Well I was all ready to relax and further my learning into taming my mind. And as we all know by now the CD is bad and a horrible noise came into my ears to startle me out of all peace and quiet I may have been experiencing. I was able to come back to it though. I don't see a huge difference in the exercses, both are about focusing and connecting to the body so that the mind can simply be observed. Like most people I struggle with the clutter and my mind wanders often. A part of me feels like I will never master it and another part of me can't wait til I do. I long for that stillness. And not only do I long for the stillness, I want to have mastery over my mind so that healing in other regards can follow. This leads right into the discussion of spiritual wellness. When the mind is calm and thoughts enter in a peaceful and free fashion then I feel more "healthy". By that I mean that when my thoughts are not heavy then I feel less stress regarding them. Stress makes me feel heavy and burdened and this affects my physical health, perhaps more subltey than some because I am in good shape but I do experience stomach pains sometimes when I am nervous and stressed.
I am glad to have these exercises available because I have know the benefits of mind exericises for quite some time. I will continue to practice them as I truly believe achieving mental and spiritual health is the key to having integral health.
Bridget
ReplyDeleteI had the same experience with the static startling me out of my relaxed state. At least you were able to recapture it. I like that you say that you are excited about being able to master your mind. I think that this is more of a journey than a simple trip from point a to point be. This mastering of the mind can take a life time of effort. Howerver, I do believe that the effort is worth it.
Bridget
ReplyDeleteI totally agree with you on the connection of spiritual wellness to physical and mental wellness. This connection is like a never ending loop of cause and effect. With a more peacefull spiritual health comes a more peaceful mental health and subsequently, a more rich physical health. I really enjoyed reading your explanation of this. Good luck on your journey.
And good mental fitness will also serve us well when we are no longer able to claim good physical health. In my research for this week's project I encountered again and again studies that show that chronically ill patients are more successful with pain management and show fewer mood disturbances when they routinely exercise their mental fitness.
ReplyDeleteBoy do I understand the clutter in the mind when trying to meditate! I use a little trick that helps me to not dwell on the incoming though. I will tell myself to pick the thought up and place it on a table and I tell myself that I will come back to it later. This stops me from contemplating that particular thought, but of course a new one will take it's place. I think that it is normal and natural for thoughts to intrude into our minds when we are meditating and I also feel that the witnessing mind exercises will come in handy when this happens. Do you have any tricks that you use?
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