Hi Kai and Suzanne. Suzanne, my yoga teacher taught me about the longer outer breath. It is a very good technique. And, Kai, a Buddhist friend of mine went on retreat where they did walking meditations ...
I sat this morning for 10-15 minutes and felt good doing it. I notice though that I sit begrudgingly - I do it because I have to, because I am committed. I am glad I keep the commitment, but it comes back to the old conundrum: why am I so reluctant to do one of the very few things that really really benefits me.
Instead I want to carry on mindlessly surfing the net, reading pages I have read before, zoning out. I will do almost anything sometimes to avoid sitting with myself and just being.
I am in AA, and while I haven't had a drink for many many years, the addictive, escapist tendancies remain. I just identify them sooner and manage them better some of the time ... One of the reasons I haven't started a blog is that I think that if I did I would never get off the net.
I am really truly grateful for this blog and this commitment. It's so good to bring this stuff up for some light and air. Hope everyone has a happy Saturday ...
I was doing some reading about BP and found soe data on slow breathing: three times a week , 15 minutes per session of breathing at the 10 breaths a minute rate does GREAT things for the BP
and as you suggest re your yoga teacher attending only to the exhalation works to get the whole cycle in sync
when I first tried it not knowing what that rate was actually like I just did slow breathing corrordinated with my clock and found I was doing REALLY slow breathing (5 complete breaths a minute)
sitting at the computer all pretzeled up for hours and hours is not conducive to deep breathing
*laughing*
there are even biofeedback machine on the market for this and lots of medical studies indicating for borderline elevated BP this works better than meds which I have NO desire to get started on
not to mention other benefits
the mindless activity I over-indulge is computer games . . .
I went after work last night to the Tibetan buddhist centre which is on my way home. They have an open meditation hour from 7 to 8 on Friday evening. A good way to end the working week. I know, I just said largely that I don't practice Tibetan buddhism. Well, I haven't much. I did a weekend retreat there once. I like the place, and the chanting, that they end meditation with a short chant dedicating it to the benefit of all. I find the square cushions hard to come to terms with, though. Last thing on a Friday is probably the only time I wouldn't find a whole hour rather long. I'm more used to 40 or 45 minutes. But when I'm that tired, I'm less impatient and more accepting.
I yawned a lot. It didn't feel as though there was much going on. But afterwards was one of those times when I felt transfigured. Tearful with gratitude. Like I'd found something I lost quite a while ago. The feeling lasted, oh, at least half an hour :-)
Also, the uncomfortable thought arrived and persisted in the silence that chipping in with a caustic comment when Dale shares what he's been thinking about during meditation is unkind and unhelpful. Sorry, Dale.
And so it was easy to sit for 20 minutes this morning.
Caustic comment? No. It didn't feel unkind at all. -- & what would have been unhelpful would have been a stout denial along the lines of "Oh Dale I'm sure you'd never have thoughts like that!" Which would maybe have been "kinder" by some reckonings, but not by mine. Your remark felt (ruefully) kind to me, actually.
So this must be a Shambhala center, or one of those that harks back to Chogyam Trungpa, anyway? He came up with those square cushions, which he thought would be easier for Westerners. At my center we sit on ordinary little round ones.
Sounds like wonderful meditation!
I was in the bathroom about to go upstairs and read aloud at ten thirty last night -- the house had been full of teenagers playing dungeons and dragons and squabbling, and I was exhausted -- when I realized that there was no way I was going to stay awake after reading aloud. So I pulled out my watch and sat there for five minutes. Not dignified, and not exactly a luminous life-changing sit, but I'm really happy I did it.
6 Comments:
Hi Kai and Suzanne. Suzanne, my yoga teacher taught me about the longer outer breath. It is a very good technique. And, Kai, a Buddhist friend of mine went on retreat where they did walking meditations ...
I sat this morning for 10-15 minutes and felt good doing it. I notice though that I sit begrudgingly - I do it because I have to, because I am committed. I am glad I keep the commitment, but it comes back to the old conundrum: why am I so reluctant to do one of the very few things that really really benefits me.
Instead I want to carry on mindlessly surfing the net, reading pages I have read before, zoning out. I will do almost anything sometimes to avoid sitting with myself and just being.
I am in AA, and while I haven't had a drink for many many years, the addictive, escapist tendancies remain. I just identify them sooner and manage them better some of the time ... One of the reasons I haven't started a blog is that I think that if I did I would never get off the net.
I am really truly grateful for this blog and this commitment. It's so good to bring this stuff up for some light and air. Hope everyone has a happy Saturday ...
hi back, Mary
I was doing some reading about BP
and found soe data on slow breathing:
three times a week , 15 minutes per session
of breathing at the
10 breaths a minute rate
does GREAT things for the BP
and as you suggest
re your yoga teacher
attending only to the exhalation works to get the whole cycle
in sync
when I first tried it
not knowing what that rate
was actually like
I just did slow breathing
corrordinated with my clock
and found I was doing REALLY slow breathing
(5 complete breaths a minute)
sitting at the computer all pretzeled up
for hours and hours
is not conducive
to deep breathing
*laughing*
there are even
biofeedback machine on the market
for this
and lots of medical studies
indicating for
borderline elevated BP
this works better than meds
which I have NO desire to get started on
not to mention other benefits
the mindless activity I
over-indulge
is computer games . . .
Hello Kai and Suzanne!
The intro looks good.
I went after work last night to the Tibetan buddhist centre which is on my way home. They have an open meditation hour from 7 to 8 on Friday evening. A good way to end the working week. I know, I just said largely that I don't practice Tibetan buddhism. Well, I haven't much. I did a weekend retreat there once. I like the place, and the chanting, that they end meditation with a short chant dedicating it to the benefit of all. I find the square cushions hard to come to terms with, though. Last thing on a Friday is probably the only time I wouldn't find a whole hour rather long. I'm more used to 40 or 45 minutes. But when I'm that tired, I'm less impatient and more accepting.
I yawned a lot. It didn't feel as though there was much going on. But afterwards was one of those times when I felt transfigured. Tearful with gratitude. Like I'd found something I lost quite a while ago. The feeling lasted, oh, at least half an hour :-)
Also, the uncomfortable thought arrived and persisted in the silence that chipping in with a caustic comment when Dale shares what he's been thinking about during meditation is unkind and unhelpful. Sorry, Dale.
And so it was easy to sit for 20 minutes this morning.
Caustic comment? No. It didn't feel unkind at all. -- & what would have been unhelpful would have been a stout denial along the lines of "Oh Dale I'm sure you'd never have thoughts like that!" Which would maybe have been "kinder" by some reckonings, but not by mine. Your remark felt (ruefully) kind to me, actually.
So this must be a Shambhala center, or one of those that harks back to Chogyam Trungpa, anyway? He came up with those square cushions, which he thought would be easier for Westerners. At my center we sit on ordinary little round ones.
Sounds like wonderful meditation!
I was in the bathroom about to go upstairs and read aloud at ten thirty last night -- the house had been full of teenagers playing dungeons and dragons and squabbling, and I was exhausted -- when I realized that there was no way I was going to stay awake after reading aloud. So I pulled out my watch and sat there for five minutes. Not dignified, and not exactly a luminous life-changing sit, but I'm really happy I did it.
Yes, London centre for Kagyu Samye Ling in Scotland, which Chogyam Trungpa helped to found in the 60s, before he went to the States, I think...
Today is day #2.
Sat 6 periods of zazen today. The most I've sat in a single day in about 4 months!!
Periods 4, 5 & 6 were VERY challenging. Intense left leg pain. My dear friend breath supported me through it all.
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