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CRS
Canada
16 Posts |
 Posted - Mar 14 2009 : 8:46:03 PM
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Dear friends,
I was doing pranayama and deep meditation this morning (which is all I'll be doing for a while), and about 15 minutes into it the phone rang. I usually turn everything off in the house to ensure that everything stays as quiet as possible. This time I forgot to turn the phones to silent mode.
It really gave me a nasty start. I felt so depleted because of it for a good few hours after. And I was getting quite deep into the I AM meditation when it happened. I couldn't get back into it so I went on with the rest of my daily affairs, until I try another session tonight. 
I'll assume this has happened to some of you. How do you handle it? What effect does it have on your kundalini (if such a thing can happen)? It felt very disturbing to me, in any case. Especially now that I have such a heightened sensitivity to my environment.
Warmest,
Christian |
Edited by - CRS on Mar 14 2009 8:52:38 PM |
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NagoyaSea
424 Posts |
Posted - Mar 15 2009 : 12:16:45 AM
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Hi Christian,
I think most of us have had this happen a few times. Long ago when this happened a couple of times, I ended up quite cross and irritable for most of the day. A couple of other times it just seemed like I was in a different / unclear reality -- like a dream state for a while and eventually things would clarify. I'm rarely interrupted these days and the last couple of times it happened, I was able to sit quietly for two or three minutes and slowly start my meditation again--with no lasting or continued ill effect.
Kathy |
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anthony574
USA
549 Posts |
Posted - Mar 15 2009 : 12:56:28 AM
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Get used to it, friend. I see those things are good practice. Unless you live in a cave, what's the point of practice silence cultivation is pristine conditions when 95% of your life will not resemble that at all? I don't care how deep you can go in a dead-silent house...if you're not feeling silent on the bus, what good is it?
As for interuptions or abrupt endings...they can leave you irritable or whatever else. Just deal with it, it is what it is. Eating heavy can help, as well as exercise. |
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YogaIsLife
641 Posts |
Posted - Mar 15 2009 : 06:37:06 AM
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I resonate with the previous replies. I notice from my own meditations that I get less and less disturbed when loud bangs happen (I live in a place currently with occasional door bangs and people talking!). But believe me, that too is practice. With time, and gradually, you will be deeper in meditation and these things will be like any other distractions - they shake you for a while but then you gradually come to the mantra. MAke sure you rest well (or try!) after meditation. Lying down for 5min in Savasana (corpse pose) is good.
All the best! |
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Etherfish
USA
3615 Posts |
Posted - Mar 15 2009 : 10:25:19 AM
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I wonder if having the luxury of a quiet place spoils you? In the past, people have complained they had trouble meditating because of a noisy environment; city noises etc.
But perhaps does this condition them to be more resistant to noise?
I get in a state where noises seem very far away. But of course, I don't have the phone next to my ear either. |
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Richard
United Kingdom
857 Posts |
Posted - Mar 15 2009 : 11:03:33 AM
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Hi CRS
Interruptions like this happen to me all the time I have got so used to it now I just stop meditating and carry on again later.
It all depends on the level of interruption really if its just quite small irritating outside noises you should just put your attention back on the mantra every time you notice them and in time it wont bother you at all but the really loud startling ones can stop you in your tracks I know, as I said the only way to deal with that sort is to stop meditating, rest for a bit and carry on again later from where you left off.
Don't forget that if your interrupted after say ten minutes of a twenty minute meditation you just have ten more minutes to do not the full time this is important and part of self pacing.
Yogani wrote about these interruptions here
Hope this helps. |
Edited by - Richard on Mar 15 2009 11:04:36 AM |
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CRS
Canada
16 Posts |
Posted - Mar 15 2009 : 1:49:19 PM
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Thank you for all the responses.
If I can help it at all, I always endeavour to make sure my environment is quiet.
What you've all said about being able to tune out noises and interruptions with time and practice makes a lot of sense.
Christian. |
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Jo-self
USA
225 Posts |
Posted - Mar 15 2009 : 8:13:52 PM
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Eventually interruptions won't be interruptions. The nervous system will instantly react to them and not lose its coherence. That's why trying to create a surrounding of peace and quiet may be counter productive. Its like in a major city with an elevated train line. People live right next to them, even keep their windows open, and they don't even hear the cacophony of the passing trains. Reminds me of a Woody Allen joke about the Cyclone.....
jo-self
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Scott
USA
969 Posts |
Posted - Mar 15 2009 : 9:03:50 PM
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| My opinion is that so long as the nervous system strongly reacts, it's good to keep as serene an environment as possible. |
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mimirom
Czech Republic
368 Posts |
Posted - Mar 16 2009 : 11:08:05 AM
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Hi all,
some good advice here. I have something different that works so far for me. When I get distracted to the point, that I cannot stay with the mantra anymore, like ongoing loud noise, I temporarily switch to vipassana. It is smart about vipassana, that anything can be taken as the meditation object, including a loud noise or even the aversion/hatred, that might immediately arise when we get distracted (and that we might take with us into activity, if we choose to stop there). One can observe the noise till it disappears, or the emotion will also disappear if you observe it, instead of getting entangled with it. You don't lose concentration this way, or not much, in other words it doesn't kick you out of the meditation. Then you switch back to mantra.
I guess this is what Yogani recommends too.
Roman |
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YogaIsLife
641 Posts |
Posted - Mar 16 2009 : 1:14:25 PM
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Hi Roman,
good point. I do that too.
What I have found however is that I now can be much better at "tearing apart" and watching every thought and sensation arise than before when I first started meditating, because of continuing with daily mantra meditation. I remeber thinking that the instructions "just be still and watch your thoughts/sensations" was mad! I know finally can start seeing what they mean, thanks to twice daily AYP meditation. 
So, in that sense, from a buddhist perspective, AYP meditation can be seen as a kind of samatha meditation, although there is not really a definite frontier (in my view) between samatha and vipassana - both are about more and more refined and still awareness
All the best! |
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Jerked out of meditation . . . very uncomfortable.
