Only sat for 15 of intended 20 minutes this morning because I got up too late. Will sit again this evening. Persevering with intention to go to bed earlier in order to be able to get up earlier.
My meditation has gone AWOL I'm afraid the last couple of days. Will recommit.
I'm actually having increasing difficulty in posting the date (and getting diverted by blogs!) and meditating on work days. I'm not really supposed to be online from work (or commenting!) but I'll risk it today.
Would someone else be able to post the date Monday - Friday? Weekends aren't a problem for me unless I'm away ....
I'm happy to post the date, Mary - it won't be till c 9.30 though, cf my previous comment. I'd actually been trying to post this morning's for a while, but had a temporary Blogger problem and couldn't get through, when yours came up.
Sorry you're having a hard time with it this week. Tomorrow is another day.
Mary (and Jean too!) please don't feel pressured to post the day. That's why we've got a half-dozen people who can post it -- people can go on commenting on the last day until the new day goes up.
Well, I'm selfishly glad that you're human and can miss a day too, Mary :-) But sorry you're having trouble! Get right back on the cushion. Like getting back on a bike.
mmm beach-heron-stillness....sat 10 minutes in lyon hotel. I know it's minimum but it's there until i get settled in the next rhythm (a week at home then a month in lyon). I'm sure it makes a difference, even that little, in terms of maintenance. I can really begin to feel some space around my habitual reactions and anxiety now, which feels amazing, and lord knows, maybe someday I might stop whingeing about crappy hotels!
Ruth, I enjoy your descriptions of how this is subtly changing your approach to challenges in your life.
Sat last night for 5 minutes. Got very bad news about a friend's health and went and sat for another 10 minutes instead of doing the dishes. A matter of priorities. I had a hard time setting aside thoughts of the friend, but I got there.
Mary, as the old, ungrammatical saying goes, "It *be's* that way sometimes." Some days/weeks/months/years are harder than others. That's the wonderful gift of meditation: whenever you find the strength to begin again, you instantly have the gift of a *fresh start*.
MB, I'm sorry to hear about your friend's health. In my Zen school, we chant for people who are sick, so I'll remember your friend in my practice (and you can direct your meditation mind toward healing, too).
I sat for 20 minutes this morning. My mind was all over the place, but that's par for the course. :-) Mountain-mind always remains whether the weather is stormy, cloudy, or clear.
Great yoga class last night. I felt very centered, although I always seem to use the ending savasana to obsess about things instead of drinking in the peace of my practice. Probably the same reason I do this when I go to bed instead of falling asleep. Must work on this.
Sat 20 minutes this morning. Felt good. A bit less anxious today, except when I attempted bad Spanish on the phone with the B&B in Mexico! God, Mexicans are so patient. She put me at ease.
Sorry about your friend, MB. Sending good thoughts...
mb, empathy from me too. News like that is always a double-edged sword for me - shock and sadness for the friend and their family, accompanied by the fear "what if it were me/us?" Meditation is just about the only thing that helps.
I have been sitting about 10 minutes at a time, wish it were more. I was up in the night last night, worrying about my mother who is having trouble with her chemotherapy, feeling excited about a meeting I had yesterday about my upcoming book, considering how I might possible meet my writing deadline, and worrying about medical tests. AAAACH! I made some tea with relaxing herbs, read a little, sat a little - trying to stop the "what ifs" - and went back to bed and to sleep. I feel much more centered and pragmatic today - the middle of the night is when I tend to get anxious, in a semi-rational, semi-awake state. I find it's better to get up for a while.
mb - thoughts from me too, and for you beth. ruth - your life sounds stressfully exciting!
i'm blinking from 30 mins in the dark. a lizard mind darting and slithering but eventually it seemed to lie still for a bit. i hope to do a longer meditation tomorrow - 90 mins - with the group i first trained with, and i'm looking forward to the prospect.
:-) Not too surprised that Google didn't help, Jude.
The ngondro practice has a beginning (of prayers & starting the visualization) and an end (of dissolving the visualization, and repeating the bodhisattva vow, and saying the dedication prayers.) The middle consists of the same thing done over and over -- the number of times is the number of "accumulations." (You're accumulating them because you're going to do roughly a hundred thousand of them before going on to the next practice.) In the case of the first practice, an accumlation consists of reciting a refuge prayer while prostrating oneself before the visualization. If you're young and zealous you might do a couple hundred in a session. A duffer with creaky knees might do ten or twenty at a time. I think the first practice was partly invented to keep young monks in good aerobic shape and give them a way to burn off excess energy :-)
Thanks Jude for posing the question, and to Dale for answering it. I too had unsuccessfully googled for an explanation, and was working up the courage to ask.
I've decided to do my sitting as soon as I get up, other times of day just don't work well for me. Still enjoying it, still wrestling for control of my mind.
17 Comments:
Only sat for 15 of intended 20 minutes this morning because I got up too late. Will sit again this evening. Persevering with intention to go to bed earlier in order to be able to get up earlier.
My meditation has gone AWOL I'm afraid the last couple of days. Will recommit.
I'm actually having increasing difficulty in posting the date (and getting diverted by blogs!) and meditating on work days. I'm not really supposed to be online from work (or commenting!) but I'll risk it today.
