prostrations

[befriend]

is it ok to do more than 3 prostrations, would doing them 15 minutes longer be acceptable, sorry stupid question maybe. im referring to kneeling on the floor, and raising your palms to you heart then touching in between the eyes etc...

[Ben]

What are you trying to achieve?

[befriend]

im trying to stay more physical for health reasons. but also for spiritual reasons like cultivating humility.

[polarbuddha101]

I would recommend yoga then, not prostrating yourself. Yoga will help you with meditation by increasing your comfortable sitting time and the postures you can use and by making you aware of muscles and tendons in your body that you weren't previously aware of. Also, yoga will increase your knowledge of the breath and the variability and uses that it has.

[daverupa]

im trying to stay more physical for health reasons. but also for spiritual reasons like cultivating humility.

Just do some healthy exercise such that health is maintained. Spiritual approaches are best done in terms of satisampajanna practices during exercise (at all times, really), rather than a "spiritual exercise" in and of itself.

[befriend]

if someone knows how many times i can prostrate i dont know if its tradition or thai customs i dont want to do it improperly.

[Cittasanto]

A close friend of mine does prostrations for exercise, she also balances and other things that are on appearance quite eccentric like balancing, but she says it is really good!
she does them from standing up and don't know if it is like the Tibetans or in another way, but there is no reason why it would not be acceptable I am aware of.

Let us know how you find them of benefit and what you notice!

p.s. just make sure to protect your knees in some suitable way.

[befriend]

thank you

[Ben]

im trying to stay more physical for health reasons. but also for spiritual reasons like cultivating humility.

You'll get better health benefits from different types of exercise such as brisk walking, swimming, circuit (cardio and weight) training, cycling, gardening etc.
For humility - its an artifact of spiritual progress. You could augment that with the ten recollections and include the sharing of merits as part of your practice.
Wishing you all the best,

Ben

[tiltbillings]

If you want to do prostrations for the reasons you suggest, then do so. It can be a good concentration practice. You might want to the full Tibetan style prostration.

[Khalil Bodhi]

There's also the way they do the 108 prostration practice in Korean Seon: http://www.koreanbuddhism.net/library/sangha_guide/view.asp?article_seq=376&page=1&search_key=&search_value= I did 3000 of these earlier this year and found it to be good exercise although bowing alone didn't seem to help much with improving my humility. Nonetheless, it's a practice I enjoy and tend to think of it as being analogous to circumnavigating Buddha rupas. Mettaya!

[Cittasanto]

There's also the way they do the 108 prostration practice in Korean Seon: http://www.koreanbuddhism.net/library/sangha_guide/view.asp?article_seq=376&page=1&search_key=&search_value= I did 3000 of these earlier this year and found it to be good exercise although bowing alone didn't seem to help much with improving my humility. Nonetheless, it's a practice I enjoy and tend to think of it as being analogous to circumnavigating Buddha rupas. Mettaya!

I didn't look at the link before going and looking for that page when I saw Korean Seon...
I found prostrating in a group or alone didn't help to improve humility but it was more the mental recitation of the three refuges or other chant for reflection helped more with positive mental states.