baba or Ammachi. Just look at what they've done to their country and what have they given to the whole world....




Exactly:) And thank you for your kind words, too!
I've been practicing Kriya Yoga for some time when I found out that Jason too practices it, in his own way
What I've found out that he really likes Ammachi, a woman-saint from India. I am always sceptic at first so I made some studies around this saint to find out what an amaising person she is

Alex cool that I could provide You with some interesting info:)

And You are right Zsolt, reading such books is very very very rewarding. I don't read such things often, but I remember when I decided to learn the runes(because I am in a dark age reenactment group) and the book I bought was very spiritual. I realized that people are not used to think about so many important things in their everyday lives, even reading words that describe emotions can push You to so many new thoughts and conclusions.

(argh trying to say something meaningful in English is hurtful to my head:P)

Awesome topic:)

Thank you, Laszlo!

Hey!

Hey!