bonsai, meditation, and quantum mechanics

[catfish chapstick]

i want to know where meditation fits into bonsai. does anyone meditate on their trees or consider working on trees a form of meditation? i have been recently exposed to quantum mechanics and i'm perplexed... quantum physics seems to parallel to eastern religion, especially Taoism.

anyone have any thoughts?

 

[Tachigi]

http://bonsainut.com/forums/showthread.php?t=1088&highlight=quantum+mechanics

 

[Anonymous User]

To become fully immersed in a task, like bonsai, can induce the zen state of being often called "flow" and in this age of multi-tasking, it is becoming more and more rare.




Will


Note: Thanks Tom, for the link to those more lighthearted days.....

 

[Kirk]

I have used bonsai with my patients to teach "Mindfulness". It's a great way to reduce anxiety, depression or agitation by clearing the mind and focusing on a task that requires some amount of concentration and fine motor skill.

Kirk

 

[greerhw]

i want to know where meditation fits into bonsai. does anyone meditate on their trees or consider working on trees a form of meditation?
anyone have any thoughts?

A bottle of good Scotch works wonders........

keep it green,
Harry

 

[Yamadori]

I can speak from my personal experience about the calming effects of bonsai, even just images of bonsai. At work the creative part of my brain can get so stimulated that my boss refers to it as "hyper brain". Now this hyper brain is what makes me VERY effective at what I do, but it can exhaust me, and sometimes cause those around me to spin from the intensity. Specifically, when I am at a conference I always pack a bonsai book with great images. If I find myself travelling at a warp mental speed I will open the book and study the images. It is like a tranqulizer. I calm down and become much more serene. My boss watched me one time from across the room. She said my posture and facial expression changed. She got a kick out of it. I liken it to getting stoned legally.

Working on trees puts me into a calm and satisfied mental state. This is why I call my bonsai greenhouse my "happy place".

 

[Redwing]

Specifically, when I am at a conference I always pack a bonsai book with great images. If I find myself travelling at a warp mental speed I will open the book and study the images. It is like a tranqulizer. I calm down and become much more serene. My boss watched me one time from across the room. She said my posture and facial expression changed. She got a kick out of it. I liken it to getting stoned legally.

Working on trees puts me into a calm and satisfied mental state.

I like it! It sounds as though you and I share a very similar attitude toward bonsai, and that practicing bonsai helps us each in similar way.

-rw

 

[jjbacoomba]

I have found myself a calmer, more patient person since I started Bonsai. Going on 5 months and I am less stressed.

 

[Thomas J.]

It's a great way to reduce anxiety, depression or agitation

You have got to be kidding me. LOL
I've never been more depressed in my life than when I see one of my trees that I have been working on for years suddenly go belly up for no reason that I can tell. And Let me tell you about anxiety, that's when you wonder if your high dollar JBPs will put out two new buds in all the right places instead of just one after decandeling, and agitated, heck what could be more agitating than coming home from work and seeing that the squirrels were working hard too, on that tree you just repotted that has been sitting out in the open all day with most of its roots exposed.

I don't know my friends, I sometimes think bonsai can drive a good man to drinking.

 

[greerhw]

You have got to be kidding me. LOL
I've never been more depressed in my life than when I see one of my trees that I have been working on for years suddenly go belly up for no reason that I can tell. And Let me tell you about anxiety, that's when you wonder if your high dollar JBPs will put out two new buds in all the right places instead of just one after decandeling, and agitated, heck what could be more agitating than coming home from work and seeing that the squirrels were working hard too, on that tree you just repotted that has been sitting out in the open all day with most of its roots exposed.

I don't know my friends, I sometimes think bonsai can drive a good man to drinking.

It has.............

keep it green,
Harry

 

[Kirk]

You have got to be kidding me. LOL
I've never been more depressed in my life than when I see one of my trees that I have been working on for years suddenly go belly up for no reason that I can tell. And Let me tell you about anxiety, that's when you wonder if your high dollar JBPs will put out two new buds in all the right places instead of just one after decandeling, and agitated, heck what could be more agitating than coming home from work and seeing that the squirrels were working hard too, on that tree you just repotted that has been sitting out in the open all day with most of its roots exposed.

I don't know my friends, I sometimes think bonsai can drive a good man to drinking.

As a therapist, here is my (unsolicited) prescription to relieve this source of agitation in 3 easy steps:

1. Send your trees to me.
2. Embrace suiseki- the squirrels won't mess with them.
3. Don't participate in any online forum debates.

If this treatment plan fails:

1. Squirrel target practice
2. Bushmills
3. Ativan

~grin~

Kirk

 

[Thomas J.]

If this treatment plan fails:

1. Squirrel target practice
2. Bushmills
3. Ativan

I have since taken care of the squirrel problem by moving to a new subdivision without any mature trees, only those broomsticks they call trees stuck in the ground. I'll probably be six feet under before any of them are sturdy enough to hold a squirrel

As for the Ativan, no thanks, that didn't work too well the last time I tried it This guys head wasn't made for stuff like that.

 

[Anonymous User]

I do find bonsai calming, especially bonsai forums.

 

[rockm]

Meditation? Is that before or after I rev up the chain saw and/or angle grinder and relieve a juniper of 85 percent of its body?


OHHMMM, MORE BAR OIL, DAMMIT!!!

 

[catfish chapstick]

a photon saved is a photon earned

Meditation? Is that before or after I rev up the chain saw and/or angle grinder and relieve a juniper of 85 percent of its body?


OHHMMM, MORE BAR OIL, DAMMIT!!!

hahahahah

that sort of thing is very exciting to me.


for me the simple act of observing any tree is meditative.

as for quantum mechanics, i have found and interesting article regarding plants

"Remarkably, photosynthesis appears to derive its ferocious efficiency not from the familiar physical laws that govern the visible world but from the seemingly exotic rules of quantum mechanics..."