#mlmeditation

[ml-aware]

Meditation log: Jenny

I find a strong parallel between my practices of meditation with the Exercising Leadership class that I've been taking with Professor Ron Heifetz at HKS for the past 3 months.  We have been discussing great leaders, who display the characteristics of compassion and curiosity.  Great leaders learn from continuously collecting data points to help them get a sense of reality in order to adapt to what's necessary in the present and for the future.  The process of adaptation is painful.  Change means conscious choices on what to keep and what to discard. These choices are not  easy.  

I have reflected on how these words "sensing", "compassion", "curiosity" are also used in my practice and our discussions of meditation.  In my Vipassana practice, I practice full-body scans for an hour each day.  Slowly through the past 2 months, I have inch by inch relinquished the vice grip on my mind.  Today I was patient, gentle, and compassionate with my tired mind after a long flight from Houston.  I also was simultaneously dispassionate, observing. For once, I didn't think "Oh no I'm sleep deprived, now I must be stressed about the long day ahead."  Instead, I simply thought, "I see that my body is tired."    After the hour, my mind felt brighter, more awake, more relaxed. Once I felt nourished,  this feeling of compassion for others.  I had no idea that the two went hand in hand so intimately and naturally.  I knew it theoretically, but this experience internalized it so intensely.  Memorable morning.  

[m-z-minimalism-blog]

Meditation Log - Mei

I've been thinking, reading, meditating, and exploring the above image for the past week. At first I look at the near field... then I look far

[ml-aware]

Ali Hashmi: Meditation Log (Nov 25 – Dec 2): Pain & Meditation

How does mindful meditation help in times of pain and distress? And how do you apply mindfulness to situations involving physical pain. This week my practice focused on these questions.

 An integral part of colitis therapy is to avoid stress. From my personal experience, it’s quite difficult to avoid stress in case when thing that is causing stress is tangible like pain.

 I decided to extend meditation (zikr) sessions in my awareness regimen. These sessions usually lasted fifteen to twenty minutes, and I practiced these thrice a day after salat ritual. My goal was to interrupt my pain consciousness by focusing on recitation and my breath. When the mind wandered off, I became aware of it through the instruments of my breath and recital. I found that meditation was really not about presence or attention but more about awareness and choice. Every time my mind focused on my pain, I tried observing it without judgment, and associated with it the fact that it is really a symptom, a departure from my normal body function. The act of observing pain without judgment usually led to awareness of other things in my field of consciousness—namely the breath and the recital. The interruption of pain consciousness persisted even after the meditation, as I was able to exercise aware choices in my day-to-day routine. By doing it three times a day, I was able to form positive associations with objects in my field of consciousness – other than pain. These associations not only interrupted my constant focus on pain, they also led to experiencing the pain more skillfully in a more “disinterested” manner.

 How does awareness and meditation translate to disease prevention and disease management efficacy? I can only answer this question based on personal anecdotal evidence. A more aware state helps me cope with negative states of mind like fear, anxiety and distress. I was able to cope with these states more effectively this week.

 I have realized that meditation is linked with larger goal of wellness through a more holistic way of living. In my case, for instance, newer therapies for colitis involve using high-risk drugs that bind to tumor necrosis factor-alpha (TNFα) but that provides symptomatic relief only. By including meditation in therapeutic programs, I think one can target causal issues—such as stress— more effectively.

 #mlmeditation 

#alihashmi

[ml-aware]

Ali Hashmi: Meditation Log (Nov 18 – Nov 25): short and long meditation sessions

This week I practiced three different prayer/meditation (salat ritual and zikr) sessions daily: one in the morning, one in evening and one before going to bed. In addition, I did a daily longer intense meditation session as well that lasted 30 minutes.

The effects of short meditation sessions are more temporal, while the results of long meditation sessions are more long-lasting and durable. 

 I found that daily ritualistic practices are good for maintaining order and rhythm in day-to-day activities. The daily practices act as regulatory mechanisms that help me refocus my attention on the immediate and the present. For instance, I was able to do my work with very little distraction. In a way, it made my daily schedule more compartmentalized by getting rid of background thoughts.

On the other hand, the effect of longer meditation was a general clarity in awareness of things around me through a refinement of senses. My interpretation of events and objects was characterized by a peeling away of unessential language and psychological conditioning.

#mlmeditation 

#alihashmi

[aih-aware]

I'd love to try few physical monitors wity my body :AiHasegawa

Last few month, I've found out my few physical data, like DNA(SNPs), sleep quality with plus oximeter.

These data gave me a new point of view for my identity. Why I had long time anxiety, why I struggle with work/study, lack of concentration... I thought it is me. But here there are a data, that addressing or gave me a hint of the relations. Also this made me to think like "might be these are hackable!". I post about depression and breath last time, here I bought a pulse oximeter to check my sleep and blood oxygen level. I also able to check what is going on in my blood when I meditate. (additionally I would love to check co2 level, although this is one is not so cheap and easy gadget) Anyway, cut a long story short, I would like to compare my brain state between laughter and meditation with Muse.

"Is Laughter The New Meditation?Joyful laughter immediately produces the same brain wave frequencies experienced by people in a true meditative state," says Lee Berk, lead researcher of the study and associate professor of pathology and human anatomy at Loma Linda University."(Might be someone already has mentioned....)

http://www.prevention.com/health/healthy-living/laughter-new-meditation

Also here people up load DNA data and other data. e.g sports activity, sleep etc. https://opensnp.org/fitbit/show/12

[ml-aware]

Meditation Log: Savannah

This week, I meditated on gratitude. Also: with an amazing view of grasslands. Photo coming soon. 

[ml-aware]

Meditation log: Mei

Lately, I've been dwelling on 2 ideas: first, the thought of traveling and how this affects overall sense of change and sameness. This week, I've been meditating in a different location than usual, and I find both strange and exciting to be there. Secondly, I've been thinking about what is like to live and think vicariously through others, perhaps as a process of building empathy. I think that animals, for instance, are interesting avatars for us to imagine living as and through. Yesterday I went to a kitty cafe!

[ml-aware]

Ali Hashmi: Meditation log Nov 11 – Nov 18 (“reflect on things without reflecting”)

I have been pondering a lot on the subject-object distinction during my meditation this week. I think that I have a tendency to synthesize the spatial and temporal dimension around me. What I mean by synthesize is that we have an idealized mathematical conception of things around us. It is a mental construct.  An appropriate way to explain this is to see how Cezanne treats perspective in his paintings.  In the painting titled “Still life with Baskets of Apples,” the perspective is neither subjective nor objective (conforming to classical mathematical proportions.) It is not a simple subjective perspective because it is not just translating Cezanne’s interpretation of the still life. On the contrary, the painting forms organize themselves from the point of view of the observer. Hence, as an observer, you experience the painting in that moment, from your perspective, without the order of mathematical constructs or rigid laws of classical perspective.

  What has this to do with meditation? I think when I am meditating I am consciously imposing an “analytic” or “reflective” structure through my sense perception and thought. I think meditation should be a more holistic experience that should abandon reflective and analytic constructs and experience world in spontaneous forms of organization just like Cezanne’s painting. For this, the traditional meditative practices that I have been doing since my childhood come in handy, because I can “reflect on things without reflecting.” New forms of experience for me provide me insights on my inner as well as outer world, and also on the invisible and the visible, but it is hard to sustain them. On the other hand, new forms of experience do provide a break from habitual patterns.

#mlmeditation 

#alihashmi