Meditation: new habit for May

[Halo Effect]

From what I've read, meditating while lying down is fine as well. Whatever works for you. In fact, I think I'll try it lying down as well and see what I like better.

Quote:And to trust that the alarm clock will ring in time. Gosh, what if I have set it for the wrong day?

I laughed out loud.

[crazyhorse]

I sit with my back against the wall, which makes the position a whole lot more comfortable.

A lot of people arn't used to the position in the beginning but you'll get used to it eventually. In fact, this is a great excercise in self-control. Can you overcome boredom? This is actually a great test.

Also there's a lot of scientific research suggesting that meditation increases your ability to concentrate and as a consequence improve your reading comprehension. I'm noticing this one a lot.

[Mark]

The posture thing comes with time... when you start, your body hurts. This is actually you becoming aware of the stress and tension you walk around with every day though. Meditation doesn't create that discomfort and tension, it merely makes you aware of it so you can release it. As you relax and get better at it, this tension dissipates.

You can do it lying down, you can do it walking, you can do it while lifting weights at the gym. The problem with doing it lying down is that it's very easy to fall asleep. Do it sitting up... I mean, are you seriously complaining about sitting in one place for 10-20 minutes? Do you know how ridiculous that sounds? Is it really THAT hard?!?

I did it first thing this morning instead of in the evening like the first two days, it felt better, so I think I'm going to stick to it then. As Alvar said, doing it as part of my morning routine will help to make it a habit.

[George]

(05-03-2012 06:11 PM)Mark Wrote:  Anyone else do this? I did it yesterday for 30 minutes. My monkey mind was going crazy. It's been a long time.

Definitely. I haven't meditated at all for the last few years. I tried doing a few (sitting) practices this week previous and it was tough, really tough. I remember being to fall into a more calm, meditative state much faster before. This time it was damn near impossible. I was tired for one - doing this after my evening meal after a working day near bed, so your mind is completely exhausted anyway. So trying to concentrate/be in the moment was tough. More than anything, I realised how scrambled my mind was. How poor my concentration was, how little calm and control I had over my mind and thoughts.

Its when you know the difference between a calm and collected mind and a monkey mind that you really understand why medidation is so useful.

Its always incredible to see our own mind for what it is though. When you sit down and after a few sessions you start to notice the pattern of your own mind a lot more, its quite amazing the amount of useless/negative thoughts often come up that we are usually not conciously aware of.

What I am finding now is that it helps to do some exercise warm ups for meditation, get the heart going a little bit, almost as if warming up for sports. Otherwise the session is too sleepy and its hard to stay focused.

Morning practice definitely sounds more sensible, or meditatiing in the evenings before eating so you aren't too sleepy.

[Salaam]

I'm starting to loosen my attachment a bit to thinking... I think. I didn't realize before that there was more than just lack of concentration when I'd fail to maintain a clear mind, I was also on some level uncomfortable with the clarity, a tensing up of my awareness or something. There was another level of relaxation needed to fall further into maintaining a prolonged state.

[Jones]

I'm joining. 30 minutes every day, starting Thursday, for a month, perhaps with some increases in time. On one of the days I might experiment with a really long session, 3 or 4 hours.

I also intend to fast, probably on Friday.

[Salaam]

For those interested in Zen, I thought this was pretty cool.

I've realized that finding the I Am or whatever you want to call it is more easily understood for me as "Becoming aware of your own awareness". Its a palpable thing, that really is right there in front of us, separate from our own brain, thoughts, identity, memories, and emotional/bodily sensations.

[Oli]

After about thirty minutes of sitting in a not fully cross-legged position my lower back gets so sore that I have to stop. I don't know if I'm sitting wrong and I should stop or if my back is weak and if I keep going I'll strengthen it. Anyone with experience on this?

[Salaam]

Lol, this may sound ridiculous, but I've found that I can focus my awareness on either the left or right hemispheres of my brain and when I focus on the right hemisphere it makes it so easy to maintain a mind without thought, completely effortless and sustainable... What's weird is the right side feels less developed than my left side and when I talked to my girl while maintaining focus in my right side I was a hell of a lot more playful/goofy than I usually am.

[Jonathan Coughlan]

Hi,
The relaxation strategy is any technique, process, procedure, or action that can help one to relax; to achieve scenario of increased peace; or otherwise minimize amounts of stress, anxiety or anger. Relaxation methods are sometimes applied as one component of a larger anxiety management system and may lessen muscle stress, lower the blood pressure and slow heart and as well as breathe rates, among some other benefits.

source:simplyrelaxation.com

[Salaam]

Cool ass article I found talking about more benefits of meditation... found it on a zen groups website that practices around my way. Might go check it out sometime, especially since the head homeboy regularly studied under Sasaki Roshi.

http://news.harvard.edu/gazette/story/20...ef=sidebar

[Alvar]

Yup. One study found that just 3 hours lead to improved attention and self control; after 11 hours they could see the effects in the brain. And another study has found that 8 weeks of daily meditation lead to awareness in everyday actions. Fascinating stuff.

[Drewid]

If anyone wants a solid kickstart I'll recommend a Vipassana 10 day retreat. By the end of it you'll have spent about 90 hours in meditation, and it has some strong benefits over any other method I've tried before.

[Halo Effect]

I want to try a retreat. Are those things all over the place or any specific ones you recommend?

[Zac]

I just started up yesterday. 10 minutes with Halo. It was a very nice experience but hard to sit still for 10 minutes. I'll be doing another 10 tonight.

[Drewid]

(05-30-2012 11:23 PM)Halo Effect Wrote:  I want to try a retreat. Are those things all over the place or any specific ones you recommend?

