bluegreen17 | (no subject)

i've been doing daily zazen ('just sitting') meditation for about five weeks now. i can hardly stand to sit there for ten minutes,and can't wait for the stove alarm to go off! i just sit there and think about all the things i want to do when i'm done sitting. sheesh.

i've been listening to some 'power of now' tapes quite often lately as well. the problem i have with 'now' is that i get bored. my nows are so often boring! i have a low tolerance for boredom,as well as many other things,like my upstairs neighbor's pounding heavy footsteps over my head and the fumes from the painting that's being done in the hallway.

you know,the serenity prayer makes a lot of sense. if you can do something about something that bugs you,do so,and if not,accept it. i really want to accept things as they are,but i don't know how to become better at it.
i realize that every day i can find so many things that need improving,that i don't have the power to do anything about. or at least i don't think so. i often feel helpless in even changing things about myself,like eating too much sugar,never mind trying to change things in the world.

back to the self-help books! and i guess i'll keep doing the meditation,even if it's driving me crazy!

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

Ive started mediation a few weeks ago too and though I never had luck in the past I am beginning to look forward to it.

Not sure if any of this will help but here is what has worked for me.

Candlelight, closed room, and native american flute music...absolute must for me

10-15 minutes of stretching to relax first.

Closing my eyes and imagining a tree and just focusing on it and letting the other thoughts drift in and out.

I found that environment was the single most important factor. That and the knowlege the world wont end if Im not part of it for a few minutes. I know the bordom thing really. Just know you are doing you a lot of good. If you dont take care of you who will?

i really think meditation is important and so i want to try to stick with it.

thanks for the tips.i listened to some hildegard de bingen music-i'd call them gregorian chants-today,which i found peaceful and i was able to notice when i drifted from paying attention to it. it's also good because i don't know latin and so i'm not being overly left-brained while listening!

hahaha

Ive tried listening to songs with words and I catch myself singing along...much better withjust tones and chants :)

Of course, chanting and singing can be made into forms of meditation--just not Zazen. Anybody know of a good discussion forum for meditation?

Uh...if you're thinking of "all the things [you] want to do when [you're] done sitting" as you say, you are not really doing Zazen. You need to keep returning your focus away from your thoughts. But that point aside, maybe a sitting mediataion is not for you. (I know that I have had terrible trouble with all of them!) Have you considered a moving or active meditation? They may be more in line with your natural inclinations.

Best of luck either way...

i seem to need a distraction in order to be 'present',which seems paradoxical to me. i do some of my best thinking...by that i mean,it's when i'm most likely to get spontaneous insights and attain moments of clarity... while driving and listening to music at the same time...TWO things at once! so it's kind of confusing. zazen appealed to me because it's so simple. maybe i need something more complicated,which makes no sense. zazen is the first type of meditation i thought i could do and actually have tried to do.i've resisted doing meditation for years! and yet,i think i desperately need to do it since my mind is so undisciplined.

i may try to meditate while listening to some gregorian chants or find a pretty mandala to focus on. but that seems to negate the point of zazen. i don't know!

anyway,thanks for your comments!

Well, zazen is just one of many forms of meditation. The originators of NLP did some hypnosis experiments that may be of interest here--one of the hypnotists spoke into the subject's left ear while the other spoke in the right. Each did something different in terms of a hypnotic induction. Supposedly very effective. Not that I am equating meditation with hypnosis but both alter consciousness.

Your comments remind me of the exercise called self-remembering: you do something and while doing it you try to be aware of the fact that you are doing it as you do it. This is a type of dual consciousness as well.

Lately I have been doing mental arithmetic while walking as a concentration exercise. Several books I have suggest that one should begin working on concentration before working on meditation.

Wordy.

Well, good luck...

(no subject)

no subject

meditation

Re: meditation

Re: meditation

no subject

zazen

Re: zazen