Qigong Meditation

Zhan Zhuang - Standing Like A Tree Qigong Meditation Zhan Zhuang Qigong is a very powerful method of qigong exercise that builds tremendous amounts of energy and is the foundation of all other qigong systems. Also refered to as Embrace The Tree, and numerous other names, this system involves static postures that allow energy to build up quickly and freely move through your body. By standing perfectly still and relaxed in certain postures, the practice of zhan zhuang qigong will awaken the dormant energy in your body. I learned about zhan zhuang from a great book called The Way Of Energy by Master Lam Kam Chuen. The link above will provide you with an overview of this great qigong system and some instruction as well.

How To Meditate

How To Meditate is a free ebook by Bill Bodri from meditationexpert.com. It's all about how to watch your thoughts and stop them. Cessation-contemplation meditation will build a strong foundation for deeper spiritual practice. It's well written in easy to understand language.

YOGIC POWER

This is part of a letter, written by Sri Aurobindo in 1911, about the results of his spiritual practice at that time.
"I am developing the necessary powers for bringing down the spiritual on the material plane, and I am now able to put myself into men and change them, removing the darkness and bringing light, giving them a new heart and a new mind. This I can do with great swiftness and completeness with those who are near me, but I have also succeeded with men hundreds of miles away. I have also been given the power to read men's characters and hearts, even their thoughts, but this power is not yet absolutely complete, nor can I use it always and in all cases. The power of guiding action by the mere exercise of will is also developing, but it is not so powerful as yet as the other. My communication with the other world is yet of a troubled character, though I am certainly in communication with some very great powers."
Sri Aurobindo On Himself page 423

SRI AUROBINDO HUMOR

I always found this passage from a letter written by Sri Aurobindo to be pretty funny.
"One (not a disciple-I had no disciples in those days) asked me how to do Yoga. I said: "Make your mind quiet first." He did and his mind became quite silent and empty. Then he rushed to me saying: "My brain is empty of thoughts, I cannot think. I am becoming an idiot." He did not pause to look and see where these thoughts he uttered were coming from! Nor did he realise that one who is already an idiot cannot become one. Anyhow I was not patient in those days and I dropped him and let him lose his miraculously achieved silence."
On Himself The Experience Of Nirvana page 83

Meditation Link Directory

meditation link directory Lots o' links to various meditation styles including Buddhist, Zen, Hindu, Taoist, and Transcendental meditation.

Pranayama

The Science of Pranayama is a free online book from the Divine Life Society. Sri Aurobindo did some pranayama in the early years of his sadhana. Here are some things he had to say about it;
"What I did was four or five hours a day pranayama..."
"I said clearly that the pranayama brought me nothing of any kind of spiritual realisation".
"After four years of pranayama and other practices on my own, with no other result than an increased health and outflow of energy, some psycho-physical phenomena, a great outflow of poetic creation, a limited power of subtle sight(luminous patterns and figures,etc.)mostly with the waking eye..."
"The results were remarkable. I used to see many visions, sights and figures. I felt an electric power around my head. My powers of writing were nearly dried up - they revived with a great vigor. I could write prose and poetry with flow. That flow has never ceased since then. If I have not written afterwards it is because I had something else to do. But the moment I want to write it is there. Thirdly, great health. I grew stout and strong, the skin became smooth and fair and there was a flow of sweetness in the saliva. I used to feel a certain aura around the head. There were plenty of mosquitoes but these did not come to me."