A start in Mediation

For this post, Group C was asked to choose between listening to mediation or attending a meditation class. I personally choose to listen to one of the online guided meditations because in the past I have practiced yoga. Overall I would say this was a good experience.

First, take note of the moods you’ve experienced.

Before I started this meditation I felt really calm, happy, and at peace while at the same time I was partially feeling worried, I was skeptical about why it is today was so peaceful and stress-free. At times today I felt very energetic, for example when I was partaking in a bake sale. While at other times I was feeling very listless and bored, like when I was in one of my classes.

Assess your overall level of anxiety on a scale of 1 to 10.

I would say my level of anxiety is around a 6. I am a tad bit worried about completing this assignment correctly and about getting all my homework and assignments done in time. Before I started the assignment I was also thinking about all the social things I would be doing this weekend and need to get done next week.

Assess the level of physical tension in your body- where do you notice the tension? Try rating your overall tension on a scale of 1 to 10.

Before assessing my body I didn’t think I was feeling any tensions what so ever, but after a scan of my body I was feeling a bit of tension in my chest area. This wasn’t a great amount of tension so I would rate it about a 5.

Reassess your mood on the chart.

After the meditation I would say I was in a very peaceful state of mind.  Any tension I might have had in my body went away. All the things I was worried about and thinking of before I started the meditation, seemed to escape me.
Reassess your level of anxiety from 1 to 10.

Post meditation I would say that my level of anxiety dropped. I feel very at ease and peaceful, and more likely a 3 than a 10.

Reassess your level of physical tension and rate it from 1 to 10.

Like I said before my level of tension basically went away all together. If there is any physical tension left in my body I would probably rate it as a 1.

Describe the experience– What type of meditation did you choose? Describe what was going on in your mind and your body, what kind of thoughts and sensations did you experience during the meditation? Were there any challenging or frustrating aspects of the experience, and if so, what were they? Would you try this again in the future? Why or why not?

I choose to do the Guided Intro Meditation by Ajahn Sundara. I particularly choose this meditation because I felt it would be a good idea to start my way into the world of mediation with and introduction. In the past I have done yoga so I thought it would be good to try something new. Like many other people I had a really hard time blocking out all the thoughts that were racing through my mind. Also in the beginning it felt weird having Ajahn Sundara talking in and out of long periods of silence.

Although I did enjoy the meditation, I do not see myself trying this again in the future because I personally prefer yoga. If I were to try to another meditation I think I would try it in a class setting instead of on my own.