Author Archives: wanying.wu

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

This morning, I felt annoyed because of the weather. When I went to my Communication class, I felt relaxed and calm since I didn’t have to present today.  I only need to sit down with a free mind, watching my classmates but thinking about other things most of the time. Then I went to my next class, I felt bored and tired. At some point, I was extremely awake because my professor got irritated by students who came late to class. I felt excited when the class was over, because it meant club hours. I left school with a smile because I went to my professor’s office to check my midterm grade, and found out I did well on the exam (I took the exam last Thursday, I thought I did really bad, and I was very upset. In addition to other issues, last Thursday became an extremely bad day for me). At the end, I went shopping with my best friend. I was satisfied and happy when I saw the decorations, candies and treats for Christmas. I wondered how my moods fluctuated today; my mood experienced a huge change compared to last Thursday!

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

I am an anxious person, I am afraid of making mistakes. I do things slowly; I always worry about not having enough time, especially before something is due.  I would say my overall level of anxiety is 7.

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.

I think my level of physical tension is 3. I feel calm but sleepy.

After you have finished your meditation, re-asses your
state of mind and body.

Reassess your mood on the chart.

After meditating, I feel less tense and sleepier. I feel confused at the same time because I wonder if meditation will cause people to feel tired.

Reassess your level of anxiety from 1 to 10.

My level of anxiety is now reduced to 3.

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

My level of physical tension now is 2. I feel warm, but I am not sure if it is resulted from meditating or from the heat.

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’ve decided to do one of the audio guides found online. It is called Guided Meditation: Body Sweep. As I followed Leigh Brasington’s directions, I tried to be focused and not to think about other things. I followed my breath. My attention moved and reached different parts of my body.

During meditation, there were many pauses. My mind was empty during those quiet moments, and I can hear the clock ticking. Since I was already sleepy before meditating, I felt calm and sleepier as the process continued. To be honest, I almost fell asleep during the process. I think meditation is similar to hypnosis. I may try this again in the future, but I will do this when I am awake and when I feel stressful, not like this time, when I felt sleepy, tired, and not very stressful. In this way, I can compare my experience before and after meditating with less confounding variables.