Tuesday, February 12, 2013

Learning to Meditate

This is definitely a trying task. I am a wiggle worm (much like my son) and so trying to sit still for an extended period of time is almost painful. I am constantly moving, but with my teacher training I am required to meditate at least every day and doing so is difficult for me.

I sit down on my meditation cushion and set my timer, close my eyes and try to focus inward. This lasts for about 3 minutes until I get fidgety. Ugh. I know things take time but for a week now I've not managed longer than 10 minutes for meditation.

How do people manage this for multiple hours? Actually, I know the answer for that.. practice. "Practice, practice, practice... all is coming" I'm impatient though. I guess my gunas are out of balance.

I'll keep practicing and try to get things under control.. or at least manageable.

1 comment:

  1. Hi Brianna! I can definitely relate. My meditation practice has certainly fluctuated over the years. These days, I do meditation during my break at work. I work with small children so sometimes it is more like a 30-minute sitting up nap. I've accepted that in my life, meditation is something that will come and go. Like you, the first time I tried it was during teacher training with Mark Darby. Darby's son Shankara recommended that I try ten minutes first thing in the morning, and then five minutes at night. The ten minutes in the morning were okay, but the five minutes at night were overkill, so I let that go. And I should say that all this only lasted five months. A year or two after my teacher training, I attended sessions at the local Zen centre. I found that meditating in a group increased my stamina when I attempted to meditate at home. I remember meditating at home and at the Zen centre quite a lot when I broke my arm...

    But I guess my two suggestions would be to try to meditate in a group (or with a friend or partner) every once in awhile, and when you're on your own, stick with an amount of time that's realistic. Maybe ten minutes is too much. Start with five and increase as you see fit. You could also try incorporating your meditation practice right before your asana practice, or right after, and see what your mind is like at that time. In any case, try to enjoy it! Thanks for your posts. All my best, Erica.

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