Loving-kindness vs. Subtle mind
To have a better grasp on these two exercises and get the
experience that was sought after, I had to do them over a few times, three times
to be exact, to really “loose” (not literally J) myself in the
experience. I have been doing meditation, but nothing fancy like these type of
exercises. My meditations have been just me, myself, and I, alone, with some
soothing music or sounds in the background. No guided voices. The experience,
every time, has been refreshing, invigorating, revitalizing, restorative,
tonic,… I don’t want to exhaust the dictionary resources here; I think you get
the picture. J
The “guided” meditation is another ball game, for me. At first, I could not
quite get past the “voice”. I have kind of adjusted now and I realize that I respond
better with female voices. Why, you may ask? Truthfully, I am not quite sure…
Maybe it has to do with what the female voice represents “for me”: softness, feelings,
emotions, compassion, comfort, nurture, foundation, tranquility, stillness,
peace, strength, wisdom, and, yes, loving-kindness. Notice I haven’t attached “positive”
or “negative” to feelings and emotions. It’s because it does not matter, the
emphasis here is to just have feelings and emotions. One can always dissolve
the negative ones and let the positive ones flourish. Furthermore, the
loving-kindness practice stroke a cord with me. My younger sister has been
going through some rough times lately. She’s actually moving in with us today, with
my three-year old niece. During the loving-kindness exercise, I was able to reach
into her negative emotions. I was able to really feel her pain, her worries,
her uncertainties, her doubts and her stress. Taking in so much of those bad
emotions was quite a burden and a mind baffling experience. I cried. But then,
as I visualized those bad emotions dissolve in my heart with each breath in, the
painful crying gave way to tears of joy. The tears of joy were from knowing
that, with each breath out, I gave my sister a little more positive feelings
and emotions. I gave her hope, happiness, peace, and strength. Soon the tears
stopped altogether to give way to peace, inner peace. The more I did the
exercise, the more goodness I spread out, the greater I felt deep inside. By
the end of the exercise, I felt “lighter”. All my own stress had melted away.
The subtle-mind practice was a bit more challenging. Keeping
the focus on just the breathing was feasible for me but, every time I shifted
my focus to stillness, multitudes of thoughts rushed into my mind. I kept on shifting
back to the breathing to chase those thoughts away. Not having a visual to
focus made it quite challenging for me. After a while, I became exhausted
mentally. I finished the practice not trying to focus on the stillness anymore.
Instead, I just focused on the breathing. In doing that, I was able to relax
and just enjoy being.
Between the two exercises, I was
impacted more by the loving-kindness practice: I was able to gain a fuller and
deeper experience. I was more comfortable doing the loving-kindness practice
because I believe that, as they stated in the exercise, “loving-kindness
attracts loving-kindness; we get what we give”. That philosophy is not new to
me. I have grown up hearing this from my parents, family members and friends.
It’s been sort of a cultural thing, almost. As I grew older, I witnessed the
veracity of this in numerous occasions. I truly like to help, without expecting
anything in return. Like I said in a prior post, I find it uncomfortable and sometimes
insulting for someone to tell me “I owe you one” when I do something for them.
A mere “thank you”, “I appreciate your help” or a hug, a smile, is more than
enough. “I owe you one” makes it a debt and therefore, defeats the purpose of
just “doing” for goodness sake.
As for the subtle-mind practice, it will take many more
practices for me to gain the deep and full experience I was able to gain with the
loving-kindness exercise.
The interconnection of the spiritual
wellness with the mental and physical wellness.
Human beings are composed of mind, body, and spirit which,
together, form the integral “whole” being. It is, therefore, normal for the
latter to be interconnected. This means that when one is affected, so are the
other ones. When the body is affected in a negative way, the mind and the
spirit are also affected the same way. This is also true vice versa. The
negative effect on the body can be lessened or taken out altogether if we only care
and nurture all the levels of our being, with a special focus on the spiritual
which is the core of our being. When our spiritual wellness is strong, we feel
better inside and out, mentally and physically. We feel in control mentally and
physically, we are well. At this time, we have reached integral health.
Browny.
Hello Assie,
ReplyDeleteI enjoyed your post this week and I think your blog looks great! You and me our opposites on our experiences with the meditation exercises. I could not make a connection with the loving kindness exercise; however, the subtle mind exercise was fantastic for me. So much so that it even relieved a migraine I had been fighting all that day. I will be doing that meditation again and again. I will also practice the loving kindness as well to see if I can make a connection to it at a later time. Don't you find it interesting that everyone seems to have a different experience with these exercises?
Thanks for sharing about your experience. I look forward to reading more posts from you.
~Sherrie
Hi Sherrie,
DeleteYou are right, it is is interesting the diversity in experience. This goes to show how different human beings can be in their similarities. At the end of the day, we all get to the same destination though: we use different paths to get to the same place. The path to Loving-Kindness or Subtle Mind is only important if you get the experience.
I am glad you were able to connect. Thank you for your comment.
Browny.