90-Day Meditation Practice Challenge!

[KateH1]

90-Day Meditation Practice Challenge!

I do really enjoy incense while meditating...by the way....it is not sage it is sandlewood that I was speaking about earlier......

I have found some music which at times, really helps me to relax...I play it at a level that I am barely able to hear. It is "Inside the Great Pyramid", by Paul Horn....a single flute, actually record deep inside one of the great pyramids in Egypt.

[A Work in Progress]

90-Day Meditation Practice Challenge!

Sounds really nice, Kate... My viewpoint on that is that relaxing music is good for deliberately working on relaxing... not so much for meditation practice, however. At least in the type(s) of meditation that I teach, from the Buddhist traditions (Zen and Vipassana), the goal is not so much to cultivate relaxation, but to cultivate attention, focus, awareness, and clarity...

[peacenik]

90-Day Meditation Practice Challenge!

i burn alot of sage (i live on the prairie) and love it...i worry that my neighbors might think i'm smoking alot of pot though!

i sat for 30 minutes and had a couple of interesting things happen. i overcame a serious itch on my nose (hard to do and still focus on breath) and i felt like my hands were absorbed into my thighs...the temperature of them was exactly the same as the surroundings and they blended right in...strange and very cool at the same time. i also sat on the floor with a cushion under just the back of my butt so my thighs were lower than my hips and felt very anchored to the ground but my right knee began to feel achy and i tried to overcome that as well, but ended up putting my legs out in a v in front of my body. still a triangle shaped base, but less stress on the knee.

i'm really enjoying this experience! thank you wip for starting this study in sitting!

peace!

[A Work in Progress]

90-Day Meditation Practice Challenge!

Peacenik, physical sensations, during sitting meditation (or the lack of them) are phenomena that come and go, like thoughts, emotions, and impulses! Knee pain is especially common... I have spent a lot of time, sitting on the meditation cushion, feeling sleepy but with hurting knees... the usual instruction is to sit it out, notice the pain, investigate the pain, and let it rise and fall. Or at least... don't shift position as soon as the pain arises... spend some time sitting with it, first. We are working on cultivating the capacity to sit still with whatever arises in our lives... not being reactive, not running away from it, not escaping into a bottle or a fantasy...

Everyone else? Who's still with us? How is your sitting practice going?

[DeeBee]

90-Day Meditation Practice Challenge!

I'm here Wip!

So on Friday night ( the first night), I was battling to settle down and eventually gave up after a couple of minutes. Then I looked outside only to see that the evening was one of those rare perfect evenings with a full moon, lots of stars and puffy clouds floating around. So I spent 20 minutes just lying on the grass and watching the clouds. It was one of the most beautiful experiences I have had. I know it's not a great start to meditating.

I spent most of the weekend researching and reading up on meditating so I feel slightly better prepared. I have bought myself a special cushion to sit on, I have cleared the area in my bedroom that I am going to use, I have put up a picture of a buddah ( I would like a statue) and I have magnolia essential oil to burn.

I have been recieving a daily dharma via e-mail from Tricycle - is anyone else getting them? yesterdays dharma was particually relevant for me.

The Hard Earth Softens
We try so hard to hang on to the teachings and "get it," but actually the truth sinks in like rain into very hard earth. The rain is very gentle, and we soften up slowly at our own speed. But when that happens, something has fundamentally changed in us. That hard earth has softened. It doesn't seem to happen by trying to get it or capture it. It happens by letting go; it happens by relaxing your mind, and it happens by the aspiration and the longing to want to communicate with yourself and others. Each of us finds our own way.

[A Work in Progress]

90-Day Meditation Practice Challenge!

Nice, Deebs! I'd say you have made a very good start... I will have to sign up for that "Daily Dharma" thing!

One of my teachers (and this is in agreement with many others, as well) always says that the regularity of our sitting practice is more important than the length of time that we spend each day. My regular sitting period will be 20 minutes. I will aspire to resist any and all impulses to get up before the time is up. But if I cave in... or if I feel I just don't have 20 minutes on one particular day... then, if I just sit my butt on the cushion, get into my posture, and focus on my breathing for 2 or 3 minutes... then that is OK. Much, much, much better than skipping practice altogether! It "softens the hard earth" a little bit...

[DeeBee]

90-Day Meditation Practice Challenge!

I'm so pleased you said that Wip as I felt like a bit of a failure not sitting for the whole 20 minutes and then feeling despondent.
It also doesn't help that I am as cranky as hell and really just being a b*tch with out her cigarettes... so really I do need to work through this.

[peacenik]

90-Day Meditation Practice Challenge!

deebee, i would definitely say you had a good start! wow...my inlaws are from sa, and i would love to go and experience the evening such as you described. also, don't get down on yourself, it's not about achieving anything really, it's about trying, which you did! alot of times when people are thinking about yoga, they stop themselves before they even start because they are inflexible or think it is too hard, when really it's all about breathing into the poses, sort of like meditation...you brathe into the experience no matter how long the sit is. that's my take anyway

wip, i did try and notice the pain and sit through it while really experiencing it, but dang, it hurt!
i do notice though how moving really disrupts the practice and try not to as much as possible.

this is fun!

[A Work in Progress]

90-Day Meditation Practice Challenge!

Hey, Peace! Good points, I totally agree!

As to knee pain and shifting... absolutely, sometimes the best thing will be to move. And it always takes time to really settle into a meditation posture that is going to feel comfortable "enough" that we are able to sit through anything that arises.

