Meditation

[easyguy]

Meditation is a practice that is transformative not if you have high ideals, but if you have the patience to sit without expectations. The fruits of meditation are not apparent until once you have repeated and progressed in your practice. I can only speak from my own experience with the practice, but it has taken me nearly a year to notice some of the effects it has had on my well-being. What has also changed since I first begin meditatating many months ago is my perception of what meditation is.

 

I don't think of meditation as a "stress reducer" or any kind of escape, but a letting go and practice in mindfulness of the present moment. I think it is easy, however, to compartmentalize the practice. it doesn't necessarily have to be so. If you have a deeper understanding of what meditation can aide you through, then you can develop a great deal of insight into not only what habits the mind falls into but the expository nature of why you think what you think. Of course, you do not have to go that far, but meditation is an opportunity to investigate the present moment and the attachments that the mind so easily falls into.

 

There are plenty of resources available online to get you started. However, be very patient with it, because you don't want to pick up bad habits early on. While there are many variations of meditation practice, with time you will gravitate towards one. Do not worry about how long you should be sitting. If you can only handle 5 minutes a day, sit for 5 minutes. As you become more comfortable with the practice, the more natural it will become to sit for a longer period of time. However, you probably won't notice a drastic change in your behavior unless you sit for 30-40 minutes a day (or more), 7 days a week. Are you a bad meditator if you skip a day here and there? No, but do your best to not take too long of breaks. Mastery is a matter of perception; every opportunity to sit is an opportunity to make progress.

 

If you want to add a healthy element to your life, consider this practice as part of your routine. Be careful (as I said), if you have too many expectations and ideals, then you missing the point. Expectations, preconceptions, and goals are only extraneous.

[tiredofvampires]

Another great post by you, easyguy.

 

Glad to see you back, I was starting to really miss seeing you about.

 

I'm really interested in knowing what got you into this practice. I don't know if you feel like sharing, but it's quite unusual for someone of your age to explore things this way.

 

And I do think you would make an excellent instructor one day.

 

And even though it's not about "stress relief" per se, I'm sure as you know, this practice is now used in medical clinics to help people deal with everything from cancer, to high blood pressure to post cardiac arrest. I've used it for chronic pain of all kinds.

 

I follow your posts, as I have the same practice as you...though I've been a bit spotty with it lately. Tsk, tsk!!

 

I really do think that it can help a person through just about any ordeal, crisis or difficulty because it's simply about becoming more attuned and aware to oneself, and coming to accept and not judge anything/anyone. That being an "ideal" but the essense of what happens when you let go of expectations. How simple that all sounds...but after many years, I am still a beginner.

 

Which thank goodness is encouraged.