Meditation

I practice meditation fairly regularly - at least once every week, generally more. I'd really like to return to practicing every day however I haven't managed to work it into my 'new' schedule as yet.

There are many types of meditation. I don't know the name of the type I practice but it's of the empty/spacious mind, being present in the now type of meditation.

The place in which I seem to meditate the best is at the Buddhist Society of WA temple in Nollamara. Partly this is because I have set aside the time to be there for the sole purpose of meditation, but there also seems to be something about being in a room with 100+ people all meditating, and maybe the Buddhist monks who conduct the meditation have something to do with it also.

I attended Friday night meditation very regularly last year but have got out of the habit. At the moment the monks and nuns are on Rains Retreat so there are guest speakers conducting the meditation there at the moment. I think I'll try return when Rains Retreat has concluded.

Going to meditation on Friday nights was rather hectic in getting there on time, however always well worth the effort. I found it a wonderfully practical way to signify the end of the working week and the beginning of the weekend.

The main road to/from meditation is a 70kph zone. I would usually be doing just over the speed limit on my way there, however I always found it difficult to get up to that speed on my way home after meditating! A sure sign that meditation had resulted in a slowing of my pace.

Life Intrudes
I find it much more difficult to calm/clear my mind when I'm at home. Primarily I think that's because there are so many other things I should or could be doing other than sitting doing 'nothing'.

If I go to another place (like the temple) to meditate that's the only thing I'm meant to be doing - meditating - and so there are less thoughts in my head to distract me.

Stretching Time
One thing that rather amazes me about meditating is how it seems to stretch time.

In normal waking life time only ever seems to go slowly when you're doing something you really don't want to do, or are somewhere you really don't want to be.

At home or at work 10 minutes just flies past. But when I'm meditating time slows right down and seems to last so much longer.

I open my eyes to peek at the clock thinking the timer must be just about to go, and it's only been 5 minutes since I closed my eyes!

What a shame I haven't yet worked out how to transfer this time stretching over into other activities - it only seems to work when I'm meditating, oh well, something to aim for :)

They Way I Do the Things I Do...
Generally I just try to clear my mind and concentrate on the sensation of my breath in doing so. If I find myself thinking I bring my attention back to my breath. Sometimes I count the breaths if I'm particularly distracted.

In Buddhism for Busy People David Michie (sp?) advised if counting breath to 10 is too much then just try for 4. He apparently spent quite some years doing only that much - 10 minutes sessions counting 4 breaths, and often not even getting to 4.

I was very heartened to hear this - I often can't get to 4 either!

But with meditation, as with a number of other things, it's not the quality of the meditation - it's the fact that I bother to try that is important.

More, some other time...