So, the challenge is on: a full “sit,” guided by Dr. James Maskalyk. This is open to family members, too! (Not required!)
Set aside about 45 minutes. Have your comp book handy. Read this whole post before beginning.
I’ve cued up the video to begin just before the guided meditation starts; you are more than welcome to dial it back to the beginning and listen to a report on life in the ER and in Toronto from about two weeks back, if you want the full ride, but that is optional.
Steps:
1. Find a place where you will be uninterrupted for about 45 minutes – let your family know you’ll need time and space.
2. Establish a comfortable sitting position – something upright and alert, but also something you can maintain for an extended period of time. This could be lotus position (if you are bendy and used to sitting that way) or crossed-legged, or in a comfy chair (we’re not jealous at all, Ancie and The REAL Maya, really we’re not) (okay, we’re totally jealous), or seated upright on a sofa with your legs stretched out in front of you. Make sure you have something soft under your butt, but not so soft that your posture collapses – think rug, yoga mat, a towel folded in half, etc.
3. Have your comp book and a pencil or pen beside you.
4. If you are doing this alone, you may want to use headphones.
5. Press “Play” on the above video and listen to the introductory ideas (don’t get hypnotized by the groovy t-shirt!).
6. There are four bells during the sit – one to start, one at the halfway mark, one three minutes before the end, and one at the end. Use those bells like we use the chime in class before reading or writing: open up your hearing and listen all the way to the end of the tone. When the first bell starts, close your eyes and do your best to keep your eyes closed for the duration of the sit.
7. “All” you have to do is focus on your breathing, and follow the instructions from Dr. Maskalyk. When distracting thoughts come up, acknowledge them, and then let them drift away. Watch your thoughts passively rather than analyze them. Try to avoid “should” thinking. Allow what happens to happen.
8. If you lose focus or get caught up in your thoughts, forgive yourself, and then go back to breathing in through your nose, noticing the sensation of the air entering your nostrils and the feeling of expansion in your chest and/or belly, and then the release of the breath and the feeling of emptiness.
9. If you are struck by inspiration during the sit, make a quick note in your comp book and then close your eyes again and go back to focusing on your breath.
10. There are many periods of extended silence during the video – just keep breathing.
11. For some of you, this time will pass in the blink of an eye; for others, it will feel like an eternity. Both responses – and anything in between – are totally natural and acceptable.
When you are done:
- make notes in your comp book about what stood out for you in the experience – things Dr. Maskalyk said, images that drifted into your mind, what your body felt like, your emotional response, etc.
- Post at least one comment using “Leave a Reply” below, using your class name. Feel free to build on others’ comments. Possible ideas:
– what were the positive aspects of this experience?
– many cultures and traditions have some form of meditation practice at their core, going back millennia in time – why do you think this is so?
– how might this mindfulness practice be useful to you in your life? What aspects of it might be helpful for you? When might you use it?
– connections to Wagamese and/or our work in mindset?
– what images floated through your mind during the sit?
– how did you feel afterward?
Please complete this by Monday evening, including posting your comment(s), and bring your ideas to share in our Class Meeting Tuesday!
(PS: I believe most people engage with Dr. Maskalyk’s guided meditations through facebook, but there are a few more uploaded on YouTube that you can explore if you like!)
I found that experience bizarre but certainly worthwhile. A reason as to why so many cultures meditate is, at least in my opinion, that meditating offers relaxation and a fresh start. After I finished meditating, my brain kind of reset itself, kind of like it was a new day. This feature of meditation can help people cope with extreme emotions, such as hate and depression. The more you think about extreme emotions, the more you experience that emotion. You’ll only get more hateful by thinking about hate. Having a neutral setting can help someone think over why they are feeling how they are feeling.
i agree, i felt refreshed in a way. it was kind of like my body and mind restarted itself. while i wasn’t particularly eager to do it, i do think that it was a worthwhile thing for me to do.
It was extremely weird. I felt like I was half asleep. Somehow, I was able to maintain focus on my breath when also being aware of everything around me. It was incredible how calm I felt. You can’t imagine how surprised I was when I realized I had been just focusing on my breath for 45 minutes, considering I normally always have to have something exciting to do. It really helped me focus, and afterward, I was a lot more productive with homework.
