Does anyone have a daily meditation practice? Would anyone like one but needs motivation?

[mangolassi]

Ooh, I feel all shy

I am agnostic and generally confused about spiritual things, but after recovering from a bout of pnd found a great book - The Mindful Way Through Depression. It has a programme of daily meditation, and I've tried in the past, but it's soooo hard to stick to with no support.

The meditation style in the book is 'western insight' - basically vipassana with the Buddhism taken out - but it would be great to have a thread for anyone trying to get started with daily practice, whatever kind of meditation appeals. Even better if there's anyone who actually has a daily practice already

Hi Everyone

I have been following this thread for ages -it's fab.

here is a cool website I found today which people might find useful

this website

rev - fantastic blog, thanks, i love the way you write. have bookmarked it.
baby - that website looks really useful, thanks so much. my PC is playing up but i plan to check back later when it's cooperating. i could do with some pointers, as ever, and am interested in what they say about walking meditation...

Hi Everyone, I managed to do quite a good meditation last night. I pictured myself facing the setting sun, the kind you get in India where the sun is a huge orange ball low in the sky and I let the rays kind of wash over me. It was very peaceful, and although I still found it difficult to concentrate at least I got a few seconds worth of relaxation.

I feel though it is a long and slow process for me at the moment. I started thinking about Buddhism and mediatation a year ago and I am still not very far along the spiritual path I want to be on. Am trying to keep my hopes up but sometimes I think that this is doomed to failure with me as well as all the other things I have started and not finished - and there have been many things. But I really want this to happen, I want the next phase in my life to be focussed on developing the spirtuality that I lost more than 10 years ago.

Sorry about the rambling - feeling a bit low at the moment because my ds is sleeping so badly and I have got serious sleep deprivation!

Mango and peanut - I haven't even ordered that book yet! Will get on to it this week. Can you tell me a bit about the 8 week programme and what it would entail?

Thanks for the support rev, I might try the taking refuge in the Buddha, or the Buddhist teachings as it were.

I agree with the sleep deprivation thing, on Sunday night I slept in the spare room while ds was in our bed with dh. I got the first full night's sleep in months and Monday I felt very positive, happy to be a mum and wife and like everything was on the way up. Cue the following day with another night's crappy sleep and today and I feel like rubbish again. I really think there should be more support for parents and in particular mothers when it comes to sleep deprivation - I don't know in what shape or form of course, but something at least.

ds is 2. Has slept through the night maybe a handful of times since he was born. I keep holding out hope that one day he will sleep better, and one day, whether that is tonight or next year - he will!

Anyway, I think the one night off is a good idea, dh keeps on suggesting it, but I keep saying no, I think I feel a bit guilty about the fact he doesn't sleep well and so therefore punish myself by getting up night after night. Bad I know!

louie, i sympathise so much. my kids are 7 and 5 and still don't sleep through the night - one is anxious and a light sleeper and wakes due to bad dreams, the other just got into bad habits as a toddler which i have failed (that word again, eh!) to manage to correct. when they were younger (say, 4 and 2) they used to take turns to wake up through the night every night - one night i counted 8 times being up in total - and the younger was always up by half five for good - it was hell. in fact i got so stressed i developed palpitations and insomnia (quite apart from their wakings!!)- i look back on it all with bemusement at how we all survived. my relationship with my husband suffered and i became anxious and stressed - there were other factors too but sleep deprivation magnified the rest to a huge degree, i'm sure of it!
the following year i started meditating and it definitely helped my sleep loads, as did the kids getting older and finally a bit more sorted out at night. still not there completely but hugely better than they were. sympathy coming your way in armfuls! x

Rev, didn't take it like that at all, and thanks katie for your story as well, it helps to know I am not alone. TBH the sleep thing is a reason why I don't want another dc at the moment, it will have to get better before I even consider another one.

Anyway, sorry for the move away from meditation. My meditation for this evening is going out with a good friend that I haven't seen for a long time, I had been isolating myself over the past few months due to the stresses of Christmas and going away, but as I read in my book, staying connected with people is important in finding happiness - so off I go (and might involve a few non-meditative wines )

Reading this thread always gives me a warm glow. The phrase the "kindness of strangers" always springs to mind. Is there a smiley for "Group hug"?

Unfortunately Rev's mention of a meditative wine has forced me to have a meditative gin and orange - this probably accounts for my warm glow!!

I've almost finished Buddhism for Mothers - what's the name of the Dalai Lama book please?

Haven't meditated today but I'm still feeling the benefit of my new (v spiritual) yoga class.

Off to see what's boiling over on the stove.

Ooh, nice links everyone (and welcome baby, join in - you know you want to )

Louie - listen to katie and the rev, they're right.

The 8 week programme thing is more or less an introduction to different mindfulness practices, with some exercises drawn from CBT thrown in. So over the 8 weeks, you do some walking meditation, some sitting (focusing on breath, your body, what you can hear - not all at once, it builds through the 8 weeks), a little bit of yoga - lots of different practices. The exercises are about analysing your day to day thoughts/ feelings/ experiences in a more think-y way. In the final week or 2, you experiment to find your own daily practice that works for you.

