How often do you engage in stillness meditation?

[Spectrum]

More thoughts on this after a few months. Isnt' free dialog awesome! There has to be a balance between movement and stillness. There are days that I know if I am not still, I will not have the motivation to move, and likeways, that if I do not move that day, and I mean... outside the box... there will be not enough stillness to even fall esleep. Other times there is so much movement going on inside stillness, that that in and of itself is the workout of the day, like an internal water circulation system that is heating, cooling, menthing, tingleing, washing, charging, cycling, abosbing, squeezing, rolling, undulating, and orbitting through us... the human "vehicle" I guess we could call it is a kind of house for an electrical conduit system that connects us to a much larger "body" of information.

[NeutralWire]

I do different kinds of this. I watch thoughts and also cleave to breath. I also do trancework but that is different, since there is more of a goal. I work on a couch or if a want to do a straight spine I do it in Egyptian Position (Bardon) which is energetically very interesting. All every day, no exceptions.

 

I'm no Buddhist, but I got into a book about Zen and Creativity by Loori, at least the first part. I thought I'd quote a bit. It's not the whole answer but perhaps more of the answer than one might think...

 

(A Zen Master, Eido, has demonstrated the tea ceremony and now opens the floor to questions from the audience.)

 

"I've tried to meditate, but I find it essentially boring," said someone.

 

"Boring?" said Eido. "Boring? What does this mean, boring?" People shouted out definitions. "Oh, oh, oh," said Eido, slapping his thigh. "I understand.... 'Boring!'" He began to laugh and laugh, so heartily that it became contagious. The questioner began to laugh, too. In a few moments, the entire hall was caught up in laughter. Then, abruptly, Eido stopped laughing, folded his hands on his lap, lowered his eyes, and became silent again. After a pause, he softly said, "Next question."

 

"I find myself agitated most of the time," said a young man, "so it's difficult for me to sit. What would you suggest I do?"

 

Eido reached for the pitcher of water that was sitting next to him. He lifted it with a swift jerk, causing water to spill. "What can I do?" Then he jerked the pitcher to the right. Again water spilled. "I don't know what is happening." Again to the left. "I can't settle down." Again to the right. Suddenly, he held the pitcher high above his head and in a deep voice shouted, "TIME TO SHUT UP AND SIT!" and slammed the pitcher on the floor. He reared back, stared at the pitcher, pointed at it, turned to the audience, and said, "Look, it's still." Again he folded his hands lowered his eyes, and became silent.

[Squatting Monkey]

Recently, I arranged an appointment with the abbott at my local Theravada monastery to discuss my practice.

I had some training in vipassana meditation at the same monastery a couple of years ago and wanted some guidance on how to deepen my practice.

One of the things that he suggested was to not FORCE myself to meditate every day. Take a day off every week.

That way the meditation can be fresh.

I must admit that I did used to beat myself up if I missed a session.

Now I don't. I don't give myself any added pressure, and it works.

[CarsonZi]

Personally I find that it is easiest to maintain a steady twice daily (one hour before breakfast one hour before dinner) practice if I don't try to "achieve" anything with the process of meditaton. If you take Yogani's advice and meditate everyday like you brush your teeth (meaning you just do it without thinking much about it or ascribing any expectations to it), practices soon become habitual and no big deal. I think there are a lot of different reasons that people meditate and I think Intention has a lot to do with how regular your practices will be. If you meditate with the intention (expectation) of achieving peace, liberation, stillness, etc etc, then a consistant meditation practice will become more and more difficult to maintain because of the disappointment associated with the days when meditation doesn't seem to be doing much. Just doing meditation and expecting nothing from it is the most effective way to recieve the full benefits of a daily practice set. For me personally, I meditate because of the effects I experience OUTSIDE of meditation not the experiences I have DURING meditation. With a twice daily set of practices I find that in daily life I am much more peaceful, able to surrender to What Is, loving, intuitive, compassionate, and emotionally stable. If I push myself too hard in meditation (or don't meditate) I find I will be more aggravated, irritable, emotionally unstable etc etc during my daily life. I also find that having a twice daily practice set makes it much easier to engage in "mindfullness" meditation during daily activity. The "stillness" from my meditations seems to leak over into my daily life and it is much easier to stay concious of patterns of thought and reactions.

 

It is also important not to "beat yourself up" when you do happen to miss a planned session. Everything happens for a reason, and if in reality you don't meditate like you had planned, then it didn't happen and that's the way it should be. Loving What IS right? It's important that we all cut ourselves some slack. We are "here" (at taobums and persuing our individual spiritual journeys) after all and that is more then much of humanity can say of themselves right?

