How To Do An All Day Meditation Practice At Home

This is Ish and today I want to talk to you about how to do an all-day meditation practice when you're at home.

So this also applies if you're just doing a couple hours a day and you're normally just used to doing 20-30 minutes a day and you really want to amp up the hours of meditation that you do.

So I want to talk to you a little bit more about how you can actually set your space up so you can be able to do this.

So you'll typically find that people who meditate for a couple hours a day,

You know like 6,

7,

8 hours,

They usually are in some sort of meditation setting in like a meditation hall or a zendo where they have a certain structure in place.

And our goal is to take that structure that they have and try to replicate it as much as we can because if you're going to be totally honest,

Meditating in a zendo or a meditation hall is a bit better than trying to attempt all that on your own and following the same structure.

But you know,

I understand that it is a pandemic and we have other issues on accessibility and other things going on where we're just not able to just go to a meditation sitting for 5 days in a row,

Right?

So we can take some of the lessons that we learned from actually going to these formal settings and apply that in our own home practice.

So some things that these meditation halls settings do really well in retreats is that they have a sense of pressure,

They have a discipline or structure in place,

And lastly there's also a lack of distractions.

So I'm going to talk to you about these three points.

So the first is the pressure that is evident in an environment like that.

So when you go to a meditation retreat where you're just sitting and meditating,

There's usually other people sitting right next to you,

Especially in the Zen tradition.

You're either staring at a ball and it'll be a partner to either side of you,

That's in the Soto style,

Or if you're in the Rinzai style,

You face the other way and you look,

You face a room,

So you might be staring at someone right in front of you.

So there's an added pressure involved because although you're not focusing on another person,

You subconsciously know that there's another person watching you,

And especially the teacher will watch you as well,

That's there in the room.

So you have less of that inclination to slouch,

It'll be more vigilant of your posture.

So I find that when I'm sitting next to someone in meditation,

I naturally just straighten up a bit more,

Or if I know that my teacher is sitting across from me,

I'll straighten up a bit more.

So how can we actually develop that same sense of vigilance?

Well,

What I think is what you can do is you can film yourself and you can have other people watch it.

So say you do like a YouTube video or maybe you have your friends meditate with you on the other side,

Even though they might not be watching you directly,

There's still a subconscious feeling that you get that,

Okay,

There's someone,

They're actually seeing what I'm doing,

So I can't really just slack off or walk around or just leave halfway through meditation because there's someone who's accountable for me.

And that's the same way that the meditation places are structured,

So you want to emulate that.

So you can start off by having a Zoom call with your friends and doing a meditation.

You can just film yourself and record it.

And this can give you that incentive because later,

After just recording yourself meditate,

You can go back and actually watch the clip and see where you,

At one point in your meditation,

Did you slouch and that'll actually help you too.

And another thing you can do is also practice with a partner next to you.

So this can be girlfriend,

Boyfriend,

Spouse,

Brother,

Sister,

Family member,

Whatever the case is.

Just have someone next to you that is meditating with you and that can also help you straighten up and actually add that sense of pressure that you want in your meditation.

This is a good kind of pressure,

So don't think of it as something that's bad.

And a good question to ask yourself is how can you create this sense of discipline or vigilance when you don't feel like it?

Because if you are aiming to do a longer period of meditation,

There's definitely going to be some points,

Actually I'm going to guarantee that there's going to be some points where you're not going to feel like pushing through,

Especially when your joints start to ache or you get some nagging feelings or some troublesome thoughts come up.

There's going to be some periods where you just don't want to push through it.

So a question to ask yourself is what can you do to create that sense of pressure or discipline to actually sit through the practice?

So just think about that.

Going on to my second point of creating that structure,

You'll find that oftentimes in monastic settings where the Zen monks will actually live there on premise,

Or just even in one day settings at a meditation retreat,

That everyone has a certain role and a certain structure throughout the day.

So the meditator will know that,

Okay,

When I wake up at 5 a.

M.

,

I am going to be meditating for two hours and then I'm going to do a chant,

And then after that I'm going to have lunch for exactly an hour,

And their day is very structured.

And in the same way we can actually take that and structure our day,

The whole point of structuring your meditation,

I know it sounds very like the opposite of meditation,

But the whole point of doing that is that you take away the responsibility where you have your mind active all the time,

And rather you can just do each task one-pointedly and mindfully without having to think five steps ahead because you didn't prepare.

So you can actually do this by having a preparation for your meditation day,

So you can prepare the foods you're going to eat before actually committing to that meditation sitting.

You can tell your friends that,

Hey,

I went busy for these couple hours,

So don't disturb me,

And take care of any tasks that need to be taken care of beforehand so you're not thinking about it.

