It’s been a while since I’ve done standing meditation, but I was doing it rong at the time. I didn’t have the focus to really let my mind calm or to work on alignment. Instead, I’d put up with it for a while, and then count breaths until the timer dinged. When I say I counted breaths, I don’t mean I did the classic boring up to four back to one up to four. I’d just count in a straight sequence.
Or I’d do projects like paying attention to corresponding fingers and toes, but not with the sort of dedication where the projects would be likely to make any difference—they were an effort to avoid boredom.
Standing meditation worked for me anyway.
My initial explanation was that standing meditation gave me enough time to realize that I was being stupid about how I was standing, but I’ve come to the conclusion that I was not giving enough attention to possible causes for the moment of inspiration, so I now think there might be something specifically valuable about the stances.
Or I’d do projects like paying attention to corresponding fingers and toes, but not with the sort of dedication where the projects would be likely to make any difference—they were an effort to avoid boredom.
Actually, “just paying attention” is believed to be able to make a large and lasting difference. I can immediately adjust my posture, in various ways, by focusing on different points on my body. Without voluntary contraction of muscles, the muscles adjust. In fact, adjust much better than if I try to “do it” voluntarily.
It’s been a while since I’ve done standing meditation, but I was doing it rong at the time. I didn’t have the focus to really let my mind calm or to work on alignment. Instead, I’d put up with it for a while, and then count breaths until the timer dinged. When I say I counted breaths, I don’t mean I did the classic boring up to four back to one up to four. I’d just count in a straight sequence.
Or I’d do projects like paying attention to corresponding fingers and toes, but not with the sort of dedication where the projects would be likely to make any difference—they were an effort to avoid boredom.
Standing meditation worked for me anyway.
My initial explanation was that standing meditation gave me enough time to realize that I was being stupid about how I was standing, but I’ve come to the conclusion that I was not giving enough attention to possible causes for the moment of inspiration, so I now think there might be something specifically valuable about the stances.
Actually, “just paying attention” is believed to be able to make a large and lasting difference. I can immediately adjust my posture, in various ways, by focusing on different points on my body. Without voluntary contraction of muscles, the muscles adjust. In fact, adjust much better than if I try to “do it” voluntarily.