I've learned a few things about meditating lately:
1. Do NOT light a candle. Migraines will ensue (smoke of any kind being a major trigger).
2. It's impossible to meditate when other people are home, because someone is bound to come knock on your door at least once.
3. Turn everything to "silent" mode, except the music.
4. This whole altar thing really isn't doing it for me.
5. When meditation/prayer actually works out, and I'm able to get into the "zone" uninterrupted, I do get some pretty nice insight. I have been praying a lot for guidance lately, because of some developments in my life, and found that thinking things through while meditating and praying helps me hone in on what decisions to make, and how I really feel about things.
So, I think I'll put meditation away for the most part for right now, unless I'm home alone. Since that rarely happens, I don't think it will be a big part of my spiritual life right now. I'm just not in a place in my life where I feel it will be the most beneficial. I'm going to go back to module 3, which was where I mostly left off, and try to get as much out of them as I can, without having the meditation focal point. Someday, when I live by myself again, I will likely bring all of this back out and try again. I feel like it could be really helpful not only in my spiritual life, but in my professional life, being able to bring myself to center before auditions and performances.
Another issue I've been running into was just designating time to meditate. I've been struggling with time management since I left school last May, and have been unemployed. It was so easy to create a schedule when you had certain things at certain times every day, and had to plan around them. I don't have that anymore. However, I just got a job for the summer, so I'm hoping I can come up with some sort of routine. Perhaps I'll include meditation in that routine, at least a couple times a week.
Showing posts with label Meditation. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Meditation. Show all posts
Monday, March 26, 2012
Friday, March 2, 2012
Must be a sign...
Since starting this course, a lot of things have been happening around me, and I think I need to take a look at them more closely. It seems fitting, since we are in the season of Lent, a time traditionally devoted to reflect on our faith and meditating on what that means.
The first was that I walked into my church to practice my horn, and saw this funky table-like thing at the entrance to the sanctuary. It had a sign on it, and once I got the lights turned on, I saw that it was an altar, made by a local artist. The art gallery, which is one of the church's ministries, currently has a show called "Ashes and Altars," altars and cremation urns, among other sacred relics created by David Orth. You can see information here.
I've said it before, but I really have never though about altars. I only remember the whole do-not-worship-idols thing, and I think I always associated objects on an altar being idol-worshiping. Thinking about it more now, and having read the course's suggestions on altar-building, I do not believe that. I like the thought that I can have objects on my altar that represent different ways I feel close to God. I plan on going to the art show when it is open on Sunday, and taking a look at these altars and relics, and consider them in a different light than I would have before this course.
I picked up a packet about the art gallery, and discovered they are also having an altar-creation class on March 17. "Having a sacred space in the home can aid greatly in ones spiritual journey. In this workshop, you will learn about home altars, their history and uses in various cultures, ways in which a home altar can nurture your spiritual life, along with what to include on your altar." YAY! Consider me workshop-bound. I've been meditating, and considering what items to put on my altar, and will probably put them on there before the workshop, but it will be interesting to see what I come up with, and what the workshop talks about.
Another series of events hosted by the gallery will be multiple days of Centering Prayer: "Lent is a time for reflection, introspection on the meaning of our faith, and what it means to be a disciple of Christ... to take up our own cross and follow him. The mystics have long embraced centering prayer as a non-verbal discipline to become aware, alert, and present to the workings of the spirit as it moves through us." There are multiple 30-minute sessions on Saturday mornings, and I'm planning on attending at least one session. 9 am is a bit early for me, so I have to work myself into getting up that early. If I went tomorrow morning, I'd just fall asleep. However, I'm hoping that the few sessions I may be able to make will help me with my meditating issues.
