Chapter 177 - 130: I Heard Myself?

"Meditation?"

"It’s not yoga!"

Chen Jue glanced at the new panel notification with some surprise.

He had assumed that a physical activity like yoga would be recorded as a Skill on his panel. He didn’t expect the first thing to trigger wouldn’t be the yoga poses, but rather the mind-regulating practice of Meditation.

This was the first mental-exercise-related Skill Chen Jue had triggered, and its appearance made him feel a bit unsettled and confused.

Because Chen Jue had always speculated that the panel’s function was related to Darwin’s Theory of Evolution: "natural selection, survival of the fittest."

But the appearance of [Meditation] was somewhat beyond his expectations.

’Is it because [Meditation] strengthens a person’s Spiritual Willpower?’

’Or enhances reaction speed, thinking, or intelligence?’ Chen Jue wondered. Since he was still in the middle of class, he could only suppress his questions for now.

...

With his lingering doubts, he continued to follow Coach Cheng in the subsequent yoga practice.

Aside from the most basic cross-legged Meditation for regulating the mind and breath, the following instruction involved the foundational body-regulating methods of Hatha yoga. The first class only taught a total of twelve poses.

According to Coach Cheng, Hatha yoga has 84 classic poses.

Legend has it that in ancient Indian mythology, the Great God Shiva created 8.4 million yoga poses. These were refined by ancient Yogis down to a few hundred, and later generations selected 84 of those to become the Hatha yoga poses.

The Meditation posture Chen Jue had just practiced was the Lotus position from Hatha yoga, which is also the most common yoga pose.

However, upon hearing the exaggerated number of 8.4 million, Chen Jue couldn’t help but roast them. ’As expected of India’s ancestors! This habit of bragging seems to have been passed down since ancient times.’

The yoga class lasted for over an hour. The pace was very slow and soothing, but after following along, Chen Jue discovered that the exercise was incredibly helpful to him.

In addition to stretching and relaxing his ligaments, fascia, and muscles, he also found that his body’s [Mild Fatigue] had unknowingly disappeared during the yoga training.

By the time the class was over, he had gained 0.01 Free Attribute points, and his [Meditation] Skill Level had increased by +20.

Moreover, after finishing the yoga session, Chen Jue could clearly feel that his ligaments were much more relaxed than usual.

Previously, when doing a forward bend, he could only touch the top of his feet with his fingertips; pressing down any further was extremely difficult.

But after just one yoga class with Coach Cheng, Chen Jue found that his fingertips could now reach his toes. With a little more effort, he was only one or two centimeters away from touching the ground.

This significant improvement in his stretching ability made Chen Jue look forward to the next yoga class.

Furthermore, yoga combined movement and stillness without consuming too much energy, effectively filling Chen Jue’s free time in the evenings.

This was also why Li Rui had specifically mentioned yoga, a sport focused on stretching, when designing Chen Jue’s professional training plan.

But what surprised Chen Jue the most was that the mind-and-breath-regulating [Meditation] could be recorded as a Skill, while the yoga poses, which involved physical postures, didn’t trigger any reaction from the panel at all.

’Is it because the yoga I’m learning isn’t comprehensive enough? Am I practicing it wrong?’

’That’s not right either! Practicing the simplified version of Tai Chi triggered a Skill just fine.’

’Could it be that the panel is biased and discriminates against sports invented in India?’ Chen Jue grumbled inwardly.

...

With several questions still on his mind, Chen Jue changed his clothes and left Yiling Yoga Studio.

It was just after 4 p.m. Having just cleared his [Mild Fatigue], Chen Jue had no intention of doing any high-intensity exercise.

He drove back to his apartment, first searching online for information about yoga. Combining that with the content mentioned in Li Rui’s training plan, Chen Jue quickly figured out why [Meditation] had been triggered.

It turned out that the earliest origins of yoga weren’t, as Indian legend claimed, from the creation of the Great God Shiva. Instead, it came from Ancient Indian Yogis who, while cultivating their bodies in Nature, discovered that various plants and animals inherently possessed methods for healing, relaxing, sleeping, or staying awake, allowing them to recover naturally without external aid.

Thus, the Ancient Indian Cultivators began to imitate and experience the postures of animals, inventing the so-called yoga poses from them, much like the Xiangxing Fist and Xingyi Fist in Huaxia Martial Arts, which imitate various birds and beasts.

The earliest form of yoga originated in the Himalayas of northern India, a high-altitude region with low temperatures and atmospheric pressure, where survival conditions were extremely harsh.

To survive in such a place, one had to keep a clear head at all times.

At the same time, they needed to lower their body’s metabolism, reduce oxygen consumption, and decrease the consumption of nutrients like fat to store heat and endure the extremely harsh environment of severe cold and hypoxia.

