Fell off the wagon

[Vixine]

Thanks everyone for all of the thoughtful responses. I am still here and after on-again-off-again for a month, I'm back to daily meditation for a week now.

This is definitely something new as like I said, before when I've forgotten about meditation for a while it ends up being six months or a year. This time I have not wandered nearly as far away and I feel encouraged about that. I have to say that for the first time I am looking forward to my daily meditation and it doesn't feel like a chore to fit in. Part of that is that I am taking it easy and only doing 10 minutes a day of formal practice, plus informal practice whenever I remember. For now, this feels really doable and I am enjoying it. I can tell. It really is a lot like working out - taking a month off you get softer again but the muscles are still there. Working out again you quickly get back the strength you had and build from there.

I really value this forum and the great interaction here, I think it has helped so much!

[LucidMind]

Hi Vixine! I'm so glad that you were able to come back to meditation so easily this time; that definitely shows some overall progress in your practice. I just want to add one thing.

I think over time you might want to experiment with upping your formal sitting time from 10 minutes to 20, and then eventually even to 30 or 40. 10 minutes is infinitesimally better than no minutes, but I really believe you will start to see the most benefits with increased time. Also, most of the mindfulness programs I have read about recommend eventually trying 30-45 minutes in one sitting (including Jon Kabat-Zinn).

I know when I sit for that long I go through soooo many different mind/body states. I am anxious, tense, relaxed, serene, angry, sad. My thoughts go fast and slow, meditation is easy and then its hard again. All this happens in the background while I am sitting behind my breath, just watching and learning about myself in the deepest possible way. Sitting for a longer time really helps you get in touch with your inner core while the rest of your body is buzzing around.

Having said that, I really think its great that you are enjoying your current practice and seeing the benefits of it. That's definitely the most important part! I just wanted to let you know it might be worth experimenting with longer sitting times at some point

[Gareth]

30 min a day feels right for me, but I think the key thing here is to go easy on yourself. Why not just add a minute whenever you feel ready? It's what I did and it worked for me.

[JonW]

What Gareth said.
I usually aim for 20 minutes of sitting meditation in the morning and a 30 minute body scan in the afternoon.
I also spend as much time as I can sitting and staring out at the sea with my trusty steed, Banjo, by my side. I usually bring a couple of beef chews with me to keep Banj' happy. Some bloke lobbed him a sausage off his beach barbecue yesterday. Never seen a dog look so happy.
My ambition is to be as mindful as my dog. He looks as though he's got the stilling of the mind down to a fine art. In fact he generally looks altogether untroubled by thought.

[rara]

No pressure...

[BioSattva]

I suggest looking into spot meditations for when you know you can't get to the cushion. These saved my a***!

Haha, I love your posting style, rara

[rara]

[JonW]

"Psychologist Tal Ben-Shahar, in one of his Harvard lectures, talked about a time when he told a meditation teacher that he didn't think he needed to meditate every day. The teacher asked him if he brushed his teeth every day, and Tal said "Yes", after which the teacher said "Well daily mindfulness meditation is also necessary for good hygiene - mental hygiene".

Reading Alan Watts, which I do as often as I can, I'm always surprised to be reminded that he rarely practiced sitting meditation. He preferred to meditate as he took his daily walk. Each to their own, I guess.

[BioSattva]

Reading Alan Watts...

Personally I have never found his work particularly useful - although no doubt interesting for his time, it seems he was very caught up in the conceptual angle on mindfulness, and got tangled up in 'zen words'. He did a lot to bring mindfulness teachings to broad Western audiences, but it seems he didn't really inspire people to be mindful in the MBSR sense, rather contemplate the words, so to speak - the school of "think oneself into tranquility", which is an oxymoron of sorts, since it is the busy thinking mind which disturbs a peaceful mind.

[rara]

Ya, Watts is some Youtube Taoist superman haha. No, I've never quite got the way he feels he has to express his learning and understanding...but as Jon said, each to their own.

But I would say one similar thing that works for me is to not schedule a sitting meditation at all...to just adapt mindfulness wherever I can in my day. This usually lands me in sitting meditation at some point anyway! I just kinda happens. But I take this approach because life is spontaneous, and so are my days...so my "organised" meditations shouldn't be too organised.