And that's actually why a lot of people find the appeal for a longer-term monastic life because they don't have to deal with the everyday,

Let's say,

Burdens and responsibilities of life because you can actually have the sangha or the community and the environment that you're in kind of prescribe that out to you,

Your tasks,

And you don't have to go beyond that.

So we can apply that same kind of thinking and take that to our own meditation practice where we can do all the things that we need to beforehand so that we can truly relax in the present moment.

So it's about creating that container for that space of presence.

So some practical ways to do this is just plan an overall idea.

So you can say,

I'm going to meditate for 25 minutes,

And then I'm going to do 10 minutes of meditation walking,

And then I'm going to do 25 more minutes of sitting,

And then after that I am going to eat.

So already have your meal prepared for exactly an hour,

And you time this out.

And this will allow you to create that structure like I mentioned and allow you to follow through while remaining completely in that one-pointed focus and not having to run your mind and think of a thousand things to do and get distracted in the process.

And that obviously leads me to my last point,

Which is a distraction.

So I'll be honest with you,

A distraction is just everywhere if you have a home practice.

I mean,

Your phone goes off and the phone is right next to you.

That's a big thing.

You might just pick it up and look at your phone.

I know I've done that a couple of times.

And there's more reasons to get distracted in a home practice than you would at a meditation setting.

So I think the big thing,

Like I mentioned,

Is your phone.

So make sure you keep it on airplane mode.

That's a big one.

And the second is to actually have your phone far away from you across the room.

So you can have the sound on so you can still hear the meditation chime if you're using an app like Inside Timer.

But keep it across the room where you can hear it,

But you're not tempted to grab it and just randomly check your phone.

So I've done this a couple of times where I put my phone on airplane mode,

But I put it right next to my lap.

And then some point through my practice,

I eventually just pick it up for the sake of it.

And you'll typically find that when you're sitting in meditation,

You'll oftentimes think of your timer or how long you've been meditating.

Let me check on that.

So even meditation related thoughts will come up and then you'll go to look at your phone.

So the best advice for that is to have the sound setting on your phone if you're using like a meditation timer.

And make sure that you hear the first bell where the thing goes off,

Signaling that you're actually going to meditate now.

And then just put your phone off to the side.

So at least now you have that peace of mind that,

Okay,

My timers are going to work as expected because I heard the first bell.

But it's far away,

So I don't have to worry about it.

And this will allow you to continue with the meditation.

Now,

Going forward,

Your family members,

Your roommates could all come in and distract you in your meditation.

So that's also another thing.

So just make sure that you tell them in advance for these many hours in the day from 10 a.

M.

To 6 p.

M.

,

For example,

Or whatever,

10 a.

M.

To 1 p.

M.

,

I'm going to be meditating,

So don't disturb me.

Anything you want,

Come to me afterwards.

So this sets that expectation where you're not getting distracted in the middle of your meditation.

And this will allow you to consistently focus on your meditation thoroughly.

And the last point is considering taking a vow of silence during that period of meditation.

So Buddhist monks use this a lot in their meditations.

And if you go to a Zen meditation retreat,

You'll notice that people will take a vow of silence where they don't talk to everyone.

And this is because classically this is to build the right speech because when you are silent and you're not just blurting out whatever is coming to your mind,

This will allow you to formulate what you're going to say and actually be mindful of what you're going to say.

And there's also other benefits like it allows you to listen more and also not churn the mind because if you're talking,

Then you will start to just have your mind active and you're creating new ideas and you're chatting to other people.

Or if they say something bad and now your thoughts are going somewhere else and you can kind of see where I'm going with this,

Right?

And you will also find that you get distracted too if you have a slight conversation with someone and that leads to something else.

And now your mind is going somewhere else and you lose that focus or composure that you built up because now you've talked and just you splurted it out there.

So you will typically notice if you actually go to a meditation retreat on site that the conversation is very simple.

It's more directive like,

Okay,

Go fill that bucket or can I sit here or can I do this?

It's very small just to convey a certain point,

But that's nothing further.

So you don't want to continually be talking and actually just try it as an experiment.

The days you're doing a longer period of meditation on your own,

Try taking a vow of silence and actually using that entire day to to completely immerse yourself in something.

So the last point,

We're adding a new point here,

But this is to act with one pointed focus on everything that you do and try to extend this past meditation.

You'll probably feel a bit strained after your long sitting,

But you'll notice a completely different effect when you can actually integrate the practice of sitting in other areas in your life.

So I hope this gives you incentive to actually take on a longer period of meditation.

Try it out for yourself.

Do it at home.

Remember,

Don't get distracted,

But create this nice structure for yourself.

Don't get distracted and and then try to build an added pressure where you are being accountable and you feel more vigilant.

And this will mimic the same type of environment as you would if you were in an in-person meditation setting.

So this helps.

Thank you.