Battle on to 40minutes!

[technosmith]

Hi Guys,

Occassionaly I feel tired when meditating, as if it is a strain on my brain to keep repeating the mantra. It feels difficult to simply sit still and focus on one thing.

When things are feeling more difficult than usual would you recommend that you try and keep going to the end of the 40minute track, or would it be better on these occasions to stop.

Thanks,

Phil

[Panthau]

Hi Phil (im a Phil too! ),

What i usually do with something like that, is to let go.
This reflex to stand up and move is normally an inner blockage.
This can be felt like any other sensation, and one can choose to
not identify with it and let go. Letting go means for me to actively
feel whats going on and to not resist it, but instead open your mind
and body for it (relaxing all your muscles and let it flow).

If the inner blockage is too strong, then i believe its perfectly ok to choose
your own meditation length and maybe try to enhance it by time.

[Edwin]

Also, keeping constant focus on the mantra can be quite a strain as well.

Strain = effort = a big no no in meditation.

If your thoughts want to drift, fine, let them. As soon as you notice you have drifted away, just lightly focus on your mantra again. In fact, you might even notice that you have completely stopped with the mantra and that you have to start over again.

All that doesn't matter.

Like Michael said in the meditation course, think of thoughts as clouds passing by. They come up, they drift away. Nothing you have to do about that. Keeping focus on your mantra is meant to help you remember that you don't have to focus on the thoughts. You can observe them as if from a distance.

And that alone is enough to ( over time ) teach your mind to shut up

[Itlandm]

The length of the track is not actually a prescription. 40 minutes of technology-boosted meditation is rather a lot. Now you may not hear that from the regulars here, because we enjoy it and meditation is a rather big part of the life for some here. But actually 20 minute is more the normal time to meditate for people who are not monks or nuns. Studies that show significant stress reduction and improved health typically use 20 minute meditation sessions.

The CDs are actually 60 minutes per track! The 40 minutes is more of a compromise with memory limits in old MP3 players and dial-up connections, I believe. Having them even this long is typical of Michael's generosity, making sure that even the serious seekers have something to chew on. You are not obliged to clear the plate.

But I agree that if you have time on your hands, it is certainly a worthwhile experience to simply observe your restlessness, discomfort or boredom with detachment, as if you were a scientist from the spirit world observing the emotions of the human subject through a direct visit in their head.

Generally though, 20 minutes is fine. 40 minutes is also fine, of course. I am not sure where the limit is, but I'd take the length of the original tracks as a hint. I play LF2 for about an hour in the morning and have no side effect apart from feeling a bit dazed afterwards, but then I usually feel a bit dazed in the morning anyway.

[technosmith]

Thanks for the advice.

As usual, top notch stuff!

'Scientist from the Spirit World' has got to be one to remember!