Day One

I went to the meditation class this evening, as planned. The meditation practice involved a fair bit of mantra-chanting, which probably isn’t my strongest suit (I have a hard enough time concentrating without worrying about being in key…)

That being said, I learned one major thing: I’m tired. Really tired. In this class and the first class, I had real trouble keeping my eyes open during the meditation. I didn’t know I was that tired until I stopped, slowed my mind down, and paid attention. Then I just wanted to crash out right there and then.

I think this means that I need pay a lot more attention to my sleeping. I know my sleep patterns are rather crap, and that I often go to bed too late. So I’m going to try going earlier. One tip the teacher gave was to meditate on peace before going to sleep, to give a deeper, and, well, more peaceful sleep. Seems to make sense.

He also said that the best time to meditate was first thing in the morning. Get up, take a shower to wake yourself up, then meditate. I may try that tomorrow or Sunday; it’ll be good to give it a shot on a weekend when I won’t be worrying about getting to work.

He gave lots of other bits of advice, like setting up a place to meditate, which seemed sensible, and perhaps burning incense, if that worked for you. He make it very clear that meditation is a very personal journey, so what’s good for some people isn’t so good for others.

The only other bit of important advice I can remember is this: practise daily. It doesn’t have to be for long; ten minutes would do. But regular practice is vital.

So. There you go. Off to a good start, I’d say. Oh: one more thing. They had some flowers at the front of the class, and that inspired me to buy flowers on the way home. So if nothing else, my house is temporarily a bit prettier!