The two exercises that I enjoyed the most and
determined to be the most beneficial are the loving kindness and subtle mind
exercises. My absolute favorite would probably be the subtle mind exercise. I
am a thinker as I am always analyzing every detail of my everyday life. When I
look at anything, hear anything, etc. I usually see all the parts that went
into creating it or all of the parts of the story/conversation that could be an
influence in what I am hearing. I am aware of myself doing this now and have
tried to calm some of the senseless chatter within my mind. I really liked that
this exercise focused on the breathing aspect and eliminating the negativity or
needless thoughts from my mind. I found the loving kindness exercise to be
beneficial as well. The instructions state that the best way to do this
exercise is to have a fixed gaze a few feet in front of you. Although I could
not do the exercise as well with a fixed gaze I found it to be extremely
beneficial even when I closed my eyes. I have done this exercise several times
and I still have to close my eyes in order to reach that relaxed and peaceful
state. I like to send out loving thoughts to others and that also helps me to
see some of the qualities that I love about others reside within myself also. These
were my favorite of the exercises we completed throughout this course and two
that I will use in my personal life to foster mental fitness. I will continue
to practice the subtle mind exercise at night before I go to bed. I have found
this helps me to relax and to eliminate the senseless chatter so I can rest my
mind in order to fall asleep. This helps me tremendously. I wake feeling
refreshed and I can fall asleep easily. I usually have a hard time getting to
sleep due to all the thoughts that keep me awake so this really helps me. I
like to do the loving kindness exercise in the morning or afternoon. I have
found it to benefit me more in the afternoon after I have endured part of the
day. This is a great way to find loving kindness for myself as well as others.
Leanne
I agree with you about the subtle mind exercise. I really appreciated this one and thought it helped refocus my mind and eliminate the nonsense and unnecessary thoughts. I think that's an important aspect for everyone to learn. Great post!
ReplyDeleteHi Leanne,
ReplyDeleteI too find the subtle mind exercise to be my favorite. At first I found it difficult to control my breathing, the more I wanted the relax the faster my breathing. However the more I practiced the easier it become. Once I was able to control my breathing I was able to calm my mind I was able to practice watching my mind and not participating in the whirlwind of activity. I found doing this before I went to bed helped me as well. I was able to sleep soundly and woke feeling quite rested. Life has been crazy between work and the things going on in my personal life and all the homework most nights my mind was spinning on fast forward and I couldn't get to sleep.
Anne Marie