Introduction
Everybody who has attended the advanced lesson has left with better posture, and with a better undestanding of their body, than when they started the advanced lesson. This greater understanding empowers them to continue to have better sitting posture during meditation than if they didn't attend the advanced lesson. They leave with a better ability to solve any disturbing tensions that come up during longer sittings. They leave with a deeper understanding of how to reduce the under the radar tensions that I call distorting tensions. If you want to read more about distorting and disturbing tensions, click here.

I truly want people to be able to sit according to their root instructions fairly easily for long periods of time. This is a reality when you know how to properly apply your root instructions. People who have taken the four hour posture lesson and the advanced lesson know that this is fully possible. If you haven't taken the posture lessons for sitting meditation, then these words may seem exaggerated to you.

Continuing To Clean Up Bad Habits
After all of the work that people have put into cleaning up their bad habits in the four hour lesson, they enter the advanced with more to clean up/improve. Here is an analogy about people entering the four hour lesson and people entering the advanced lesson:
I've helped people move who have lived in the same house for over twenty years. Before moving, they begin by going through all of their possessions. They separate their possessions into three categories. The things they want to keep. The things that they want to give away or sell. And the things that they don't yet know if they want to keep or get rid of.

They give away or sell a tremendous amount of things. They look around and they can't believe how much they got rid of. They may think that they're done getting rid of almost everything. This is similar to how you can be after taking the four hour lesson; much improved and yet more improvement is still possible.

Then a month or two later, they look around their house and they find out that there are still a lot of things that they don't need to bring with them. This starts a second round of getting rid of their possessions. They're now separating their possessions into two categories -- things they'll take with them and things they'll get rid of. They're very surprised at how much more that they're getting rid of in this second round. They can't believe that there are still so many possessions that they can get rid of. After the first round, they thought they were just about done with getting rid of things.

The advanced lesson is this second round of going through your possesions before you move. By applying what you learned in the four hour lesson, there has been an improvement in your sitting posture and an improvement in pain not appearing so quickly and not lasting as long. The four hour lesson is your first round of improving your posture. Because you've had decades of improper posture habits and a lot of muscle tension not everything is done after you take the four hour posture lesson. You're not as cleaned up in your sitting posture as you can be.

Now comes the advanced lesson. This is the second round of getting rid of your possessions; getting rid of incorrect posture habits that still exist. Everyone, so far, has left the advanced lesson with less improper posture habits than when they entered the advanced lesson. I've also worked with people after they've taken the advanced lesson. Everyone I've worked with after they've taken the advanced lesson has continued to have better sitting posture during meditation than before they began the advanced lesson. This has shown me the great value of the advanced lesson.

Properly and easily applying your root instructions on proper posture during sitting meditation is fundamentally important to your meditation. The better you apply your root instructions, the more your attention can be interiorized; and the better the conductivity of energy in your body. The amount of improvement that can happen after the advanced lesson is similar to the amount of possessions that you get rid of in the second round of thinning out your things when you're moving out of a house. In each round of getting rid of your possessions (getting rid of still existing bad posture habits) there's noticeably less to get rid of; and it keeps feeling better to get rid of more and more things.

The main focus of the advanced lesson is to further clarify and make sure that you’re properly applying the six points from the basic lesson. The basic lesson covers the six fundamental points very well. If these fundamental points are done well, over time, you’ll have both proper posture and your muscles will not have any unnecessary tension.

The Advanced Lesson Format
The advanced lesson starts with a complete review of the basic lesson. This review is done noticeably faster than the first time in the four hour posture lesson itself. All of your questions about the six points will be answered. When people come to the advanced lesson, almost all of their problems are still arising due to not correctly applying the six points. Once they're shown this, most often their physical complaints while sitting are “fixed.”

Please remember that applying these six points are done within the framework of your root instructions. These six points are not meant to substitute for your root instructions. These six points are an aid so that you can sit well during longer meditations by properly applying your root instructions. These six points are used to fill in any gap that exists between what your root instructions say and you being able to continually apply your root instructions during longer meditations.

