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nearoanoke
USA
525 Posts |
 Posted - Nov 28 2007 : 6:31:44 PM
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Over the past three years the most difficult thing that I found was keeping myself motivated for daily spiritual practices. I started in 2005 Jan and the first one year I missed just one or two sessions thats all. Very regular.
Later on especially in the past one year it was wayward. Regular for few weeks then skipping a session for few days, occasionally missing complete days before reading something inspiring and becoming regular again.
I have got only one life and these kinds of misses will hurt the progress a lot. I feel the most IMPORTANT thing is keeping onself motivated to go, sit and meditate twice everyday. Especially with AYP where you dont "need to be" thinking about meditation all day.
How do you inspire yourself and keep yourself motivated to do the daily sessions? Reading? adding new practices during other times of the day? visiting & posting in this forum? |
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Manipura
USA
870 Posts |
Posted - Nov 28 2007 : 7:39:02 PM
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Great question, Near. I've been wondering the same. My issue is that I'm scenery-driven. I've been fortunate (I guess..) to have had quite a few "experiences" along the way, meaning that I've felt the effects of purification in various ways, and I admit to being addicted to them. So when I'm NOT feeling the effects, (like NOW), and not having any interesting scenery, I don't feel much drawn to meditate. I do, but it's not with any joy. It's flat-out boring. I can really understand now why so many people here at AYP warn against getting too attached to the scenery; it truly does get in the way, and has very little to do with "progress" along the path.
One thing that helps me is to read spiritual writings. Find someone who touches you deeply, and keep reading that author, even if it's just a paragraph a day. Right now I'm slowly digesting a book by Adyashanti, and it motivates me to sit & meditate when I'd rather do something else.
The essential thing is to make yourself sit in meditation, no matter what, even if you have to drag yourself there kicking & screaming. Then, once you're there, work with whatever comes up. If you sit for 20 minutes and are bored out of your skull, then that's what's up, and there's plenty to work with. But how to stay interested in the other practices and do them with regularity? I'll be interested to hear what others suggest. |
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nearoanoke
USA
525 Posts |
Posted - Nov 28 2007 : 10:00:23 PM
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Thanks for the reply meg. If I have to drag myself to meditation itself then I am not sure when will I be adding asanas and other seemingly harder and uninteresting practices. Reading something spiritual always will be a good idea.
I forgot to mention this in my first post but I did something cool to keep myself to practice. I usually am always online on my laptop. So I have set two appointments in Microsoft Outlook Calendar; one saying AYP-Morning at 6 am and other AYP-Evening at 6 pm. So whenever I wakeup at 6:30 or so and open my laptop I see a reminder saying AYP-Morning is due. Similarly when I come home after work and do something, I have this reminder. I dont dismiss the reminders till I finish meditation. So they keep reminding me till I go and sit to meditate. An alarm in the cellphone also might help I guess.
-Near |
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Kyman
530 Posts |
Posted - Nov 28 2007 : 10:08:53 PM
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Because of the injuries I've sustained over my lifetime, and poorly developed coping mechanisms, it was either do meditation/yoga or resign to a life of misery. Made the right choice.
Many start from a point of balance and try not to destabilize it, I've been shaking off the dust of the extremes. Because every month, and even week, feels better and better, I am strongly motivated to continue.
Because I've always been one to keep to myself, my dispositions mixed well with practice. I've always loved nature, philosophy and psychology were my best and favorite courses, so it all comes together for me in yoga.
You just have to know what you want. You have to really look inside and know what you want to do, because then you'll engage life with that idea in the back of your mind. If you practice honesty with yourself, you can observe the times where you could be doing yoga to further your goals. You think, I'll put it off for right now, and that is okay. Either you are following intuition or you are drawn to something else at the time. Either way, there is no enemy. Just you and what you truly want. If you aren't doing what you really want to do, why not? If you don't know what you truly want to do, how do you find out?
If the practices aren't as stimulating at certain times, practice concentration on a thing or no thing at all. When the kundalini won't yoga, we can still be absorbed into silence. It takes some time to tame the savage mind, but it stops bucking after a while I (a colorful way to put it, I realize). You can achieve many miracles of healing with only a few sessions of truly deep concentration. This helps our ability to non-do, to non-act at the right times.
