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Moments of delusion based on physiology

prettyhowtownprettyhowtown
edited October 2011 in Buddhism Basics
I tend to have a greater struggles with my practice that coincide with my *time of the month.* I wonder, how do others among us deal with cyclical, physiological interruptions (not necessarily of the female nature) in practice. This ends up being a time of great emotional suffering, most every month, and I do not feel like I have the same level of ability to practice.

Comments

  • federicafederica Seeker of the clear blue sky... Its better to remain silent and be thought a fool, than to speak out and remove all doubt Moderator
    edited October 2011
    I hate to sound like a sanctimonious cow, but when I know *MTOTM* is approaching, that's when I make the Effort to intensify my practice.
    I have clear warning: it happens every month: if I know it's coming - what better way to Pay Attention?
  • prettyhowtownprettyhowtown
    edited October 2011
    I hate to sound like a sanctimonious cow, but when I know *MTOTM* is approaching, that's when I make the Effort to intensify my practice.
    I have clear warning: it happens every month: if I know it's coming - what better way to Pay Attention?
    How? The only reason I ask, is that it is extremely hard for me to limit distractions. I know my question is silly, and I am sorry for that. This month has been somewhat hard, and it seems like my mind is automatically reverting to old thought patterns and much more resistant than usual. My body seems to respond differently every month. It does not seem feasible to sit in my room and meditate for hours.
  • auraaura Veteran
    You might be interested in checking out Tina sometime:
    http://www.qigongforwomen.com/Home.html
  • mithrilmithril Veteran
    I find the contrary to what you describe - i think i learn most at that time of the month - so it is a kind of work of its own, but i don't feel i struggle more than usual.

    Personally i just "take it easy" for a few days - i don't stop working/studying, but i tell myself it is alright to do less of it, that i can do what i feel is right, since i know i cannot expect top performance with the pain and the mess of feelings - is it distraction? I guess i could say i feel like i'm easily distracted then - i know it will be harder for me to do stuff, so i just keep on returning to what i'm doing. Interestingly, i don't usually accomplish less on those days, even when i have to take more breaks for a few minutes. I also keep some OTC pain drugs with me, even if just for the comfort of knowing i have them. If i really struggle, i ask myself "is it really unbearable?". This makes me focus on the pain, its location, and look at it for some duration - and i usually conclude that i don't really need the drugs just then =P

    So in essence, what i do is i just watch it all. The emotions, me as i'm being so distracted and my apparent inability to focus like on some other day. The shitty feeling and sometimes the feeling of frustration with it. It is all transient. Cramps especially actually lessen if you allow them to be. Which i either manage to persuade myself into or not, since i know i just hate to be in pain^^
  • MountainsMountains Veteran
    Here's one thread that I am **NOT** getting involved in. Isn't there some football on TV or something?? Or maybe something mechanical that needs fixing??

    :)
  • federicafederica Seeker of the clear blue sky... Its better to remain silent and be thought a fool, than to speak out and remove all doubt Moderator
    edited October 2011

    How? The only reason I ask, is that it is extremely hard for me to limit distractions.
    Then don't. You're not in any position to 'limit distractions'. Your position is to notice the distractions, and transcend them. Don't change (limit) what you can't. Focus on what you can.
    I know my question is silly, and I am sorry for that.
    no, no, no,no,no. It most certainly isn't silly. It's perfectly natural and a pertinent one at that. The only silly question is the one you don't ask for fear of being thought silly....
    This month has been somewhat hard, and it seems like my mind is automatically reverting to old thought patterns and much more resistant than usual. My body seems to respond differently every month. It does not seem feasible to sit in my room and meditate for hours.
    Then don't. Meditate for minutes, but several times a day. Close your eyes, breathe and notice the moment. With practice, you'll see it coming a mile off....
    Relax and stop being so hard on yourself. The competition is non-existent.

  • JeffreyJeffrey Veteran
    These are opportunities to work with difficult states. It sounds like one of the hardest things is self judgement. Just remember that such judgement is just part of the passing activities of your mind.

    I relate to this due to sometimes having weird states from mental illness or medication.

