Tuesday, October 27, 2009

Gongs and Quiet

Greg took this photo of me before the gong bath on Saturday. I wasn't familiar with gong baths but they're popular in other parts of the world as a way to meditate and relax.
 
After things were setup I was able to lay down and listen, too. I was thinking how unusual it is for me to be doing nothing for over an hour. To just be listening to something that doesn't require my focused attention, to only be doing one thing, to be relatively still. It is rare.
 
I have some meditations on my zune and listen to them on a regular basis but something I know about myself is that I need the guided ones. Otherwise my brain starts to wander into dozens of different alleys.
 
On Saturday there was nothing for me to do except lay there and listen. I tried to relax but it is a struggle for me, even when I want to. My brain was racing most of the time, although there were a couple of times when I was able to quiet it very briefly.
 
I think it's probably good practice for me to try and relax more, to be quiet more, to be still more. I had lunch with Kristine today and we were talking about this in the context of my upcoming recuperation. She suggested I view this time as a gift of time to contemplate and I think that's a good way to approach it.

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