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I started a dedicated meditation practice about 18 months ago following a 10-day Vipassana course (https://www.dhamma.org if anyone's curious). The Vipassana people recommend sitting for two hours a day: one soon after getting up and one soon before going to bed. I'm not always able to devote that amount of time, but I've been doing at least 30 minutes in a single sit each day or 60 when I can. I've found meditation to be the single best method of regulating my mood and mental state of any I have tried. It's not magic, and it's not significantly similar to psychedelic states (which I do think can be useful in their own way). It's just time set aside each day to observe what's going on inside my mind and body without reacting to it, which in turn makes me much better able to avoid impulsively reacting to the stimuli I encounter in my normal daily life. It's also great practice for my ability to focus and maintain my attention.Professor Shark posted:My partner really likes the Calm app, which was recommended by a friend, however it costs ~$90 a year. Is there a good alternative that offers the same type of service? As SpaceSDoorGunner mentioned, Insight Timer offers a great customizable timer and tracker for free. It's all I use for my sits. You can set up various chimes to go off at any point within your session (for example, to mark the end of your warm up time, to alert you you're halfway done, that it's time to switch from one type of meditation to another, etc.). If the main thing you're paying for is lessons, then I'd advise looking elsewhere. The course I did was 100% free, though because of the pandemic they're not doing any residential courses right now. But you can easily find plenty of guides online. Although it's a slightly different method than the one I learned at my course, I like the way the first two chapters of this guide by a Buddhist monk explain sitting meditation; that link includes video instructions as well. Others might disagree, but my own recommendation is that after you learn a method of meditation you find useful, you practice unguided - at least the majority of the time - rather than following one after another of the many guided sequences offered by apps like Calm or Headspace. Meditation is about learning to control your own attention and observe yourself. It is of course useful and necessary to begin with someone instructing you until you understand how to do it, but there comes a point where you shouldn't be overly reliant on someone else telling you what to do, waiting for their next set of directions. Mistaken Identity posted:So, I have been giving meditation a try the last few days because there is quite a bit of stress in my life right now. A lot of it is positive stress, but some negative as well and I have been noticing myself to start to fray at the edges. Stop trying to ignore it. If a bird call or electrical hissing starts to overwhelm your perception while you meditate, then observe the bird call or the hissing. Notice the quality of the sound: is it sharp, dull, fast, slow, etc.? Notice what if any sensations it causes elsewhere in your body: Does it make you feel a certain way? Does it trigger a physical reaction, and if so where and what? The sound is what you're experiencing at that precise moment, so choose to become interested in the sound and in the effects it has on you. If you're able, take another step back and observe yourself in the act of observing the sound, noticing the qualities of the experience of observation. Don't fight any experience you have while meditating; just calmly and attentively witness it without judging it as good or bad. Quick edit to add to the above: The suggestion to observe the interrupting sound might not apply if the type of meditation you're practicing calls for you to focus your attention on something else, such as watching your breath or scanning your body. In that case, instead of wrestling with yourself to ignore the sound, briefly allow yourself to acknowledge that it's present and then resume focusing your attention on your intended object. Don't try to pretend it isn't there (because it is, and that's OK). Whenever it overwhelms your focus, as soon as you realize it has done so, gently remind yourself to redirect your attention. "Gently" is a key word, there: don't become angry with yourself for being distracted, and don't resent the source of the sound for interrupting your meditation. Those harsh reactions will disrupt your practice far more than the sound itself. Observe that the sound is present, allow it to be present, and get back to the task at hand. Hic Sunt Dracones fucked around with this message at 08:33 on Nov 22, 2020 |
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Nov 22, 2020 07:14
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| # ¿ May 9, 2024 05:44 |
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