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Guy_51
USA
170 Posts |
 Posted - Feb 11 2006 : 10:41:35 PM
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Just wondering what peoples thoughts are on the use of ear plugs for Deep Meditation? Help or hinderance?
Guy |
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weaver
832 Posts |
Posted - Feb 11 2006 : 11:28:39 PM
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Hi Guy,
I don't think there is any rule in AYP to use it or not, so I will just share my personal opinion. I think it's generally better to train the mind to meditate with outer noises present than to "spoil" it by using earplugs, at least at the regular place where we live and meditate most of the time. Then one can make exceptions if we have to meditate for example downtown during rush hour. We may tend to strive for inner silence during meditation by having it quiet around us, but then again the specific experience during meditation is less important than just doing the practice and how we feel afterward in daily life. The mantra purifies as efficiently even if we don't seem to experience much silence during meditation. To my surprise I have found that I may feel better and having more inner silence in daily life even if the meditation have seemed noisy. And over time there will be inner silence during meditation even with outer noises present. |
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Etherfish
USA
3615 Posts |
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Alvin Chan
Hong Kong
407 Posts |
Posted - Feb 12 2006 : 01:28:43 AM
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Finally we won't need earplug. But for certain people, at least at the beginning, meditating with some people talking nearby, or with your family member playing piano could be a very big distraction. (This is sometimes what I have to face even while at home!!) For me, I have a natural tendency to follow and analyze music and conversations that are related to me. So, earplug can be useful in such cases.
I don't use it much now because, slowly, I start to be able to remain indifference to conversations outside my room. Usually I don't even realize the conversations. But still not with music. I think music has specific rhythm and emotional contents that are more primitive and direct than conversations (and thus harder to resist, at least for me) So if my sister is playing piano when I meditate, I still put on my earplug.
Some schools (e.g. Swami Rama) suggest NOT to use earplug at all. Not that "spoil" reason. They say that earplug can irritate your ear. I don't find much sense in that, though. |
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david_obsidian
USA
2602 Posts |
Posted - Feb 12 2006 : 10:15:37 AM
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Alvin,
I've been meditating for a long time now, and I could probably meditate in a bar-room while a brawl goes on, provided I know no-one would hit me --- but I still can't meditate with music in the background. And I don't think I ever will be able to meditate properly with music in the background.
Mind you, I can willfully *concentrate* without difficulties with distracting music going on and block the music out. But our mantra yoga is not concentration.
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Richard
United Kingdom
857 Posts |
Posted - Feb 12 2006 : 1:55:21 PM
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The only things that interfere with my meditation are music and a ticking clock, I cant stand ticking clocks  then I have to use earplugs
RICHARD |
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Etherfish
USA
3615 Posts |
Posted - Feb 12 2006 : 3:38:29 PM
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I use earplugs sometimes to "dull" the noise and make it easier, when I need to relieve stress.
But there is a great state you can get into where you accept all of it as if it is some sort of big collage painting. I am meditating, and she is playing the piano and they are talking, and a dog is barking, and it all fits together in a perfect, beautiful way. So then you don't perceive any of it as a distraction. You don't get involved in the emotion of the piano playing because that's what she is doing, not you. so you are aware of everything, and it doesn't bother you.
It's a paradox because it is an expansion of awareness caused by an initial pulling of awareness away from the world. |
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Anthem
1608 Posts |
Posted - Feb 12 2006 : 4:55:55 PM
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The only thing that distracts us when we meditate is our fear of being distracted.
If we let go of this fear, as if it were any other thought and return to the mantra, we will stop being distracted (unless of course we check to see if we are no longer distracted)! |
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david_obsidian
USA
2602 Posts |
Posted - Feb 12 2006 : 8:43:15 PM
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The only thing that distracts us when we meditate is our fear of being distracted.
If we let go of this fear, as if it were any other thought and return to the mantra, we will stop being distracted (unless of course we check to see if we are no longer distracted)!
I respectfully disagree, Anthem. With mantra yoga, music distracts me whether I fear the distraction or not.
I am well able to do other kinds of meditation which accept the music as it is; or I can quite esily keep it out by an act of will and concentrate, and do a will-based meditation technique.
But when I do mantra meditation, and do it properly, without concentration effort, it seems as if my openness to silence also opens me to ambient music. There is no dount at all that my meditations are not as good in the presence of music and that I do better to meditate without it.
-D |
Edited by - david_obsidian on Feb 12 2006 8:45:56 PM |
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Anthem
1608 Posts |
Posted - Feb 12 2006 : 9:12:56 PM
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Well David, if I am wrong here it will certainly not be the first thing I have been wrong about nor the last!
It does seem like a bit of a sweeping statement when I re-read it. All I can say is that when I meditate and I hear music and I notice my mind tuning into it, the first thing that I feel is a momentary tinge of irritation before I go back to the mantra. As the music continues I begin to worry about how it is going to “ruin” my meditation. Mild irritation, to me is a form of anger which is a reaction to fear.
Do you notice any feeling or emotional response (no matter how subtle) when you are meditating and then hear music?
I think this could make for a good discussion, what is the root of distraction is it conflicting wants and resulting fear of loss of one of them?
quote:
There is no dount at all that my meditations are not as good in the presence of music and that I do better to meditate without it.
This is true for me too.
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david_obsidian
USA
2602 Posts |
Posted - Feb 13 2006 : 10:23:13 AM
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Hello Anthem, I think that this 'fear' and 'resistence' and 'insistence' can be part of what gets in the way of meditation. Maybe in some cases it is the most significant thing. But what I am saying is that it is not the only thing.
Mantra yoga is a pretty specific ( and powerful) meditation technique. It relies heavily on what happens automatically. I think this bit, is the crux of it for me:
When I am open to the silence I am open to the music.
Indeed, I can notice I am listening to the music, and attend again to the mantra. But part of me continues listening to the music. The meditation is not completely destroyed, but I certainly attend less to 'inner silence' and more to music when the music is there.
I don't get into a fight about it; I am no longer afraid of, or resistent to, not going deep. But if I want better meditations, I have to do it without music.
I mentioned before that the combination of a white-noise machine and earplugs is great in extreme situations when it is hard to get silence.
-D
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earplugs
