Printable View
Decided to get off my ass and make my workbook, even if I've started class a bit late :P Tomorrow when I'm not so sleepy I'll write up my little first post on what it means to me, and what I want to accomplish :)
Looking forward to really learning how to 'silence the monkey of the mind' :sleepmeditate2:
That's ok, there's no such thing as "late" in my class. I look forward to your workbook entries, and I hope that my class will teach you how to 'silence the monkey of the mind' :D.
ShockWave.
I should probably fill this in!
To me, meditation is something I really want to learn, to be able to silence my mind and just 'be'. I've come close a couple of times, but I still need more practice at it. Being able to be aware of myself and my existence, letting go of all the thoughts and worries that imprint themselves on my mind is something that I really look forward to.
Currently I've been practicing void meditation briefly every couple of days, just to relax and cool down after school. I'm unable to remove all thought from my head, but focusing on my breathing and trying to be the 'watcher' of my thoughts is very relaxing :) I've also tried focal meditation too, focusing on a pen, and emptying my thoughts from anything but the pen. By doing this, I actually managed to completely silence my thoughts briefly, and it filled me with a wave of clarity I haven't experienced before, and that I really look forward to again.
I've noticed that I always have a song stuck in my head on loop. No specific song, but normally they relate to what I've been thinking about, and it will change as my thought patterns change. It's incredibly difficult for me to get rid of this song, but I managed to do it by simplifying it down into beats which matched with my breathing, and then turning it into one long drone which flows with my breathe, which in turn made me focus on my breathing more. I hope to be able to silence this song much easier over time, and successfully do void meditation, as it's quite hard for me :)
I have a lot to learn!
Thanks for filling in your meditation workbook :). Meditation does allow you to just block out everything else in your life and find comfort in your own thoughts. And it's great sometimes to let go of those thoughts and just exist, or like you said, just 'be'.
Don't worry about removing all thoughts from your head at the start, just allow yourself to relax and let the thoughts pass through you without paying attention to them. As you practice void meditation more, it will start to come naturally, without you having to strain to remove your thoughts. Your success with focal meditation sounds like it was great, so keep practicing and get better at it!
Sometimes I find that I can't get to sleep because I've got a song stuck in my head that I've had stuck in my head for the whole day. Usually it helps to relax yourself and focus on all the natural sounds you can hear. Even just focusing on the silence in the room really helps. I'm not sure whether this will help with your problem or not, but it's worth a shot :).
ShockWave.
I have noticed that I'm getting better at letting my thoughts simply pass through my head. I've been trying to WILD recently and end up just meditating for a while before giving up the WILD, but when I do, I have been practicing acknowledging my thoughts, allowing them to finish and then simply moving them along. I'll still have small thoughts chattering away in the back of my head, but they won't be in focus for brief periods until I get distracted and start thinking again.
With my focal meditation, I've noticed some really trippy visuals, is it just my eyes? When I was focusing on the pen, everything outside my direct view would start to bend and warp as I breathed in and out. I actually thought it was really cool, kinda like the Matrix! :P Is it normal, or were my eyes just tired?
I'll try focusing on other sounds when I'm trying to clear a song from my head, it certainly sounds like a good way to do it. I'm sure I'll make lots of progress, but I haven't had a lot of time to practice except for WILD attempts lately with school. Thanks for the help! :)
Most of the trippy stuff is just your eyes, in focal meditation. But some of the stuff you experience isn't just your eyes, and that is a result of the meditation. I can't really explain how it feels, but if you keep practicing, you'll start to feel like you're understanding the focal object more, as if your 'self' is getting closer to it in a way.
ShockWave.
I've been doing meditation for short periods nightly, just to relax and calm my mind a little bit. I haven't hit anything like the focal trance since then, but I haven't been putting as much effort into it, as I'm normally doing it right before bed and I'm pretty tired and just want to sleep :P
I'm about to be on school break, and I'll be able to delve right into meditation and dreaming then, I'll be sure to keep practicing every day :)
That's great! Also, the Q&A session will be at midnight on Wednesday (about 11 hours from posting this), so feel free to come to that if you have any questions :).
ShockWave.