Hey everyone! Welcome to Day 7 of 21DMC!

How time flies - As of today, we've now come to the end of Week 1 of 21DMC as of today! How has your first week of meditating been? Have you gained any new insights for yourself? Have you learned anything new about the meditation process? Do you now see meditation in a new light?

I'm absolutely amazed by how committed many of you have been to your meditations. From meditating after you wake up, to before you go to school/work, to inside the car while waiting for other people, to inside the buses/trains while commuting, to waiting rooms while you're waiting for others, to before you sleep - that's so brilliant and amazing.

As you might have realized by now after 1 week, meditation doesn't need to happen only when you're by yourself and alone. Sure that might be the ideal scenario, but meditation can happen anywhere - if you want to make it happen. As you meditate more, you'll come to discover that meditation isn't a process reserved for just the 5-10 or 25-30 minutes a day. It's actually about cultivating your inner self - becoming an observer of reality and being able to observer *and* acknowledge the reality as what it is, vs. what we project it to be. The highest form of meditation is when you're able to bring everything you do/experience during your meditation *into* your daily life - 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.

For today's post, I'd like to invite you to share what your key learnings have been for yourself in this 1 week of 21DMC. Doesn't matter if you only meditated for 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, or 6 days out of the 1 week. The thing is as you attempted to follow through on your meditation schedule, you would have learned new things about meditation and you. I'd like you to spend a few minutes thinking about this, then share them with all of us today. I look forward to reading what all of you have to say!

Group Progress Chart To Date

Please find the group progress chart so far (see below):



To be included in the chart every day, simply fall into the group meditation threads that are posted in this very forum daily.

Share Your Meditation Experience For Day 7!

1. Were you able to complete your meditation practice today? Why/Why not?
2. If yes, how did your meditation go? What meditation did you do? Where did you meditate? How long did you meditate for?
3. Anything you want to share about the meditation itself?
4. Anything you have learned for yourself today? (whether related or non-related to meditation)

Look forward to reading your updates!

"If you want to get something you have never gotten before, you've to do something you've never done before."
Personal Excellence - For people passionate about achieving excellence in life

Hi Everyone,
I have been learning (as I meditate) to refocus on different parts of my body and relax them. I hold tension which is not necessary unless I am doing a specific task. Finding a comfortable position is essential to this. Balance and posture are key elements which enable the energy flow so we become in harmony not only with ourselves but nature as well.
15 minutes meditation today.

Hello!

Today I meditated for 44 minutes; here are the details.

I did not have any major realizations per se, but the challenge did make me remember how nice it was to share thoughts and experiences with like-minded people. It had been a while and I had forgotten.

Hope you all have had a great week. Keep it up!

Done well - without any night meditation I have finished 1h of meditation. Don't plan on doing night meditation, I want to take a small break from it and sort my mind about meditation.

And for key learning - nothing very new, I just knew more about myself and that my thoughts aren't very "disorganised" and "messy" and "wanting to catch my attention" i.e. more organised and so called good.

Oh and I've realised my meditation time is relatively long to other members. Is it because I do several sessions daily?? (I usually do about 2-3 daily, morning, afternoon and night)

~Amanda

Hello guys, my blog has been launched. Hope you can pop by! Great Life Blog

Day 7: 15 minutes - from Meditation Oasis: Trust (trusting that things are unfolding as they should)

While I've often done meditation practice in the past, I have a big problem with consistency. Especially in the past year.

This week has shown me that I can commit to something and follow through. That it isn't such a big deal to take time for myself, and that, in fact, it makes more time available for other tasks, as it improved my groundedness and overall spirit.

I am looking forward to the continued practice in the next two weeks!

Today I meditated for 15 minutes . My first week meditating I learned that I always have a song in my head and I get sleepy after 15 minutes of meditation so I have to stop . I will try guided meditation some time these 2 weeks remaining .

I meditated for 20 minutes.

Details are in my meditation journal.

"Love is a state of Being. Your love is not outside; it is deep within you. You can never lose it, and it cannot leave you." -Eckhart Tolle

Completed 10 minutes.
Overall - I'm really thankful for this challenge! Othervise, I would find whatever excuse in some busy days (like today) not to meditate. But seeing the persistance of other people give me double motivation.

7 minutes this morning! yay

The other day, during a meeting with my boss, as she was ranting about something unnecessary, I started to meditate while staring blankly at my computer screen. I just felt like I needed a time out while she vented, because I knew her rant wasn't really about me, and I didn't want to be caught up in her madness. So I took my time out mini meditate, and it helped! When I came back I was able to focus on the real issue and come up with some tangible solutions. meditation ninja style

25min for day 7

Cheers
GaneshMuthiah

Day 7 - only 10 minutes but..... this morning was a buzz! Was sitting after already been sitting on floor for an hour doing email and twitter so the body was already settled in to sitting on the floor.

