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Joined: Jan 2004
Posts: 22,934 Likes: 4
BellaOnline Editor Highest Posting Power Known to Humanity
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OP
BellaOnline Editor Highest Posting Power Known to Humanity
Joined: Jan 2004
Posts: 22,934 Likes: 4 |
I admit that while I will find time to do yoga, I really haven't found any time to meditate yet. I really haven't tried my new meditation cushion. While yoga has a "real" benefit in my mind - flexibility, better health - meditation is a lot harder to break away from my extremely busy work load to do.
Why do you meditate? What do you gain from meditation? If you're having trouble meditating, what is it you hope to gain, that you keep trying?
I definitely understand the stress relief and relaxation. But I get that now from yoga, so it's sort of like "multitasking". And I also have to add that it's hard for me even to find time for yoga, because I always put my work first. So it already feels like "cheating" to not get to urgent email messages and instead sit in front of a yoga DVD for a half hour.
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Joined: Feb 2003
Posts: 14,392
BellaOnline Editor Highest Posting Power Known to Humanity
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BellaOnline Editor Highest Posting Power Known to Humanity
Joined: Feb 2003
Posts: 14,392 |
I consider doing the savasana at the end of yoga to be my meditation. That's about all I can handle. If I can try to release my mind for 5 minutes i feel like i have accomplished enough of "nothing," so to speak. I really want to stop the craziness in my head but know enough not to push it. My ego is pretty darn used to getting it's way, being in charge, being useful to the point of uselessness. If i was to make myself sit on a pillow for 20-30 minutes I think I would get really stressed out.
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Joined: Feb 2005
Posts: 3,053
Zebra
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Zebra
Joined: Feb 2005
Posts: 3,053 |
I have tried to meditate. I long for it and for years have wanted to do it well. I suck.
I picked up a book at the library "Beginner's Guide to Yoga" and was reading it last night. It's very short & not intimidating at all.
What they say is that yoga means "union", meaning uniting or yoking with everything. Which I believe comes with achieving the "nothing" mind.
Patanjali (2000 years ago) said "yoga is controlling the waves of the mind." The asanas are essentially ways to be still in the body and to calm the mind.
And, one of the reasons I like yoga in class is that I have to listen and focus and therefore, my mind is not able to go in forty directions. Two sometimes, perhaps. LOL
Even when I'm walking, I can listen to my mp3's, make to-do lists or shopping lists, revisit or invent conversations, watch ducks and turtles, and write articles. I'm mentally all over the place.
In my attempts at meditation, I make it for about three minutes, then I'm off to the races, or to sleep.
I hope yoga will help me learn to meditate. I do enjoy the relaxation/stillness that comes with guided corpse pose. And, I am sticking with yoga for now.
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Joined: Oct 2003
Posts: 8,850
BellaOnline Editor Stone Age Human
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BellaOnline Editor Stone Age Human
Joined: Oct 2003
Posts: 8,850 |
Well, since I'm the meditation editor here you can imagine I really get into my meditations. I keep it up because I love the peace of mind and relaxed body it gives me. For a few minutes life calms down and I feel in harmony - body, mind, soul. Over the years I've felt a deepening of my spiritual nature which I think has come from the quiet time of meditation. That's why I stay with meditation.
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Joined: Feb 2003
Posts: 14,392
BellaOnline Editor Highest Posting Power Known to Humanity
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BellaOnline Editor Highest Posting Power Known to Humanity
Joined: Feb 2003
Posts: 14,392 |
That is so great Susan. I am hoping that my yoga pieces of meditation will go well and that maybe at some point I can do 'real' meditation and feel what you feel inside.
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Joined: Oct 2003
Posts: 8,850
BellaOnline Editor Stone Age Human
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BellaOnline Editor Stone Age Human
Joined: Oct 2003
Posts: 8,850 |
I've found that internal peace and harmony is a process to be recaptured moment to moment - after getting into a regular routine of meditation it is easier to get back to those moments more quickly. Stick with the technique(s) that you most love.
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Joined: Sep 2006
Posts: 2,616
Koala
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Koala
Joined: Sep 2006
Posts: 2,616 |
I've tried meditation off and on and, like some of you, I haven't been able to make it a priority. I walk every day (with a CD player and books on CD to listen to) and I go to an exercise class twice a week, plus do some yoga stretches. It's hard to fit in time to meditate.
What I do try to do tho is just spend some quiet time each day. I go into the back yard, sit on our swing and close my eyes for a while, just to let my mind drift a little or try some deep breathing. This isn't "officially" meditating but at least I'm trying to quiet my mind a bit.
Sometimes when I walk too, I shut off the CD player and just look at the trees and changes in the neighborhood.
I think lack of time more than anything keeps me from getting into a good meditation routine but I realize there are many ways to quiet the mind and the more often I can do that, the more peace I have in my life.
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Joined: Oct 2003
Posts: 8,850
BellaOnline Editor Stone Age Human
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BellaOnline Editor Stone Age Human
Joined: Oct 2003
Posts: 8,850 |
JoanJ - Both swinging and walking are good moving meditations. If they are quieting your mind, refreshing your body and leading to useful insights they are meditations.
Last edited by Susan Kramer; 05/25/08 04:30 AM.
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Joined: Feb 2003
Posts: 14,392
BellaOnline Editor Highest Posting Power Known to Humanity
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BellaOnline Editor Highest Posting Power Known to Humanity
Joined: Feb 2003
Posts: 14,392 |
I totally love swinging! And i have found walking also help empty my mind. Most of the time, when there is nature involved, I can most easily feel mental restfulness.
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Joined: Oct 2003
Posts: 8,850
BellaOnline Editor Stone Age Human
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BellaOnline Editor Stone Age Human
Joined: Oct 2003
Posts: 8,850 |
I also find nature a powerful restorative!
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