Rik

I think this is a thing that becomes clear as you develop a relaxation practice. The act of relaxing is letting go of tension. Easiest way to experience it is by taking deep breath in, and letting it all out with a big "aaaaaah" sound. Relaxation practice often involves a fully body scan so I suppose that's how you "know" that you are not "hiding" tension somewhere. Air quotes because that's not the point. The point is to develop deep relaxation, and be able to access that state also outside of your practice. Whether or not there is some more even deeper or "truer" relaxation is irrelevant.

Looks good! Get a bit more of your weight further forward, so your toes float off on their own accord rather than having to push off with the toes. Here's a vid of me from 7 years ago which might help to give you another data point link Have you tried the scissoring variation?

The Alexey Guzey article is really good, would definitely recommend it. Don't skip the appendices, as it contains responses from people in the field!

Yeah, for sure. He has a site at https://vividness.live/

Interesting thread I stumbled on while at Twitter. It's about the risks and benefits of meditation. Quite level headed and clear. https://twitter.com/Meaningness/status/1356635556952772608

Thank you for mentioning this. Even though I was a participant, I found much to look at with fresh eyes rereading the entirety of it now!

Nothing quite like solving a hard problem though, eh?

I don't know, I think cognitive behavioural therapy is based on precisely the concept of arguing against your own thoughts.

From reading this post, my understanding is that what you need is to accept that you are good enough as you are. Self-improvement is not about turning a 4/10 into a 6. It's about taking something that is already really good, an 8/10, and turn it into something even better, because you want to. But if you don't feel like it, that's also fine, because you're an 8/10 anyway and that's pretty damn fine.

@jaja can you elaborate on the connection you observe between Taleb's work and GEB? I am quite familiar with both but to me they're not very alike. P.S. I think GEB isn't so much a dense book (in the sense of high amount of information per word) as well as a viscous book (in the sense of being slow to get through).

You already are a fully capable human being. You are good enough. You're not broken and your actions, mindsets are not wrong. Think of it this way: you, as a person, are a 7/10 already. That's pretty good, and you could stop there. And that would be enough, it really, honestly would. But if you want, you can become an 8/10, or maybe even a 9/10. That's what self-improvement is about: it's not about fixing yourself or about your current state not sufficing. You are good enough. Self-improvement is just everything beyond that.

I'm pretty goddamn sure that you're not supposed to combine the breathing exercises with swimming. Depriving yourself of oxygen before entering cold water sounds like a recipe for drowning. Re: the topic of cold showers, I have a similar sensation to Kit, but I don't move and instead focus on controlling my breathing. After a bit, breathing gets easy and I can just let it go.

Biking is the shit. Favourite commute moment is biking past a longggg line of cars in morning traffic.

Very long, but also very insightful, Kit! I look forward to the rest.

I've been thinking about this, but doesn't this state of being where we accept reality in its totality imply some sort of detachment from the world? Are attachments and relationships not characterized by vulnerability: I love my girlfriend, therefore I will perceive a problem if she decides to leave me. If you do not perceive that as a problem, what does that mean for the relationship you have? Why even have it? Why not just sit in your room and be enlightened? This sounds very harsh, but you might as well be dead. That is not to say putting work into developing this state isn't useful. But is the end goal really worth pursuing? Is attaining it even possible? Would like to hear your thoughts on this!