Quote:
Originally Posted by PilotMan
Ping Lorena on this one too.
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How funny. I haven't been on the board in quite a while but something propelled me to come... I HEARD YA!!
Should you meditate? Absofreakinglutely!! I cannot begin to tell you how much it changed my life. I went to a Vipassana Mediation retreat where we meditated at least 10 hours a day. I went from "practicing" for 5 minutes a day, to hard-core 2 hours at a time. It was the hardest thing I've done in my entire life, but I'll do it again in a heartbeat.
There are different ways to meditate. Some prefer guided meditation, some prefer visualization, but I prefer complete silence. And it's not about sitting in the Lotus position with your hands on your knees, eyes closed. Running is a form of meditation, some people do a "meditation walk", where you're completely mindful of every step, muscle movements, sensations around you. You can sit in nature and "watch the trees grow." I absolutely love doing that. Sometimes I'll be at work, sitting in my cube and practice Mindful Meditation. It's intentionally focusing on breath, and paying attention to sensations around your body. Yeah you're holding holding the mouse, but how does it feel? How are my eyes feeling after staring at the monitor? Strained, warm, tired. I feel my arms on the handrest, and feel the soft, but comfortable pressure on my elbow.
Well, you get the idea. Have at it Kodos!! 2 things that really stuck with me:
1 - everything is impermanent. As I sat for 2 hours, with my ass hurting, we just concentrated on the sensation of how it felt and sure enough, it eventually went away.
2 - when bad/sad thoughts creep up, take some hard breaths. ALWAYS come back to breath.
It takes practice. I'm not saying I'm perfect, because I don't meditate as often as I should. But you'll be surprised how helpful those hard breaths are.
Best of luck, Kodos. I know Meditation Retreats aren't for everyone, but when I left, I left with so much love and compassion for everyone. My hope is for my friends/family/acquaintances feel what I felt after my stay there.
Oh, and one last thing, I highly... HIGHLY recommend
10% Happier by Dan Harris. He was a complete skeptic to meditation. It took a breakdown on national TV to compel him to give it a try.
Sorry, I just keep typing heh heh. I started a dynasty on my meditation retreat. I'm terrible at keeping up with it, but hopefully I'll get time to finish it. Up til Day 10.
I hope you come back and give us an update, I'd love to hear how it goes with it.