Would someone else be able to post the date Monday - Friday? Weekends aren't a problem for me unless I'm away ....
I'm happy to post the date, Mary - it won't be till c 9.30 though, cf my previous comment. I'd actually been trying to post this morning's for a while, but had a temporary Blogger problem and couldn't get through, when yours came up.
Sorry you're having a hard time with it this week. Tomorrow is another day.
Mary (and Jean too!) please don't feel pressured to post the day. That's why we've got a half-dozen people who can post it -- people can go on commenting on the last day until the new day goes up.
Well, I'm selfishly glad that you're human and can miss a day too, Mary :-) But sorry you're having trouble! Get right back on the cushion. Like getting back on a bike.
10 mins shamatha, 21 accumulations ngondro, yesterday.
dale youre accumulating accumulations I notice...
mmm beach-heron-stillness....sat 10 minutes in lyon hotel. I know it's minimum but it's there until i get settled in the next rhythm (a week at home then a month in lyon). I'm sure it makes a difference, even that little, in terms of maintenance. I can really begin to feel some space around my habitual reactions and anxiety now, which feels amazing, and lord knows, maybe someday I might stop whingeing about crappy hotels!
{{Mary}}
Ruth, I enjoy your descriptions of how this is subtly changing your approach to challenges in your life.
Sat last night for 5 minutes. Got very bad news about a friend's health and went and sat for another 10 minutes instead of doing the dishes. A matter of priorities. I had a hard time setting aside thoughts of the friend, but I got there.
Mary, as the old, ungrammatical saying goes, "It *be's* that way sometimes." Some days/weeks/months/years are harder than others. That's the wonderful gift of meditation: whenever you find the strength to begin again, you instantly have the gift of a *fresh start*.
MB, I'm sorry to hear about your friend's health. In my Zen school, we chant for people who are sick, so I'll remember your friend in my practice (and you can direct your meditation mind toward healing, too).
I sat for 20 minutes this morning. My mind was all over the place, but that's par for the course. :-) Mountain-mind always remains whether the weather is stormy, cloudy, or clear.
Thank you, Lorianne. That means a lot to me.
Great yoga class last night. I felt very centered, although I always seem to use the ending savasana to obsess about things instead of drinking in the peace of my practice. Probably the same reason I do this when I go to bed instead of falling asleep. Must work on this.
Sat 20 minutes this morning. Felt good. A bit less anxious today, except when I attempted bad Spanish on the phone with the B&B in Mexico! God, Mexicans are so patient. She put me at ease.
Sorry about your friend, MB. Sending good thoughts...
Hello again everyone.
MB: So sorry to hear about your friend.What a shock news like this can be. My thoughts are with you both. Hugs back to you.
Lorianne: Thank you for the reminder that a new beginning can start at any time. Easy to forget at times.
Dale: Thanks for your ever-present encouragement. It means a lot. And yes, I'm definitely in the human race!
Jean: Thanks for the encouragement and reassurance re posting the date. (Thanks for your comment on this too Dale).
mb, empathy from me too. News like that is always a double-edged sword for me - shock and sadness for the friend and their family, accompanied by the fear "what if it were me/us?" Meditation is just about the only thing that helps.
I have been sitting about 10 minutes at a time, wish it were more. I was up in the night last night, worrying about my mother who is having trouble with her chemotherapy, feeling excited about a meeting I had yesterday about my upcoming book, considering how I might possible meet my writing deadline, and worrying about medical tests. AAAACH! I made some tea with relaxing herbs, read a little, sat a little - trying to stop the "what ifs" - and went back to bed and to sleep. I feel much more centered and pragmatic today - the middle of the night is when I tend to get anxious, in a semi-rational, semi-awake state. I find it's better to get up for a while.
mb - thoughts from me too, and for you beth. ruth - your life sounds stressfully exciting!
i'm blinking from 30 mins in the dark. a lizard mind darting and slithering but eventually it seemed to lie still for a bit. i hope to do a longer meditation tomorrow - 90 mins - with the group i first trained with, and i'm looking forward to the prospect.
{{{MB}}}
qB, that's wonderful!
Thank you all so much for your supportive comments and good thoughts. Much appreciated. Glad you're here.
:-) Not too surprised that Google didn't help, Jude.
The ngondro practice has a beginning (of prayers & starting the visualization) and an end (of dissolving the visualization, and repeating the bodhisattva vow, and saying the dedication prayers.) The middle consists of the same thing done over and over -- the number of times is the number of "accumulations." (You're accumulating them because you're going to do roughly a hundred thousand of them before going on to the next practice.) In the case of the first practice, an accumlation consists of reciting a refuge prayer while prostrating oneself before the visualization. If you're young and zealous you might do a couple hundred in a session. A duffer with creaky knees might do ten or twenty at a time. I think the first practice was partly invented to keep young monks in good aerobic shape and give them a way to burn off excess energy :-)
Thanks Jude for posing the question, and to Dale for answering it. I too had unsuccessfully googled for an explanation, and was working up the courage to ask.
I've decided to do my sitting as soon as I get up, other times of day just don't work well for me. Still enjoying it, still wrestling for control of my mind.
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