Hi Recently starting meditating, 20 mins in the evening and try to do the same before i leave for work. How do you know when that time is up?? other than sneaky looks at the clock - which is a bit distracting? Bought this book as well which seems really good, Insight Meditation Kit : a step by step course by Joseph goldstein and Sharon Salzburg Cds are good - although i find it easier to do this in complete silence
Hello andriod If you prefer to time your meditation sessions, just use an alarm clock if you have one. Or you can count with japa mala beads and repeat mantra silently in your mind to help with mental chatter. I never heard of this book you bought but I would recommend continuing your preference of silent meditation as music typically absorbs your awareness and meditation becomes simple measurement rather than discipline and spiritual communion. The silence will of course force you to confront your thoughts, but after practice you will be able to allow the thoughts to float by and watch them. The main point is to learn how to observe, which roots out attachment. If you can allow your thoughts to rise and fall without being swayed by them but simply observe them, the insight will begin pouring in. God Bless -
i use the countdown on my phone, meditiation is really hard at first. and can be harder if you dont feel like it.
Thanks for the replys - really helpful! Im really enjoying this at the moment, feels really special . just be nice to think i can keep it up - and not let it fall by the wayside like other things attempted in the past. I even walked to the river lunchtime near where i work and had about 20mins - although a tad too windy! Can sometimes feel slightly scary and anxious , i suppose this is all natural feelings - Love the good feelings i get from this
Meditating on the river and also on the wind are good. I bought a cheap timer at Walmart. I usually meditate with ear muffs to block out distracting sounds. The first one I bought was digital ($4.97 + tax) and turned out to be too quiet. Even holding it right up to the ear plugs I couldn't hear it. Plus it was small and I thought it would be easy to carry around, but the buttons were on the outside edge and too big (accidentally pushing them when picking it up). Yesterday I went ahead and got one of the dial ones. It would probably be too distracting without headphones or ear plugs as the ticking is pretty loud. I think you'll find as time goes on that you will develop an intuitive feel for how long you've been meditating. Whatever you do, don't give up on it. I practiced meditating for a while 20+ years ago and ended up letting it go. I'm definitely regretting that now.
for a 20min sesssion i use a 10min guided video and then another 10mins of ravi shankar and then i'm done.
