The Buddha Project Do you always meditate at the same time and for the same length?
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I am just curious if others who have busy lives always meditate at the same time of day and for the same length of time, or have a’set but not same’ time/day routine, or just meditate when life-space permits. I combine PT work with (around 10 a week) Jamyang Leeds zooms, one day of childcare, an allotment plot, and a best friend who shares coffee/hikes with me most Saturdays – so my meditation sessions are a little erratic and I am unable to meditate for a set hour every day at the same time. The minimum for me is 30 minutes per day of formal meditation, but I do a lot of informal meditation – for example Wednesday night I work night shift, but as I am ‘on call’ for most of the 8 hour shift, I can usually meditate for 4-5 hours, providing I keep an ear open in case I am called. So Sometimes I don’t have enough meditation time, but other days I do too much, it seems. I was just wondering how everybody else studying IDMT fits meditation into their lives….
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Dear Sande and the rest of you.
Your reflection on how, when, where to focus on meditation practice is so interesting. As for my practice, it has gradually expanded as I have studied more and more Buddhist philosophy and psychology both by reading volumes of literature and by following several different courses over the past five years. It is as if the daily practice has changed and developed along with the understanding of it, and the experience that the practice de facto gives me greater well-being and greater patience for the variation of reality in which my daily life circles. As for the more practical question of time and scope of my daily practice, it is pretty much the same every day.
It is partly connected with the fact that I have been practicing physical yoga every morning for twenty years. Then expanding it with meditation has not been difficult. Rather the opposite, the physical yoga is today a way for me to wake up the body and create mental focus, and then sit down on the cushion and meditate. What I notice is how the time in meditation increases as I follow the IDMT course. That means I get to get up a little earlier in the morning. Another observation is that I have become more aware of the six perfections in everyday life, more awere of my actions both in terms of body, speech and mind. This, in turn, has made it easy for me to start by ending the day with a shortened and simplified form of meditation before going to bed in the evening. Something that in turn made me sleep better without too many stressful dreams. Realize I could write a thesis on your question but choose to stop there for now. -
Hello there, my first visit here to the new site, what a great resource this is.
I find sticking to the same time schedule helps me immensely as if I know my meditation time is coming up, the subconscious already begins to prepare in advance and I am able to more quickly find my space and apply a little mental discipline if I find myself in danger of procrastinating.
I try to keep the minimum to 30 minutes morning, 30 minutes evening, although I expand the time slot if needed or desired.
This provides me with vital ‘bookends’ to my day.
Drew -
What a great question! Thank you for asking it!
What an amazing opportunity Venerable Gendun and the sponsoring centers are providing for us by helping to form this wonderful community of meditators. One of the many favorite thoughts that Venerable Gendun has shared is, “Buddha-hood is a path of friendship.”
I don’t have a fixed schedule. In many ways, this can make it more challenging to meditate regularly. When I do have something in the morning, I wake up 1.5-2 hours earlier to make time for practice. Obviously, during a retreat a fixed schedule is extremely important to follow.
What I have found works is that I’ll fill a glass of water the night before and as soon as I wake up I drink it. Nothing like dryness to interrupt a meditation session. Then I go to the bathroom, if needed. Then I start to meditate. Similar to what other teachers have taught, I’ve found it to be really important to do the morning meditation as soon as possible after waking up. The longer I wait, the more my mind starts to get busy. For this class, I often times get up just 10-15 minutes before (7:30am start in my time zone) so that my mind is a little fuzzy rather than starting to be overly active.
In the evening, I do it right before bed. I’ve found that the majority of the time any sleepiness or dullness tends to brighten up and go away as I practice. Maybe once a month the energy just doesn’t want to arise and I make a note of what I am doing and purposely stop the meditation after 15 minutes. A few months ago, evening practice tended to give rise to a very agitating energy and it would give me insomnia. It’s become a more mellow energy over time that has made it a lot easier to sleep as I’ve followed Venerable Gendun’s wise instruction.
Similar to the others, I have found that this course has increased the amount that I meditate. Starting to find more longing to practice the longer that I have kept to a daily schedule.
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Morning session I tend to. Wake sometime between 5 and 6am dependent on baby. Have a cold shower (gamechanger!) and make chai before heading back to bed to breastfeed and meditate. Noticed if I leave eve meditations to bedtime i tend to drop off, so incorporating this session into the afternoon, a vital reset point when i lose track of the day around 3/4pm!
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