90-Day Meditation Practice Challenge!

[nancy]

90-Day Meditation Practice Challenge!

This thread is fantastic!

I am aiming to meditate every day. I have seen benefits since starting a few months ago.

I listened to the Richardson interview and found it very interesting.

Thanks WIP!

[A Work in Progress]

90-Day Meditation Practice Challenge!

Hey Nancy! Great going! Glad you liked the interview... that guy is really doing some amazing work. Imagine... he spends time with the Dalai Lama!

Peace, you are doing wonderfully... I don't think there is any "better" or "not as good" about using guided meditations, as opposed to sitting in silence. I really don't. Do what feels like it is getting you somewhere... at some point, you will naturally want to make some shifts, try out something different. If we get into any kind of competition with ourselves, or with others, we will most likely end up not wanting to do this any more... and giving it up. That, anyway, is one of my own hindrances, or weak points. Something I need to watch out for.

Deebs, thanks... Mother is doing OK. She seems to have stabilized at a certain level, with her cognitive functioning. Not getting worse really fast, in other words. Some days better than others. Right now the big worries are the skin cancers on her face, and what on earth we can do about them, since there aren't a lot of good options with respect to anesthesia. They are growing pretty fast. I still struggle daily with wishing she could live in her own home, or with me... but I know either option would be a quick path to disaster, in so many ways (for her and for me).

Thanks, everyone who is checking into this thread! Being accountable to each of you, on this thread, is helping me tremendously to stick with my own daily sitting practice. I sit every morning, early, after I get dressed (but before I put on my shoes)! I feel as if I am have gotten back on track with the consistency of my practice, keeping a promise to myself... Again: thanks!

[maddiva]

90-Day Meditation Practice Challenge!

Thanks Wip for that. I am going to give it a try. Have always wanted to get into meditation, trouble is my own mind saboutages it rattling on about nothing. So to get that calm and serenity is something which I feel would do me good. I am going to re-read your post when I am not just flitting about, which will be later today and do what you suggest. I have always been interested in buddhism. I have a good buddhist friend who follows the Dharma Lama around and gets attunements. Very lovely lady.....

[maddiva]

90-Day Meditation Practice Challenge!

oh I am a total fruitcake it is not the dharma lama, sounds like a farm animal. Not with it today, but you know who I mean.....:H

[boozehag]

90-Day Meditation Practice Challenge!

Hi team
I am going to try and join you except I am a bit of a thicko when it comes to spiritual matters and I know absolutely nothing about meditation. I have read back over the thread and I think understood about half of it! BUT I will read it again and check out the links too to get a better understanding and come back and join you soon.
Thanks WIP and everyone else who has shared.
BH

[DeeBee]

90-Day Meditation Practice Challenge!

Welcome BH and Maddiva.

If I can "get" some of it BH, then you'll sure to. I really find the guided meditations helpful.

Today I went for a facial (my monthly freebee at Elizabeth Arden -- bliss) and I had to lie there for 25 minutes whilst the mask dried. Usually I'd fidgit, scratch, pick at the mast, stare at the one lonely picture on the wall etc, but today I closed my eyes and counted my breathes.... I can only try to begin to explain it as "calming but invigorating". It was a different to anything I'd experienced before, maybe because I was lying down and therefore very comfortable or maybe because it was outside of my nomal sitting enviroment -- what ever the reason, it was plesant:-)

I don't know what's happend but the daily dharma hasn't been e-mailed to me today.... off to investigate

[DeeBee]

90-Day Meditation Practice Challenge!

Daily Dharma

The Path to Right Livelihood

Good work is dignified

Those of us who start on the path to right livelihood find that our lives are more balanced, simple, clear, and focused. We are no longer strung out in a meaningless cycle of material consumption. The contemporary economy focuses on this cycle of consumption. It doesn't really support our efforts to find meaningful work. Today, work is a means to consume or to pay debt for consumption already indulged in. How many people do you know who really love the work they are doing? How many feel bored and alienated? How many are simply earning the money to spend it on material pleasures? Right livelihood demands that you take responsibility for making your work more meaningful. Good work is dignified. It develops your faculties and serves your community. It is a central human activity.


-- Roger Pritchard, in Claude Whitmyer's Mindfulness and Meaningful Work


from Everyday Mind, edited by Jean Smith, a Tricycle

[A Work in Progress]

90-Day Meditation Practice Challenge!

maddiva;550336 wrote: oh I am a total fruitcake it is not the dharma lama, sounds like a farm animal. Not with it today, but you know who I mean.....:H

Oh, Maddy, you REALLY cracked me up with that one!! Thank you! I think the Dalai Lama would get a kick out of that one, too!

