In Martha Beck's Steering by Starlight she has a meditation she recommends you do regularly. It's meant to help you envision the things you want in life, like fulfilling work, or to meet someone, or better health etc. And I've discovered she's posted an mp3 of it! So you can just play it and have a guided meditation. The narrator's a little computer-sounding, but I liked the music.
I've been trying to meditate this month. Sometimes it's just wee moments. For example, a minute of mindfulness when walking the dogs or eating something. Or if I suddenly feel a panic or worry about the future (mine, or that of the people I love) I lasso that worry in by a five minute meditation. I just close my eyes and focus on my breathing, and try to let the thoughts pass me by. And I tell myself: Everything about this moment in time is perfect. I lack nothing. There's no reason to panic, stop fretting, just be present.
It really works.
I'd always had the impression that one should meditate just to learn to calm down or whatever. And I thought, well it's probably a good idea... but I'll suck at it, bla bla bla, I don't know how. So I never made the time. Even when books I read on stress management, or time management, or procrastination all advised it.
It took learning that meditation actually changes your brain to get me on board. I love this idea that the meditation will not only help you in the moment, and the short term, but in the medium and long term. That it could potentially change my life. I guess I like the idea of having more input into how my brain develops than I realized!
And reading this idea that the right brain is all about living in the moment, forgetting your past, not worrying about the future--I love the idea that right there in my head, one entire half of my brain already possesses the power to do this. That that's its natural state, I'm just not well attuned. So then I could really see how meditation not only changes the brain, but helps us tap into our brainly resources.
And now all of Luke's Yoda training just makes total sense too. Okay, I'll leave it there! Bye!
10 comments:
It's the same for me. I didn't try meditation until reading about how it changes the brain and how it's at least as good for anxiety as drugs are.
This is some great stuff you're sharing here with us. It's much appreciated.
Yoda rocks!
Years ago when I was studing Buddhism, I would go to the temple to do meditation with the monks. It was the meditation where you try to erase your mind. Except I always got a headache. The monks eventually told me that kind of meditation wasn't for me.
In Long Quiet Highway, Natalie Goldberg talks about a similar thing when she studied under Katagiri Roshi. He eventually told her she should make her meditation writing.
@Skye - It's hot stuff!
@nancy - xx oo
@widders - I have my Beanie yoda tucked away in my purse. Can't travel without Yoda.
@JJJ - Do you still do some other kind of meditation? I'm just trying on various stuff as I go. Barb recommended Pema Chodron. And my mum said she loved the Transcendental stuff she once took a course on.
My favorite "meditation" is the kind where I take a familiar story or idea, and try to focus on it from a new viewpoint, such as putting myself right into the story or the mind of one of the characters. It's rewarding when new insights emerge that reveal preconceived ideas or agendas that I then must change. Another kind of "meditation" occurs through physical exercises or activities that demand a very high awareness of The Moment in order to control my body, win a game, or operate something complex like a car or aircraft. There is actually a mental refreshment that occurs afterwards from these activities. Do these "count?"
I do meditate often but not in traditional ways, in an adaptive way that works for me. However, when I'm deeply troubled I turn to one book, Beginner's Guide to Meditation by Goswami Kriyananda. I practice various aspects and always feel better, and then I swear I'll do it every day...but I don't. Thanks for the reminder. I just pulled the book down from the shelf. ; )
Damn. I'm tardy. But.... I am such a fan of this new development.
Also, I adore how we all have such varying, and yet effective, methods of meditation!
@GMC - I'm sure any and all methods are valuable! (I know nothing but I think that's a safe assumption.) The importance of the kind of meditation where you're trying to not THINK is that you're sort of dialing down your left brain, which is where language happens. This is why people go on those silence retreats. I gather you have a totally different sort of mind experience from such things.
@Julie - Nevah too late! I'm a fan of this development too, lol.
@Robena - I'm always so interested to hear other people's meditation experiences. I got a little meditation tracking app for my ipad to help me remember to do it every day.
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