    Here is a passage from Rigdzin Shikpo:

    So when a particular set of thoughts or emotions gets behind you, realize it is just a trick of the mind. Everything is part of the practice. And any sense of someone directing events or making reasonable decisions is just another thought or feeling

    The whole basis of Buddhist meditation is to see the contents of our minds as they are, without judging them. This is the first step, but in some sense, it's the whole thing. By doing that we begin to relate to our state of being, not just to the superficiality of our mind. And we don't allow the judgmental mind to send us scurrying off or convince us we're not suited to meditation. In fact, everybody is suited to this kind of meditation because, basically, our minds are the same. Meditation is about relating to the mind in the simplest, most direct way possible. And while that might be irritating or seem difficult to do, any irritation and difficulty is equally just another part of the mind's display.

    Meditation is part of our sanity as human beings. It is a natural function of mind and , in some sense, a natural function of the body. There are other methods where you try to invent yourself as a better person, but that won't help you see the contents of your mind as they actually are. This meditation is about relating to the mind as simply and directly as we can. And as we sit quietly, experiencing our thoughts and feelings, we can be confident that this is not only something we need or want to do; it is part and parcel of being human.
  • HanzzeHanzze Veteran
    As you seems to be interested in psychology, what about take a look at Buddhist psychology. It helps a lot to understand if we do not have the time and possibility to just experiences it by our self:

    Amoha Or Paññá (Wisdom)

    Amoha means intelligence, knowledge, wisdom. This metal factor enables one to dispel the darkness of ignorance and delusion which conceals the truth. Moha (delusion) and amoha (knowledge) are two extreme opposites.


    The Wisdom (Paññá)

    Wisdom is of two categories, real and unreal. The wisdom is knowing and understanding the action (kamma) and results thereof vipaka; knowing and understanding the scriptures and the Dhamma; knowledge of insight (Vipassana Nana); knowledge of the Path (Magga Nana); knowledge of Fruition (Phala Nana), and the Buddha's Omniscience. All these forms of faultless knowledge are called wisdom (paññá).

    from "Abhidhamma In Daily Life" by Ashin Janakabhivamsa
    http://www.dharmaweb.org/index.php/Abhidhamma_In_Daily_Life_By_Ashin_Janakabhivamsa

    maybe you take a look, don't worry about the Pali words to much. Actually they are useful to get away from wrong translations/interpretations.

    *smile*
  • federicafederica Seeker of the clear blue sky... Its better to remain silent and be thought a fool, than to speak out and remove all doubt Moderator
    She said PHYsiology, not Psychology.
  • HanzzeHanzze Veteran
    My very mistake, thanks for correcting! *smile* but actually there is no different. "Physiologyis the science of the function of living systems."
    It all starts by an physical view at the phenomena, it would be just a quicker step. We mostly know much about physical Physiology, so it should not be a problem to compare.
    Moha means a big presents of "I", "mine", "me". "Physical" phenomena (suffering) therefore is very useful to observe and to gain a good amount of mindfulness.
  • federicafederica Seeker of the clear blue sky... Its better to remain silent and be thought a fool, than to speak out and remove all doubt Moderator
    You're off topic.
    Either contribute to the thread, but don't take it elsewhere.

    That recommendation is not up for discussion, so please don't reply.
  • HanzzeHanzze Veteran
    "This ends up being a time of great emotional suffering, most every month, and I do not feel like I have the same level of ability to practice." is the seek for hints in the OP.


    The Kinds Of Moha

    Not knowing (delusion) is moha, it is of two kinds, namely, anusaya moha and pariyutthana moha. The term anusaya means inherent tendency or lying latent. The term pariyutthana means rising up. Therefore delusion, which always accompanies the mind of beings, is called anusaya moha, the latent delusion. The delusion that occasionally arises together with the mind is called pariyutthana moha, the rising-up delusion.

    from the link

    So that means, even if one has good understanding of "impermanence (anicca), suffering (dukkha) and non-self (anattá)" or "emptiness" moha/delusion is still latent present. Only if attaining the cessation of suffering it disappears also as a latent form.

