Some Work

I didn't look at the clock, so I don't know how many minutes I did, but I'm glad I managed to work some meditation in today. I was feeling so out of sorts and icky earlier.

I had no moments of stillness this time, my mind was in a thousand places. After my two salutations au soleil I sat for a while, but couldn't focus. I did a silent Ong-na, but I couldn't make the wheels stop spinning. My upcoming trip, tv shows I've been watching, relatives I haven't talked to in a while,... Everything was fighting for room in my head. Finally I just settled for bringing myself into the here and now. I couldn't acheive stillness, so I settled for mindfulness, but I think it was still good. I just reminded myself over and over of where I was and what I was doing, and I managed to reign my raging imagination in a bit.

I feel better now.

0 minutes

I didn't meditate today. I feel out of sorts and mildly cranky, possibly because of this. I'll try, but Floh's sitting on my bed. That's the problem with my apartment. No privacy if there's more than one person here.

18 minutes

I spent 18 minutes in meditation today. I started by doing the salutation au soleil twice, then some candle meditation. I was having trouble focusing on the candle, so I closed my eyes and chanted the Ong-na mantra: "Ong-na gu de ong." I used to know what it meant, but now I just use it as a focusing tool, and it seems to work.

I experienced a few brief instants of stillness while I was chanting. Less than a second each, I think (it can be hard to tell how long a stillness has lasted) but that's still better than yesterday, when I tried to meditate for five minutes and stopped because I got bored.

I think that starting off my meditation period with something familiar and peaceful like the salutation au soleil is a good idea. It helps me to quiet my mind so that I can focus on acheiving my stillness.