Speaking of meditating... I came across 2 CDs of music that I got during a class on Gandharva meditation (I believe that's what it was called) that I did during my undergrad. I was told it would help immensely with my music studies, but either I didn't practice it enough, or I just wasn't ready for that kind of centering yet. Either way, I uploaded the discs to iTunes, and used the evening version for my meditation today. I immediately noticed a difference: having noise-reducing ear buds in cut out a lot of the piano "music" coming from downstairs. My dad didn't come knock on my door immediately, like he did last time I tried to meditate. The music helped me to calm my mind, giving me something to hear while I did the breathing exercise. Once the music cut out for about a 15-minute meditation session, I was really into it, and didn't get distracted. I thought about what I would put on my altar, letting the thoughts settle into my heart, and weigh the choice. I think I'm pretty set, now. Once the music kicked back in to signal the end of the meditating session, I felt very good about the whole experience.
It doesn't surprise me that music seems to be the key to my ability to calm my mind. If I can't sleep because my mind is racing, I usually do a breathing exercise while listening to a song I discovered a few years ago, "Overboard" by the band Matthew. (#2 on the list) It always calmed my mind enough for me to fall asleep before the song was even over. Music is such a huge part of my being that I really should have thought of trying to use music during my meditation sooner. I found those CDs, and had one of those facepalm moments.
All in all, there's been a lot to take in lately. It's been good.
The first was that I walked into my church to practice my horn, and saw this funky table-like thing at the entrance to the sanctuary. It had a sign on it, and once I got the lights turned on, I saw that it was an altar, made by a local artist. The art gallery, which is one of the church's ministries, currently has a show called "Ashes and Altars," altars and cremation urns, among other sacred relics created by David Orth. You can see information here.
I've said it before, but I really have never though about altars. I only remember the whole do-not-worship-idols thing, and I think I always associated objects on an altar being idol-worshiping. Thinking about it more now, and having read the course's suggestions on altar-building, I do not believe that. I like the thought that I can have objects on my altar that represent different ways I feel close to God. I plan on going to the art show when it is open on Sunday, and taking a look at these altars and relics, and consider them in a different light than I would have before this course.
I picked up a packet about the art gallery, and discovered they are also having an altar-creation class on March 17. "Having a sacred space in the home can aid greatly in ones spiritual journey. In this workshop, you will learn about home altars, their history and uses in various cultures, ways in which a home altar can nurture your spiritual life, along with what to include on your altar." YAY! Consider me workshop-bound. I've been meditating, and considering what items to put on my altar, and will probably put them on there before the workshop, but it will be interesting to see what I come up with, and what the workshop talks about.
Another series of events hosted by the gallery will be multiple days of Centering Prayer: "Lent is a time for reflection, introspection on the meaning of our faith, and what it means to be a disciple of Christ... to take up our own cross and follow him. The mystics have long embraced centering prayer as a non-verbal discipline to become aware, alert, and present to the workings of the spirit as it moves through us." There are multiple 30-minute sessions on Saturday mornings, and I'm planning on attending at least one session. 9 am is a bit early for me, so I have to work myself into getting up that early. If I went tomorrow morning, I'd just fall asleep. However, I'm hoping that the few sessions I may be able to make will help me with my meditating issues.
Speaking of meditating... I came across 2 CDs of music that I got during a class on Gandharva meditation (I believe that's what it was called) that I did during my undergrad. I was told it would help immensely with my music studies, but either I didn't practice it enough, or I just wasn't ready for that kind of centering yet. Either way, I uploaded the discs to iTunes, and used the evening version for my meditation today. I immediately noticed a difference: having noise-reducing ear buds in cut out a lot of the piano "music" coming from downstairs. My dad didn't come knock on my door immediately, like he did last time I tried to meditate. The music helped me to calm my mind, giving me something to hear while I did the breathing exercise. Once the music cut out for about a 15-minute meditation session, I was really into it, and didn't get distracted. I thought about what I would put on my altar, letting the thoughts settle into my heart, and weigh the choice. I think I'm pretty set, now. Once the music kicked back in to signal the end of the meditating session, I felt very good about the whole experience.
