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What was the longest period of time you've ever meditated in ?
What was the longest period of time you've ever meditated in ?
Extra Questions: Did you benefit significantly from this particular session in a way that you haven't compared to previous sessions ?
Bonus Question: Do you prefer meditation that is setup to end with a timed alarm or do you prefer alarm-less meditation sessions ?
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Comments
hoursminutes.2 hour walk/sit
Once my mind settles into meditation personally I haven't felt like the meditation has gotten better at some point because of doing it longer. Though, the longer the session the more benefit to myself in general.
I need to have a set time for myself or I'll quit too soon and so I don't feel pressure on myself to 'do it better' and worry about not wanting to meditate at all because I'll feel like I have to meditate forever until I'm perfect. On occasion I will feel like going longer then I'll add like a set 5 or 10 minutes on.
...one time just during a weekday evening group practice... The teacher threw a curve by ringing the starting bell ... then just leaving it for the evening.. It was interesting because after the usual amount of sitting time had passed, there was all kinds of stuff coming up..including feeling a bit peeved at being played with. The practice form involves sitting back to back facing the wall, so there was no way of looking to see what was going on... did he get ill? It just went on until the bell rang maybe three hours later. What was interesting was passing through holding on and getting frustrated... then letting go... then holding on and getting frustrated again... then letting go.
maybe one.
1 hr.
scroll at the bottom
http://www.dhamma.org/en/code.shtml
surprisingly for me, everyone get use to 1, 1:30 hours sessions and this schedule really quickly, almost feel like there are too many breaks by the end of the course..
Long sitting may be good. Short sitting may be good. One thing's for sure: No Buddhism I ever heard of recommends sitting forever on a cushion. Aside from anything else, such an effort would present practical problems ... when to take a leak and, perhaps more compellingly, what's for lunch?
My longest meditation was 3 hours of 10 minute walking 20 minutes sitting broken into 6 blocks though consecutive.
The longest for sitting is a whopping 20 minutes but I can't say how long the longest walking session was.
..others may have a different experience though. The unsentimental focus discipline suits me.. but might not suit others..
...come to think of it the online sangha (treeleaf) that I posted about earlier is very warm and supportive..
I am part of a sangha that is pretty supportive in particular the lama is very supportive when I have asked questions by e-mail, as I am a long distance learner. A lot of the material is about the heart.
I was kind of hoping to have face contact as I am mentally ill and a little concerned that my vajra energy causes problems to people. And possibly meditation affects that. I can't wait to find out if that is true, just so I can know the dynamics. What vajra energy is might need another thread, but another ill poster says he had been warned about it.. He hasn't been here for awhile.
Unfortunately, i have not been able to do the above in my meditation till now - but trying to work on my meditation as some of you may be knowing.
It was the first sesshin I participated in and it was in a Japanese monastery.
The usual period of zazen was forty minutes; but we weren’t allowed to wear a watch so I don’t know how precise they were about the timing.
The final period of zazen in the evening always appeared to last a bit longer. We were exhausted and relaxed and still; very beautiful. The day was closed with a warm cup of something tasty and then we would get some sleep and rest our backs.
But one night we heard the monk who was bringing the tea (or whatever it was) stumble and drop the kettle on the floor just outside the zendo. He went back to put another kettle on and time past.
I was finished really and it was obviously going to be a while. It was a big kettle.
That’s when I think for the first time, time didn’t matter anymore.
It was a great period of zazen and the best tea ever
To me, there's meditation (which I do rarely), there's what I'll call periods of very focused "being mindful", and there's chanting. To me, all three are very different things.
That's also the reasons for retreats; your mind gets even days to settle down. My longest sitting session must have been at a retreat, but I don't remember how long because I didn't time it. When I came out of meditation everybody had left the hall already to go to bed. Was really peaceful
I try to be mindfull....
always,
there is no true other state of being
Meditation helps me to remember
On average - maybe ~30 mins?