Doing yoga unlocks potentials and encourages the ones we have, so going out and trying anything at all can be fun and exciting. Swimming in a pool after a year or two of advanced yoga practices is experienced much more deeply. If you are a painter, your vision ties reality together into beautiful knots everywhere you look. Endless inspiration to be had.
Not doing practices is a part of yoga. Don't do it if it really doesn't feel right, and don't worry so much about why. Go by how your body feels, and balance that out with what you truly want to achieve. Of course, if one of your main goals is to purify the body, you'll have to pay attention to how consistently you practice. Spend time with family, your support system of friends, and spiritual acquaintances. Let that positive energy effortlessly impact the lives of those around you.
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Edited by - Kyman on Nov 28 2007 10:34:07 PM |
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emc
2072 Posts |
Posted - Nov 29 2007 : 03:30:16 AM
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Although I don't have that motivational problem very often, what usually kills my motivation is rigidity. If motivation is low - I allow it to be so. I don't force myself into 20 min of meditation. I make the intention clear - I WANT to keep practices and not miss out on them - then I make the best I can, and if the effort I'm ready to "spend" is only 10 min I do that. If it's 5 min I do that. Sometimes it may be really tight, so I just give it 1 min. The intention is still clear. I want to go inside twice a day. Period. But I don't force myself - then I'd start making an association between "meditation ----> feel bad" and I'd become even less motivated next time.
I train myself like I would train an animal.  Never punish. Reward from the level I'm at. If I'm not able to do more than 5 min meditation one evening (due to whatever reason) I have done my best (from that current state) and I greet myself. |
Edited by - emc on Nov 29 2007 03:31:53 AM |
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Manipura
USA
870 Posts |
Posted - Nov 29 2007 : 08:19:48 AM
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Kyman brings up a point that's puzzling to me, the one about absorption into silence. Samadhi, in other words. That's what I miss the most during my dry spells. That feeling of expansion, absorption, total fascination with the silence (or for me, the inner space) that opens up during deep meditation. That's all I really want - I don't care about the scenery - I just want to experience the absorption. When I experience samadhi, my mind is fully engaged, I am in presence, and I'll even sit a little longer than the 20 minutes, just to continue that experience of blessed connection.
My suspicion, however, is that this state of samadhi is yet more scenery, and not to be clung to. Can anyone address this for me? Am I in error to expect a big, fat samadhi whenever I meditate? I've talked to other AYPers who say that it happens for them most every time. It happens for me seldom, and always at random. Plz note that I don't consider a samadhi-less meditation to be a 'bad' one, but I do miss the absorption, and frankly, it's rather dull without it.
Near, thanks again for addressing this subject.
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Tam Phap
Canada
37 Posts |
Posted - Nov 30 2007 : 1:26:42 PM
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Hi Meg,
I have just been through a couple of weeks where I could sit in samadhi pretty much every time I meditated. Now that has changed a bit and I find that I have a vague, nebulous anxiety that is part of my meditation. I realize that this is just more purification and I try to just sit and watch it. Through the Buddhist teachings, I understand that, most of the time, we are either "grasping" or "pushing away" whatever is happening to us in our life (and meditations). The suggested way is to just sit with the breath (or mantra) and "be" with whatever is happening with no attachment either way. Just let the feelings & thoughts come and go like clouds on our mindscape and be present with them as a spectator. All of life is impermanence - samadhi today, discomfort tomorrow, boredom, joy, conflict, love... everything is as it is. Hope that helps a little....
Metta,
Phil |
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bewell
1275 Posts |
Posted - Nov 30 2007 : 4:34:44 PM
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quote:
Originally posted by meg
I am in presence, and I'll even sit a little longer than the 20 minutes, just to continue that experience of blessed connection.
Even when my mantra period is full of thoughts and impulses and ideas of what I want to write next time I visit forum, if I lie down and rest afterward, I'm often pleasantly surprised by some silence. I'm big on rest afterward. Five minutes at least. |
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Manipura
USA
870 Posts |
Posted - Nov 30 2007 : 5:44:04 PM
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quote:
Originally posted by Tam Phap
All of life is impermanence - samadhi today, discomfort tomorrow, boredom, joy, conflict, love... everything is as it is. Hope that helps a little....
