I appreciate the info with each summary! Very insightful.
Reading your description, in hindsight it’s really obvious why I never got anything from mirror meditation. Between dysphoria and faceblindness, as a baseline I’m not seeing anything more than a tool for conveying basic information in the first place. I can hardly induce More non-personness.
You put your back to a wall and do a half-squat until your thighs are roughly flat and your legs form a 90-degree angle. Floor, wall, legs form a square in profile.
I mostly use them to demonstrate that pain is a sensation like any other, something that can be worked with rather than feared and mindlessly avoided.
I appreciate what you said about intuitive movement. Part of the key to my recovery from depression and PTSD is movement. I’m in my head most of the time. Any body work or exercise gets me out of that place and forces me to drop down. I lived a whole childhood neglecting my body. I’ve been rewarded for my intellect. And I’m realizing that it’s also been a defense. It prevents me from feeling. Getting into my body, gets me to my feelings — or felt sense perception.
I wonder how helpful mindfulness is for everyone? Is it really that great to be going from “mind full” — that is, a person who thinks incessantly in almost an obsessive way or overidentified way to “mind less”? Mindfulness, as much as I understand is a preferred way of being, feels like what I would imagine is emptying the contents of the brain. But, I’ve observed that some people that train in mindfulness appear very unfeeling or emotionally detached. In other words, I don’t experience them as empathetic. Maybe that’s referred to as detachment or equanimity. I don’t see how it’s helpful to merely empty one’s mind without a connection to one’s feelings. Just something I’ve thought about. I’m certainly confused.
Fantastic piece!
I appreciate the info with each summary! Very insightful.
Reading your description, in hindsight it’s really obvious why I never got anything from mirror meditation. Between dysphoria and faceblindness, as a baseline I’m not seeing anything more than a tool for conveying basic information in the first place. I can hardly induce More non-personness.
Wall sits are a very reliable way of quickly generating safe pain. I've done them with high school and college students for years with no ill effects.
What's involved in a wall sit?
You put your back to a wall and do a half-squat until your thighs are roughly flat and your legs form a 90-degree angle. Floor, wall, legs form a square in profile.
I mostly use them to demonstrate that pain is a sensation like any other, something that can be worked with rather than feared and mindlessly avoided.
Great piece. It has not been my experience (https://www.mattball.org/2023/06/enlightenment-june-2023-emptiness-and.html) that it is just a question of putting in the time.
Thanks for sharing your tips. Good luck.
Fabulous!
I appreciate what you said about intuitive movement. Part of the key to my recovery from depression and PTSD is movement. I’m in my head most of the time. Any body work or exercise gets me out of that place and forces me to drop down. I lived a whole childhood neglecting my body. I’ve been rewarded for my intellect. And I’m realizing that it’s also been a defense. It prevents me from feeling. Getting into my body, gets me to my feelings — or felt sense perception.
I wonder how helpful mindfulness is for everyone? Is it really that great to be going from “mind full” — that is, a person who thinks incessantly in almost an obsessive way or overidentified way to “mind less”? Mindfulness, as much as I understand is a preferred way of being, feels like what I would imagine is emptying the contents of the brain. But, I’ve observed that some people that train in mindfulness appear very unfeeling or emotionally detached. In other words, I don’t experience them as empathetic. Maybe that’s referred to as detachment or equanimity. I don’t see how it’s helpful to merely empty one’s mind without a connection to one’s feelings. Just something I’ve thought about. I’m certainly confused.
Great article, speaking from your own experience and sharing practical insights. Thanks for your candour.
This is wonderful. Despite meditating for years I have never heard of Fire Kasina. Thank you for writing