BH, welcome! My best suggestion or advice to you is to take it easy, don't try hard to make anything happen, or to feel any particular way. Especially, don't try to make your thoughts disappear! Instead, just set a period of time to sit still, paying attention to your breathing. Observe what goes on in your mind and body, while you are doing that. Probably you will experience some agitation, and a lot of thoughts flying around. That is totally normal. The real "job" of the meditator is NOT to try to control all these thoughts and feelings and impulses... but, instead, to observe them. And, most importantly, to begin to compassionately observe them.

Whenever you notice that you have become distracted from observing the sensations of your breathing, just gently refocus, return your attention to the breath. We may need to do that many, many times even in the space of just a few minutes... and that is perfectly normal, and perfectly OK.

We are learning, with this practice, to come to terms with our own lives, our own very selves, without being so reactive, avoidant (of what we do not like in ourselves, and in life), and clingy/greedy (of what we do like in life, what we crave).

And remember: this practice is not a way to instantly have lovely, peaceful feelings. Sometimes that WILL happen (Deebs just had a great experience that she described for us, a few posts above this one!), and/but it's important to keep in mind that many other times, our practice periods will feel more like a big struggle. That's OK. Remember that when people begin an exercise program, they are usually realistic enough not to expect fantastic results, and a "runner's high" every time they work out; the benefits take time to appear!

[A Work in Progress]

90-Day Meditation Practice Challenge!

Also: CLICK HERE for some guided meditations, great for beginners (and for anyone!); these are free, you can download them and put them into an mp3 player or iPod, or burn them onto a CD, or you can just click on the "listen" option, and play them through your computer. The seventh one in the list, Gil Fronsdal's 14 minute Guided Meditation with the Breath, is a good one to start out with.

[nancy]

90-Day Meditation Practice Challenge!

Hi all

I was starting to meditate regularly but got out of having a regular practice.

I hope this will inspire me to get it back. I meditate for 20 minutes and most of that time my thoughts are going in a million directions. I just gently refocus on my breathing when that happens. I have also strarted to do this in other settings-- whenever my thoughts wander. I am using the focus of physical sensation through nostrils, thinking "in, out." I find this is closer to me than the rising and falling of my stomach.

And Boozehag welcome! Even 5 or 10 mins a day will help. Also, reading about the philosopy behind it and associated with it will be useful. I like Pema Chodron's books. She is a Buddhist nun. In Buddhist philosophy, you welcome all of your thoughts and experiences, including the painful ones, and you learn to observe them rather than acting on everything. That's why I thouhgt it might help you. It's a way of living life as a whole person. The breath rises and falls. Experiences come and fade away. Everything is impermanent. In meditation, I learn to tolerate and observe my mental world, and get closer to the physical world.

I am agnostic and don't personally use it in the spiritual sense. It can be very secular.

Nancy

[peacenik]

90-Day Meditation Practice Challenge!

i'm agnostic as well nancy...i use meditation as a calming centering force in my life. i too use in/out to focus on breath or my mind goes for the gold as far as wandering...well, it still goes all over , but i can pull it back when i realize i'm wandering!

i sat for about 15 minutes today then the phone rang...good lesson in turning it off!
i listened to a gil fonstad (sp) guided med. about breath that was interesting becasue outside the room they were in, alot of noisy "stuff" was going on and i had to learn to focus through it...it was a good lesson.

peace!

[A Work in Progress]

90-Day Meditation Practice Challenge!

Nancy: you said it so well. "Getting closer to the physical" world is incredibly important. One reason that a focus on the sensations of breathing is a good way to stay present in meditation practice is that it brings our attention "home" to our bodies, and out of the chatter of our minds. That's important because much of our mind chatter consists of thoughts that are sheer nonsense, and sometimes harmful to us (for example, thinking about drinking!). It's also important because our bodies are where we experience our emotional lives, and our contact with other human beings. Our (physical) sense organs are our gateways to the experience of living. If we are in touch with what we are sensing and feeling in our bodies, then we are much better able to successfully navigate and regulate our emotional lives, and our relationships with others.

