Image: Chanting Meditation
Meditation can be a great boon for TIs. It can block unwanted V2K, and reduce anxiety.*Yet the first thing you notice is that your mind seems to wander whenever you try to meditate. Again and again you find distracting thoughts, songs or music intruding on your consciousness. These may be your own thoughts or V2K. You are not alone. Everyone, TIs and non-TIs alike, experience distracting thoughts when they practice of meditation.*If you cannot block V2K, then block it instead. This is easily done by sitting close to two radios, each with an entirely different kind of music playing: classical music on one station, jass on the other. The conflicting sounds will drown out the V2K. Keep the volume low so neighbors don't complain. Don't use music with song lyrics; you do not want to pay attention to words (V2K or songs).
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1. It takes work. The goal of meditation is "single-pointed" focus (that eliminates thoughts). This is not immediately achievable.
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2. It takes concentration and effort. Zen masters know this and advise that as soon as you realize that your focus is wandering, you simply return to the focus of your meditation. Feeling frustrated or concerned that your thoughts are wandering is in itself a distraction to be ignored and discarded, along with the original thoughts that distracted you from your meditation in the first place.
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3. It takes time. Meditating consistently on a daily basis will improve your technique over time. As long as you meditate daily, you will find it gets easier and easier. Your moments of single-pointed focus will last longer and longer. It may at first take days or weeks, or even months before you sense a significant breakthrough. It all depends on the practitioner. Conversely, you may hit road blocks, more on that later. No matter what, persevere.
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4. It takes technique. Find a meditation with which you are comfortable. There are many practices. Not every form of meditation may work well for every person. Some people best attain single-pointed focus by chanting, others by use of visualization. Some effectively employ it through meditation-in-motion (yoga, tai-chi, karate, structured dance, whirling, doing art, making music, etc.). If applicable to your beliefs, repetitive prayer can be a powerful form of meditation.
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5. It takes variety. After you have been meditating for several weeks or months you may find yourself completely unable to ignore distractions. Everyone hits road blocks or plateaus in meditation. There will be days when it seems like you are losing ground. Varying your meditation technique will help move you past these obstacles. At Zen monasteries more than one type of meditation is used. Besides various chanting and repetitive prayer meditations there is walking meditation, haiku meditation (trying to solve an unsolvable puzzle), there is even shouting meditation. If you visit a Zen monastery and join in with the everyday work, you learn that doing ANYTHING - from hand scrubbing floors to preparing food – is an opportunity to meditate. Work meditation is achieved by doing your work "mindfully", with complete attention, applying single-pointed focus to the work at hand, paying full attention to every minute detail of the task at hand. Art can be a vehicle for meditation. Zen practitioners utilize calligraphy, flower arrangement, sumi-e painting. But any art form, executed with single-minded focus can work.
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6. It takes breath. Remember to breathe deeply and calmly. Silently inhale through your nostrils, using your diaphragm so that your lungs fully inflate. Silently exhale through your nose or slightly-opened mouth. Keep your shoulders level and relaxed; they will not rise and fall with your inhalations and exhalations if you use your diaphragm.
*
1. It takes work. The goal of meditation is "single-pointed" focus (that eliminates thoughts). This is not immediately achievable.
*
2. It takes concentration and effort. Zen masters know this and advise that as soon as you realize that your focus is wandering, you simply return to the focus of your meditation. Feeling frustrated or concerned that your thoughts are wandering is in itself a distraction to be ignored and discarded, along with the original thoughts that distracted you from your meditation in the first place.
*
3. It takes time. Meditating consistently on a daily basis will improve your technique over time. As long as you meditate daily, you will find it gets easier and easier. Your moments of single-pointed focus will last longer and longer. It may at first take days or weeks, or even months before you sense a significant breakthrough. It all depends on the practitioner. Conversely, you may hit road blocks, more on that later. No matter what, persevere.
*
4. It takes technique. Find a meditation with which you are comfortable. There are many practices. Not every form of meditation may work well for every person. Some people best attain single-pointed focus by chanting, others by use of visualization. Some effectively employ it through meditation-in-motion (yoga, tai-chi, karate, structured dance, whirling, doing art, making music, etc.). If applicable to your beliefs, repetitive prayer can be a powerful form of meditation.
*
5. It takes variety. After you have been meditating for several weeks or months you may find yourself completely unable to ignore distractions. Everyone hits road blocks or plateaus in meditation. There will be days when it seems like you are losing ground. Varying your meditation technique will help move you past these obstacles. At Zen monasteries more than one type of meditation is used. Besides various chanting and repetitive prayer meditations there is walking meditation, haiku meditation (trying to solve an unsolvable puzzle), there is even shouting meditation. If you visit a Zen monastery and join in with the everyday work, you learn that doing ANYTHING - from hand scrubbing floors to preparing food – is an opportunity to meditate. Work meditation is achieved by doing your work "mindfully", with complete attention, applying single-pointed focus to the work at hand, paying full attention to every minute detail of the task at hand. Art can be a vehicle for meditation. Zen practitioners utilize calligraphy, flower arrangement, sumi-e painting. But any art form, executed with single-minded focus can work.
*
6. It takes breath. Remember to breathe deeply and calmly. Silently inhale through your nostrils, using your diaphragm so that your lungs fully inflate. Silently exhale through your nose or slightly-opened mouth. Keep your shoulders level and relaxed; they will not rise and fall with your inhalations and exhalations if you use your diaphragm.