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Some observations about meditation

Alice-nice-Alice

Having been a repeat mental health system patient Ive been put through their ideas of meditatation, well meant Im sure but quite unsuitable for my autistic hypersensitivity.  The one where  they get you to focus on a part of the body, say for eg the right foot, note it, park it, move on to left foot, and so on. I just cannot do this. When I notice a sensory input I have no way of just switching it off in order to “move on”. Each morning I spend over 60 minutes dealing with internal and external sensory overload, so as to focusing on one area, then stilling it, then noticing another - it is quite impossible.


Another bad one is when the facilitator takes you to their simplistic idea of a peaceful place. If its a beach I notice sand irritation between my toes, the wind hurting my eyes, the bitter taste of salt. then Im often told to picture myself in a wood, well when I do i its all pollen and stinging nettles and bracken and brambles and heck its all hurt and tangle  

Why assume everyone loves nature? Its a cliche, give me urban concrete and cities, motorways, mines, factories and our post-industrial “red wall” northern conurbation any day. Yesterday I was trying to explain why the huge Magnox power station cubes at Heysham are to me beauty with their straight east striiding pylons of four core.  We all have our own personal definitions of beauty and peace  

Anyone here who facilitates meditation please note!



Alice

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  • I'm a mindfulness teacher so I facilitate meditation. These are really good points ad I've often thought that there should be some specific courses for ND people.

    With meditation options should always be given anyway (for example - if that doesn't feel comfortable you can try XXX) and after a meditation there should be a chance to feedback and talk about what worked for you and what didn't so that future meditations can be amended. If you feel uncomfortable with the nature imagery I suggest ignoring what they say and just imagining yourself somewhere which feels soothing for you.

    Unfortunately a lot of people who facilitate meditation aren't actually trained in mindfulness so they don't know how to adapt it to different people. 

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  • I'm a mindfulness teacher so I facilitate meditation. These are really good points ad I've often thought that there should be some specific courses for ND people.

    With meditation options should always be given anyway (for example - if that doesn't feel comfortable you can try XXX) and after a meditation there should be a chance to feedback and talk about what worked for you and what didn't so that future meditations can be amended. If you feel uncomfortable with the nature imagery I suggest ignoring what they say and just imagining yourself somewhere which feels soothing for you.

    Unfortunately a lot of people who facilitate meditation aren't actually trained in mindfulness so they don't know how to adapt it to different people. 

Children
  • in reply to Tamarinda
    Tamarinda said:
    With meditation options should always be given anyway (for example - if that doesn't feel comfortable you can try XXX) and after a meditation there should be a chance to feedback and talk about what worked for you and what didn't so that future meditations can be amended

    How can this be done in a group which is what I was thinking of in my reply?

    I personally have only seen group meditation classes advertised (and only been to group mindfulness classes) where for practical purposes 'one size fits all' is more the thing.