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

Oh, there is so much to take in on this thread and difficult to comment on it all. So can I just say hello to everyone and comment that the thread is very life affirming.
As rich with lovely people as my life is, there are few that share my toughts on meditation and it is good to see other peoples experiences.
I am somewhat like scattyspice and have a busy mind and a busy brain, which in some respect I accept is me, but do like to use meditation to direct it all more positively.
I do a lot of my meditating when running as the time is purely my own and can find myself in a very serene place as a result.

The pain relief meditations are interesting and whilst I could not say that I have actually resolved pain issues, I am definately not as jaded by it and coping with it better.

I manage to get myself to a place where the pain is not the main focus of my thoughts which is a big step forward.

I try and listen to a cd on meditation in the morning before the school chaos starts as I hate my day starting badly..perhaps I should do some simple exercisess with my DC's.

No improvement on insomnia, does anyone successfully imprve sleep patterns with meditation?

A good weekend to all..

hello smiles - lovely to read you. i like walking to clear my mind so understand the running/meditation alliance well. i can definitely say that meditation has made a big difference to my sleep, yes - i feel that making time, even just 10 mins, to clear my (like so many of us, busy busy busy...) mind before sleep seems to act as a sort of transition between the full-on mental activity of the day and the peace and stillness required for a good rest at night. if i don't bother meditating then i quite often find it takes me a lot longer to fall asleep and the quality of my sleep isn't so good. sigh. this reminds me how tired i am after a few crappy nights, and how i must get back to some proper meditation after a few days of not really bothering for more than a few cursory minutes! Could Do Better...

Thank-you katiek123,
I think the problem with sleeping is that when it is quiet and still, there aren't any distractions and my mind starts to buzz.
I think I will get on top of the pain problem first and then tackle the sleep thing.
I am using mindfulnes of breathing regularly and feel quite light spirited, which is nice.
Goodnight......

I'm a Soto Zen Buddhist and have meditated every morning for some years - I'm afraid its down to discipline, you just need to set up a routine. Even if you are not buddhist it helps to make a little "shrine"with something beautiful to you on it and have a proper cushion or bench (I use a bench and flat cushion) It all helps settle you and get you centred. Tibetan Buddhists believe that saying the mantra (prayer), Om Mani Padme Hum, out loud or silently to oneself, invokes the powerful benevolent attention and blessings of Chenrezig, the embodiment of compassion, the words do not have a specific meaning. In Soto Zen we simply sit and let our thoughts go - it has been likened to cleaning a lamp. It certainly makes you calmer and much better tempered. Just do as much as you can 5 minutes is OK to start, I do 20 or 30. If you have trouble sleeping meditation before bed really helps.Hope this is useful.

higgle- very interesting, thanks. re mornings - do you bravely get up before your kids then to get that space to meditate? my buddhist friend locally certainly does and i assume the answer is yes. sigh...am feeble and weak in comparison... i know i COULD get up at 6 to have half an hour before they wake up but i still shy away from that - still catching up after literally years of sleep deprivation i guess!i may have to bite the bullet.
i had a great sleep after meditating last night for just 15-20 minutes smiles so thanks for making me remember that i need to get back to this meditation business regularly! rev - our choir gave a concert in a local church last night and the vicar was so inspiring, charismatic and lovely that i was almost tempted to go to church (his!) at some unspecified point in the future and give it another whirl!! have a lovely sunday girls

rev - agree completely. i was really put off church attendance as was my whole family last year, bcs the church attached to their old (C of E) school had the most dire 'family' (ha!)services imagineable - of no relevance to the adults, far less the children. very bland, uninspiring vicar (kindly woman, but far from charismatic). i think this one i just found must have a vibrant sunday school given its vicar (you can somehow just tell, can't you) and i may take the kids along just to see.
i loved your blog. when he wakes up 'too' early in the mornings, i sometimes arrange my 5 year-old son on my lap under a duvet and explain that i am meditating and can he stay quiet. he doesn't manage it for long but it's a rather lovely experience even if not a very 'deep' one in the meditative sense!
happy sunday x

katiek - I'm afraid even the monks at Throssell Hole Abbey say you need discipline! It is a bit like the gym, once you get into the habit it is fine. I start a 6am, but my sons are 14 & 17 so no problem with them, the dog still finds it a bit puzzling and sometimes whines and tries to join me, but in the summer take blanket out into garden and it is lovely.

higgle - I'm thinking little and often (regularly) is better than a lot once in a while .

Hi Everyone - I haven't read this thread in a few days - I have so much to catch up on!

Higgle, thanks for your words - I think that I need to apply discipline to my practice, it is a bit of a double edged sword though - I love to be up in the stillness of early morning, but I hate the actual getting up.

rev hope you are feeling better - I have also just had a nasty cold that has kept me from doing much besides hiding under the covers for the past couple of days.

Smiles I am also interested in pain relief using meditation, as I have noticed with myself, stress produces so many negative effects on your body, so the opposite of that, meditation and relaxtion would surely be beneficial.

My few minutes of meditation is a bit on and off these days, we are expecting visitors over the next couple of weeks and then we are off to India for three weeks at the end of December so I am really busy - and tired. I was thinking the other day that I have always shied away from Hinduism (dh's faith), however as part of my spiritual journey I should actually embrace a lot of it. The devotion, practice and meditation that my mil does is actually very inspiring and I should learn from her. This trip is going to be interesting I think.

Jabberwocky - so, so sorry to hear of your loss.

Smiles - meditation with the kids is actually a great idea. Dd's only 2 so I don't think we're ready for that yet, but she's great at yoga poses (upward/ downward dog, butterfly). Do you think your kids would go for it?

justabout - fwiw I agree with you about discipline v practice, I think it's not the actual, bald meaning of the word but about the emotional associations we may have with it. And those are bound to be very personal.

