The subtle mind practice to me seems much more like
meditation than the loving-kindness exercise. In the subtle mind, breathing is
the focal point, and most of the exercise seems to be concentrating on your
breath, either the chest moving with each breath, or the breath moving in and
out of nostrils. In addition, this exercise teaches to let go of any thoughts
that enter the mind as they are distracting to the exercise. Once you reach
stillness, the focal point then turns to the stillness. While doing this and
concentrating on my stillness, I found it difficult to continue, but only
because I wanted to sleep- those ocean waves again! I must already have a Zen
mind, because I don’t seem to have trouble relaxing. I think my mind is reverse
as I have a hard time concentrating on things that do not interest me, but have
no problem concentrating on the things that do interest me, and no problem
concentrating on relaxing as the relaxation comes fast and easy, and just makes
me want to sleep. By the way, I love to sleep. If I didn't have any
responsibilities, I’d probably sleep more hours each night because it just
feels so good!
The loving-kindness exercise is similar to the subtle mind
as they both focus on stillness. It differs from the subtle mind exercise as it
is a bit more spiritual, focusing on a loved one, and taking their pain and
suffering by breathing it in. To me this is a bit like praying, and so the
loving kindness exercise borders on prayer.
Spiritual wellness is a way of establishing our beliefs into
our daily lives and a way of balancing our inner peace. Balancing our inner
peace is also a way of creating a healthy mind thus giving us strong mental
health. A strong healthy mind can then lead to a strong healthy body for
physical health. I am not a spiritual person, so I can’t say that spiritual
wellness has been integrated into my life. But I feel that my mind is pretty
strong, and I take care of my body with diet and exercise.
Hi Donna,
ReplyDeleteIt is interesting to me that these exercises make you so sleepy :) I enjoyed the subtle mind exercise and it was interesting to see thoughts and then being able to dismiss them and regain focus. I like the waves too, they remind me of when I lived in Hawaii. I loved going to the beach and closing my eyes to listen to the waves. When I hear the waves it takes me back to those beautiful sandy beaches and I can feel the warmth of the sun and the smell of the salty ocean in the air.
Donna,
ReplyDeleteYour comparison of the two exercises were spot on in my opinion. I had an equally hard time with both. I, too, wanted to fall asleep and it took several different times of restarting the exercise for me to focus. I sure wish I could relax as easily as you! I can be so tired in the evenings and when it is actually time to go to bed I will lay in bed for hours sometimes wide awake until I finally fall asleep!
It is much easier to read about spiritual wellness than it is to actually achieve it. When I'm reading about it I think that it seems so simple. But I have such a hard time concentrating and focusing during the exercises and I realize what mental strength it takes to achieve one level at a time. Kudos for keeping a strong mind and body! :)
Jo
Donna I think you are right, that this exercise was more of a meditation type exercise, and I think that is why I liked it better. I personally find that focusing on my breathe to be very relaxing and I enjoy that type of thought. I unlike you do have a difficult time finding a sense of relaxation and calmness so we differ in that aspect. I believe I have pointed that out before, and I still agree that might be the reason this exercise affected me differently than you. I did not find myself wanting to fall asleep, so I wonder if you should try to complete this type of exercise at a different time of day and see if that affects your thoughts.
ReplyDeleteMrs. Rogers
Donna,
ReplyDeleteI am so with you on the sleep thing! I love taking naps and sleeping in. I usually feel like I wasted a huge part of my day but sleep just feels so good! I think that I had an easier time relaxing with this exercise because I just woke up from a nap lol. I really enjoyed the subtle mind exercise because I felt like I was achieving the results that I wanted. With the loving-kindness exercise I also felt like it had more prayer action and I didn’t know if I was doing what I was supposed to be doing. I think that since our culture is based more on our physical selves instead of our spiritual selves, it is common for our spiritual development to be a bit behind as compared to the eastern world. Enjoyed your post Donna!
Lindsey
Great post, I too feel as if the subtle mind practice resembled meditation and for someone who never really meditated before this class, I enjoyed it. I think it is a good sign that you can sleep during these exercises as it tells me that you are really able to clear your mind out and rest your mind and body.
ReplyDeleteHello,
ReplyDeleteMaybe you are that at peace internally and have such a calm inside that this exercise allowed you to fall asleep. I did not have the same experience. I found that it was hard to stay focused and to clear my mind, my brain always wanted to think of things that I did not necessarily need to be giving attention to at the moment. But it sounds as if you had a pretty good experience if it calmed you that much.
Donna,
ReplyDeleteI also have a hard time focussing on things that don't interest me. My brain is always in overdrive because of all the things that I'm dealing with. I find prayer to be one of the biggest helpers for me to let go of things. I'm glad the exercise relaxed you enough to be able to sleep. I wish it had the same effect on me.