meditation interuptions

[poivre]

Does anything really happen to your thoughts if you are meditating & there's an interuption?

I understand the meditation subject, but the way some people go into a deep meditiation I'm not crazy on that.
I always wonder if I'm in a deep meditiation & the dogs barked, I'd be hanging off the ceiling not knowing where the heck I was.

When you are very relaxed what happens when even the doorbell rings or an interuption of any sort? Are you to just ignore the interuption or do you not even notice it?

Thanks for any info.

 

[lionette]

Hi ros.

I haven't (yet!) been able to practice meditating often, but a very good friend of mine has explained this question for me in the past when I asked.

Maybe there are differenty types of meditation, but this is what he was doing with the Insight school. That type of meditation is about is creating a comfortable distance oneself from the immediate surroundings, not fully escaping it, not being emotionally engaged with it. So, when the (inevitable) interruption happens, one would strive to just let it happen and acknowledge it, but not let it enter our emotional state. It's the concept of being present without attachment, so that when the dogs bark, it just happens and doesn't cause a response.

 

[jema]

For me, I do notice interuption but I don't let them distract me, I just sort of glide over them, thinking - "that is the phone but I am doing this now"
I never been in trance-like meditation where I didn't even notice things like that - or so I think anyway...

hmm... if I were and the phone rang then I wouldn't know and thus I can't say for sure;-)

The real stumble-block for me with meditation was that I sort of expected all kinds of things to happen, I would start getting messages, would see things etc. But that isn't meditation - that is something else.

Cheri Huber has such a clever title for a book on meditation, I haven't read it, just love the title : "And then nothing happens"
Once I got rid of all expectations I started to actually enjoy meditation and could see the long-time benefit from it.

oh and perhaps this should be moved to the spirituality forum?

 

[Woof]

I meditate daily and don't let distractions bother me. It's just like an interrupting thought. You notice it, mentally look at it while it's happening and let it pass away. I've gotten so my daughter can interrupt me for something and it doesn't disrupt my state too much. I prefer if she didn't, but don't let it bother me.
I think the deep trance state you are expecting is not the desired mental state for those who practice a buddhist form of meditation. That type of state is an illusion. You are trying (Well, I am trying) to cultivate a relaxed empty mind space free of ego and expectations. So things like sudden noises are not a suprise just part of the flow of experience. Thoughts and distraction come up, you notice them, they fall away.
That's all.
Woof

 

[Imagemaker]

There are two basic types of meditation--concentration practice and expanded awareness. You can be startled out of deep concentration.

But when you expand your awareness in meditation, sitting calmly focused, alert, you notice everything. If you can reach the ideal of holding all in your awareness simultaneously (this is why we practice, practice, practice), then whether you feel an itch, hear a siren, or get hit by the Zen master with a stick, it's not a suprise because your expanded mind noticed the first most minor approach.

Usually the master hits with the stick to point out that you didn't hear him coming!

 

[lionette]

Usually the master hits with the stick to point out that you didn't hear him coming!

As in, to wake the sleepers?

 

[Ang3343]

Meditation is the space between your thoughts

Hi Ros
Meditation has been described as the space between your thoughts.

I've been meditating for 20 years, off and on, and it's taken me most of that time to develop a real practice--- to understand and know that we're more than our thoughts, and to let thoughts go during meditation.

I mostly practice Insight meditation. I've also started meditating on the Major Arcana.

The most accessible book on meditation I've ever found is "The Power of Now" by Eckhart Tolle.

My other meditation favourite is "Radical Acceptance: Embracing Your Life With The Heart Of A Buddha", by Tara Brach.

Tara's book has a Buddhist slant.

Best

Angela