It doesn't surprise me that music seems to be the key to my ability to calm my mind. If I can't sleep because my mind is racing, I usually do a breathing exercise while listening to a song I discovered a few years ago, "Overboard" by the band Matthew. (#2 on the list) It always calmed my mind enough for me to fall asleep before the song was even over. Music is such a huge part of my being that I really should have thought of trying to use music during my meditation sooner. I found those CDs, and had one of those facepalm moments.
All in all, there's been a lot to take in lately. It's been good.
Sunday, February 26, 2012
Meditation experience
I've been trying to meditate at home for awhile, and just haven't seemed to fall into it. There is usually some noise going on in my house (my mom teaches piano lessons) so it's hard to focus. My father also likes to come knock on my door at any time, so I get interrupted frequently.
Being a classical musician, I am frequently in a very focused state of mind for hours a day: practicing. I think it's almost meditative, in a way, because you are focused so minutely on details, and it's hard to think of other things. I regularly practice in the sanctuary of the church where I grew up, so I thought perhaps I'd bled enough energy into that area to be able to fall into actual meditation.
Yesterday, I sat up by the altar, a few feet away from where I generally set up to practice. I tried the meditation exercise from week one, which was basically just focusing on your breathing, and opening a connection to God. I really got into it this time. I finally feel like I got something out of my meditation, because I could actually still my mind and not get so distracted. I still had thoughts that flitted through my head, but I was able to simply wave at them as they passed by, rather than start to dwell on them.
I'm hoping I can transfer this experience to my home, and hopefully move along in this part of the course. Now that I seem to have had success, however, I think it will be easier to recreate the situation. I spend much more of my time in my room than I do practicing, but I don't focus on anything so hard here as I do when I'm practicing at church, so maybe it's just an energy thing. We'll see!
Something I struggle with is what to do with my eyes. I close them, but in the past, I've found that I have a tendency to drift off to sleep if I meditate with my eyes closed. I do deep breathing exercises sometimes to fall asleep, and I find that when I meditate, I fall into the deep breathing habits. Being a brass player, it's really easy to fall into that kind of breathing, since I spend so much time doing it! If I open my eyes, however, I don't know what to look at, and find my eyes wandering, which makes my mind wander even more. I'm not entirely sure how to focus my mind on just my breathing, without constantly thinking "in, out" and then I wouldn't be able to hear anything else anyone might be trying to tell me.
I'm up for advice...
Being a classical musician, I am frequently in a very focused state of mind for hours a day: practicing. I think it's almost meditative, in a way, because you are focused so minutely on details, and it's hard to think of other things. I regularly practice in the sanctuary of the church where I grew up, so I thought perhaps I'd bled enough energy into that area to be able to fall into actual meditation.
Yesterday, I sat up by the altar, a few feet away from where I generally set up to practice. I tried the meditation exercise from week one, which was basically just focusing on your breathing, and opening a connection to God. I really got into it this time. I finally feel like I got something out of my meditation, because I could actually still my mind and not get so distracted. I still had thoughts that flitted through my head, but I was able to simply wave at them as they passed by, rather than start to dwell on them.
I'm hoping I can transfer this experience to my home, and hopefully move along in this part of the course. Now that I seem to have had success, however, I think it will be easier to recreate the situation. I spend much more of my time in my room than I do practicing, but I don't focus on anything so hard here as I do when I'm practicing at church, so maybe it's just an energy thing. We'll see!
Something I struggle with is what to do with my eyes. I close them, but in the past, I've found that I have a tendency to drift off to sleep if I meditate with my eyes closed. I do deep breathing exercises sometimes to fall asleep, and I find that when I meditate, I fall into the deep breathing habits. Being a brass player, it's really easy to fall into that kind of breathing, since I spend so much time doing it! If I open my eyes, however, I don't know what to look at, and find my eyes wandering, which makes my mind wander even more. I'm not entirely sure how to focus my mind on just my breathing, without constantly thinking "in, out" and then I wouldn't be able to hear anything else anyone might be trying to tell me.
I'm up for advice...
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