UNIT 4 Discussion

Hello everyone,  I  have listened to this a couple of times now on the CD. Once in my car just to hear what it was about and then again while actually practicing it.  I found it to be a little difficult to follow.  When she says to actually take in pain and suffering of a loved one and put it into your heart, it is hard to actually do this.  I found it a bit difficult to follow without things of a hundred things. When there was long pause and the sounds of the ocean were playing my mind was wondering.  I tried to bring it back to the image of a loved ones suffering stay focused but it at times was hard to do that.  I did pick up the fact that the sounds of the ocean were the same piece played over and over. I kept hearing a faint brief stop and then the same sounds played over again it found it to be just a bit distracting.  I like the flutes a lot and I feel a sense of peace when listening to them.  I liked this meditation but, I think it is going to take a bit more practice for me to stay focused on it.

I think that mental workout is like any other workout such as in the physical body. We work out to improve our bodies on the outside to stay at a healthy weight, to gain muscle and endurance.  When we workout on our minds, we gain a sense of inner peace and health.  We rid all of the negative emotions that make us unhappy and unhealthy such as, anger, jealousy, resentment, fear, hatred confusion and doubt.  When training our minds we can then can benefit and learn to gain positive emotions such as, happiness, content, openness, acceptance and kindness.  It also, has a positive effect on memory, perception and attention.  Just like the body if it is not trained it will become weak and fatigued no longer able to function developing diseases such as physical diseases like cancer and mental diseases like depression.  I believe to implement mental work outs is to practice meditations or even just a mental break. Much like we take a vacation from the physical world of work, family and other stressors, we need to take a mental break. To go to a quiet mental place with not noise and practice a meditation that works for that person or me, rid of all the negative feelings and emotions to make the mind stronger.

I am experimenting with different sounds and meditation techniques that works best for me and I would tell my clients the same thing. Not all of them will work for everyone and they have to try out each one much like trying out a new pair of shoes or an exercise routine.  I went out and bought a cd that play meditation flutes and I listen to that in my car.  I am particularly drawn to these flutes or Indian music.  I am just a small part of Canadian Indian and perhaps this is where it comes from. I find it very calming and soothing.