Guided meditations
My on-again off-again meditation habit is currently on again. It seems to be doing me good, but one thing it does bring home is just how very noisy the inside of my head can be. (Sample impression:"Okay. Breathe in. Breathe out. Dammit, Moonspell. Okay, focus on the breath. Wow, my L5R character is so much better at this than I am. Well, my L5R character is a monk. Which reminds me, next session - no, focus on the breath. Breathe in. Breathe out. Hello, Moonspell. Focus on the breath. Actually, this would make a hilarious post. Focus. on. the. breath." And so on.)
Then I happened to stumble across a playlist of guided meditations on Spotify, and it made me wonder if having something else to focus on would make it easier to let go of my thoughts. So, I've been throwing in a different guided meditation from Spotify's playlist every few sessions.
Mostly it's been working wonderfully, but I have a piece of advice to offer - if you start your guided meditation, and you think, "Wow, this guy's voice is a bit irritating, but I'll just go with it." Do not go with it. Bail and pick another meditation. Because by the end of 15 minutes, "slightly irritating" will become, "I want to crawl out of my own skin." Especially if you are a little bit suggestible, and Mr. Slightly Irritating breaks out "You may feel slight sensations of discomfort, such as an itch. Just hold that sensation mindfully in your awareness," which causes your entire body to itch.
I will not be trying any more guided meditations from Mr. Itchy.
Then I happened to stumble across a playlist of guided meditations on Spotify, and it made me wonder if having something else to focus on would make it easier to let go of my thoughts. So, I've been throwing in a different guided meditation from Spotify's playlist every few sessions.
Mostly it's been working wonderfully, but I have a piece of advice to offer - if you start your guided meditation, and you think, "Wow, this guy's voice is a bit irritating, but I'll just go with it." Do not go with it. Bail and pick another meditation. Because by the end of 15 minutes, "slightly irritating" will become, "I want to crawl out of my own skin." Especially if you are a little bit suggestible, and Mr. Slightly Irritating breaks out "You may feel slight sensations of discomfort, such as an itch. Just hold that sensation mindfully in your awareness," which causes your entire body to itch.
I will not be trying any more guided meditations from Mr. Itchy.