This practice is one I may need to try many times in order to reap the benefits of a subtle mind. During the first few moments when I was prompted to be aware of my breathing, I am pretty sure I got it! It was not until the instructor broke in after my 10th breath that I became startled. As much as I tried to get my concentration back, I became more focused on my surroundings. I heard the cars pass by my house. My daughter came home between classes with a friend and turned on the television. I became very aware of my dog, who was sitting beneath my desk from the start, and finally I focused on my husband who was in the next room the whole time doing some work on his computer.
The great thing about this exercise is that for those first ten breaths I was able to witness my own subtle mind (and fall in love with it). I have uploaded this exercise to my I-Phone in order to continue this practice. To be able to bring myself to this calm place would allow me to find peace in stressful situations as well as to send myself on a mini-vacation without even leaving the room.
When I compare this to the Loving-Kindness audio, it is easy to see how I am able to grasp the concept of Loving-Kindness much more easily that Subtle Mind. With the Loving-Kindness audio, the format was geared towards others. With the Subtle Mind, I found it was more about me. As I mentioned previously; it is much easier for me to give than receive. But, I am ready to learn!
“For it is not enough to talk about peace. One must believe in it. And it is not enough to believe in it. One must work at it.”
~Eleanor Roosevelt~
Deb~ Maybe I am nto fulling understnading the exercise, as I am having a very hard time with all of these. Were you able to still feel like you were focusing on yourself and what was being talked about (or lack there of talking in this exercise) with all of the other chatter that was going on in your house? I feel like I wait until everyone is alseep, including the dog, before I try these and I am still not able to focus. Thanks for the insite as well as the help. Have a great week!
ReplyDeleteSteph
Hi Steph,
DeleteI am not sure I felt like I was focusing on myself, it was more like clearing my mind altogether. I was focusing on my breathing and listening to the ocean. My mind was not anywhere else but in that moment. It was not until the voice came on again that I jumped out of my seat. At that moment all was lost, as I started to focus on all of the outide noise and could not get back into the "zone". I was just happy that for an instant I was able to look back and understand that I was capable of reaching the subtle mind stage. I will keep trying this one in order to learn how to quite my mind in any situation.
Thanks for the response
Peace
Deb
This is one practice that I can see myself doing regularly especially once I am more disciplined with completing them because this one was pretty long. My favorite one so far is the first one we did for unit 2. I could use that one more so right now because it teaches you how to make your body relax and just be.
ReplyDeleteOut of the 3 exercises, I have to agree I enjoyed this exercise the most because it was more about me. I had no concept of time while engaging in the exercise, as well as I can relate because I noticed a hightened awareness in hearing as I was doing the exercise too. I am curious what is the app you downloaded for your I-phone? Any thoughts on it as of yet?
ReplyDeleteI just saved it to my itunes and can listen to whenever I want to. I love it when I am driving to work. It takes the same amount of time for both the ride and the exercise. Practice makes perfect
DeleteGreetings Deb,
ReplyDeleteGreat post on the Subtle Mind. I think the most inspirational comments I got from your post is that you were able to grasp a glimpse of you witnessing mind and the peace that can accompany this stage of meditating in only 10 breaths. That is indeed impressive. The other comments that I resonated with were being startled when the guide "popped" back in after a lengthy pause. In all the years I have studied meditation, I have always found this aspect of guided programs to be the most annoying. It breaks your "flow" so to speak. I guess we have really arrived when we are able to tune out EVERYTHING and just focus on the breathing and the peace. Sa Mut
First of all, I love your quote! : ) I'm so glad you were able to experience even a few precious moments of witnessing your subtle mind. From what I'm reading, it just takes plenty of practice to get to the point where we can ignore everything around us. : ) I would love to get to that point. Good luck and have fun!
ReplyDeleteAs I read your post, I was surprised that I actually experienced the same thing you did, but had forgotten about. While doing the breathing exercise, I too became startled when the instructor spoke. And it was a bit difficult to find my focus again. Actually now that I think about it, I'm not quite sure I actually totally found my focus again. I also like your quote, it is very true, one must not only believe in peace, but work at it.
ReplyDelete