Of the exercises that we have done (loving kindness, subtle mind,
visualization, and meditation), I have found loving kindness and subtle mind to
be my favorites. Loving kindness helps me to forgive and be more patient.
Subtle mind is very helpful in reducing mental chatter and gives me a break
from worry that I may be obsessing about. I have begun to integrate these into
my daily life by doing brief meditation using the loving kindness or subtle
mind technique at small intervals during the day. I also have set aside 20
minutes each night to meditate before I go to bed.
It looks like many of us chose the Loving Kindness practice and the Subtle Mind practice as our 2 choices. That is great that you have already integrated these guided visual meditations into your daily life. I highly commend you on that! I have only listened to each one once... I have them saved on my laptop so I can revisit them though. Something that I want to do is type out the practices especially the Human Flourishing one on page 145 of Dacher's book, make it look really creative, print it off, and hang it up where I can see it and read it every day, as well as take time each day to be consciously aware. I am definitely going to be updating my schedule as soon as a few things are figured out so I can also integrate more meditation into my life, because I need to keep my stress under control instead of letting it get the best of me sometimes!
ReplyDeleteStacey, Good for you that you are setting aside 20 minutes each night. I think if I could put aside even 10 miutes each night, I think it would lead to more restful sleep.
ReplyDeleteI noticed as Natasha did, that many of us chose the same two practices. That speaks volumes. I think the subtle mind works the best at stilling the mind.
Yesterday in my Yoga class we were doing tree pose and I was focusing in my balance and I noticed the first attempt my mind was busy so I pulled my thought in to my breath and imagined sending energy into the ground and then up through my arm. This stiiled all the other activity and I actually felt taller. It was pretty cool.
Be well, Sarajane
Stacey,
ReplyDeleteIs there a specific order you do things in? I have a hard time with these ecercises. I would love to use them to help me sleep but thoughts are too loud and I can not mentally calm down enough to do them.
Jill
Jill,
ReplyDeleteI find that the best time for me is right before bed. I lay down and get tucked in, then I choose a guided meditation to do. The meditation topic depends on my mood. There is a website that I found last week called Fragrant Heart.com. You can choose from a long list of different meditations. There is also a 5 day class. You have to register to the website, but it is free, easy, and they don't give out your info. I've enjoyed it. They even have a meditation called "Meet your guardian angel". That was cool. Hope that helps. The website also has a loving kindness meditation.
Stacey
Stacey,
ReplyDeleteI choose both of these practices as well. It's great that you are able to implement 20 minutes to meditate.
-Kerri
Jill,
ReplyDeleteFinding 20 minutes every day to meditate is awesome. I am working on getting to this point. Right now I am able to only break away for a few minutes at a time. But even those few minutes help :)
Maybe trying the meditation exercises before bed would help me sleep better. Will have to give that a shot.