Jan. 6 - Week 2 in Meditation Land

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Last week I was focused on just getting started and not worrying too much about what is correct or not.  I approached this week with a few more goals:

  1. Diligence: Because I'm traveling, I have no consistency which makes it difficult to form a habit. This week, I made sure to practice every day even when I was hungover, feeling lazy, or on a boat.

  2. Increase meditation time: I started with 20 minute sessions last week and will continue adding 5 minutes each week until I get to 45 minutes

  3. Begin incorporating first stage exercises: 6-step preparation and the 4-stage transition to the breath

First Stage Exercises

6-step preparation

  1. Remind yourself of your motivation

  2. Set reasonable goals

  3. Do not expect achievements. There is no "should be". There is no "bad meditation"

  4. Commit to diligence. Engage wholeheartedly. Don't judge the quality of meditation.

  5. Review potential distractions ahead of time. What is your mind racing over.

  6. Adjust your posture

Per step 1, my long term motivations are:

  • Gain a stronger connection to my emotions so that I can understand how I actually feel

  • Align my ambitions, emotions, and actions

  • Increase my ability to focus

4-stage transition to the breath

  1. Focus on the present

    1. Enjoy pleasant sensations

    2. When distractions occur: "let it come, let it be, let it go"

  2. Focus on bodily sensations

  3. Focus on bodily sensations related to breath

  4. Focus on sensations of the breath at the nose

I struggled to maintain focus at the 4th stage.  Counting stopped working for me, so I eventually came up with a breathing technique to force me to focus on the bodily sensations of the breath.  It's been pretty successful helping me return my attention to the 4th stage.

Successes for this week

  • For the first time, I wasn't frustrated with myself for getting distracted

  • I had the spontaneous urge to say "I love you" to myself

  • I successfully mediated every day.  It's now been 12 days in a row.

Goal for next week

  • Increase sessions to 30 minutes

  • Continue practicing the above exercises

  • Reread the first two chapters of the book and incorporate more of the philosophy into my practice


So how zen are you? I’m so zen my zen is on fire

So how zen are you?
I’m so zen my zen is on fire