I felt really satisfied after I finished. I got rid of the tense spots in my body. It allowed me to ignore any thoughts that occurred to me which is why I think people have been meditating for so long. In the beginning, I got distracted a lot but I started to settle after a while. I let it into my body and that helped me get relaxed. It was a great experience.
I felt more relaxed and content with myself after I finished. Meditation helped me become more focused and gave me time to reflect on myself. Meditating allows you to let go of the fear and stress, which is more important than ever in times like this when everyone is anxious and in constant worry. It gives you time to tune out the world and to just focus on yourself and your breathing. Afterwards, I was a lot more concentrated, and I finished my Chinese homework. This was a very meaningful experience and I learned a lot from it.
I felt very satisfied and loose after I finished. Nothing was tense in my mind or body. Going off of what Someone Else said, I felt like I was half asleep. Every time Dr. Maskalyk spoke, it surprised me in a way because I was so relaxed. I was very surprised when the third bell rang because it didn’t feel like 45 minutes to me. I think that this would be very useful when you are stressed or unfocused because when I finished, I felt very focused and ready to work. I know that meditation is very important for something like this and I’m glad that videos like these are posted on the blog.
For me, I felt like my mind was more empty after I finished, and I could focus more while tuning other thoughts out. A sense of calmness really lingered with me as well. I was surprised I could manage to not get distracted for nearly an hour. For once during this stressful time, I was able to just forget everything else and relax. I think I could use this as a way to unwind after school or wind myself up to focus on my work.
I thought I was going to be the person that had no problem with meditating, but when I started, not even 4 minutes in, and I was bored, with “Aju Nice” by Seventeen stuck in my head. Still, I told myself to focus, and eventually, while I was focusing on my breath, all distractions started drifting away. I felt the walls around me disappear, and as I kept breathing in and out, it was as if I had gone to another world, far from the chaos of Earth. Afterwards, I felt fresh and relaxed, and like many others, I was able to work more productively. The effects of meditation truly surprised me, and it isn’t hard to imagine why it’s a tradition in many places. Different people have different beliefs. Let’s say for example that a group of people believe in spirits of the dead. To properly connect with these spirits, they could meditate, because as I said earlier, it makes you feel like you’re in a new world, in this case, the world of the spirits.
I felt really happy and relaxed when it was over. It felt like my mind had left my room and was floating somewhere. I think I may do it again but for a shorter period of time before I go to sleep. The feeling I felt kind of connects to “Spirit Place” in “One story, One song”. In the chapter, Richard Wagamese talks about emptiness and fullness being spiritual, and you could be empty and full at the same time. That was kind of how I felt when it was over, my mind was empty but my energy was full.
I felt really relaxed everywhere, and it sort of felt like I was observing my thoughts instead of thinking them, which was really refreshing. At first I thought, “there’s no way I can sit in a chair and breathe for 45 minutes,” but after the last bell rang, i was like, “woah. I just sat in a chair and breathed for 45 minutes.” And honestly, it didn’t even feel that long. Maybe that’s just because I have a really awesome chair (totally not flexing), but reading the other comments, it appears that I’m not the only one that feels this way. (Or maybe everybody else just went and got themselves really cool chairs). I think it would be a good idea to do this for a shorter period of time before I go to sleep, because I usually just lay awake in my bed thinking for like an hour before I close my eyes. All in all, I think this was a great experience.
Time went by very quickly. It was at first, quite strange having to do literally nothing but BREATH and sit still but about 5 minutes in, it was like I lost sense of time and it’s as if I were sleeping but not at the same time. At the end, I was completely surprised, like others, that I seriously managed to sit and breathe for 40~ minutes. It was very calming and relaxing, good for reflecting or getting ready to sleep. But I already know I can’t dedicate myself to this e v e r y s i n g l e d a y :>
I found that in the beginning I couldn’t get focused and it felt like the video was dragging on. Around the 40 minute mark I really started to sink into this calm but alert feeling. Because of meditation being such a foreign concept to me, I really didn’t know what to expect. Too my surprise, I kinda enjoyed it! It feels like when you are just about to fall asleep, but your senses are heightened (if that makes sense)? In my opinion, meditation is really useful at the start of the day (will help you feel calm for the whole day), or at the end of the day (helps with sleeping). Having did this in the morning, I later found that I was able to stay on task much better than I usually do. I believe that the reason why people used meditation many millennia before has to do with self improvement (and religion but I don’t have the right to talk about that). As quoted by Wikipedia, meditation was, and still is, mostly utilized for “enlightenment and self realization”. Another contributing factor maybe the lack of proper medicine in olden times. Without a reliable source of treatment, people turn to strengthening the mind and body. For some reason, the one thing that really stuck with me was when he talked about a car door for a brief moment? Hmm, interesting.