 

Love,

Carson

Edited February 4, 2009 by CarsonZi

[Unconditioned]

I practice pranayama and a 'stare into total darkness' yoga meditation technique that really resonates with me almost daily. There are times when I get in really late from my second job (like 4-5am) and I just fall asleep when trying to meditate. In general I don't have a set "I must meditate x times a day" rule. If I'm not feeling it then I don't force it.

 

Edit: Is it good or bad to turn meditation into a routine? I'm not sure either way on that one...

Edited February 4, 2009 by Unconditioned

[CarsonZi]

Hi Unconditioned,

I practice pranayama and a 'stare into total darkness' yoga meditation technique that really resonates with me almost daily. There are times when I get in really late from my second job (like 4-5am) and I just fall asleep when trying to meditate. In general I don't have a set "I must meditate x times a day" rule. If I'm not feeling it then I don't force it.

In the system of Yoga I practice/teach (AYP) we recommend NOT doing meditation before bed or directly after eating as this can make it more difficult to sleep and digest.

 

Edit: Is it good or bad to turn meditation into a routine? I'm not sure either way on that one...

 

Personally I think it is vital. With the regular practice of meditation it is easy for the body, mind and soul to transcend old patterns. With sporatic practices we are much less likely to get the full benefits of meditation and sadhana practices.

 

Love,

Carson

Edited February 4, 2009 by CarsonZi

[Aetherous]

In the system of Yoga I practice/teach (AYP) we recommend NOT doing meditation before bed or directly after eating as this can make it more difficult to sleep and digest.

 

There are other types of meditation that work well before bed. I found that "awareness watching awareness" meditation was one of those.

[CarsonZi]

There are other types of meditation that work well before bed. I found that "awareness watching awareness" meditation was one of those.

 

Yes of course Scott....Wasn't meaning to say that the AYP way is the "right" way....just was meaning to mention that some forms of meditation can cause sleep disturbances if done directly before bed.

 

Love,

Carson

[Guest sykkelpump]

There are other types of meditation that work well before bed. I found that "awareness watching awareness" meditation was one of those.

 

What meditation is "awareness watching awareness" ?.

Do you mean watching the thoughts,without giving them energy(not clinging to them) until they die down and mind gets empty?

[CarsonZi]

Hi sykkelpump,

What meditation is "awareness watching awareness" ?.

Do you mean watching the thoughts,without giving them energy(not clinging to them) until they die down and mind gets empty?

You can read about the practice of AWA here: http://www.albigen.com/uarelove/awa_instructions.aspx

 

Love,

Carson

[DaoChild]

Every day for me, I get up a half hour before the sun rises so I can have that time to do a stillness meditation.

 

After having begun meditation about 8 years ago, when I was 13, and always falling into that "almost every day" group, I realized discipline and consistency are extremely important. Only in recent years have I actually been able to do it every single day, as necessary as brushing my teeth.

 

Stillness meditation is actually good for another mundane task for me - gauging how much sleep I need. if I've gotten enough rest, my mind wanders very little, and the meditation seems like it takes forever - but I am so content, I feel so full but empty at the same time. If I haven't gotten enough rest, my mind will wander often, and the time will pass quickly.

Edited February 19, 2009 by DaoChild

[goldisheavy]

*bump*

 

It seems like no matter what I cannot get myself to meditate every single day.

 

There is a reason for that. What does it mean to be at rest? Does it mean you must be still and arrest your mind? Beyond a certain point stillness is a forceful modification upon the natural mind. True rest means to cease from attempts to modify your experience. It means you cease from creating unnecessarily turbulence and you also cease from trying to impose peace or passivity when dynamism is more natural.

 

That's a very subtle point to understand. This is why experienced meditators do not sit still even when they "sit still". They cough, shift their weight, scratch their ear, move their head. They are truly relaxed, child-like and are uninhibited by the preconception of "stillness". They are still because they don't care about stillness. They don't know what stillness is or what movement is.

 

To understand this one has to contemplate. If you just try to perfect a form of meditation without contemplating the inner meaning of meditation, you can really get lost in mindless or even harmful rote instead of becoming more fully alive.

Edited February 18, 2009 by goldisheavy

[NeutralWire]

After having begun meditation about 8 years ago, when I was 13, and always falling into that "almost every day" group, I realized discipline and consistency is extremely important. Only in recent years have I actually been able to do it every single day, as necessary as brushing my teeth.

 

*applause*