Hello all Interesting discussion here yesterday ...
A lot of realisations and changes (mostly inner but some outer) for me at the moment. I am finding it difficult to sit at the moment for reasons I am not clear about (fear of what might come up perhaps). I am sitting but only for 5-10 mins each days and with one eye on the clock, metaphorically speaking. I would like this to change.
Thanks for the welcome Janice ...I've been lurking for a while - almost since the beginning in fact. Struggling with the fact that the kind of meditation I am trying to get back into seems different from the things that you all talk about. I'm starting to wonder if it might be okay anyway - my 'training' is in transcendental meditation, learned when I was 16 ...and Mary I think my struggle to reactivate my practice is in the same area as your current difficulties ...maybe ... fear of what comes up, oh yes! Taking the plunge here as part of my recommiting (okay I'm 37 days late!) ...and as part of learning to stretch towards the help and support that is there. Since I am 'only' managing 10 minutes every other day I think I need whatever help I can get.
Welcome, Barbara! Last time I counted, we had at least eight different meditation traditions represented here. Welcome the ninth! I'd love to learn something about TM. I think of it as coming out of Hindu tradition and as being a sustained meditation on a mantra, but where I picked up those notions, I have no idea. Anyway, it certainly "counts" :-)
I seem to be back in the saddle, with both my practices. I've been badly derailed by work stress, too, Nicole. Tho as Udge said I may be confusing cause & effect.
You know, as far as how long you meditate -- since all three of you bring it up -- it may or may not be better to meditate longer sessions; it really depends a lot on all kinds of things. Meditating 15 minutes may be better than meditating 5 minutes. But the difference between the two is nothing compared to the difference between meditating and not meditating. It's a matter, as my lama always puts it, of "keeping the pot stirred."
If you're having a lot of resistance to meditation, it can be very informative to just pause and be with the resistance for a little while. Watch it and see what it's made of. My tendency is to judge my resistance harshly and try to shut it down, but that -- as well as not working very well -- keeps me from learning much about it.
Welcome, Barbara. Yes, biochemistry is fascinating (re your comment yesterday). And I have a friend who's silently chanted his TM mantra every day for 30 years- & he's an amazing Renaissance-type who's done so many things in his life- from a PhD in Eng to founding an early music group, Aradia- and he's attributed whatever centredness he has to his daily meditation.
I, myself, found a mantra meditation 11 years ago that just fit perfectly, like finding your best friend, and have meditated daily with it. Even if I'm doing other meditations or yoga, a few minutes of my "best friend" is still necessary, a touchstone.
Lorianne, how clear Sunday morning at the Zen Center sounded- and then chocolate, a "sensory satori"- beautiful!
Mary, ah, even a tiny moment of mindfulness can balance the whole day...
Nicole, hmmmn, a "good metaphysical exfoliation"- I love that- but that kind of work would require me to sit for a few intensely focused hours and it doesn't sound like you have the time right how. How about incremental 'bits of exfoliation'? A few minutes here, a few minutes there. Working on specifics- transport, tickets and passports, tying up things, preparing for the move...
I, too, have gotten derailed on my meditation commitment. I was doing so well at the beginning! Combination of too much to do and insomnia and anxiety - I sleep as late as I can because of interrupted sleep, then I don't have time to meditate in the morning. I've tried later in the day and it hasn't worked well. Sigh. I'm hoping to start up again... Good to see you all here. I missed the Friday meditation time.
hello everyone, and welcome Barbara! I think we are all happy to have as many different people as pass by and TM is something I often wish I'd learned and would like to hear more about.
I would love to hear more about what people feel about anti depressants. Though I am basically against drugs if there could be a more 'natural' way, I have seen lives change course as a result. J is saying he is depressed; misses and wants to reconnect with his joyful nature. I feel sure (as does he) this is related to our losing our baby and hope of a family. No English speaking therapists around and when I talk about meditation as a possibility it rings too many bells close to catholic home..... Is it worth looking into anti depressants?
Funny you mention breast feeding so often Brenda. I feel sure that what brought me to meditation in the first place was a sense of the ABSENCE of the naturally loving and unegocentric state of motherhood. Seems to be a necessary step in life however we come by it.
Sat 10 mins today before the première. Would be SO EASY not to these days but...well I guess I'm hooked!
7 Comments:
Hello all
Interesting discussion here yesterday ...
