Diving into Buddhism

by **atomicuniverse** » Thu Oct 27, 2011 8:11 pm

So, I'm going to a Buddhism meetup tomorrow night.

The only part I'm worried about is a 25 minute meditation where we're supposed to just sit there... for 25 minutes... in silence.

Any suggestions on how to get through this?

It is important to understand that when you begin to meditate, depending on your conditioning and what brought you to the cushion, you may throw up a LOT of resistence, be patient, this is just you resisting truth, which can be very uncomfortable. The awareness meditation brings will make mental illness seem worse before better.

This isn't to scare you off, it's to advise caution. Also , they will give you a practice (like counting your breath) to do for 25 mins cuz you're new.

Also I would advise that if the group has no formal teacher that you don't attend. If it's just a sangha meeting up to meditate together outside of their trips to temples, centers, etc.; then it's not really for a beginner, they won't have as much experience as a seasoned teacher to deal with what may come up for you in meditation.

I'm saying this as a trauma survivor and current Soto Zen Buddhist lay practitioner (not having done Jukai, just to make it clear, for those that know what that means)

Best

by **cboxpalace** » Fri Oct 28, 2011 1:37 pm

atomicuniverse wrote:So, I'm going to a Buddhism meetup tomorrow night.

The only part I'm worried about is a 25 minute meditation where we're supposed to just sit there... for 25 minutes... in silence.

Any suggestions on how to get through this?

Reading some of the posts of above made me think. Meditation would be very appropriate for the mindfulness section of DBT skills. With meditation you're going to focus a lot on your breathing and clearing your mind. The clearing your mind is where you might run into problems, because your thoughts may drift off into random thoughts or worries. Everytime you notice your thoughts drifting off bring them back to where they need to be. If you're able to do this you'll find meditation to be very calming and relaxing ... Meditation is something that takes time and practice though. Good luck to you!

p.s. the other problem you might encounter is sitting still for that length of time, because of anxiety related issues. If you think that there is no way you'll be able to sit there for 25 minutes then talk with the instrutor before the start of your session and see what he/she suggests. My guess would be that this is not an uncommon problem.

by **Cricket** » Sun Oct 30, 2011 8:32 am

Cool! Let us know how it goes! Through a friend I have become interested in Kundalini yoga and am doing some reading, although I haven't actually practiced meditation yet. I am curious.