ITH Poker Forum

[Holgininho]

Hi Tommy,

thanks for writing this great book. What I found particularly interesting was the whole thing about breathing and teaching yourself to just smile about bad beats.

Where did you pick these techniques up? Is there any literature you can recommend? I'd really like to read more about it.

[Tommy Angelo]

Hi Tommy,

thanks for writing this great book. What I found particularly interesting was the whole thing about breathing and teaching yourself to just smile about bad beats.

Where did you pick these techniques up? Is there any literature you can recommend? I'd really like to read more about it.

Awareness of breathing is the single practice that is common among all practitioners of what we call "Buddhism." I've read a couple dozen books on this topic, some of them I keep reading over and over. I think of all written Buddhism instruction as falling into one of three categories:

Written by an Asian for fellow Asians. These writings are hundreds to thousands of years old.

Written by an Asian for westerners. These writings first appeared around 1900.

Written by a westerner for westerners. These are the best books to start with in my opinion. One of my favorites is "Awakening the Buddha Within" by Lama Surya Das. Don't let the author's name fool you. He was born and raised a Jew in New York City. He went to Tibet when he was 19 and stayed a while. I first heard of him when I saw him interviewed by Steven Colbert. This book has TONS of great breathing instruction, and lots of other goodies too.

Tommy

[AlamedaMike]

Tommy - thanks for the reference - My Caucasian brother-in-law (mid 50's) converted to Buddhism when he was 16. He loaned me some good books. His wife (my wife's sister) is Asian and is Buddhist as well. Holgininho you might want to consider reading a new earth by Tolle - or just go to Opera.com and read the meditation exercises - the one on breathing is very good - easier and his book is not for everyone and might just be a waste of money.

I was born and raised Roman Catholic but I read books on Buddhism for practical reasons but do not consider myself a Buddhist. ZEN and the Art of Poker is a pretty good book.

[Fumseck]

Opera.com like in the browser?

[AlamedaMike]

Opera.com like in the browser?

sorry that I am lazy

http://www.oprah.com/package/oprahsbook ... _anewearth

http://www.how-to-meditate.org/breathin ... tions.htm/

Meditation has been around for eons. Dr Dean Ornish, a noted heart specialist, wrote several books where meditation and deep breathing relieved stress and helped your heart. I don't recommend you buy his book but just more evidence that meditation is good for you and the easiest one is breathing.

[jeffnc]

Meditation sounds mystical and new-agey. But if you come to it through back door, like "Dealing with pain", "How to improve concentration", "How to deal with stress", etc, it's easier to swallow.

Basically it's about paying attention, focus, and living in the moment. How could those things not be good whether you're playing poker, raising a child, interviewing, or whatever?

[Tommy Angelo]

Meditation sounds mystical and new-agey.

You're right, and that's a bad beat for everyone who does what I did for a few decades which was to scoff at something that turned out to be indescribably beneficial to me, while all the while not having a clue as to what it even was.

Basically it's about paying attention...

And there you have it.