Balancing the meditation into the day. Meditating in the morning, (or almost.) Setting up comfortably. Listening to the meditation instructions. (it's an audio book- Shinzen Young's 5 Classic Meditations) Only meditating for 10 minutes.
Vipassana is like light and shadow. You flicker thru yourself, lead by a preverbal bodily sense, that you verbalize. (thought at a certain point I stopped verbalizing for awhile, as I was too much in my mouth and throat). It was curious and enjoyable, mostly.
Wednesday, March 31, 2010
Tuesday, March 30, 2010
Day 5 Falling Asleep
Today I settled in, I set the timer for 20 minutes. I 'om mani padme hum' ed for 9 minutes, and fell asleep. Because I was sitting up, I caught myself right away. I re- settled. I decided to try again and follow my breath. I re-set the timer. After 10 minutes I fell asleep again.
Today is rainy, quiet, gray. And, for some reason, I thought meditating after lunch would be OK. This is not the case. Today feels so interior, that to meditate is like a double folding in. And a triple folding in with my falling asleep.
Even with this experience today, there was the self discipline of sitting down to meditate, and some insight; chose the correct time of day to meditate, and the meditation that matches the day.
Today is rainy, quiet, gray. And, for some reason, I thought meditating after lunch would be OK. This is not the case. Today feels so interior, that to meditate is like a double folding in. And a triple folding in with my falling asleep.
Even with this experience today, there was the self discipline of sitting down to meditate, and some insight; chose the correct time of day to meditate, and the meditation that matches the day.
Monday, March 29, 2010
Day 4
Sometimes meditation is diving into that interior ocean, long clean and deep. Other times it is a walk in the rocky shallows, with maybe an interesting tide pool or too- but maybe not.
I did not want to meditate this morning. I did anyway. I tried Vipassana meditation, as described by Shinzen Young in his book, Five Classic Meditations. (I am enjoying this book very much) Briefly, Vipassana is seeing what is truly there. You observe the intersection of the bodies sensations, and the mind. Clearly I need a teacher for this meditation.
I reverted to breathing meditation. Saying the parts of the body that felt something, quietly out loud, or then even to my self, felt like too much. The words themselves carry so much sensation, and 1,000 attendent associations.
Interestingly, there seem to be different understandings of vipassana;
http://www.dhamma.org/en/vipassana.shtml
http://www.meditationiseasy.com/mCorner/techniques/Vipassana.htm
I did not want to meditate this morning. I did anyway. I tried Vipassana meditation, as described by Shinzen Young in his book, Five Classic Meditations. (I am enjoying this book very much) Briefly, Vipassana is seeing what is truly there. You observe the intersection of the bodies sensations, and the mind. Clearly I need a teacher for this meditation.
I reverted to breathing meditation. Saying the parts of the body that felt something, quietly out loud, or then even to my self, felt like too much. The words themselves carry so much sensation, and 1,000 attendent associations.
Interestingly, there seem to be different understandings of vipassana;
http://www.dhamma.org/en/vipassana.shtml
http://www.meditationiseasy.com/mCorner/techniques/Vipassana.htm
Sunday, March 28, 2010
Day 3
Today the meditation is a cooking meditation. Karma yoga. The yoga of action. Cooking with out distractions. The recipe is Pan-fried Chickpea Salad, from 101cookbooks.com. Thank you Heidi. I will substitute ginger for the garlic.
(http://www.101cookbooks.com/archives/panfried-chickpea-salad-recipe.html)
The chickpeas are the 'ground' of the recipe. Dried, they wait patiently for their moment of soaking, cooking, of realization. The leeks are spring. This moment, evanescent. The spices the energy, the rising; and the yogurt the descending, the calming.
(http://www.101cookbooks.com/archives/panfried-chickpea-salad-recipe.html)
The chickpeas are the 'ground' of the recipe. Dried, they wait patiently for their moment of soaking, cooking, of realization. The leeks are spring. This moment, evanescent. The spices the energy, the rising; and the yogurt the descending, the calming.
Friday, March 26, 2010
Day 2
Today I sat on a cushion, and wore my yoga pants to meditate. It was much more comfortable. But still, after a few minutes the urge to look at the timer was almost overwhelming. I varied the tempo, volume, and color of the chant to keep my mind focused on "Om mani padme hum". This seemed to work, and when the timer went off, (my iphone set to 'harp') it was a surprise.
When I cook, I am often gauging the time. This unfortunately seems to happen unbidden in the meditation. In meditation I want to fall into the fabric of the sound, and making the sound, as a field, like a trampoline- not a linear path, or beads on a string...
When I cook, I am often gauging the time. This unfortunately seems to happen unbidden in the meditation. In meditation I want to fall into the fabric of the sound, and making the sound, as a field, like a trampoline- not a linear path, or beads on a string...
Wednesday, March 24, 2010
Day One
20 minute meditation on 'Om Mani Padme Hum'. Using Shinzen Young's Five Classic Meditations book.
This is the actually the second time I have tried to meditate. It is hard. My mind is impatient. Telling me, "maybe you didn't set the timer correctly, go ahead, take a look." My right leg fell asleep, and I had to shift position before I was done.
There were lovely images too, that floated up. All these staircases from my life. Actually, any staircase that was by a window-but these staircase were now out in the sky, finally on the other side of the windows. And lotus's floating down from the sky, and some hovering, some settling. It sounds cheesy, but maybe I can make a picture of this.
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