A lot of realisations and changes (mostly inner but some outer) for me at the moment. I am finding it difficult to sit at the moment for reasons I am not clear about (fear of what might come up perhaps). I am sitting but only for 5-10 mins each days and with one eye on the clock, metaphorically speaking. I would like this to change.
Thanks for the welcome Janice ...I've been lurking for a while - almost since the beginning in fact. Struggling with the fact that the kind of meditation I am trying to get back into seems different from the things that you all talk about. I'm starting to wonder if it might be okay anyway - my 'training' is in transcendental meditation, learned when I was 16 ...and Mary I think my struggle to reactivate my practice is in the same area as your current difficulties ...maybe ... fear of what comes up, oh yes! Taking the plunge here as part of my recommiting (okay I'm 37 days late!) ...and as part of learning to stretch towards the help and support that is there. Since I am 'only' managing 10 minutes every other day I think I need whatever help I can get.
Barbara, welcome from me too! All traditions and types of meditation are very welcome here, and it's lovely to have you with us.
Welcome, Barbara! Last time I counted, we had at least eight different meditation traditions represented here. Welcome the ninth! I'd love to learn something about TM. I think of it as coming out of Hindu tradition and as being a sustained meditation on a mantra, but where I picked up those notions, I have no idea. Anyway, it certainly "counts" :-)
I seem to be back in the saddle, with both my practices. I've been badly derailed by work stress, too, Nicole. Tho as Udge said I may be confusing cause & effect.
You know, as far as how long you meditate -- since all three of you bring it up -- it may or may not be better to meditate longer sessions; it really depends a lot on all kinds of things. Meditating 15 minutes may be better than meditating 5 minutes. But the difference between the two is nothing compared to the difference between meditating and not meditating. It's a matter, as my lama always puts it, of "keeping the pot stirred."
If you're having a lot of resistance to meditation, it can be very informative to just pause and be with the resistance for a little while. Watch it and see what it's made of. My tendency is to judge my resistance harshly and try to shut it down, but that -- as well as not working very well -- keeps me from learning much about it.
Welcome, Barbara. Yes, biochemistry is fascinating (re your comment yesterday). And I have a friend who's silently chanted his TM mantra every day for 30 years- & he's an amazing Renaissance-type who's done so many things in his life- from a PhD in Eng to founding an early music group, Aradia- and he's attributed whatever centredness he has to his daily meditation.
I, myself, found a mantra meditation 11 years ago that just fit perfectly, like finding your best friend, and have meditated daily with it. Even if I'm doing other meditations or yoga, a few minutes of my "best friend" is still necessary, a touchstone.
Lorianne, how clear Sunday morning at the Zen Center sounded- and then chocolate, a "sensory satori"- beautiful!
Mary, ah, even a tiny moment of mindfulness can balance the whole day...
Nicole, hmmmn, a "good metaphysical exfoliation"- I love that- but that kind of work would require me to sit for a few intensely focused hours and it doesn't sound like you have the time right how. How about incremental 'bits of exfoliation'? A few minutes here, a few minutes there. Working on specifics- transport, tickets and passports, tying up things, preparing for the move...
Happy Monday everyone! xo
I, too, have gotten derailed on my meditation commitment. I was doing so well at the beginning! Combination of too much to do and insomnia and anxiety - I sleep as late as I can because of interrupted sleep, then I don't have time to meditate in the morning. I've tried later in the day and it hasn't worked well. Sigh. I'm hoping to start up again... Good to see you all here. I missed the Friday meditation time.
hello everyone, and welcome Barbara! I think we are all happy to have as many different people as pass by and TM is something I often wish I'd learned and would like to hear more about.
I would love to hear more about what people feel about anti depressants. Though I am basically against drugs if there could be a more 'natural' way, I have seen lives change course as a result. J is saying he is depressed; misses and wants to reconnect with his joyful nature. I feel sure (as does he) this is related to our losing our baby and hope of a family. No English speaking therapists around and when I talk about meditation as a possibility it rings too many bells close to catholic home..... Is it worth looking into anti depressants?
Funny you mention breast feeding so often Brenda. I feel sure that what brought me to meditation in the first place was a sense of the ABSENCE of the naturally loving and unegocentric state of motherhood. Seems to be a necessary step in life however we come by it.
Sat 10 mins today before the première. Would be SO EASY not to these days but...well I guess I'm hooked!
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