If properly applying the six points within the framework of your root instructions does not provide a remedy for a problem, then we'll look further for a solution. The advanced lesson then gives you more exercises to further explore and experience your body during sitting meditation. These exercises will be new to you. The new exercises help you to investigate deeper the six points of the four hour posture lesson for sitting meditation. If your problem still hasn't been addressed well, then we'll go into how to provide effective help that you're to do when you're not sitting on your cushion or when you're not sitting in your chair.

I’ll give you concrete advise on how to improve any complaint that arises during your time of sitting meditation. I’m not looking to have participants become patients. My chiropractic practice is full and I have a waiting list of people wanting to come in for treatment. My thirty years of chiropractic experience can help you to understand what you can do to heal. I won’t be able to address every issue in detail, though I will address every issue with concrete suggestions.

This concrete advise often involves adding specific stretching like chest opening stretches, using self massage tools, and/or doing yoga or exercise regularly. When you use the self massage tools, you either lie on these tools or you put them into your hand and press into the muscles to massage the tight muscles. I give away a very useful self massage tool to everyone who attends the advanced lesson. Three of the self massage tools cost $10 to $15. And the fourth tool costs $45. This last tool is the best tool to massage out tension in your neck muscles. You can buy a lesser priced tool for neck muscle self massage and you can still do effective self massage on your neck muscles.

Prior To Attending The Advanced Lesson
Before coming to the advanced lesson, I’ll ask you to e-mail me the written answers to the same questions that you answered before when you attended the four hour posture lesson for sitting meditation. After we review the basic lesson, we’ll go over your answers to these three questions. Here are the three questions:
1. Are there any likely places in your body that can develop tightness, pain, or numbness as you sit?
2. Does your upper body move away from being upright? Either forward, backward, to the right, or to the left? Does your chest slump? Does your chest feel puffed/raised up?
3. Write down anything else that physically troubles you during meditation that you want me to know about.
Remember to e-mail me your answers before attending the advanced lesson. Reading your answers before the lesson begins helps me to better help you during the lesson. To e-mail me your answers, click here.

What To Bring To The Lesson
1. If you use a cushion, bring the cushion. If you use a zabuton, bring the zabuton.
2. If you use a kneeling bench, bring the bench.
3. If you sit on a cushion or on a kneeling bench, please a combination of four or five of the following: kitchen towels or bathroom hand towels that aren't thick. The less flexible you are, the more important it is to bring them. These may be needed to experiment with supporting your knees and your ankles.
4. If you use any pads for your ankles or knees, or any other supports when you sit, bring them.
5. If you sit in a chair and that chair can be brought, please do. A chair is provided for everyone.
6. If you use mala beads, please bring them. Or you can simply mimic the position of your hand that holds the beads.
7. If you use an Om board or anything else during meditation that I have not listed, please bring it.
8. If you use a practice text and if you raise the practice text up on something, please bring what you use to raise the practice text up on. You don't need to bring the practice text itself.
9. If something is very personal to your meditation practice and you don't want to bring it, then please don't bring it.
10. Please do not wear any scented oils or perfumes.
11. Brings any snacks and anything you want to drink. Some snacks and something to drink will be provided. It's good to give your body some light nourishment during this four hour lesson.
12. Bring paper and a pen. Most people don't take notes, though you may want to write something down. A handout is given with the seven major points of the four hour lesson.

The Time and The Cost Of The Advanced Lesson
The advanced lesson will be for three hours. After you take the advanced lesson and if you want further help in your meditation posture, I offer private coaching lessons. To find out more about the private coaching lessons, click here.

The cost of the advanced lesson is:
If one to three people are taking the lesson, the fee is $350 for the lesson.
If four or seven people attend the lesson, the fee is $80 per person.

On an individual basis, when needed, the cost can be reduced if four to seven people are taking the lesson. If you'd like to take the lesson and the cost is high for you, please do let me know.