I was practicing a variation of mindfulness meditation this morning called the white room. It's similar to many other mindfulness meditations but with a different (mental) prop.
Basically, you get comfy and chilled out then imagine your consciousness as a white room with two doors; an entrance and an exit. You then observe your thoughts entering the room and you just watch them, identify them, be aware of them and then watch them exit... thought after thought, without judging them or reacting to them, just 'awarenessing' them.
So I was doing this mediation this morning and thoughts came and went but one thought entered my white room and did not leave. It was the memory of an excellent animation by Jan Svankmajer. I tried to just 'be there' and be aware that I was feeling like I really wanted to see the film again... Stay Marnie... staaaaay, staaaay... fuck this! I just had to stop meditating and find the film on YouTube, haha. ;-) If you watch the film, you'll see why.
Anyways...
Do yourself a favour and watch this wonderful film:
Cool, eh?
Très cool! Interesting meditation technique too! I would have probably told my thoughts to "fuck it" a long time ago. Where dooooooo you find this stuff?
ReplyDeleteAnd, thank you Marnie, for your very insightful and generous comments earlier. Very much appreciated.
I liked your chosen film marnie. I'm sure there are as many interpretations as there are frames in that wee plot! I smiled at the room with the two doors at first (your room?), and loved the introduction of all the senses. But, sorry, my mind burst into song right at the end. "I want to break free" by Queen.
ReplyDeleteI don't think I could ever steady my mind and thoughts long enough to practise your mindfulness. Interesting stuff indeed.
Bogey, I've always had a thing for stop-action animation but it was a friend of mine in England who hooked me onto Svankmajer films. His stuff is great.
ReplyDeleteYeah Ann, as soon as I had the white room set up in my mind, I thought of this film. I did the meditation again this morning and I really like it... one of my favs so far, so a keeper.
You do not need to settle your mind and thoughts to do mindfulness meditation! It's an impossible task anyways... and that's the beauty of mindfulness meditation. It's not about concentration or control, it's just non-judging, accepting awareness of the activity of your mind and/or anything else you decide to meditate about.
The by product of MM is a calmer, clearer, more settled mind... eventually... apparently... hopefully...
;-)
FYI, I know you aren't into the Blog Award thingy but this one is special and I thought of you whilst paying it forward. I think you are very deserving. Hope you are having a pleasant week end.
ReplyDeleteThanks for sharing that unusual film. I want to try that meditation technique. But how will I get that film out of my mind?
ReplyDelete