In this confrontation between an extreme environment and the body, the first Ancient Indian Cultivator who invented [Meditation] perfectly fit the "survival of the fittest" principle mentioned in Darwin’s Theory of Evolution.

In this way, the [Meditation] Skill did indeed align with the logical rules Chen Jue had initially deduced for triggering panel Skills.

Of course, the invention of the poses was also inseparable from the influence of the low-temperature environment.

Ancient Indian Cultivators would sit for half a day at a time. Under the influence of the cold, they were prone to frostbite and necrosis in their limbs, so they needed to use poses to maintain blood circulation and prevent accidents during seated Meditation.

As Buddhism spread east into Huaxia, cultivation methods like yoga were adapted by local Monks and evolved into training methods like the [Muscle Strengthening Scripture] and [Sutra of Marrow Cleansing].

Ancient Monks could sit and meditate or chant sutras for an entire day without getting hemorrhoids, while maintaining healthy limbs and avoiding herniated discs. This was also thanks to their integrated practice of yoga-like skills.

’In other words, the meditation method is the foundation of yoga!’

’The poses are just supplementary, like the weight training I usually do. Practicing the poses is just to help one better enter a state of [Meditation]?’

Chen Jue analyzed this internally. Combined with the pattern of Skill Level growth he’d observed during practice, he finally resolved the few minor questions he had back at the yoga studio.

...

Researching this information took him nearly two hours. After recording his major discovery in the [Strongest Human Training Plan], Chen Jue came back to his senses and realized it was already dark outside.

His stomach was growling, so Chen Jue went for a stroll to the Jiang University cafeteria to get dinner. After eating, he walked around the Jiang University campus for a while.

In December, the weather started to turn cold. The temperature had dropped to single digits, and there were fewer and fewer students on the athletic field.

Even Wang Xin and the other disciplined members of the Self-Discipline Club had moved to the public gym to work out. Chen Jue didn’t stay outside for long either, returning to his apartment after the cold night wind left his face and hands stiff.

Seeing that it was still early, he rolled out the yoga mat he had bought online and began to review the Lotus position and the other few poses he had learned that afternoon.

Following a special breathing rhythm, Chen Jue felt his mind calm down, and his entire body and soul achieved a state of deep relaxation.

And on the panel, his [Meditation] Skill Level began to slowly increase, +1, +1.

However, because he had developed the habit of closing his eyes to look at the panel, Chen Jue discovered that whenever he brought it up, the growth of his [Meditation] Skill Level would stagnate.

Apparently, the panel’s presence was a distraction for Chen Jue, ruining the meditative atmosphere.

"Close it! Close it!"

"This thing is just getting in the way!"

(Panel: Should I just leave then?)

Chen Jue quickly X-ed out the text panel, then used the Lotus position to enter Meditation once more.

His breathing became even calmer and fainter. As the distracting thoughts in his mind vanished, the sounds he could hear began to shift from external to internal.

Gradually, Chen Jue realized he could actually hear his own breathing and heartbeat through his ears!

Normally, unless he was doing high-intensity exercise or was huddled under his blanket late at night, creating a sealed space, Chen Jue couldn’t hear his own breathing and heartbeat at all!

And on the panel, the [Meditation] Skill Level display changed from the original +1 to jumping around randomly between +2 and +3.

Before long, a level-up notification popped up on the panel:

——————

[Ding~]

[Skill Level has reached 100%. Skill Level has increased.]

[Meditation Lv0 → Lv1]

[Your understanding of Meditation, a mind and body exercise, has deepened. The speed at which you enter Meditation has slightly increased.]

[By completing a deep Meditation session, your brain has entered a special low-frequency state. Your five senses have slightly improved, your nerve response speed has quickened, and your sense of danger in your surroundings has been enhanced.]

[Spirit Attribute +0.02]

——————

Since Chen Jue was practicing with the panel closed the entire time, he didn’t see this notification.

Instead, after his [Meditation] Skill leveled up, he found his mind had become exceptionally clear. Even the sounds of his own breathing and heartbeat were much more distinct than before.

Moreover, while doing yoga poses to stretch his ligaments and fascia, he heard two other extremely faint sounds besides his breathing and heartbeat.

At first, he thought he was hearing things, mistaking noise from the next-door neighbor for sounds coming from inside his own body.

But as he began to incorporate more poses, Chen Jue discovered that these two faint sounds were actually synchronized with his movements in a remarkably clever way.

After listening for a moment, he finally figured out the source of these two sounds!

"Holy crap!"

"I can actually hear my own stomach gurgling and the sound of my joints rubbing together?" Chen Jue’s eyes shot open on the yoga mat, his face a mixture of dumbfoundedness and shock.