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anthony574
USA
549 Posts |
 Posted - Apr 10 2007 : 2:32:03 PM
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| I am relatively new to meditation. I always closed my eyes and attempted to "enter" the black emptiness of my mind as emphasized by closed eyes. I now feel this is incorrect procedure due to its emphasis on withdrawl and escapism, whereas now I feel meditation should bring one MORE IN thier reality, so to speak. Anyway, without a solid foundation of practice, I began attending the Shambhala Center. It is a Buddhist organization that hosts group meditation, classes, ect. I have only attended once, but I noticed that they advocate an eyes-open approach. I found this odd at first, but now think it is an interesting new approach and also aids in keeping my clinically-wandering mind from doing its ADD shuffle. the I AM meditation on this site, which I find inspiring and hope to incorporate into my practice seems to employ the eyes-closed method. Is this necessary? I am now stuck between the open or closed conundrum. Any advice?? |
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Scott
USA
969 Posts |
Posted - Apr 10 2007 : 3:57:09 PM
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| The only reason AYPers close their eyes is to minimize distractions. With either method, you break contact with the outside world and focus solely on the object of meditation. I prefer the eyes open approach too. |
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david_obsidian
USA
2602 Posts |
Posted - Apr 10 2007 : 5:14:53 PM
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>> I now feel this is incorrect procedure due to its emphasis on withdrawl and escape.
There are really all sorts of meditation techniques; they are organic wholes, and a feature that is optimal in one is not necessarily optimal in another. So you shouldn't expect anything like 'keep the eyes open' or 'keep them closed' to be universally recommendable. So I wouldn't think in terms of 'correct' and 'incorrect' procedure when comparing entirely different meditation techniques.
Regarding 'emphasis on withdrawal and escape', why does closing the eyes seem to connote for you emphasis on withdrawal and escape? 
There are techniques of meditation where open eyes seem to be a good fit. And there is the practice of sambhavi mudra in AYP which is a 'meditation' technique with open eyes (I say 'meditation' in quotes because, as the word 'meditation' is used in AYP, sambhavi mudra is not classified as meditation). In AYP, the mantra-yoga meditation practice is recommended with closed eyes. In my own experience, that seems to fit well organically; if I do mantra-yoga with open eyes, I don't believe I get results which are as good. I suspect it has something to do with certain automatic brain-wave changes which occur when the eyes close. I'm not saying that is identical for everyone, but it probably does fit with the rest of the technique in an average sense.
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anthony574
USA
549 Posts |
Posted - Apr 10 2007 : 7:05:01 PM
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| so you would believe that it is OK to do both depending on the circumstance? i am unclear as to how much consistency contributes to "progress" |
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Eyes open...eyes closed?
