After thinking back on all the meditative practices that we have tried these past several weeks, I keep coming back to the loving-kindness practice. I like to do a short version of this practice right before I start work, and again before I come back from my lunch break. I think it has helped me deal with the stress of the passed month at work in a much healthier way than I would have before. I also keep coming back to some of the visualization techniques, and also some of the mantras that go along with them. Although I have not used these as much as the loving-kindness practice, I feel that when I do use them, they work wonders. I still feel like I have to come up with my own mantras or sayings; ones that mean more to me than generic thoughts of "I am loved" (although it is important to tell yourself that). I also tried the meditation from out Dacher reading this week, and found it very useful, and energizing. Although I did not participate in it for the recommended time, I did read the directions until I could practically recite them, and had an enjoyable experience. As I stated in my discussion board posting, I feel that I will use this practice when I get discourage from my path towards integral health. By the time I was done with the exercise and had this feeling of extreme happiness, wholeness, and vitality, that I could almost feel the excitement radiating off of my own skin! Although that feeling did not last very long, it was a wonderful feeling and one I want to experience again and again.
Hope everyone had a wonderful week, and I hope next week (with all the final projects) goes well for everyone!
~Catherine
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| Hope everyone had a fun and safe holiday! |
Catherine, what is the time length that you give yourself with the loving-kindness meditation? This is one of the harder exercises for me so I would like to get some insight from and individual who uses it in their everyday practices. Catherine, if you don’t mind sharing what are some of your own mantras that you have come up with? While I don’t have personal mantras I do have sticky notes in places that put a smile on my face in the morning or help me to relax, for example when I am in the car.
ReplyDeleteI think we all really enjoyed the loving kindness meditation - what's not to love? : ) and what a wonderful experience to have the extreme feeling of happiness, wholeness and vitality. I swear I get that in my yoga class at the end when our instructor comes around to each of us and massages our shoulders….. love that feeling but I've never achieved it from meditation…. that's a goal now!
ReplyDeleteI haven't really decided on any personal mantras yet, at least not in stone. It just kind of goes by what I was feeling that day. For instance, at work I was doing my best to describe to a customer how you do not need a physical cable to wirelessly tether two devices together (that's why it's called wireLESS after all) and the customer was just not understanding the concept and told me that I was stupid and shouldn't work in an area that I don't know about, and that they were just going to go to Best Buy instead. That night, after feeling really angry that they called me stupid, I just told myself over and over that I am smart, knowledgeable, and competent at what I do. I would like to come up with some firm mantras, but for now, making them up as I go and as I need them is working pretty well for me.
ReplyDeleteHi Catherine,
ReplyDeleteI'm glad you have found so much success with the loving kindness practice. I didn't originally like that practice quite so much, but I think that I am coming to a new understanding of it. I actually just did this practice in order to get rid of some anger. I was very worked up and angry about an issue with one of my step-kids. Unfortunately, I was having a very hard time getting through my anger on the issue and took some time away from everyone. I sat down and did a short meditation in order to find a way to cope with the problem and come at it from a different direction. Great job on your blog! Have a great week!
~ Sandra
Hi Catherine,
ReplyDeleteI like how you are honest about what time you put into the practices. I like how loving-kindness was the practice for you. It seems like the most difficult among our peers. I think finding our own way of making the practices work for us is the key to success in these practices. It seems you have found a way to do that in your daily life and I applaud you for it. Keep up the good work.