Ear plugs? Songs of the Tao?

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  • #128212

    Anonymous
    Guest

    Hi there,
    Unless I’m able to practice in nature, I tend to meditate in my house with earplugs or while listening to the Ancient songs of the Tao. I live with more than a few people in my home including an 18 month old toddler. I find the deci-damps help with the noise and listening to the Songs of the Tao can also be helpful. Any thoughts?

    #130630

    Anonymous
    Guest

    Um. I’ll give you my opinion, not to discourage you, just to add to the discussion.

    I think that the songs are useful if you work with them in a deliberate way. For this course which is for the basics of meditation, you want to eliminate as much interference as possible, so that you know what you are working with at any given time.

    Finding the right spot and the right time to meditate can be a major challenge. For instance, I try to put in some training in the lunch break at work. When it’s good weather I go out and do some taichi/moving qigong. When there’s bad weather, I try to meditate indoors. Because of the restructing in my office, I can no longer do this. There may be people coming in and out any moment, and I don’t want to be disturbed nor I want to make them uncomfortable. Sometimes I just have to wait until there’s nobody at the office, or find some moment at home. Sometimes, I just miss the session altogether.

    #130631

    Anonymous
    Guest

    Hi, Kevin. I really love the Songs of the Tao CD, and have meditated with them from time to time. I found them particularly helpful after I had been away from my meditation practice for awhile, and needed a little structure to ease me back in.

    I’ll share one of my experiences with you, regarding meditation and distraction. Several years ago, I made a significant change by moving from a big city to a small town. My new apartment, I was shocked to find, was a lot noisier than my apartment in NYC! Neighbors, neighbors kids, barking dogs – and thin walls, so I could hear every footstep and move of the people who lived upstairs. And the whole apartment would shake when they did their laundry.

    This was quite disturbing to my meditation at first, and I tried to arrange it so I would start my meditation at a time where there would less likely be distraction. This worked – sometimes. At some point I got tired of trying to work around all these things, and just kind of gave up trying to find the right conditions. Then something interesting happened. I discovered at some point that I could just meditate with all these noises going on, and not be disturbed by them. The noises just came and went. And I just let them come and go.

    At this point I think of this as a turning point in my meditation. The noises aren’t what’s disturbing you. It’s when your mind says, “Aaarggh! There’s that dog again! It’s ruining my meditation!” When your mind doesn’t react, there’s not a problem.

    So I’m not saying you have to ditch the earplugs right away. Sometimes we have to do what’s necessary to get ourselves started, and so we don’t get too frustrated and quit. But you might want to consider weaning yourself off of them at some point, and think of them as a temporary aid. Because being able to meditate in the midst of distraction is a mighty handy thing.

    #130632

    Anonymous
    Guest

    Thats great Catharine; thanks for the personal experience. I’ll keep that in mind and not get too attached to the earplugs in the long run.

    #130633

    Anonymous
    Guest

    I’ve had a similar experience to Catherine’s. I just couldn’t find a time and place that wasn’t visually or noisily distracting. When I first started it really hampered my practice and I would often abort after 3 or 4 minutes because i felt too distracted. then i decided to not get upset that i was getting distracted, and be present to it, just allow myself to be distracted and move back to settling my mind. I would sit for 15 minute chunks and not stop until the 15 minutes where up no matter how many times i was distracted or i figgeted or whatever. after a time i would get distracted less and less until i realized i didn’t really get distracted very much at all. after that, the length of time i could sit increased dramatically.

    i hope that helps.

    #130634

    Anonymous
    Guest

    ……..I agree that distracting noise is like any other distraction and can be acknowledged (you wouldn’t want to ignore a fire alarm!) before returning to a particular practice, and that eventually a noisy environment can be as calming as sitting by a babbling brook or pounding surf. Personally, I find ‘Songs of the Tao’ really helpful when working on a specific aspect of qigong or meditation, e.g., breathing or alignment; or simply as a relevant guiding thread to follow. Whilst working through the meditation circle material I feel like it’s a bit of a ‘back to beginnings’ and ‘beginners mind’ process – so I’ll probably be reaching for ‘Songs’ less often, at least for a while.

    #130635

    Anonymous
    Guest

    I think Ill try loosing the earplugs. Maybe it would make sense for me to begin practicing without them since the meditation circle is also a new beginning. However, I think that my mind will take a bit of time to associate my son’s screaming voice with a babbling brook. Joking; I’ll give a shot.
    About the Songs of the Tao; I didn’t think they were for Beginners only so to speak. Is that what you meant Colin?

    #130636

    Anonymous
    Guest

    ………..Songs of the Tao are accessible and useful at any level, I first started using them when I began to learn ‘Gods Playing in the Clouds’ qigong some years back….re. beginners, I meant that I will be focusing on the Meditation Circle programme materials and practice guidelines, and thus will not be using Songs of the Tao unless there is a clear linkage – regarding ear plugs perhaps use them when you need to, especially if they make practice easier – little point in struggling with overwhelming external distractions!

    #130637

    Anonymous
    Guest

    Right on Colin; sounds sensible to me. I have chosen to loose the earplugs though.

    #130638

    Anonymous
    Guest

    I guess that I am not the only one who is experiencing trying to find a quiet time and place. My husband seems to get noiser when I am trying to meditate. The house does not appear to be big enough to get away from all the distractions. I gave up and try to not focus on those distractions. One of my instructors had advise us to go to the mall and sit quietly in order to settle the mind. I have yet to try it mostly because I did not want people to wonder what I was doing in the mall with my eyes close. I have already had the experinece of someone coming up to me wondering if I was okay when I was doing a qi gong exercise.
    Dolores

    #130639

    Anonymous
    Guest

    Dolores – I’m quite sure you are not alone! I have memories of sitting and meditating on the toilet in my very small bathroom in my very, very small studio apartment in New York City, because I had a roommate at the time, and she snored loudly. Also remember trying to meditate at my parents’ place – it seemed like my Mom banged the silverware extra-loudly in the kitchen every time I would get started…although everything seems louder at first when you are trying to focus.

    I remember my Tibetan teacher cautioning us against practicing in public. He said, “People will not think you are a great yogi. People will think you are abnormal.” It’s possible to meditate in all of your daily life, of course, but it’s not something one would start with.

    I guess the choices are to either get creative, or learn to deal with the distractions. Although if anyone is getting to a point where they are getting so frustrated that they might be thinking about quitting, I would certainly recommend earplugs or head phones – anything is better than getting so discouraged you end up giving it up! I’m lucky I live in a very quiet place right now, and alone, but I have had my moments of having to deal with noise. When I was practicing to the Songs of the Tao, I used a set of noise-cancelling headphones. They were nice because once the tracks ended, I just sat for awhile with the headphones still on.

    #130640

    Anonymous
    Guest

    I have not practiced at the mall for the very reason that you said. In this day and age, someon would wonder about you. I usually practice outside near the schools that I go to even there I hope that no one notices me. When I lived in New York City, the sounds never bother me, I could sleep thru fire engine etc. Now I am a light sleeper.

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