arms overhead

[Guest guest]

Hi to you all

I'm new to KY, and was inspired by a book by Gurmukh, and by this list.

 

I'm in my second 40 days of a meditation which involves holding arms

overhead for 11 mins.. this does not seem to be getting easier - my mind

is often in a turmoil, and arms hurt - I feel that extending the time in

this meditation is impossible. my resolve is weakening.

 

I'm working alone,so some advice or re-assurance would be appreciated.

 

Thankyou

Namaste - Mike

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[Guest guest]

Dear Mike,

 

> I'm in my second 40 days of a meditation which involves holding arms

overhead for 11 mins.. this does not seem to be getting easier - my mind

is often in a turmoil, and arms hurt - I feel that extending the time in

> this meditation is impossible. my resolve is weakening.

> I'm working alone,so some advice or re-assurance would be appreciated.

 

I hate to tell you, but I have been holding my arms up in the air, to the

sides, on the ears and in every other painful position possible. It has

never gotten easier for me either.

 

However, the good news is that I can do it.

 

Turn your arm pits in and relax your shoulders. This could help. Also don't

torture yourself by thinking you have to increase over 11 minutes. 11

minutes is quite good.

 

I remember one mediation where we hold our arms out to the sides for 11

minutes. I thought I would die. But my mind was so balanced and I felt so

strong afterwards, it was worth it.

 

Also, find another place to meditate besides the pain. Like the crown

chakra or third eye or the heart. This position is opening the higher

centers. Once you tune into the chakra (s) it is opening you can get into

that awesome feeling of being blessed by the awakening energy.

 

It is also easier in a group.

 

As Yogi Bhajan is famous for saying "Keep up and you will be kept up."

 

Sat Nam,

 

Gururattan Kaur

[Guest guest]

Sat Nam Mike!

 

> overhead for 11 mins.. this does not seem to be getting easier -

 

Those kinds of meditations are indeed very challenging (and the

benefits are very much worth the effort). You are doing extremely

well! I just wanted to add a few other tips to those Gururattan

passed on.

 

I have found that the longer I can go without budging, the easier it

will be. I start by getting the position as perfect as I can and do

my best to hold entirely still as long as I can. If I move, even a

little, my attention returns to my body, and then I notice the pain.

It is like a house of cards: as long as everything is totally still,

it is OK, but the slightest bit of wind (the slightest movement) and

the house of cards comes crashing down

 

Another thing that helps me is to consciously direct my focus to as

many things other than the body sensations as possible - the breath,

the mantra, the drishti (eye focus), etc.

 

At teacher training, after a 31-minute Sat Kriya (and being in a

group makes a huge difference!), we all sat around and discussed

different techniques that we had found for dealing with such things,

and it was very interesting - very different things work for

different people. Some people, for example, find it very effective

to focus on the pain. By bringing all their attention to the exact

spot that hurts the most, then the pain would vanish from that spot.

A lot of people used different forms of visualization, perhaps seeing

themselves as if an objective observer watching them from a distance,

or imagining the changes in internal energy flow, or the changes in

neural patterns (Gurucharan had just shown us pictures of functional

MRI of meditators). I encourage you to experiment with different

things - I'm sure you will find a technique (or several) that will

work for you.

 

If you want to work on building up your time, a useful technique is

alternation. When I was working to accomplish 31 minutes of Sat

Kriya on my own (so much harder than with the group), I would

alternate in all different ways. For a week I would do 11 minutes

one day, and then the next day do more (15, 17, 22...), and then back

to 11 the following day. Other weeks, each day I would do 11, and

then take a break and then do more (5, 7, 11...).

 

Keep up the good work, Mike - It will pay off in many ways!

 

All blessings,

Sadhant

[Guest guest]

Hello, Mike.

 

>I'm in my second 40 days of a meditation which involves holding arms

>overhead for 11 mins.. this does not seem to be getting easier - my mind

>is often in a turmoil, and arms hurt - I feel that extending the time in

>this meditation is impossible. my resolve is weakening.

 

If you have done it once, you can do it again... and again... and again.

Also, though your arms may be saying to you "we're going to fall off or

implode or become disabled or do something equally nightmarish to you that

you will never recover from", they aren't telling you the truth. One second

after you finish holding your arms over your head, your arms will be right

back to doing whatever arms do when they aren't trying to distract you from

focusing on your third eye (something with pleasure that arms just don't

understand).

 

My personal favorite tactics for outwitting my witty arms (or other

protesting parts):

 

1. Throw myself into the mantra or breathing, as Sadhant mentioned. By

throw myself into it, I mean: YELL it if I have to. Put absolutely ALL of

my energy into it. It's kind of like a kid singing: "LA LA LA I'm not

listening to yOuOuOu." Think about it... energy grows where energy is

directed. If you put all of your energy into watching your arms, your arms

will say "groovy snack, I want more."

 

2. Now, with that said, the other equally productive tactic: build a

relationship with the energy in your body... so that you can ask it to do

things for you... like support your arms. For example, I have "grown"

excruciating pain on the interior crest of my hip while meditating. This

was something that would creep up during the sitting and disappear the

moment the concentrating was over. I found it very effective to ask

whatever energy was not engaged in keeping me focused to go to that spot

and take the form of whatever that spot needed to keep going.

 

3. A variation on that: build a relationship with your protesting parts.

Reassure them. Tell them 11 minutes is not eternity. Tell them about the

rewards. Tell them they aren't doing it alone... that they are connected to

everything else and everything else is supporting them.

 

Though as Gururattan mentioned, it will always be hard to hold certain

positions, it will not always be hard in the same way. Our bodies take on

positions more easily the more often we ask them to take those positions. I

don't know if it is simply mental conditioning, or the strengthening of

structures and tissues of my physical body, but I have noticed that

cantilevers have gotten easier for me. So, have heart.

 

Namaste' and Sat Nam,

Nina.

[Guest guest]

> > overhead for 11 mins.. this does not seem to be getting easier -

 

Hi

>From my Hathayoga background, in any painful or uncomfortable posture I can

attest to concentrating directly on the painful area. For me

this gradually relaxes the area and increases its strength/flexibility. Hope

this helps.

Sat Nam

--

Nick