tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22463475.post864580470424739313..comments2024-02-23T14:59:44.189-05:00Comments on The Goat Rope: Pain vipassanaMarkhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07333099574473265593noreply@blogger.comBlogger1125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22463475.post-4265137894554022792010-05-27T14:01:44.415-04:002010-05-27T14:01:44.415-04:00When I did meditation a lot, when I was in college...When I did meditation a lot, when I was in college and had time for it, I found that it was a lot like physical conditioning.<br /><br />I'd always do the breath counting meditation, because it was non denominational and tried to hold just the image of that number in my head without any thinking about it.<br /><br />Very hard especially for me who's a little ADD anyway but I did notice that just like running or anything else you got better with practice.<br /><br />Also improved my grades somewhat because over time it improved my concentration. <br /><br />The worst part was once the bodily distractions were dealt with then I'd get to like 25 or something and then think "wow I got to 25" which ruined it because then I was talking to myself instead of totally focusing on the number I was trying to keep in my head.<br /><br />Not long ago they were interviewing this teacher who seemed to have a lot of successes with students. He described his somewhat unusual class which involved a lot of things like taking kids to ball games and having them keep score. <br /><br />I realized that almost everything he was doing was practice at concentrating and focusing the attention on one thing, so apparently my experience with the meditation and paying attention in class was real.<br /><br />The best book I ever read on meditation was a little book called "How To Meditate" by Lawrence Le Shan. <br /><br />What made it great was he presented it so free of mystical trappings or New Age BS. I'm not sure if it's still available but great book.Hollowdwellernoreply@blogger.com