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The past few days I’ve added a second meditation in the evening. It’s kind of freestyle. It’s OK if it’s only 10 minutes or however long because the “real” meditation was already done in the morning. You can improvise and combine areas however you want or do extra work on trouble spots.
Just throwing that out. Have fun everybody!
I agree a second session at night is wonderful I’m doing about a half hour in the morning sitting and then 20 minutes at night standing ,sometimes using 2 or three differant postures .soon i’ll add a qigong or taiji movement that bruce discusses to my night session.I’m about 4 days into month 2,counting is easier but adeep feeling is still hard to detect.finding the spaces is a challenge !thanks don,
ok im on week 2 of month 2,i decided to try an experiment,i concentrated on trying to circulate the qi in my tantien and torso and not try to count the breathes this time,think i’ll try this approach for a couple of days and then add the counting again.I think it will let me zero in on the qi so i will know what to look for a little clearer.
ok,i think i tended to become more distracted not counting so i’llgo back to the way bruce wants it done and just keep practiceing and put in the time and effort
About what parts to do in what order, how many days, to feel in isolation or together, etc. I think Bruce gives a lot of cues into the practice, because he cannot speak for each and every of us, where we are, what are we feeling, what are the challenges for each of us, etc so I take it as a guideline to practice, and I don’t try to follow too strict a schedule. I just count breaths, trying to recognize the road to distraction and focusing on different body parts and moving to the next one by not leaving the previous behind… very much like in the inner dissolving for those of you with that experience. The rest is not so important, some days you achieve more, some days you achieve less.
The bit about how to create space. I find it takes time. You gotta focus (softly) on a part and breathe on it for a little while. A teacher I had used to say “breath more than you think you need to”. I think this is key for creating the space. It is literally as if you blow air into the area (don’t overdo it though). Blow enough and the “ballon” will inflate. That’s my experience anyway. I don’t get it everytime, but when I do, it’s a real high!
So I’m winding down on the first half of the month. I took a total of 20 days so far. It was obvious that I wasn’t going to squeeze everything into two weeks, so I just didn’t worry about it and took my time. A few observations:
1) This is definitely a challange to my concentration skills. I realize that I am so used to moving my mind, either going down the body or into a blockage during my meditation, that it was a challenge to keep the mind on one part for so long. I have noticed that even though I don’t get caught up in distractions that take me totally away from my body all that much, my attention is not entirely even or unwavering in its focus. It kind of feels like a faulty electrical connection, or a radio station where the tuning will go in and out. I’ll have this clear connection to a sensation in the area I’m working on, and then it will fade and come back in. So the clarity is not unwavering. But I think I am seeing some small improvement in this area as time goes on.
2) I have been doing this course with eyes open, basically because I’ve been meditating for awhile and I know that at some point, you should start meditating with eyes open. I had been having a hard time starting this new habit, so I decided this course was the best place to start. However, I find it is much easier to feel these places with my eyes closed, and without the fingers moving to count! So I stick with the directions, and also my plan to do the course with open eyes, but sometimes at the end of my meditation I treat myself to feeling these areas with my eyes closed and without the counting. It’s interesting to notice the difference. The physical movement of the fingers is definitely a bit of a distraction for me still.
3) The most obvious countdown to distraction sign for me is still a slight feeling of dullness that starts in my mind. If I can open up into more clarity, that seems to help head distraction off at the pass. I’m sure there are probably more subtle signs present in the physical body, but I haven’t been able to detect them yet.
So there you go. I am spending quite a few extra days on the dantien to finish up this part, just because it feels important. I’m going to be away for a week, so I don’t think I want to start the second half of Month 2 until I get back. Carry on, everyone!
Hello,i’m starting on the second half of month two also,i haven’t tried meditating with my eyes open(i have done zhan zhuang exercises eyes open)i’m thinking this is close to the scanning.Bruce mentions doing qigong exercises or taiji movements while meditating,i have been thinking of adding this to my sessions but am a little hesitant adding another level for distraction.i was curious if any else is adding the movements
I’ve tried meditation with eyes open before this and have always gone back to eyes closed. For what we are doing now it seems like it would be particularly difficult with eyes open. Maybe that’s just my personal prejudice, tho.
Can’t imagine doing any qigong/taiji movement while simultaneously counting on my fingers and being aware of specific body areas. It’ll be some time before my mind becomes that “light.”
I know bruce mentions it as long as it is “hard wired into the brain”still seems like alot going on at once.what will it hurt to try this weekend I’ll let you know how i made out!
Well, I have been meditating for about 14 years, and I have heard Bruce say before that eventually you should meditate with your eyes open. I have had a hard time switching over, so I made myself do it at the beginning of this course, and stick with it. Bruce doesn’t mention anything about the subject of the eyes open/closed, so I assume it’s up to us. I think it would probably depend on how much experience you have, and how difficult you find the exercises.
I have not been doing any movements with the techniques learned in this group (except the extending of one finger at a time for the counting, and that’s hard enough!). I think if anyone wants to experiment with it, I would suggest starting with very simple moves. Cloud Hands, the Commencement (the first move of the form), or just shifting from one leg to another.
ok,weekends over and after several sessions i had a great deep breathing relaxing qigong sessions,as far as meditation way too much going on!can’t add any movement(i’ll try again next year)back to regularwork which is tough enough!
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