Getting into meditation was like straight in and only a two thoughts in my head: first one was concentration on my breathing and second (in the observer part of my conciousness which watches how the rest of me thinks and behaves) was thinking "oh my god i have only a single thought so this is working!" . Experienced also for the first time what the yoga teaches had been telling me to do every class when we start and end which is to breath into the sitting position. To feel that each incoming breath sinks down with the body and makes you sit ever more solidly on the cushion, to feel the weight of gravity with every cell. Was such an awesome and comfortable feeling.

I woke up with a terrible headache at 2:45 a.m. So I took some ibuprofen. While that took effect, I put on my headphones, lay on the floor with my pillow (for some reason this makes me feel better when I'm sick), and listened to a guided healing meditation for 30 minutes.

Funny how my meditation time changes day to day. The opportunities are endless!

Hi to all,
I am really happy to read through all your experiences with regard to meditation. I gain several valuable insights. This morning I was able to meditate for 27 minutes. Today I began with the first line of the Lord's Prayer, keeping that line as a basis for my initial thoughts. After that I cannot remember what happened. Today the meditation gave me strength and an inner peace to face the rest of the day.

Hi everyone!

My overall insight about the past week is that it is easier to surrender to the meditation process when you're *already* relaxed and not stressed. It's been a stressful week for me, so I'm glad that I've been able to meditate for at least five minutes most days including meditation while moving about in the world as Celes describes above. But it is more difficult to settle in during times of heightened stress even though that's when it's needed the most!

Life Coach and Manifesting Artist
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Hi !

Today I did a 20 min guided "Breath Meditation".

It went better than yesterday because I waited to be ready for it, i.e when I came back home, I had some sleep, then I cooked my dinner, ate half of it, and went to meditate. Now I am writing my report and then I will eat the other half of my dinner.

This week, I had learned (again) how to listen to myself. It is no use to meditate when I am feeling exhausted, it is better to take a little rest before.

Next week, I will try meditating without a timer counting my breath as AH888 describes in her journal. I will also try other guided meditations (which were really good so far).

If you want the reference for my guided meditations in French here is the link :
http://www.amazon.fr/Mediter-1cd-MP3-aud...2352041058

I wish you all a nice week-end and peaceful meditations,

Ariane

(10-14-2011 02:27 PM)Bob Wrote:  Hi Everyone,
I have been learning (as I meditate) to refocus on different parts of my body and relax them. I hold tension which is not necessary unless I am doing a specific task.

Hey, Bob. I have noticed I also may keep some parts of my body tense. For example during meditation I often notice my jaw is clenched. I also try to remember to relax my shoulders.

One of my key insights this week was to relax and appreciate the simplicity of meditation. After meditating for 10 minutes or so I get restless and want to stop. Sometimes I feel a subtle inner resistance to the meditation process. I want to get up and do something more interesting but then I put my focus back on the moment and continue.

Today I did deep breathing meditation on my couch for 20 minutes. I sat with a blanket covering me. It was surprisingly chilly this morning!

Day 7. Meditated in 10 mins

this whole week opened me to a new experience. Meditation for me is just being aware. Sometimes, I just sit and stare and then i just became calm and peaceful. Breathing exercises helps. But I think no matter where you are, if that 'peace' is within you, anytime, you can meditate.

thank you all for a wonderful week. looking forward for the next week!

Seven minutes on day seven

Consistency to me is the biggest thing learnt from this challenge so far. There has been days I wouldn't have meditated if I wasn't here. Another important lesson is that it's better to meditate a little than not at all... Kind of obvious, but I think all most important things in life are obvious

Hi!

I did 20 min of meditation today. For the first time without any guidance and I could still feel it was productive. So I'm happy about that

Key things I've noticed about myself are that Im really bad at planning my tasks. I easily get lost in an everyday routine that can get a bit too much at times. So I'm trying to organize my time in a better way from now on.
And about the meditation I noticed that I prefer the active yoga meditation rather than just sitting still. Maybe it's because I'm a bit restless in my body from all the work that I have right now, but it seems to be working for me at the moment.

I hope everyone had a great week. And I wish you all a great weekend

I did a 6 minute guided breathing meditation today!! Details in my journal: http://personalexcellence.co/forums/thre...mc-journal

The Amazons: http://higherpotential.wordpress.com/