One way to help develop the practice, or habit, of staying attuned with our physical selves is the "body scan." This is a meditation practice that simply involves the careful, compassionate observation of all parts of our bodies, done in a systematic way, slowly sweeping from the feet, upwards through all parts and areas of our bodies, up to the tops of our heads. This practice resembles the exercise known as "progressive relaxation" that some may have done... it is different because it does NOT involve any deliberate tensing and relaxing of the muscles, and because it is not an exercise in which we seek to create a feeling or sense of relaxation (although that may happen); instead (like other meditation practices), it is an exercise in enhanced awareness.

The link to guided meditations, in my post just above Nancy's, has a some "body scan" guided meditations. There are other excellent ones that can be purchased (I especially recommend those that Jon Kabat-Zinn has done).

Peace, those Fronsdal recordings are made in his meditation center somewhere in California, during actual sessions that he is teaching... and not in a studio. So, as you see, when we use them, we get to experience everything that he and his students are experiencing! People coughing... trains in the background... just like a real guided meditation session in a class!

How is everyone else doing? My own practice is feeling settled, and back on track. I have been working a bit with gathas, and I'll write more about that soon.

[A Work in Progress]

90-Day Meditation Practice Challenge!

This morning while I sat meditation I could hear the dogs walking back and forth outside the doorway... then pausing... then walking... I opened my eyes and looked around. The dogs wanted to come in and be with me, but one of the kitties (the one they are afraid of) was sitting in the room, in front of me. I suppose he was making it clear that they were not welcome! So I took a break in the middle of that sitting period, and invited the dogs in, and we had a big snuggle, until they seemed to be OK again.

Having a household of pets, and/or people, can seem to be a major hindrance to sustaining a meditation practice. Especially if you're a mom... everyone feels free to ask that their needs be met right away. And there is always some kind of noisy activity going on. What I have learned in my own practice, and from many friends who are moms, is that in order to create and sustain a home practice, on our own, we have to train and teach not only ourselves... but the entire household. Dogs and cats... even children and partners... will resist, at first. Dogs typically believe that when their person gets down on the floor, it's time to play!

Carving out a meditation practice, and letting others get used to this being an important, even sacred time for us... teaching them to respect this time... does not happen instantly. We have to be consistent, and to respectfully insist on our own needs being met. Remember: we teach people how to treat us, both by what we insist on... and, more importantly, by what we allow them to get away with!

It's important to remember, too, that we do not need perfect silence in order to practice meditation. It is a very rare setting that is totally without any noises over a 20-minute stretch of time. At the Insight Meditation Center, in the winter, the radiators make loud metallic noises from time to time; and, when it has snowed, the plows are clearing the driveways and the roads. When I am "bothered" or "interrupted" by noise, I often remind myself: people in prison learn to meditate, and find that they can sustain a meditation practice... and prisons are very noisy places, filled with random and sometimes terrible sounds, all the time.

When I sit, the dogs (usually!) go to their beds and lie down; and, now, I often have one cat who sits silently with me, sometimes curled up against my legs, in front of me. But it took a while for them to learn that.... the cats used to get on my lap and tap me on the face... or walk back and forth, meowing...

What's going on with everyone? Does anyone have a situation at home that is making daily practice very challenging? What are your thoughts about how to deal with that?

[allannelsoon]

90-Day Meditation Practice Challenge!

Thanks for the information

[DeeBee]

90-Day Meditation Practice Challenge!

A Work in Progress;552132 wrote:

Carving out a meditation practice, and letting others get used to this being an important, even sacred time for us... teaching them to respect this time... does not happen instantly. We have to be consistent, and to respectfully insist on our own needs being met. Remember: we teach people how to treat us, both by what we insist on... and, more importantly, by what we allow them to get away with!

I think that was one of the biggest reasons I never stuck with meditating -- there was never the right time, I was forever being interupted and tbh I often felt a little "odd" sitting there knowing that my family could walk in at anytime and knowing them they would p*ss themselves with laughter.

This time has been different. From the beginning when i printed out all the information from the Tricycle website and even some of your posts Wip, I explained to the hubby and daughter what I was doing and why. I know that hubby thinks it's all "airy fairy" but that's okay, I don't want his approval just his support.

This morning I woke up a little later than usual... it's one of the perks of travelling. My room at the Guest House is very sweet. It is upstairs with a A framed thatched roof and wooden floors. The window takes up the entire wall on one side and overlooks a magnificent coffee plantation. So after showering I decided to be a bit "out there" and I sat naked. :H It was quite liberating I must say. I didn't sit for very long as I was consious of being naked and wanting to cover myself up the whole time -- I think it was a good lesson for me to learn to relax in my own skin... maybe be more accepting of my body??