Meditation

I. I chose to meditate along with Ajahn Sundara.

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

This has been an incredibly long and stressful week and I’m actually quite exhausted from it. Lately, the thought of finals coming up and scheduling my classes for next semester is all that I can think about and it is making me feel a bit overwhelmed. I’m worried and stressed thinking about what is to come but at the same time I am hopeful that things will turn out for the best. With that being said, I think it may be the stress that is causing my hysterics. Everything is funny to me, which is really nothing new, but maybe that’s just because I’m so tired.

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

I would have to say that my level of anxiety is about a 7 because there are so many important things coming up and I just can’t wait to get them over with.

C. 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.

Level of physical tension is about a 4. My body tends to remain rather calm even if I am incredibly stressed. There is, however, slight tension in the back of my neck.

III. 
A. Reassess your mood on the chart.

Happy because I am now more relaxed and much calmer.

B. Reassess your level of anxiety from 1 to 10.

I would say my anxiety is about a 5.5 or maybe a 6 because meditating and not thinking about all that I have to do helped to relieve me from my thoughts and worries.

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

I would have to say my level of physical tension is about a 2 because during the meditation although I was sitting upright, with my chin tucked in, I could actually feel my body relaxing and I could feel myself sinking into a slouch and all the tensions in my neck were diminishing.

IV. 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 chose to meditate with a prerecorded guide simply because I didn’t have the time to sit in on a class and sitting in my room was much easier for me. During the meditation I was slowly feeling my body begin to relax however it was more of a challenge to get my mind to do the same. I often found myself having thoughts about the assignment but I kept telling myself to focus on the meditation and after a few minutes it got a little easier. However, if there was a noise coming from outside my room, I acknowledged it and then went back to focusing on my breathing. I found that focusing my attention on my breath, like we had done in class, helped me to relax more and concentrate on the meditation as opposed to all of my other thoughts. Sitting in an upright position I could actually feel my tension slowly release from my neck and I felt tingles down my back. Focusing my attention to my thoughts and not allowing them to drift was a consistent struggle and I would be lying if I said that it wasn’t a challenge for me. While it was incredibly calming and could definitely have put me to sleep it was also difficult to block out all other thoughts. I think I would definitely do this again in the future if I had time because it was definitely helpful in taking my thoughts away from my stress and it was extremely relaxing.