Meditation Project: Distractions
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| Son of Man by Rene Magritte |
"Dehabituation: Whereas Zen meditators experience sounds freshly no matter how often they occur, yogic meditators (who are taught to withdraw their senses rather than heighten their awareness) habituate to sounds and gradually become less response." —Stephan Bodian, Meditation for Dummies
Last week I experienced a number of distractions while I was meditating. That's because my daughter and her dog are now living with us. (Next week will be even more challenging because we will have three more house guests staying with us!)
One day this week, when I thought the dog was asleep downstairs I went upstairs to meditate but left the door open. That's because this dog tends to get anxious when she thinks she is alone (when we leave the house, we put her in a crate, which she finds reassuring). Early on, she did realize she was alone downstairs and ran upstairs to find me. I ignored her as she sniffed around me and I kept on with my practice, and eventually she jumped on the bed and calmed down. She just needed my presence.
But this made me think about the difference between Zen meditation and yogic meditation that I read about in Meditation for Dummies. In yoga, we are taught to ignore all the outside sounds (such as a phone ringing) and simply return to our object of meditation. Eventually we do become habituated to the sound of the phone and no longer (metaphorically) jump to attention and the sound. How interesting that with the other form of open awareness meditation these distractions become incorporated into the meditation (I don't think I know how to do this yet) rather than simply being ignored.
I may be wrong about this, but I think most of us who are taught one or another meditation techniques aren't really provided with information about the differences in the techniques (they cause different results in brain structure, among other things). Maybe we just follow our hearts when choosing. But for me, I always like to dig a bit deeper into these kinds of topics. Is there a book out there, I wonder, that deals in depth with the history of meditation and the effects of the different types? Please let me know if you know of one.
I also thought about how meditating is so different than practicing asana. I used to practice asana all the time when I had small children who were home with me, and I let them run in and out of the room and talk to me and join me or just sit and do homework next to me. When you're meditating, of course, you cannot pay any attention to someone else who is in the room. That wouldn't work with small children, but at least with Daisy the dog, it turned out to work just fine.
Sunday, February 24, 2019
Practiced Legs Up the Wall with So Ham at 6:00 pm at night (hard to find the time with all the stuff going on in my life). That was frustrating! My mind was wild. I also felt a tightness in my chest and a lack of ease in my breathing.
Monday, February 25, 2019
For the first time I meditated with Daisy in the room. I decided having sound on might be more calming for her (the human voice). So I practiced a Jack Kornfield mindfulness meditation. This was my first experience of open awareness style. I really had trouble with the idea of moving away from the breath briefly to observe a thought or emotion (I was planning for the future—typical of me). Because Daisy was quiet, I added a few minutes on my own after the guided meditation was over.
Tuesday, February 26, 2019
I set up a new meditation on the timer so I could do the Loving Kindness meditation on my own (6 intervals of 3 minutes each for 18 minutes). This worked really well for me because changing every 3 minutes helped keep me on track.
This is the day I thought Daisy was sleeping so I went upstairs to meditate. But she woke up and came upstairs looking for me while I was in the middle of practice. I ignored her and kept practicing, and she settled down on my bed near me and was quiet.
I felt very calm afterward and played relaxing music to write to afterwards.
Wednesday, February 27, 2019
I repeated my own 18 minute Loving Kindness meditation. While it is relative easy to stay focused on the four phrases I'm repeating in my mind, it was harder to keep a particular person in my mind—that was where my mind wandered. I have lots of thoughts about the future, even what I'm going to write about. But that makes sense as I'm more of a future-oriented person who tends toward anxiety.
Thursday, February 28, 2019
I repeated my own 18 minute Loving Kindness meditation. I practiced before dinner, feeling a bit unwell (a mild cold?) and I could hear Rosie talking on the phone. I decided to write this week about the issue of distractions and how in mindfulness practices you notice them but in yogic meditation you ignore them. I'm used to ignoring them. I think of Ram learning to meditate in India in the train station.
Practicing earlier in the day seems better for me, but I'm having trouble these days making that happen.
Friday, March 1, 2019
I repeated my own 18 minute Loving Kindness meditation. I'm working on this because I am a bit challenged by having so many changes in my family life recently (even though I'm happy about them). I want to be as patient and as understanding as possible.
I actually forgot to take notes on this day for the first time. But I definitely practiced!
How was your practice this week?
by Nina Zolotow
Hi Nina just to say thank you so much for posting and I'm another you've helped on the road, as it was through the blog I found out about the Insight timer, and that has helped me achieve 15 mins more regularly. But, talking of distractions, I have been away for two weeks on vacation and I really gave up - it isn't really possible to meditate in hotel rooms if you are sharing with your non-meditating significant other! Back now and on the trail....I would also love to know at some point how you feel more regular meditation is affecting daily life?
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