Mindful Golf

[natureboy]

13 hours ago, Blackjack Don said:

Tell me more! Seriously. If you know of anything which can do what meditation does, with a shortcut, man I'm all ears. There are many paths up the mountain, they say, but it's still a mountain to climb. Yes?

I have seen many claims, but every single person who claimed something or other has fallen short of where I've seen people who have a meditation practice. The level of awareness is too different. I only have found one way. Even yoga doesn't do the same thing, and frankly, there are other ways of meditating that might work. Even prayer. They haven't worked for me. Vipassana did. (Actually, it might have been walking meditation which pushed me a long way down the path, too.)

But if you know of something better, I'll sure listen.

Definitely not hawking shortcuts. I'm not saying alternatives are 'better' just valid. Even if TM itself is determined to be the best individual practice/method for increasing an individual's mindfulness doesn't mean other approaches with similar goals aren't potentially valuable / helpful in their own right.

'Level of awareness' is a difficult thing to measure so comparing approaches empirically is likely to be difficult, but I wouldn't be at all surprised that TM is near the most efficient approach. As you point out some approaches work for an individual better than others.

As I understand it, some simple 'mindfulness' exercises are starting to be incorporated into education programs. As you point out, many would consider ritual religion practices / prayer / self-reflection to be related to building mindfulness. 'Count to 10' when upset is a mini-mindfulness technique. Not everyone has the patience for or is a 'style' fit for TM. You may reach further up the mountain faster with TM, but others taking a less efficient route are likely still deriving some worthwhile benefit.

[Blackjack Don]

All good points. The only way to measure it is whether a person thinks it has, and how they react. My mother told my daughter I'm so much nicer now. Maybe I am. I know that vipassana worked for me, even when I'm not thinking about it. In fact, I never think about it at all, until someone pisses me off. Then, I think about nothing else.

I simply don't know of anything that does that besides a practice. Sort of pull gun, aim gun, fire--in reverse. Both take practice.

[Blackjack Don]

I'm sorry, that was a terrible metaphor!

Everyone has emotional reactions. It is not within our ability to control. Hit your thumb with a hammer and you are going to react. Someone cuts you off in traffic, you react. It's below the level of thought in the brain.

Then comes thought. There is a difference between ANGER and "I'm angry." The first is what your reaction is. The second is now a thought. It's personalized. What happens next is within your control.

Between those two things is a tiny gap in time. In this gap, mindfulness fits. The purpose of the practice is to establish mindfulness as a tool. The purpose of practice is to widen the gap. One can, perhaps and in rare circumstances, have no reaction at all. For most, it's a goal that can't be reached. With enough practice, awareness doesn't happen. It's always there. And that I can't explain any better.

I frankly haven't found any other practice that works as well, but I do know that if there is one, like prayer, it's because the person has brought their mind back to the prayer over and over again. They may even call mindfulness God. I can see that. But this is the same practice, pretty much.

Chanting Om concentrates the mind. The mind will wander, even if the person continues to chant. Then, when the person brings the mind back to Om, that establishes mindfulness.

So when I suggested it's the reverse, it's don't fire, don't aim, don't pull your gun. It's a practice. This is what I do when I hit one fat, it slices into the water, or my golf buddy tells me how much I suck.

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