How do you time your meditation sessions?

shays860

I would like to have one of those quiet gentle meditation timers but all i have seen so far are bizarrely expensive... I have been using my cell phone but I have to stop and push a button to light up the screen and i feel compelled to stop and check the time too much. I am generally distracted by time related concerns during my practice... How do you time your sessions? Any advice?

footiam

Just forget about time.

shays860

Then how do I know when to stop?

riverflow

I used to have one of those Now and Zen timers. I don't recommend you get one however. It starts of great but the striking mechanism locked up after about six months of use. Apparently it is a common complaint from what I've seen online. Great idea, but apparently, and unfortunately, it's got bugs. I've kept the nice bell itself though which I strike between reciting gathas.

Since the timer has gone kaput, I've just been sitting and not worrying about the time. Which is all for the better actually. I'll know I'm done when I'm done now.

riverflow

Just worry about when you need to start. You don't need to worry about when to stop.

shays860

Hmm... I don't suppose Buddha had a timer either huh..? Thanks for the answers guys. I'll try that

footiam

Then how do I know when to stop?

Stop when you want to.

riverflow

You'll do just fine, Shays.

tmottes

I use a free app I found for my computer (mac). It uses an mp3 of a singing bowl. It has a start delay and can be set to however long you want to meditate. You can also download MP3's of pretimed sounds and just play it in a CD player. This is helpful for me on some days when 10 minutes feel like an hour.

seeker242

The alarm function, or countdown/stopwatch timer on the cell phone. Just set the alarm to go off after 1/2 hour or whatever, and forget about it. Then you don't have to worry about checking it.

Sunray

I use an app on my iPhone called Zazen Lite, it makes a sound like a singing bowl at the start and end of my session (I can change timings wo how I like). it's really nice!

Still_Waters

I'm currently playing with an Android app called Meditation Helper. It has adjustable start and end bells. The bell is high-pitched, but still pleasant. The app is free.

Alan

ibruce

I use an iPod Touch (iPhone would work fine) with the Insight Meditation Timer app on it. The ability to set a bell to sound at intervals helps me to bring my mind back if it wanders (I really am a new buddhist lol)

BonsaiDoug

I currently use a free app on my iPhone 4. But I've been experimenting with no timer, and it seems I stop at around the same 35 minutes I have my timer set for.

AMH

I have a pretty simple phone but I can still put the alarm on vibrate and leave it on my leg. I find that the least distracting. If I feel like doing more I can turn off the alarm and keep going. For awhile I had myself really down to automatically knowing about when 20 minutes was, not so much now. Most of the time I have such a schedule that I cannot really go over and get the rest of my day done so it is important to time, or when I am leading a group that wants to stick to 30 minutes to have discussion time.

jupitermadcat

I have a adroid app on my phone it's great it is a timer and you can also set it to remind you when to meditate.

Mountains

I have incense sticks that burn for between 25 and 30 minutes. When it burns down, I'm done (usually). No batteries, no WiFi required. Call me a luddite.

SattvaPaul

Light a stick of incense that burns for a specified length of time, and when you feel like enough time has passed look if the incense is still burning. Or use your nose

SattvaPaul

@Muntains was quicker

IronRabbit

The enso clock was expensive - even though it was on sale - but very functional as an alarm clock too. As it has aged the digital bell ringtone has become a little chirpy. Picked up a Now and Zen alarm clock second hand for five dollars. It didn't work when batteries were added so contacted customer service. They offer a lifetime guarantee which allows one to return a non functioning clock and receive a new one at half price. Still rather expensive and the ringtone is accompanied by a sort of clunking sound from the striking mechanism. Mostly - through familiarity with this body's reaction to sitting - when the left foot is completely numb it has been thirty minutes. Fortunately or not - depending on perspective - mind does not go numb - even if both feet fall asleep.

Mountains

Extremities becoming numb isn't something that should happen if you're using a correct sitting method and good posture. That's a sign that your body is giving you that something is wrong, and you should listen to it.

Mountains

@Muntains

Muntains?

IronRabbit

Extremities becoming numb isn't something that should happen if you're using a correct sitting method and good posture. That's a sign that your body is giving you that something is wrong, and you should listen to it.

"Pressure palsy" or a compressed nerve resulting in an appendage "falling asleep" has never seemed more than a easily recoverable result of a bodily position such as crossed leg sitting - leaning on an elbow - etc.

Even if something like HNPP (Heriditary Neuropathy Pressure Palsy) might be the cause - which I never knew about until this posting and the subsequent internet search - it would seem that positional and/or postural adjustment is duly advisable.

Despite knee injuries and mild scoliosis I have always been able to sit full or half lotus - maintaining a good amount of flexibility - just assumed numbness and pain came with the territory and accepted or used them as meditation aids - not masochistically - just through acceptance.

nobodhi

sometimes use a mala ... counting breaths ... besides that or incense ... i sit until i no longer want to stop ...

Mountains

Repeated temporary palsies can cause permanent nerve damage. Documented medical fact... It's just better to find a pose that doesn't cause it than to risk nerve damage. It's easy to do...

IronRabbit

Mountains@ - help me out here with some citings of medical documentation about nerve damage resulting from repeated parasthesia - I am only able to find internet citings about existing, diagnosable neural disorders that contribute to symptomatic numbness of extremities not necessarily associated with nerve pressure caused by crossed legged sitting. Everything I have seen says recovery occurs when pressure is relieved - normally - without mention of potential nerve damage from repeating the pressure causing activity.

Mountains

I don't have access to any of the medical databases at this point. Believe me, I just spent a year in anesthesia school, and nerve injury is one of the top things that go wrong in the operating room. We spent a LOT of time dwelling on it in class and in clinicals.

Yes, probably a large percent of the time it's just a limb falling asleep and then recovering. But everybody is different, and that one time it goes past the tipping point and the nerve is permanently injured is when you'll be sorry. It's just far too easy to avoid it and not take the risk. And *nothing* is harmed (you, your practice, or your meditation) by not having a limb fall asleep. I could probably poke my eye with sharp scissors a time or two and not do permanent damage, but why would I?

SattvaPaul

@Muntains

Muntains?

Sorry, @Mountains

By the way, I've always read/heard that legs falling asleep during meditation is nothing to worry about, but is seems it is. My foot almost always loses feeling when I sit in full lotus. Maybe I need to stretch a bit more.

IronRabbit

So now you are saying I should stop poking my eyes with sharp objects too?
I suppose eating glass is out also? What's left?