Soberpotamus

I found some iphone apps that have a gong as a timer... less jarring.

biminiblue

Jennie, I found a nice lilting ringtone on my iPhone called "Radiate" - it's a good little song to use when my timer goes off. I turned it down fairly low and it wasn't offensive at all this morning.

So today didn't go as well as yesterday. I think it's because I had an issue to resolve and it was niggling in the back of my mind. Now that I've solved it, I'm hoping tomorrow will be better. It may have been lack of exercise or too much coffee, too. I also had trouble getting comfortable on the floor, so I gave up and sat on the couch. I might not be Buddha, but at least I could clear my mind. Discomfort doesn't work.

You know, Transcendental Meditation (TM) people can sit in any position it seems. I'm not about to spend $1000 to find out what TM is all about, but I also don't see myself becoming comfortable in a lotus position on the floor any time soon. I'm old. Too many hip and back injuries.

That's my story and I'm sticking to it.

#waytoomanydetails

Inchworm

I like the app "Insight timer". Singing bowls.

bookmaven

But you're not doing "nothing".

bookmaven

I fell asleep during both attempts to meditate today. But at least I attempted, which is better than doing nothing at all. I am so tired and fatigued lately. It must be time to get my thyroid levels checked.

PurpleKnight

Cheers for sharing, might check it out!!

Aellyce

I also like a gentle gong sound as timer, mostly because that's what I "picked up" at the retreats with Alan Wallace that I liked so much. These kinds:
Meditation Timers: Insight Meditation Center

I agree that meditation is far from "doing nothing", and that it's often harder than conventional activities and constant running around that we are so used to in the modern world, including the constant mind racing most of us live with. In my experience with meeting many people who are avid meditators, there is also something about personality that makes it easier or harder. For example, I've never had a particularly difficult time with the physical stillness, because I'm really not a compulsive "human doing" kind of person. I usually find it challenging to quiet my mind, though. It gets easier with time and experience, but it's important to practice regularly, and that's where I've not been doing a good job over the years.

As for position, I am also in the opinion that it's best to be comfortable. Not a fan of ascetism. Yet another thing I learned from Wallace is that we don't necessarily need to sit on the floor and don't even need to sit if we feel more comfortable lying down in the supine position. That's what I personally like best, but probably not good for people who tend to check out and fall asleep easily.

I think it's also best not to worry much if some sessions go better others less so. Focusing on trying hard can be counterproductive. This morning, for example, I woke up quite anxious and scatter brained and my session did not go too well. I tried a completely silent session (instead of with music) but got distracted by the tiniest sounds in the environment. Living in an apartment building in NYC is rarely a good basis for silence - one reason why I like to meditate with tunes that I know and experience pleasant but not distracting.

I think it's a good idea to try different styles of meditation and different ways of doing it, to find what's best and most natural for us. I know some scientists that actually study the relationships between personality traits and choice of meditation.

biminiblue

Today was much better than yesterday.

I had worked out a lot of my anxious nervous energy yesterday afternoon with moderate exercise for an hour. That always makes a huge difference in my general mood and state of mind. I feel peaceful about my day yesterday and my choices to resolve an issue that had been bugging me.

The only problem I had was kitty who is not used to being ignored. He walked up over my shoulders as I sat on the couch and was, "mow. Mow. MOW!!!!!" He did not like my refusal to engage his head with my hand.

Onward to day four

Inchworm

Day one on the cushion for me. I have a great stuffy cold going on so each breath was amazingly easy to focus on! Thoughts hither and thon ( is thon a word?). Argh -- cold medicine.

HotSauceJeff

Thank you to everyone that posted material and suggestions.. I am just starting to try to integrate this into my morning routine. I guess you can say I am still in the information seeking mode. Informally, I've been working on clearing my mind and fight racing thoughts. It's been much better lately. I am more conscious of it. I actually told a friend she had a noisy mind (whoops, not a good discussion after that..heh)

I think it's time to formalize this a bit.

Best,
Jeff

Soberpotamus

Interesting, will you share some info with us on this?

Soberpotamus

I sat this morning for 20 minutes, just after waking. My husband took the dog for her walk so I didn't have to today. That was a nice break! It went surprisingly well. Time passed rather quickly, it seemed. I kept thinking I'd be interrupted by my husband and the dog, so I cut it short at 20 minutes but could've kept going comfortably for 30-45 minutes.

I allowed my thoughts to go wherever, no fighting or controlling. Interesting, what came up for me. Kind of eager to do it again tomorrow morning. Today I sat upright in the bed, instead of using the zafu.

bookmaven

Yes, I've heard this too. They say it actually makes the frontal lobes bigger or more active or something like that. I don't have the source.

Soberpotamus

I Googled and found this study on Mindfulness Meditation and Personality: On the Relationship Between the Practice of Mindfulness Meditation and Personality However, it doesn't compare different styles of meditation. Would be really interested in Haennie's info on this!

Soberpotamus

Another I found that compares individual preference for four styles - Zen, Vipassana (Mindfulness), Qigong, and Mantra Comparing individual preferences for fo... [Explore (NY). 2012 Jul-Aug] - PubMed - NCBI

Aellyce

I think you have found a couple interesting articles. There is a lot that comes up when I do a search with the keywords "meditation, personality" on PubMed, which is one of the largest and most commonly used data bases for biological and medical research.

meditation personality - PubMed - NCBI

I am sure a lot of these articles are open access and can be downloaded without subscription to the journals.

Alan Wallace was also doing research in collaboration with psychologist Paul Ekman and others in this area. It was a combination of using some questionnaires to address personality traits, brain imaging, and studying the meditation habits of the subjects involved, plus following up their progress for a time. Not sure what came of it though, they don't seem to have published it yet.

There are also some neuroscientists at the medical school I work for who study the relationship between mindfulness training/meditation and empathy. They have found that people who tend to have natural inclinations to be empathetic and compassionate often also have more interest in meditative practices that involve improving self-compassion via relaxation and visualization. Again, yet unpublished and it would be against my work ethic to talk about it more right now, but they do some really cool work.

Aellyce

Early rise today. I still feel stressed about some work and deadlines, but I just had a nice 20-min session in which I focused on relaxing the tension in my body gradually and noticing how that affects my mental activity, and then try to let the thoughts dissolve. It's amazing when I do this to realize how much tension accumulates in the body even right after waking. I think the session helped because I feel calmer now.

Jennie, I like to do that observation of how my thoughts arise and morph into other thoughts. Interesting to "see" our own thought processes this way. I sometimes do this in a walking meditation exercise during the day.

I think once I'm done with this urgent work load, I'll book a day at a spa!

biminiblue

I had a really good 15 minute session this morning. About a third of it was in some sort of state where I had no thoughts and felt like I was completely self-contained with everything I will ever need. It was - just a warm light. I "woke" out of it ten seconds before the timer went off. I feel very connected now.

LBrain

I have not been meditating per se. However, I realized that I do in a way. As part of the mindfulness training, I am supposed to be mindful in all my daily activities. One of the things I do is a sort of full body scan when I am using the elliptical machine. I focus on each individual part of my body during that hour+. I 'see' every pressure point of my feet as they go through the cycles. If my knee starts to pain up I focus on my knee until the pain goes away. It also makes that hour fly by.

Inchworm

Session 2 today. Lots of bouncing around in my head. I have a cold and had gotten up later than usual. I was really aware of the pressure to " get something done" around the house and just rode it out. I also thought a lot about the Outlander series that has started on Starz. Sigh.