Day 6 Meditation

[thmakled]

Just a few thoughts on my attempt at a body scan meditation:

- The meditation suggested sitting, but I still harbor a fear of sitting and my glute muscles are still tight and painful, so I did the meditation lying on my stomach. I've been trying to sit more often and sleep on my back, but I had a small flare of pain last night (sleeping on my back and sitting are two positions in which I expect pain and am trying to break the cycle/neural pathways).
- I had success releasing tension in my upper body, but I became aware of how very tight my lumbar and glute muscles are.
- I became aware of mild pain in my right glute, in addition to my usual tailbone pain and moderate to severe left glute pain. The fact that there is some pain on the right side (moving around) seems to indicate TMS. Also, as I tried to focus on relieving tension in my left glute, my left shoulder started to hurt. Again, the pain trying to move around!
- I became frustrated when I could not adequately relieve tension in my butt and upper thigh, but I acknowledged that frustration and moved along.
- I nearly fell asleep / began drifting to other thoughts as I neared my lower legs and feet.

Interested to hear how others' experiences with body scan meditation have gone!

 

[Andy Bayliss]

Hi thmakled,

I want to suggest that by doing it, going through the process you are achieving your goal, no matter the specific outcomes! It is a process of noticing, allowing, becoming more "at home" in the body. I suggest too that if you feel tension, just be with that, without having to change anything.

Also, the sense of wanting to drift off is familiar to me, and seen it in others. When I notice this, I think sometimes that we've been pushing ourselves too hard, and the body and mind are more ready for a rest than we actually are aware of until we "tune in." Again, the instruction might be to allow that drifting off.

Andy B

 

[ssxl4000]

I don't do body scan meditation, but when doing my "Happy Thoughts," aka meditating while reciting my mantras about TMS/MBS and being healthy etc. I find myself often drifting away too. My thoughts go in very random places as I tire and start to drift asleep. I never actually fall asleep though. I still feel a bit of guilt like I'm doing it wrong, but I don't think it matters that much. Like Andy said, sometimes I like just seeing whatever pops up.