Meditation… really? Fine… I’ll try it.
II. Before you begin your meditation, we ask you assess and take notes on your own state of mind during the 24 hour period leading up to the meditation.
A) First, take note of the moods you’ve experienced.
– Quite a wide spectrum of emotions have decided to show themselves actually. First, exhaustion from barely sleeping (4 hrs or so) due to thoughts running through my mind that have to do with planning out the week ahead, and dealing with a variety of issues that they will bring about. Second, feelings of being overwhelmed from trying to coordinate 2 different group projects and having to study for 3 different exams all on the same week. Third, anger from having to do all of these things (assignments, reading, studying, etc…) and not being able to do what I actually want to do for my own enjoyment. Finally, frustration due to the fact that the week is only going to begin and all these things still need to be done!
B) Assess your overall level of anxiety on a scale of 1 to 10.
– About an 8, and this coming from an overly optimistic individual….
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.
– Shoulders, neck, and my head feels like it weighs a ton due to a headache; overall tension is probably a 7.
III. After you have finished your meditation, re-asses your state of mind and body.
A) Reassess your mood on the chart.
– Still feel rather frustrated, but overall hopeful of the things to come as the fact remains that once the week ends, it’ll be behind me.
B) Reassess your level of anxiety from 1 to 10.
– Around a 5 as I still need to get things done. They aren’t going to get done by themselves, but that’d be great.
C) Reasses your level of physical tension and rate it from 1 to 10.
– Shoulders and neck feel a bit less stiff, but my headache is still present, 4.
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 picked the guided meditation (Ajahn Sundara: Intro Guided Meditation) as I’m not keen on these sort of things, and this seemed like a good one to try for the sake of being introductory. Just like when we are asked to try these things in class, I had a ton of thoughts running through my mind ranging from the things I still needed to do, to new ones, such as the individual’s strange nasal voice (hard to describe, not fond of it). Eventually, I did start to feel a bit relaxed and got used to the voice, but I still had thoughts on my mind albeit fewer of them. Soon, before I even realized it, the time elapsed and it was over.
During this meditation, the challenging aspects were definitely trying to eliminate the thoughts running through my mind and trying to relax. When one thought dissipated, another took its place, and this continued throughout the whole experience. As I mentioned earlier, I am not keen on the whole meditation thing, so I doubt I’d go out of my way to do it again as I’d much prefer to take a walk somewhere quiet by myself when I need to get away from things. As a matter of fact, I’m a fidgety individual by nature, so the whole sitting and zen thing isn’t part of my routine.
Comment Prompt (Group’s A & B):
1. After reading the reflection writer’s description, what do you think was happening to them during the meditation on a physiological level?
2. Based on your readings throughout the semester, what areas of their central and peripheral nervous systems may have been effected during the meditation?
3. What questions do you have for the writer about their experience?
4. Based on the description provided, would you be open to trying the same meditation exercise?
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