I was really happy with the one I went on. The centers started (and taught) by SN Goenka.

It can get a little heavy on the spiritual elements by the end, but it was a really powerful experience, and at the end of the day you can rely on the technique itself to get results without worrying about any of the more esoteric buddhist elements.

It's also completely free. You can give a donation only after you've completed a 10 day course if you choose:
http://www.dhamma.org/

And there are centers all over the world.

[Zac]

Me and Halo meditated again today (2 days in a row now) and I want to share my personal experiences.

I wrote this up for some other friends but here goes...

I meditated today for the second day in a row. I want to share my experiences. Earlier today my roommates and I were talking about meditation. Roughly explained, it came up that when your stomach is full you are not full, your stomach is full. That thought came to me while I was meditating. I started to think about how I am not my stomach. My stomach is just a part of the body I am in. Then I began to think about how I am not my back that was hurting. I recognize the fact that the back that I have hurt, but that it was not I that was hurting. Then I began to think about how I usually look at my face and consider that myself. Thinking about this I realized that I am not my face. Then I was thinking about how my foot hurt and what it would be like to lose my foot. I realized it might make my life more difficult but I would not be losing any part of who I am if I lost my foot. This probably sounds a little out there but I felt really great when I was done. I have never managed to meditate for more than one day in a row and I'm really happy to be starting this habit. Just thought I'd share.

I just did another 15 minutes and it was mixed. I had a desire to feel the same feelings and I realized that I can't just desire them to come back. Then I started to wonder what desire and want was. I realized that I do not desire and want, something else inside me desires and wants. Then I began to think about how today I was becoming very impatient with many things. Sometimes I'm very very patient, other times I'm not. I realized that I have infinite patience and that when I am not being patient it comes from the same place as desires.

[Ebony Deeming]

Actually, I have great interest on meditation methods. So, I have been trying to learn how to meditate.

[andrewkent]

I'm on day 3 of meditating and it's great. Right now I do at least one 10 minute session per day, though 2 of the 3 days I've done two sessions.

The first day was a splash of epiphany, though I can't really tell what my epiphany was...ha! I just felt energized and much more connected, and only after 10 MINUTES of meditation.

My mind is always ramped at the redline, it seems, and the other day I started thinking I needed to meditate. I don't sleep for shit, I'm always distracted, and I find it hard to focus on tasks sometimes because of my constant stream of thoughts--thoughts that I seem to have no control over.

Meditation seems to be helping quite a bit.

This morning, I had some trouble focusing while meditating. I could barely get to a breath count of 2 without a barrage of thoughts flooding my brain...mainly about sex.

What techniques do you use to clear your mind? The short bursts of total thoughtlessness I've achieved are amazing, but now I'd like to start extending them.

I remember in a religion class I took, the professor did a section on meditation and she said the goal was to "don't think, and don't try not to think."

I've had some success by actually imaging wiping my brain clean, and strangely I seem to be able to "feel" my frontal lobes empty themselves (weird shit!), and that's when I seem to achieve very brief moments of clarity.

Any thoughts on drawing this out?

[Nick]

Confession time: I tried this for two days and then never bothered afterwards. I'll probably give it a go again when I'm not trying to pick up a dozen other different habits.

[Alvar]

Anyone still keeping up with this habit?

I seem to have found a ritual that works for me most days but I still resist it. There seems to be great discomfort for me in having my mind staying still, keeping my attention focused. If I have an excuse I'll skip it or do it short. Yet, I've read about the benefits from so many sources that I can not pass it without a reason.
My resistance was greater at the beginning until I read a passage from "the willpower instinct" that goes more or less like this: "being «bad» at meditation is good. It trains your mind to focus on what you want, on getting back to your goals." So there went my shame.

[Salaam]

I still do, but more as a tool I use for circumstances throughout the day rather than a formal sitting type-ritual.

[Tim]

I started this habit in mid-June and have been doing it for every day since minus one lapse the other day.

I have to be honest, I don't get a hell of a lot out of meditation. Maybe I'm doing it wrong, but I think it's more likely that I'm just a very unfocused person and it will take more time for me to become disciplined and really reap the benefits. I'm planning to do it for a while to see if it starts to pay off more in the future. I might try other forms of meditation too, because I've only really tried two. One is just being aware of my breathing and anything else that comes to me while I meditate, the other was a guided one that went through a half hour journey of sorts.

I had a few intense spiritual experiences in my early teens, and a couple in my late teens. None of them came through meditation though.

[Salaam]

Tim, do you think you'd have more success with this, if the practical application and reward behind meditation was more immediate and clearer to see?

Beyond all the spiritual stuff, meditation or to be more precise having a more focused and sustained awareness can really increase the quality of one's life. Like when I'm eating I'll clear my mind and focus all my awareness on my sense of taste and the food tastes amazingly better. When I'm sleeping with my girl I'll shift my awareness all around different parts of my body, from my fingertips, to my dick, to my lips, rather than being stuck inside my head, thinking about what I'm doing. Or when I'm in a bad mood, I'll shut off my internal dialogue and focus my awareness on the tense parts of my body and where my emotions seem to be localized and work on calming them down. Beyond things like this, its just peaceful as hell to be able to shift your awareness completely outside of your head and vividly see what is going on around you, especially in nature.

There's a bunch of things like this that make meditation a useful tool and makes it a whole lot easier to commit to rather then just sitting for an hour in the lotus position. Hope this helps.

[Mountainman]

I just started tinkering with this myself. This book came highly recommended to me, I'm about 2/3 done reading it.

http://www.amazon.com/Mindfulness-Plain-...in+english