In the end, I felt relaxed and focused. It was as if my soul settled back into its place. Over the past couple of days, my main emotions were anxious, annoyed, angry, distressed, and panicky. It seemed like I was never in one place. After I took the time to focus on my breathing, I also reflected on what had happened. I can now focus on the rest of my schoolwork and take the time to relax.
At the start, a lot of distracting thoughts came up, and I had a hard time focusing on the meditation. But after some time, I managed to let go of those thoughts and relax. It seemed like I was sinking, going deeper every second. I felt like I was somewhere else, like if I opened my eyes I wasn’t going to be at the place I started in. The meditation calmed me down for the rest of the day, it made me feel like I could just sink into the floor whenever I wanted to.
I did the meditation the first time with the full 40 minutes and Friday, and it was really weird but nice. At one point a couple minutes in, I felt really hypnotized to the point where I felt like my body was drifting slowly through the air. (Unfortunately, the closest thing I could relate the sensation to, is how drugs are supposed to feel like so I am not going to use an example). In the end, it felt like I had woke up from a full night’s sleep and a bit more calm/energized. The only thing for me, though, that was kind of bad about it was how long it took. I remembered how my gr. 2/3 teacher Mrs. Timothy would do 3-5 minute meditations in class 4 times a day (first thing in the morning, after recess, after lunch, and right before 3) and it still did the job. So today, I just listened to the first 10 minutes or so and it didn’t quite have the same effect, but it still did the job and may be more realistic time-wise when things start going again.
When I was doing this, I felt like I was half asleep or half conscious. Sort of connecting to what Evereyone said, after I opened my eyes I felt like I was in a different place, but, while doing it I was very aware of where I was because of what Dr. Mayskalyk said “for some reason I don’t know how it is for you but I feel my hands a lot . . . my face a bit too”. After he said that, I felt very aware of my hands and what position they where in and exactly where they a too. I don’t really know why, but I think it’s because I wasn’t focused on anything and was pretty relaxed. After doing it, I somehow felt more relaxed but more energized at the same time. I think mediation is the most useful at the start of the day or at the end of a hard day because at the start of the day it can sort of set the tone for the day, and at the end of a day it can help you feel more refreshed for calmer if you had a hard day. For me, when the second bell rang at the halfway mark I thought it was the end. I thought 20 minutes would be much faster.
I felt like as I meditated I thought more than usual since there was nothing else to occupy my brain, but at the end of it I felt more relaxed. It really was like sleeping but being aware of everything still. Meditating also helped me organize my thoughts and focus better.
I tried to do it last night but I couldn’t focus so I woke up in the morning to do it, which ihelped a lot for me, I was able to focus, but also not feel sleepy. For me, it did many things but two stood out to me. First, it made me feel grateful. For my breath and for the clean air around me. I think the clean air around us is something we don’t really notice, so having a chance to notice it was eye opening. Second, it made me feel extremely relaxed and ready for the day. Sometimes when you have a lot to do, it can feel like everything is piling on top of you, so in my experience, I was able to relax and sort out the things I needed to do so the large pile turned into a schedule.
This could be beneficial in everybody’s life because of the amount of stress it reduces when you take the time to actually relax.
During this meditation, I found it very hard to stay in an upright position. I really wanted to lay down and sleep. While I was meditating I found the experience very quiet. Even though I could kind of hear my sister in the room beside me, it still felt extremely quiet. After a bit, I started drifting into the world daydreams, but then reminded myself not to do so. The experience was interesting and I might do it again. To help me fall asleep. I mean what?