The stinger is it does mean setting aside time every day to do it - i.e. plenty of cooperation from partner/ kids, willingness to get up at godawful o'clock (sorry rev) etc. I thought it was really useful, but when I tried it alone (and failed to finish ) I missed having somewhere to process the experience.

There is also a lot about remembering that your mindfulness practice is about being, not doing (like what rev was saying a minute ago).

Mmm, slippers, meditative gin, nice (in my defence, it's not so early here. It's ... um... 3:45 pm. Second thoughts, I may hold out for another hour or so

The meditative wine was lovely

Pinkfluffy, the name of the book is The Art of Happiness and it is by a guy named Howard C Cutler as well as the Dalai Lama.

mango and peanut that 8 week practice sounds really good, am not sure whether I will start it in the next month though, I am thinking maybe end of March/ beginning of April for me.

justa, very intriguing post - what does morning prayer involve then - do tell. i just finished 'holiness' by donald nicholl and think it one of the wisest little books i ever read. he draws from all world religions including buddhisms and is inspiring. i am now starting 'the miracle of mindfulness' or some such title (have mislaid it tonight already!) by the revered vietnamese monk thich nhat hahn and it is brilliant, so far. unfortunately i am currently glued to 'ten years younger' while also typing this - NUL POINTS for 1/ mindfulness and 2/profundity. must do better! x

thanks a lot rev, that's very clear. sounds a real undertaking i must say - am glad you have reached that agreement with your adviser. must look into underhill now! have just ordered another of hahn's books 'living buddha living christ' - will report back, i think you'd like that one a lot from the little i know of it (you may already have read it. though of course admittedly it's not by underhill )
night girls!

hi everyone

justa - I was wondering about that too, thanks for explaining. glad you have been "let off" sounds like a relief for now and am sure when the time is right you'll want to pick it up again

katieK - might look up that holiness book - although the the mo the buddhists are doing it for me I'm currently reading tools for living your life www.windhorsepublications.com/CartV2/Details.asp?ProductID=718 which is a very practical down to earth sort of a book. It was recommended last week by the teacher at the buddhist mediation class I went to (he knows the author). Initially I was a bit disappointed as is a bit dry, not as poetic or immediatelt thought provoking as pema chodron for example, but there are lots of very engaging exercises in there so I have warmed to it more and more

probably not great for anyone who knows a lot about buddhism though...it feels a bit like a sort of "buddhism for beginners"...

louieS - worry you are having a hard time - go easy on yourself. I would really REALLY recommend that mindfullness/depression book. It makes so much sense and sort of made the scales fall from my eyes a bit wrt my own thought processes and how they have been manifest throughout my life to date. I have felt quite down in the last week so it is in no way a "quick fix" but I think given a bit of time, space and dedication it could help one work wonders. I am away next week (now where did I put that astral ski building kit - oh yes, it's inside me) but might manage to start the 8 week course after that...although am quite nervous about the committment entailed

I went to my buddhist meditation group again tonight and they invited me on retreat with them I actually can't manage the date they are going or I would have loved to go...but it has set me thinking...they go to place www.rivendellretreatcentre.com/index.html - has anyone been? I am thinking about booking myself in for a weekend intro retreat...

sorry - all that meditation obviously went to my head

these are the links

book
retreat

think I better go to bed now!

peanut - i have been looking for a retreat for months - i think it is a great idea and would really recommend you think about it. i am hoping to go to a place near me in wales in april but will check the link you sent too x

I've been experimenting for a couple of days with meditating in the mornings (dp and I are also experimenting with morning childcare responsibilities), but so far it's not working so well - work is still very stressful, and in the morning I'm gearing up to go, making lists in my head, etc so it's hard even to sit down for long.

When we start the 8 weeks, dp's suggesting I come back to work in the evening to do it (our office is a converted house in a big garden, it's not like an office block or anything!). I don't know, our house is tiny, but the office is, well, the office.

rev, glad you're feeling happier about your prayers, but sorry that you still seem a bit worn out by all the drama, I hope you feel refreshed and energised soon!

This is probably a terrible time to mention this, but ages ago when you mentioned how hard you find the morning prayer, it reminded me of a bit in Eat, Pray, Love (is this one of the books you've already read?). She (forgot her name, sorry) is in her ashram in India, meditating for hours every day, getting along fine except they start every day with some really long prayer they all have to recite, and she hates it. Hates it to the point where it makes her angry to be there. She asks if she can stop going, and the teacher guy (no idea about correct terminology, sorry again) says it's up to her, but that if she's having such a strong reaction to the prayer, it must be doing some very powerful work on her. And eventually, she has a breakthrough with it, annoyingly I can't remember the details, but she likes the chanting by the time she leaves.

None of which is to suggest you're doing the wrong thing by taking a break (even if you accept the concept theoretically, there's a limit to the amount of 'powerful working on' any of us can take at one time, and consolidation and resting is really important too). Just maybe something to think about when you do feel ready to start again. If you haven't read Eat Pray Love, it's great, she's very funny.