Meditation Journal Exercises
Instructions: Each of the following exercises is paired with a meditation from your text, Meditation for Beginners. Complete the meditation from the CD that accompanies that text first, and then complete each of these writing exercises. Complete each journal entry by the scheduled due date on your course schedule and post as a "journal entry" in Ulearn. Each post must be a minimum of 300 words although you may always write more if you wish. (NOTE: prompt 3 must be a min. of 800 words total, 200 words for each prompt).
#1: Spend around 10 minutes with this meditation that focuses on the breath. Let's begin with the body. You can do this sitting or standing. If you are sitting down, make sure both feet are pressed firmly into the floor, grounding you. On an inhale, slowly tilt your head back. Don't try to force it back further than it wants to go. Just enjoy a gentle stretch. Continue to breathe slowly and deeply. Notice what you are feeling. Your neck and throat are exposed. This is a vulnerable, heart-opening position. When you are ready, on an exhaling breath, bring your head back to center. Experiment with this as much as you like, taking care not to force movement in your neck. When you are finished, simply freewrite about this experience for 15 minutes.
#2: Choose a place of tightness in your own body to focus on for this exercise. Touch that place--not with the hands, but with your awareness. Slowly breathe into that place. Keep your awareness focused on your place of tightness and your breathing. Do you know where the tightness comes from? Can you write the story of the tension in your body? Did it come from an injury or from stress? What do you know about it? What do you feel about it? When you are ready, freewrite a response to these questions.
#3: Freewrite for at least 15 minutes on each of the following prompts. Each freewrite must be a minimum of 200 words each although you may write more if you wish.
-When I am at a crossroads, I ...
-Change means ...
-Fear means ...
-Risk means ...
#4: Are you your writing? Who (or what) are you? Who does the writing? Begin with a clean slate. Just for a moment (and you can tell your ego it's just an exercise), give into the notion that you are empty. You are a hollow chamber for breath. Sit with that image. You're clean. Clear. No baggage from the past. No desires for the future. You're pure and perfect. Start here. Freewrite for 15 minutes.
#5: Freewrite on this prompt: "Suffering means ..."
#6: Where do you think your writing comes from? How does the role of the past figure into your writing? Do you think writers have a responsibility to the past? Can the past be escaped? Freewrite on these questions.
#7: What is your relationship to solitude? What does it mean to you? Hoe do you spend time alone? What distractions do you use to pull yourself away from solitude?
#8: One day we will all step out of our flesh. Write a farewell letter to your body.
