BellaOnline Forums Religion and Spirituality Meditation Meditation Homework - Week 2

This week I am doing 20 minutes a day in quiet meditation. I'm also reading "Finding the Quiet" by Paul Wilson which talks about meditation basics (It just so happens to be a review book I was sent).

So today mid-day I took a shower and then went to meditate. I did what Paul said about cupping one hand in the other - different from what I did last week of resting each hand open on a knee. I also grounded myself into the earth, vs last week of relaxing from the toes up to the head. I seemed to relax just as quickly this way vs the previous way.

I found it was much easier to relax now, and while I still get random thoughts interfering, they seemed to be less frequent than last week. There were more stretches of quiet.

Also, even though I was now doing 20 minutes instead of 15, the timer seemed like it rang too soon! I wanted to sit some more. Which is a real breakthrough for me. Normally I am just go-go-go all day long, trying desperately to keep up with email and my to-do lists and everything. I never take a break from when I wake up to when I sleep. Carving out this time to meditate was a huge "sacrifice" to me (because there were urgent things I have to put aside to make the time) but my hope is that the week-long high focus I gain from this short investment will more than make it worth it.

That is, if I meditate for 20 minutes in a given day, that I more than gain back 20 minutes in higher productivity for the rest of the day and have a net gain.

Yeah, Lisa - you sound like you're on a good track for you!

I am enjoying reading about your experiences, Lisa, and thank you for sharing them like this. It's certainly interesting to compare the many similarities with my limited meditation experiences.

The 14th was Sunday. I should try to remember to post every day, because it's hard now to keep track of what happened on what day. I'm pretty sure yesterday - Monday the 15th - was the day I meditated twice, at 20 minutes each. I thought I'd give it a try. It was very nice! Very quiet and relaxing. I meditated once mid-day, and then later in the evening I took a shower so I meditated after that. I find that when I've already taken a break to take a shower that it's easy to "tag on" a meditation session after that without feeling *too* guilty about it. That was also the night that I spent several hours at night trying to fall asleep and meditating while I did.

So today (Tue the 16th) once again after I showered mid-afternoon I went into my meditation room. This time though Bob came looking for me part-way through and talked with me. So it was interrupted. Still, better to try than to not try. It was peaceful but I didn't get the full benefit of the 20 minutes.

Wednesday I had my afternoon shower then went in to meditate. It was relaxing almost immediately, and it was incredibly serene and peaceful after about 8 minutes! The full 20 minutes zipped by very quickly, and when they were done I wished I was doing more. I am waiting to move up to 25 minutes until this weekend though, so I do a full week at 20 minutes.

I didn't meditate on Thursday, it was a very hectic day and I was out of the house for much of the day. I tried to meditate in bed before I fell asleep but I am finding it much harder to meditate in bed than on the cushion seated up.

My Dad is over today, and he's sleeping in my "meditation room" - so I'll do an in-my-own-bed meditation after he goes to sleep.