It is a beautiful Saturday morning

It is a beautiful Saturday morning here,
most weekends I hike in the mountains.
They are a wonderful place to meditate!

I also read dharma books all the time.
Before we can learn to meditate in which there are seven levels of meditation,
we must learn to concentrate in which there are also seven levels.

You are very right,
paintings are a way to learn to concentrate. I paint in a style calle abstract pointillism. Most of my paintings are form of this.
Each painting is small dots or points of paint.
They will take me weeks to paint, sometimes months.
When I paint my breathing will slow and I forget everything but the next color of paint and where to place it on the canvas. One painting I just kept repeating small points of Red, Orange, Yellow, Green, Blue and Purple, over and over the entire painting.

I have also practiced Yoga off and on for the last 30 years and find much joy in this. I understand the only reason we practice
Hatha Yoga is to learn to sit still with no discomfort. .

I look forward to seeing the different parts of Thailand and continuing to learn and practice.

Have you read The Yoga Sutras of Patanjali?