Meditation - Day 1
I’ve had this intention to make meditation a regular part of my daily life, but haven’t quite been able to pull it off. Then it hit me that maybe a blog-experiment was just what I needed to motivate me to try practicing every day. I’m not sure if “blog-experiment” is an actual concept or not, but I got the idea from Steve Pavlina.
He hosts a thought-provoking blog devoted to personal development. One of the interesting things he does is experiment on himself - testing self-improvement ideas like polyphasic sleep, raw diets, juice feasting, etc. - to see if the benefits that are touted by the various believers/practitioners actually work for him. He commits to a period of time and blogs about his experience. Some experiments, like the raw diet, are successful, while others, like juice feasting, don’t work for him.
The Plan
I am purposefully not going to set any rules regarding the length of time I have to meditate each day, the location, or type of meditation. I just have to meditate, for some length, each day at least until January 9th. I will keep track of my meditations to see how it affects me.
Depending on reader interest, I could blog about this experience as I go along or just share a summary every few days. I realize this may seem a very radical to some people, so I’m not sure how many people would care to read about my experience with it. When I do log it publicly, I’ll of course be brutally honest in sharing the good, the bad, and the ugly.
If you happen to meditate on a regular basis especially for longer than 30 days, I’d welcome your feedback and advice, either via the comments (public) or the contact form (private).
Pre-meditation preparation
I found a small tool online called Buddha Bells, to help me time my meditation. That way I can set a time limit and stick to it without checking my watch to see how much longer I have to go. Vipassana Santa Cruz offers a similar, albeit simpler timer on their website, which would also work.
I also did some research on meditation posture. When I have meditated in the past, I’ve experienced all sorts of uncomfortable side effects, such as loosing sensation in my legs and a sharp pain appearing in my upper back between my shoulder blades. Rather than invest in a zafu, meditation bench, or other elaborate setup, I’ve decided for the time being at least to meditate sitting in a chair. This morning, I raised the back of my chair about an inch, using a book and placed a rolled blanket across my lap to support my hands and keep them from sliding down my legs. It was unusual at first, considering how much I sit in a “flat” chair, but I seemed to get used to it.
Day 1
Duration: 20 minutes
Type of meditation: Listening to a chant (10 minutes), Mirra’s heart-centered meditation snacks (10 minutes)
Reflections: It was really hard to relax my muscles during the chant and focus on the music. Eventually, I gave up trying to “meditate” while the chant was going. I opened my eyes and read the text as the song went along. When it was done, I closed my eyes again and did six mental centerings and three hip centerings. There was still time left, so I simply concentrated on my breath. When my mind wandered, as it’s apt to do, I refocused on my breath.
I had that familiar pain between my shoulder blades when I started. Interestingly, it seemed to melt as I did the mental centerings.
I meditated in our home office, next to the computer, and found the glow of the screen a bit distracting. I’m going to cover it with a scarf next time.
Now, how do I feel? I certainly feel calmer after my brief meditation. I also have a strong desire to ride my bike to school - something I knew I should do, but wasn’t sure I wanted to do before my meditation. If I notice anything else worth blogging about, I’ll post an update later.
Update: As I was packing up to ride this morning, I was thinking about where I might have left my cell phone charger. (I haven’t been able to find it for several days.) Out of nowhere, I just knew that it was in my red backpack. Nick suggested the other day that it was in a bag or maybe in my car. I put two and two together and realized that I had emptied my car out last week and used a red backpack to transport things into the house. When I looked in the backpack, there it was! A result of meditation? I can’t say for sure, but I was happy to find the charger.
I also noticed that I was much less agitated on the bike ride to school about the bad behaviors of others (talking on cell phones while driving, for example). I usually have a desire to yell at someone to hang up and drive. Today, I actually thought to myself: “He knows what he is doing is illegal. There’s not much I can do to change that, is there?” And then I didn’t want to say anything anymore. Go figure.
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