Practice meditating under stress

Been there, done that. Its actually not that bad when you do it, though a few people do freak out each time.

 

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All man's miseries derive from not being able to sit quietly in a room alone.
Pascal

It takes skill to be able to calm your mind down. Few can do it. Those that can't do it can't even comprehend why a person would even want to be able to. They also can't understand how a person can do it without being bored.

 

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Bored is inversely proportional to paying attention. If you are bored, you aren't paying attention. If you are paying attention, you aren't bored.

Its really just that simple. The mind cannot do both at the same time.

If you just pay attention, you'll never be bored again.

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Why should a man be able to sit quietly in a room alone?

Pfft. Some of us just don't want to sit and meditate and note our thoughts. It's not good enough a use of time.

 

Until your next toothache.

 

Very interesting. I think practices like this improve meditation skills.

I have a back that is sometimes quite painful. Sometimes back pain interrupts my meditation, so I take off my socks and shoes, then I place my feet in front of my space heater and let them go until I can't take it.

After I pull my feet away I meditate again and it goes very smoothly.

I think this all goes back to the "Major Pain" concept

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Didn't Buddha meditate somewhere in the middle of a thunderstorm and not even hear it?

 

Irrelevant.

 

Do you think an over-active imagination can make problems appear more "real"? I've heard there's no such thing as a problem until you make one. Sometimes I try to meditate through stressful situations (neighbours shouting through the walls - that sort of thing). And sometimes I feel a bit of me unravel. I let go of something, something that really does not belong here with me in this spacesuit. Must say though, I don't look forward to the process.

 

The mouth speaks many bullshits, but the body knows itself.

 

And there are times where I feel like I fail.org miserably....

 

Your failure to understand doesn't mean I'm speaking bullshit.

You aren't going to be bored by a tooth ache. Nothing grabs the attention like pain, a fact which most meditaion techniques take advantage of.

Meditating in an uncomfortable position for hours everyday until your legs and back are screaming at you is many things, but boring is not one of them.

Your "toothache" objection is irrelevant.

 

This is one of those things which you have to grasp directly. It isn't going to make sense as just words. Go with what ever your current understanding is. If you see problems, then that is what you see. Just don't cling to them being problems. See if you can see them as anything else, like just what is happening.

And excellent practice but very difficult. Try to maintain a sense of equinimity. When you can sit without getting riled by the heat of their passions, see if you can find sympathy for their plight. Here are two people who at least once, and possibly still, love each other and yet they cannot escape this cycle of violence which has crept into their lives.

but I wouldn't make that your main practice. I would recommend having a strong foundation of practice out side of that for your own peace of mind.

Meditation is one thing you can't be a loser at. What ever is happening is just what you are working on. If you quite, freak out, sit like a champ, or whatever, none of it is inherantly better or worse than the other. Its just what you are working through at the moment.

 

He he.

My dear shallow meditation wannabe expert, you are still neatly wrapped in your humanism, although you pretend to be way beyond that.
You yet have to realize the boredom of pain.

 

My, my, aren't you special.

 

If your only objective was to endure a stressful situation (without any meditation), like sitting in the snow in a snow storm with just enough clothing to prevent frostbite, you would strengthen your will power and concentration - which I think is the main goal of these kinds of practices.

 

Saying one form of meditation is superior to another is like saying a hammer is superior to a saw; they are tools with different uses. However I would say generally it is agreed that simply "clearing your mind" is the most beneficial form of meditation for beginners. Ive made up my own little mantra, whenever I think any thought i repeat the word "empty" in my head. You just do whatever works for you.

"There are many paths up the mountain"

 

When I'm stressed I stay alert to that stress. I ride it out like a wave because stress happens but I note what got me stressed and I use my learning ability to avoid next time.

 

How does one learn to meditate? I would like to start.

 

Here is one form:

Just sit comfortably. Stay somewhat aware of your breath. Be aware of your thoughts but don't get interested in them. Try to stay detached from your thoughts.

If you find yourself daydreaming and have forgotten about your breath just bring yourself back. If your leg cramps up be aware of it. If it becomes unbearable move it. Same if your nose starts itching, if the itching becomes unbearable scratch it. Just stay aware of yourself, your body, your breath and your thoughts, but don't care, and don't indulge your thoughts.

It sounds pretty simple and it is. But I get lost in the thoughts in my mind over and over again doing this meditation. The more you meditate the bigger the gaps between the thought tend to get.

Sometimes strange things happen. You might feel something like electricity in your body, buzzing or pulsing. It might just be feeling your pulse in a blood vessel that you normally are not conscious of. You might start feeling like you are floating out of your body. The strange things have no value but I like them because they make me feel like I have done something.


Pprobably nothing interesting will happen and that is just as good. Even if nothing interesting happens I feel that in times in my life when I meditated I was more relaxed with life's stressful events and more in control of myself rather than just emotionally reacting to things than I am in times in my life when I am not meditating.