Wednesday, May 20, 2015

Week 23 Day 2

Medi object choiceless awareness
Intention to remain alert and receptive in a strange place.

Good evening all! I practised this morning but am posting late as I had to dash off to breakfast and then golf. 

Today the weather in Cyprus is more what we are used to, a few wispy clouds with blue sky. I rose early to practice as after golf I am tired so there would be a temptation not to do it! So nooo nooo nooo, priority activities first! 

I did a few minutes metta followed by around 20 minutes noting. If I remember I will sit down and do some metta tonight after we get back from dinner as I never seem to focus on that much.  I face inwards ie away from the open window. 

I began with the observation of breath, labelling the in and out breath as rising and falling. I begin by vocalising and it disappears half way through the practice. I note that the out breath is much longer than the in breath and because I remembered to take antihistamine I am not sneezing like I was yesterday, it's pretty distracting to sneeze and blow ones nose during meditation. After a few breaths I moved as I usually do to cycle round the senses beginning with hearing, then seeing and then feeling. 

Hearing usually gleans the most sensations. Today what a cornucopia of noises! The lawn mower provided unpleasant to neutral vedana as it moved further and further away from my window. Whenever the lawnmower noises stopped, the sense of relief was palpable..very pleasant vedana! There was also lots of birdsong...a cacophony! At least 3 different birdsong I could detect and sometimes 4. Very pleasant. I could just about hear the waves on the beach and sea wall nearby. I could hear the occasional clinking of breakfast crockery from the restaurant nearby. I heard the corridor door open a few times along with some voices outside my hotel room.

When I moved to seeing, I only saw very tiny swirls in front of my eyes. I felt my hands on my knees and my feet in my slippers pressed flat against the floor. I felt a few itches around the sunburn I had acquired due to missing a few spots from the application of sun cream...more diligence required! The air felt warm and there was a very slight breeze but the temperature was a very pleasant vedana. 

My breathing became short and jagged at times. I did not set an interval timer so I looked at the clock twice. When I returned to meditation I noticed that I tended to tilt my neck back so that my back was curved. So with intention I slowly corrected this posture and my alertness moved to the front of my body.

As for thoughts, there were a few mainly about breakfast and planning. I noted that I became lost on a planning thought but when I realised I became an observer and then watched the thought scene to completion. I did think about the lovely dinner that I had last night and the excellent company.

I think the most pleasant vedana was the fact I did not have to listen to screaming children as they not playing at the outside pool yet! Love them dearly but all of you know they sound like they are being murdered when they are excited and running around! 

Just returned from a round of golf. Very tough but thoroughly enjoyable. Golf and meditation are my two loves at the moment. You'll hear a lot about both!

Hope you all had a great day, I will post this to 7dmk, 365 DOM and to hear as I have previously committed. 

Look forward to reading all your posts!

🐽💜🐽

23/2

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