New to Mindfulness and a bit concerned

[Paqman]

Hello Garreth,

I just watched your testimonial and I have to say that I now realize that I am already starting to see some benefits. I wasn't really aware of it but I tend to focus a little bit more on the present and my different physical annoyances (if I compare my physical problems with MS) are less of a focal point in my life.

I've been practicing mindfulness for not very long, but I've been reading my books on mindfulness for the last 90 days. I might have been influenced by my readings before really officially starting the meditation.

Though, I have to say that I've been on Cypralex (pills vs Anxiety, Obsessivity and depression) for 2 months now. So I hope that my current focus on the now is more influenced by Mindfulness than the pills. I will only know that when I get off the meds.

[Gareth]

Stay with it, and stay with us.

I wish you well in your practice. Come and talk to us at any time.

[FeeHutch]

I can't add to the great responses above but just wanted to say hello and welcome

[Paqman]

Hi FeeHutch. Thanks

[Paqman]

Hello again.

My last meditations were far more interesting with the enlightment I had from you all!

I was able to observe my thoughts more and react less to them. I checked in my head why I had each thoughts before returning to the body scan with a self congratulation each time with no frustration. This is a very interesting self observation process for the anxious person that I am.

So this morning, I had a very interesting meditation that I could consider a light breeze instead of a storm of ideas. A first for me yet.

That was very pleasant!
Thanks again for the answers ealier this week.

[jdandre]

There's a lot of great advice in this thread, and I can't add much. I wanted to address this sentence from you last comment, though:

I checked in my head why I had each thoughts before returning

I would caution you here because it's very close to analyzing, and analyzing is simply your mind finding a way back in.

"Where did this thought come from?" "Why did I have this thought?" "What's the catalyst for it?" If you find yourself trying to answer these questions, you can easily get pulled down a rabbit hole of more thoughts on top of more thoughts.

My advice is to focus more on the temporary nature of thoughts - they come, and they go; they aren't permanent. Our mind, however, tries to make them permanent by clinging to some and pushing away others.

Your job is to simply observe whatever arises non-judgmentally (don't label good/bad, positive/negative), and learn not to follow the thoughts down a path that culminates in conditioned behavior and actions.

[Janknitz]

I'm not sure the 8-week MBSR class was really all that helpful to me. I had been doing pretty good with the meditation on my own and the class I took didn't really do much to teach the yoga component. Most of what we went over in class I got from the book (Full Catastrophe living) and from other sources. I liked the teacher, but maybe she wasn't the best.

So if you are a pretty good self learner and you have tools (like this forum to ask questions) you may or may not find the formal class helpful.

Hang in there!

There are several YouTube videos of JKZ and in almost every one he says the same thing "If your mind wanders 10,000 times, bring it back 10,000 times. It's the act of bringing your mind back to the breath which is what the meditation is about." That's a hard thing to understand. The purpose of meditation is not to keep the mind quiet and calm, but to teach the mind--over and over and over again--how to come back to the quiet calm focus on the breath.

[Paqman]

"Where did this thought come from?" "Why did I have this thought?" "What's the catalyst for it?" If you find yourself trying to answer these questions, you can easily get pulled down a rabbit hole of more thoughts on top of more thoughts.

I can confirm you that this is what happened to me in the last few days. So I will head back to simply noticing the thoughts and return to the breath/body scan. Thanks for confirming to me that I was not going in the right direction with this idea

I'm not sure the 8-week MBSR class was really all that helpful to me. I had been doing pretty good with the meditation on my own and the class I took didn't really do much to teach the yoga component. Most of what we went over in class I got from the book (Full Catastrophe living) and from other sources. I liked the teacher, but maybe she wasn't the best.

So if you are a pretty good self learner and you have tools (like this forum to ask questions) you may or may not find the formal class helpful.

Hang in there!

There are several YouTube videos of JKZ and in almost every one he says the same thing "If your mind wanders 10,000 times, bring it back 10,000 times. It's the act of bringing your mind back to the breath which is what the meditation is about." That's a hard thing to understand. The purpose of meditation is not to keep the mind quiet and calm, but to teach the mind--over and over and over again--how to come back to the quiet calm focus on the breath.

Thank you for this comment. I was searching my area and the 8 weeks training seems to come and go here and there on no permanent basis. So I guess I will continue on my own with the books I read and my practice. I already had good advices here so I return to this forum every day to read a little bit.