I definitely couldn’t do it without a folded towel and a pillow on top of it: I rest my backbone/spine on the edge of the pillow, with my legs resting out in front of the pillow on the ground. I should probably buy a zafu. Not having one would also make me wince; I figured everyone used pillows or something. The rest is more intuitive: legs crossed, spine/neck straight (level gaze, head back, but chin down), relaxed shoulders. More info is in the guide I linked to in the post.
Were you making notes as you went or did you remember all this, with fairly precise durations, afterwards?
I remembered it fairly precisely, and the times are all based off of post hoc guessing. It’s a bad sign I guess that I can remember all that, ’cuz it means I wasn’t really focused on my breath. I got a little too meta, I think: thinking about my meditation. I tried to pull my attention back to my breath and I did get some subtle facial numbness I associate with jhana (perhaps incorrectly) but I wasn’t able to keep it going long enough. (Also, thinking “Ah yes, I’m getting close to a jhana!” is a very natural and somewhat derailing thought.) Still though, the overall experience was very refreshing and peaceful. I’m not surprised that most people don’t have as intense an experience I had on their first try, but I am surprised that they don’t experience the subtler but still strong experiences of peacefulness, compassion, patience, even physical enjoyment, et cetera. Perhaps reading Mindfulness in Plain English would help?
Ooh, I bet I could make one of those. I’d still be a bit worried about my back, but honestly the problem there is my posture, which is fixable (and worth fixing independently of this reason).
Perhaps reading Mindfulness in Plain English would help?
Indeed—I have it open in a tab but haven’t gotten to it yet. Sorry for the redundant questions and thanks for the answers.
I definitely couldn’t do it without a folded towel and a pillow on top of it: I rest my backbone/spine on the edge of the pillow, with my legs resting out in front of the pillow on the ground. I should probably buy a zafu. Not having one would also make me wince; I figured everyone used pillows or something. The rest is more intuitive: legs crossed, spine/neck straight (level gaze, head back, but chin down), relaxed shoulders. More info is in the guide I linked to in the post.
I remembered it fairly precisely, and the times are all based off of post hoc guessing. It’s a bad sign I guess that I can remember all that, ’cuz it means I wasn’t really focused on my breath. I got a little too meta, I think: thinking about my meditation. I tried to pull my attention back to my breath and I did get some subtle facial numbness I associate with jhana (perhaps incorrectly) but I wasn’t able to keep it going long enough. (Also, thinking “Ah yes, I’m getting close to a jhana!” is a very natural and somewhat derailing thought.) Still though, the overall experience was very refreshing and peaceful. I’m not surprised that most people don’t have as intense an experience I had on their first try, but I am surprised that they don’t experience the subtler but still strong experiences of peacefulness, compassion, patience, even physical enjoyment, et cetera. Perhaps reading Mindfulness in Plain English would help?
Ooh, I bet I could make one of those. I’d still be a bit worried about my back, but honestly the problem there is my posture, which is fixable (and worth fixing independently of this reason).
Indeed—I have it open in a tab but haven’t gotten to it yet. Sorry for the redundant questions and thanks for the answers.