Louie - India sounds great, have you been before?

I've had an interesting few days, I suppose. I was sent a very difficult email last Thursday, and since then I've really been running away from the emotional consequences. I haven't been able to sit down, I haven't managed much yoga either. But I have been aware of the running, restless energy and I think that for me that's a start. I'm going to recommit myself to just trying to sit and feel what's there, just for a few minutes, even if I can't manage to confront everything all at once.

Oh - and, justabout, go on, tell us about the Benedictines - integrated how?

I'm not sure about yoga mango as my body can't manage it but DS is loving my meditation CD and I remind him of it when he is being stroppy....the breathing and self awareness.

sorry about the e-mail, these things can really clog your mind up can't they?

Is it possible that opening your mind to a meditative state could make you emotionally vulnerable initially? Because I was pleased with my start but am now feeling actually worse.

Hello everyone and Namaste!

What a lovely thread and how very generous everyone is. Thank you.

I've been thinking a lot about christmas this year as DD approaches 5years old, and her school has Santa on the brain. And what got me thinking about it was that all the little children - and there are about 35 of them in the entire school are all of mixed faiths, and all of them are excited about what they are going to receive, and I got to thinking about giving and receiving and how easy it is in some ways to give and how difficult it is to receive. And how natural it is for children to receive, and give, without any of the stumbling thoughts.

'Oh you shouldn't have' is so commonly said isn't it? But what does it actually mean.

So there is a balance to be found the giving and the recieving isn't there?
Giving, I was thinking means you are in control and the process is on your own terms, you chose the gift and the wrapper and the time to give, but the receiving makes us vulnerable and may be surprising, things that make us feel unsure of ourselves and of our relationships. It might be something we feel we may not want, but in someways a gift may be exactly what we need, and has huge potential for an insight.

And it's the same with meditation for me - the breath in and the breath out are both important: there is giving and receiving there. And that space within all the breath - where our true nature is revealed is where we are all connected is the most precious gift.

Rev and mango I'm reading your posts about creating heat with interest as this practice in Tibetan Buddhism is called Tsa Lung and Tummo. The breath creates a whirlpool of energy in the chakras and the heat is created. The heat purifies the chakras and channels, clearing them. The tingling of your hands is very common to me and it means that you have a healing touch. Have you ever tried to heal or sense energy fields with your own body? It's a lovely practice.

I have been told that I'm very good at this practice, most women are BTW, and can keep myself warm on the coldest of days now! When I meditate and practice with heat gereration I usually end up sweating and throwing off most of my clothes - I really get boiling: sweat dripping off me, and people who I am meditating with say that they see me in flames, they can feel heat energy coming from me through them!

This kind of experience and practice is very useful for finding your own Deity, and my Deity is revealed usually as a very angry red one, in flames, as this matches my constitution.

Higgle, you are absolutely right. It's all about the method and the effort. Discipline keeps us rooted in the earth element and helps us to focus our energy. I used to set my alarm two hours before my DD woke so that I had time for my practice, not I'm just down to half an hour of me time, and I miss the full breakfast!

Namaste friends

Ouch, I think I'm a bit scared of zazen's Deity! It's an interesting idea though, what does it mean for you to find your own Deity, are you talking about visualisation?

Smiles - no yoga? But you run, that's much higher impact than yoga - I can't run. Maybe you'd need to work one-to-one with someone experienced in yoga with people with chronic pain, and I suppose your painkillers could complicate things as well (absolutely necessary as they are for your well-being). But really, if you can run you can do yoga.

Sorry, I seem to be more evangelical about yoga than I realised Do what you like, love.

I don't know much about meditation increasing vulnerability, but intuitively it makes sense. The western insight method is about becoming more aware of everything that is in any given moment. That means becoming aware of negative thoughts and feelings, and physical discomfort as well as positive things. The hope is that over time, you don't get so caught up in them, not that you make them go away. I know that for me, I spend a lot of energy ignoring things, so through meditation lots of negative stuff can come up.

So, I have exciting news - a friend of mine has found a meditation group at a local temple. It's run by a monk, and there are maybe 5 lay Thais who go. 1 couple try to go every night, and they speak English. I went for the first time last night, we sat in meditation for an hour and then had some conversation about our experience with the couple translating. It was great, but really really hard physically for me to sit that long. I hope I can start to go once a week or so. And isn't it interesting how we were talking about a group practice, and then one just landed in my lap?

hi everyone - mango that is great news about your group practice, i am so envious! do keep us posted! i am a big yoga fan too (and can't run to save my life, tho i do see the attraction for those who do)

i have decided to haul my sorry ass out of bed half an hour pre-DD/DS wake-up call for a few days and see how sleep-deprived and narky and horrid it makes me. i may be pleasantly surprised eh? it's partly how blimmin' freezing it is in the mornings that puts me off! but i can't be weedy any longer - i will give this discipline lark a whirl.

back soon x

rev - fascinating. will write more when have more time. am definitely inspired by this thread to sort out my own practice, it was becoming a bit ad-hoc in recent weeks. it is indeed so useful to have the input of experienced buddhists/meditators on this excellent thread.

pssshaw! at minding long posts - this is a meaty kind of a thread, isn't it?

Good luck with your extra-early mornings, katie - what time does that mean getting up?

Commiserations. Dd wakes at 4:30 but will have milk and sleep for another couple of hours. And since I stopped bfing, dp is on nigth duty for at least the next year!

I'm trying to think what my personal deity would look like (if I had one)... I'm thinking probably boring earthy for an element, and possibly female. Should go home and meditate on it instead of pretending to work