One thing about sitting on the floor... you may very well already know this, but it is crucial that we are sitting in such a way that our knees are not sticking up in the air. If we are sitting on the floor in "Burmese" position, with the back parts of our butts on a cushion, knees bent, and one ankle in front of the other (not one ankle crossed over the other), then our knees should be reasonably close to the floor. You can always stick a rolled-up towel under the knee if it is too high up. Also, it's important not to sit squarely on the cushion but only on the edge of the cushion, so that our pelvis is tilted forward, and our thighs are angled in a downward direction toward the floor.

If, no matter what we do, we end up sitting on the floor on a cushion, with knees sticking way up in the air... then a different posture would be a better choice (kneeling on a bench, kneeling with a cushion, or in a chair with a cushion that keeps the thighs either level or slanted downward just a bit, our backs kept upright).

and... even with a good, settled posture, knee pain can be... a real pain! Especially on long sits or long retreats... I have consumed LOTS of Advil while on retreat! But, over time, our bodies, even our knees, really do get adjusted to the posture...

[A Work in Progress]

90-Day Meditation Practice Challenge!

Good morning, meditation buddies! Did you practice yesterday? Today? How's it going? Do come tell us!

I thought today I would give us all something that helps with the steady focus aspect of meditation. In an earlier post, I mentioned the practice of "counting breaths" as a way to stay focused. It's a very simple and ancient practice, used primarily by beginners. There are several ways to do it, perhaps the simplest being to count each out-breath, softly naming the number in our heads as we breathe out, and when we reach 10, to start again. And when we find we have become distracted and lost track (which very frequently happens, for everyone, in the beginning), we just start again at "one." The idea is this: counting provides a reminder that what we are about is learning to bring our attention to a particular aspect of our experience, which in this case is the sensations of our breathing. Learning to train our capacity to pay attention to what we CHOOSE to attend to is a foundation for many things in life; it is a huge aspect of our overall capacity for self-control. And that, of course, is essential for those of us who experience strong urges to drink, knowing that to do so would be harmful.

There's another "counting" practice that was introduced by James Austin, MD, a psychiatrist/neurologist who is also practices meditation. I think it's very useful. It is just like the standard practice, described above, but with a couple of twists. We do this practice in three stages. First, we count as usual, but on each in-breath, we gently say to ourselves the word "Just" and then on the outbreath, "One," then "Two," and so on, till we get to "Ten." After doing that for a few "rounds" (a few times, going all the way up to "Ten"), we drop the word "Just" and take up the word "This" for each in-breath, still counting as usual on the out-breaths. We do this for a few rounds, and then we drop all the counting, and use the word "Just" for each in-breath, and "This" for each out-breath.

The way this works is that the meaning of the words "Just" and "This," and the phrase "Just... This" help to keep us focused in the present moment, a reminder to stay with what is happening right now (the feelings of our breathing), and not to spin off into the past, the future, worrying or planning or focusing on whatever we would rather be doing, than sitting meditation!

I call it a "scaffolding" technique, because it provides a sort of structure that helps to keep us from feeling as if we just don't know what to do with our minds, while we are sitting still.

Give it a try, and tell me how that works out for you!

[DeeBee]

90-Day Meditation Practice Challenge!

Evening Meditation Buds,

So I didn't meditate this morning -- won't bore you with my excuses, but what I was wondering is .... when is better morning/evening?

Morning's I definetly have more time but I wake up and have a resless energy to just get going, but evenings are really a strain for me, especially at the moment as I don't have any energy.
What should I do, stick with the mornings or vary it each day?

[DeeBee]

90-Day Meditation Practice Challenge!

February 10, 2009

Tricycle's Daily Dharma

Enlightenment as Beginningness

Most people think of enlightenment as a kind of magical attainment, a state of being close to perfection. At this level, one can perform amazing feats, see past and future lives of others, and tune in to the inner workings of the universe. This may be possible for a number of special beings, but for most of us enlightenment is much more in line with what Suzuki Roshi describes. It means having a quality of "beginningness," a fresh, simple, unsophisticated view of things. To have "beginner's mind" in how we approach things is a major teaching. In many ways, the process of enlightenment is clearing away the thoughts, beliefs, and ideas that cloud our ability to see things as they really are in their pristine form.

--David A. Cooper, Silence, Simplicity and Solitude
From Everyday Mind, a Tricycle book edited by Jean Smith

[A Work in Progress]

90-Day Meditation Practice Challenge!

Hey, Deebs! Thanks for bringing us the "enlightenment" quote, I love it. Things are always simpler than we try to make them out to be. "Beginners' mind" is a way of getting simpler, more direct, less about thinking and analyzing... just noticing the fabric and texture of our lives...

When to sit? The usual advice is that for most people, early mornings are best; and, having a regular time helps to foster consistency; AND of course, anytime is fine. Even for a couple of minutes. Much, much better than skipping it altogether... !

Where's everyone else, I wonder? Krigs, are you still with us? Didn't we have 8 or 9 people, starting out?

[DeeBee]

90-Day Meditation Practice Challenge!

I too am loving the daily quotes -- they just make so much sense for me.

Yeah, where is everyone??
Hellooooooooooooooo.......

[peacenik]

90-Day Meditation Practice Challenge!

i'm here, just sat for 15 minutes or so...
felt really nice sitting facing a window and let the sun shine on me. used a chair say away from the back and used the count on the out breath technique...my mind was wandering alot today, so it was cool to use the counts to bring me back.

hope everyone is doing well!

peace!

ps i love the quotes as well deebee, thanks for posting them