Yes it does seem very challenging and maybe it's my ego but I feel very scared but also I know it is to discover the best version of me I know I have inside.
Both body and emotional pain. No pain, no gain, yes exactly haha. Everything in my life that has been challenging has been worth it :)
Hi spaceginger, I am part of the ecotrain and have meditated for years. I m sorry to hear you experience discomfort during your meditation. May I offer you some suggestions?
Hi @clara-andriessen I guess just the quietness of my mind makes me realise how short life is and how many people surrounding me don't love life with much passion. I realise it's not up to them, it's all on me, but this is a challenge when I feel like I want to live a passionate life but no one to live it with. I'm not an 'outgoing' person at all, but I want to love everyone and feel many people are closed off in this way, including my wife. Physical discomfort is understandable (though I do get a numb left foot quite often sitting in the half-lotus position lol) but it's more the lack of passion surrounding me that threatens to bring me down. I feel if I didn't find Steemit and meet people, such as yourself, I would be on a very lonely road.
Hi spaceginger, I appreciate your sharing. Thanks for that. It's indeed nice to exchange. Sometimes I feel even lonely on steemit when no one commenst on my posts. I get the lonely feeling it is something many of us struggle with. It is good that you can acknowledge it. Part of your meditation could be just to surround that feeling with warm love/attention. This is a good practice to 'hold space' for your emotions. When you do you become much more comfortable within yourself as if you're making friends with yourself again. and you'll find that the loneliness is either gone or much easier to bear and for people around you to connect to you with more ease. I hope this helps. As for the physical pain, I understand you practice Vipasana? This is a meditation based on the masculine principle of discipline. While we do need some discipline in our meditation we need to balance it with feminine principles such as practicality and compassion. If you're not comfortable in the half-lotus position, take a higher pillow or even sit on the couch. Make yourself comfortable, when you are, you will have more joy from your meditation and will want to do it more often. It shouldn't be a punishment but a gift to yourself.
There are also different kinds of Vipassana, I did the traditional hardcore Goenka one, with nothing but meditation, 10 hours a day.
But I know a guy in Germany offering Vipassana retreats and he sprinkles some Yoga exercises in as well.
i think its normal to feel that way, but i also know meditation makes it all seem so much less traumatic or challenging.. we can breeze through things or push against them.. sometimes its just our perspective that needs to change