mindfulness meditation

[lauradi7dw]

I remember a Girl Scout camping trip in the late 60s when we planned in advance to follow the example of the Beatles and try meditation https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Beatles_in_India
We packed love beads and sincerely sat in the tent trying to focus on one word over and over. After a few minutes, we looked at each other quizzically and wondered if we'd done something wrong. I didn't try meditation of that sort ever again, although I did some guided breathing exercises with a therapist in 2012 (distressed after washing out of PTA training). Tai Chi and Pilates and probably many other movement forms also involve deliberate focus on one's breathing. I do it while jogging or doing planks. I don't do it while on the rowing machine, because sometimes I'm singing along to the music I listen to.
Flo pointed out that there are many youtube videos of mindfulness meditation. I picked one not quite at random - I chose someone whose voice didn't irritate me and with a blurb that seemed relevant. Mostly it's breathing and relaxation with some commentary. There were ocean waves in the background and I found that the opposite of helpful, because neither my natural breathing pattern nor the count-your-breaths kind I use for exercise seemed to match up with the timing of the waves. That might not bother some people, but it bothered me. Something the narrator (instructor?) said did resonate with me, though - the goal isn't to have no thoughts during the session, but to notice the ones you have and then not pursue them. That's hard, but at least hypothetically possible, as opposed to the clear (empty) your mind thing that I have heard of in the past, which is not something I can do.

Comments

[bitterlawngnome]

I've found it to be v useful over the years. Yeah I'm a mess but I'd be much more of a mess without it :)

[lauradi7dw]

I started Tai Chi over twenty years ago to improve my balance. My balance still stinks, but as someone pointed out "Think of how much worse it would be." I think that's true.

Thanks for the testimonial. It does seem to m.m. does seem to help people.

[sorcyress]

Does bellringing not line up as a form of meditation for you? The intentionally focused on only one thing part of it is probably the closest I've managed to ever get --I don't meditate otherwise at all because my brain is not designed to be quite nor still.

~Sor

[lauradi7dw]

Apparently that's true for D (at least in this video, start at about 1:40 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BjZS6F8B2fI), but I wouldn't say so. Ringing is such a multi-task thing that I think it's more like driving a car - some of the physical part becomes automatic over time but one has to be alert to lapses of judgment in other people, drowsiness in oneself, etc. When I am ringing most things I am double counting my place - slightly in advance to follow the line, at pitch when I hear the change going by to double check. For something that I could ring automatically by listening to the treble (PB or Grandsire), I force myself to keep track of the circle of work and course & after bells in case the treble goes wrong. Can I lose myself in the music? Sometimes. Sometimes I'm thirsty or hurting (physically) or worried about external things or watching the clock while ringing. I am intrigued at the possibility of being able to tell a thought to go somewhere else for the time being (starting in meditation sessions, maybe having that bleed over into other areas of life). I am one of the interior dialogue people and I also have a song in my head most of the time (currently "Take me to Church") but when I'm ringing it's the ringing sound. Maybe that's a point of the waves in the background - to get rid of the head song. Hmm.