temp%20 %20banner-%20
1a


“Battling against the odds”

Having dabbled with meditation practice through reading descriptions in books, I felt relieved, when I attended my first meditation class, that the instructions were clear and straightforward. Over the weeks, as we went through the various stages, that relief turned to a kind of confidence in this method. However, probably as a result of the restlessness I’d experienced since childhood, I found it incredibly difficult to sit in the half-lotus posture, even for five minutes. When the time to practise was over, it often took me several minutes to regain sensation in my legs and let go of the screaming pain in my knees, thighs and back. I was very strongly motivated to practise and was very diligent about sitting for the allotted time every day in spite of the pain I experienced.

On one occasion, when I had only been practising for a relatively short period of time, I went to visit a friend who lived in London. She was having a party and, being so diligent, I decided to practise before the party began. I found an empty room and some cushions to sit on and settled myself down. No sooner had I started than I almost jumped from my seat when someone in the room next door began testing the sound system. It was VERY loud and I realised I had the choice to continue or simply surrender. I’ve always needed a challenge and decided that I should continue the practice. I remember the room vibrating to the thudding bass as I struggled to pay attention to the meditation.

I continued to apply myself to the practice and can still recollect the shock I experienced when I suddenly noticed the loud noise from the room next door. It was not the noise itself that created the shock but the realisation that for some time (however long or short) I had NOT heard the sound at all, nor had I suffered the usual pain in my knees. That experience generated a lot of interest in me and spurred me on to continue with the practice. Generally speaking, these days, I like to practise in a quiet place but, from time to time, still find it useful to “battle against the odds.”