    To gain insight and reduce the presents of this suffering out of delusion, we need to gain insight. Insight (understanding the nature of mental and physical processes as they really are) needs to observe them. This kind of suffering is a very good friend of observing, so we should not dislike it, but be mindfull how it comes and goes. The presenter the "pain" the better is it as an object of meditation (observing) to train the mind to stay on one point and also to understand it's impermanent, unsatisfactory and not-self nature.

    2. Pariyutthana Moha

    When moha arises together with the mind it is said that the bad mind, the unwholesome one; has appeared. Because of the concealing nature of this pariyutthana moha, evil consequences, which one may suffer in future, are not understood. And the evil of unwholesome actions of the present are also not understood. Therefore, even the learned and virtuous cannot see the evils of moha and will commit wrong deeds when moha arises. This moha in the domain of evils is the most wicked. In this world all wickedness and stupidity originate from moha; moha is the taproot of all evil.

    *smile*

    Its good to use all what comes around and arises in one self as an object of observing. From the raw to the fine. Raw is a good appearance that we get not lost in fine we are not able to understand jet.
  • prettyhowtownprettyhowtown
    Here's one thread that I am **NOT** getting involved in. Isn't there some football on TV or something?? Or maybe something mechanical that needs fixing??

    :)
    LOL. If you can relate in any way to your mind playing tricks on you, your contribution is likely to be worthwhile.
  • zombiegirlzombiegirl beating the drum of the lifeless in a dry wasteland Veteran
    good question. i tend to experience aggression and critical thoughts the week prior to my period. i get mood swings too, from crying to intense anger. of course, i keep most of this to myself and it's mostly something i notice in my internal dialogue, but it does leak into my verbal communications as well sometimes. every month is different though and some are worse than others.

    mostly, i just remind myself that it's the effect of hormones on my thoughts. i don't attach to the negative reel of emotions playing out in my head and i remind myself that i am not my thoughts. so... i forgive myself.
  • yemanjayemanja
    it is nice to allow to oneself a little break , and just feel what is happening without stressing oneself..when i am not able to practise i lye down and relax and i listen to a little tape recorder-you know the very small ones used by secretaries, where i have recorded myself the best parts of my buddhists readings, with giving thanks,slogans,mantras, etc.. everything that is meaningful to me.. or i am simply imagining the protection of the buddha over me or seeing a ray of light from his third eye to my third eye or from his heart to my heart, and i am staying in that image breathing deeply.. ok that s all i can do today , but i am soaking in the power of buddha same way..sometimes i imagine a giant golden statue of buddha all over the house and the room..we must be wise with ourselves, what we can do we can do, another day i will fast and have a good meditation in the evening..maybe just relaxing and observing ourselves is a kind of meditation, without trying too much..
  • grout4cakegrout4cake
    Perhaps it is an opportunity to notice your irritations and be kinder to yourself for having to experience them..

  • compassionate_warriorcompassionate_warrior Veteran
    edited October 2011
    Traleg Rinpoche nearly starved himself to death because the digestive process interfered with his meditation, he said. Now there's an extreme case. Other lamas in his tradition became alarmed and told him to get his act together, because he was needed, they couldn't allow him to die. That was a few years ago. More recent photos of him show him to be a real butterball. He still hasn't found a Middle Way in relation to food, it looks like.

    Prettyhowtown, the Meditation Police isn't going to cite you for taking a few days off from practice. If you're meditating regularly the rest of the time, you're doing better than a lot of people.
  • HanzzeHanzze Veteran
    Against the Flow

    To practice is to go against the flow: against the flow of the currents in our heart, against the flow of defilement. Anything that goes upstream against the flow is bound to be hard. If you row a boat upstream, it's hard. To build goodness and virtue is a little bit hard because we people have defilements. We don't want to do it. We don't want to be bothered. We don't want to build endurance. We want for the most part to let things flow in line with our moods. Like water: It flows in line with its ways. If we let things flow in line with the water, it's easy but it's not practice. With practice you have to resist. You have to resist defilement, resist your own heart, force your own heart, increase your powers of endurance. That's when your practice will go against the flow.

    http://www.accesstoinsight.org/lib/thai/chah/insimpleterms.html
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