It does. Thank, Phil. I'm trying (and for the most part succeeding) to embrace whatever's there, including boredom. I've lately tried treating the boredom as though it's as relevant as the rest of it; sacred, in some sense.
BeWell, the sitting at the end is the hardest thing for me. I'm always eager to dive back into some activity. 
It's somewhat encouraging to me that Adyashanti had trouble meditating, too. He writes about it in his book 'Emptiness Dancing'. He said that he really struggled with it, and his teacher finally told him that he'd have to figure it out for himself. So Adya started taking the posture of 'listening' during his meditation. I adapted that to my own personal needs, and have tried 'looking' or 'watching' during my meditations. Not for anything in particular, and not with the expectation of seeing anything, but it keeps me very alert. I just 'watch' at the 3rd eye. |
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bewell
1275 Posts |
Posted - Nov 30 2007 : 8:05:25 PM
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quote:
Originally posted by meg
...Adya started taking the posture of 'listening' during his meditation. I adapted that to my own personal needs, and have tried 'looking' or 'watching' during my meditations. Not for anything in particular...
Interesting, I've used watching and listening in the past, and found it useful too. |
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emc
2072 Posts |
Posted - Dec 01 2007 : 07:54:08 AM
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| When you listen and feel - there's not much thinking going on at the same time. If you think you don't really listen or feel. Some of those passive activities that help you focus. Watching is more difficult for me. My mind wants to comment on everything it sees. |
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Hunter
USA
252 Posts |
Posted - Dec 01 2007 : 2:19:41 PM
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Hello Near,
My motivation to meditate everday is that it relaxes me and makes me feel good. That is about it for me.
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clk1710
92 Posts |
Posted - Dec 01 2007 : 7:36:13 PM
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| hi near, thanks for your posting. i know how you feel, there are times when i bring myself kicking and screaming and hating being on my cushion and wanting to be up and engaged in the external world and then other times i have to drag myself off my meditation cushion. i was reading a book a long time ago that talked about the cycles of meditation and how sometimes we want to be out in the external world and busy and then other times we wish to go inward. i think both are essential. so i just try to remind myself that this phase will pass but to still meditate. perhaps because i began meditating only after hitting a wall with depression and realizing meditation was the only hope of true peace is the reason i am diligent about it no matter what. thanks for your post, near! |
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Sparkle
Ireland
1457 Posts |
Posted - Dec 01 2007 : 11:13:38 PM
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One of the reasons I changed to the AYP meditation system is because of the motivational factor in it.
Coming from the zen tradition, which is a little austere, I found these practices to be quite interesting and stimulating, from an intellectual as well as experiental point of view.
The other great thing here is the forum. This, I remember at the beginning, was, in itself a great motivator. The people here talking of their practices with such enthusiasm and passion was and still is very supportive to my practice.
On another note, and the main point I wanted to make: I remember when sitting in zen retreats in the past and feeling the austerity and lack of soul in the practice. Feeling like nothing was happening and wondering what I was doing here, looking at a wall all day long (familiar enough to many I'm sure).
What changed everything for me was when I invoked the Holy Spirit or Our Lady, bringing them down through me and filling me up with this vibration or presence. Then the practice became filled with presence, like a kick start, and I was able to continue with the zen approach once loaded with this grace.
It occured to me then that some sort of devotional practice of invokation at the start of the meditation and/or chanting during the day might help in softening the need for such hard discipline.
Playing devotional music like chanting, kirtan or whatever, also raises the vibration of the room you are in, candles and insense also can help and a nice alter.
So what I'm saying is, that we can help ourselves by setting the scene from the outside in, instead of always looking for it from the inside out, which can be a very barron place when things are not working out.
Meg said: quote:
The essential thing is to make yourself sit in meditation, no matter what, even if you have to drag yourself there kicking & screaming.
I think this is also very important and you are to be commended for that attitude. As you know when things get rosy again, as they surely will, the need for this disciplined approach will lessen. However, the discipline you talk of is a great backbone to develop in the practice and one that will always help when things start falling apart, which it does for everyone at times.
Best of luck
Louis
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How do you keep yourself motivated
