Twenty-three Minutes of Mu

I took some of my own advice today and just practiced. There is something very Zen about that Nike slogan "Just Do It." Quit your whining and belly-aching, and just sit there. No one cares about your endless pontifications about why you do or don't sit. Just sit and get on with it.

So I did.

I set a goal for 30 minutes. I have only done 20 minute sittings for the past year that I've attended Still Point. I wanted to see if I could do it. At the twenty-three minute mark, my left foot hit REM sleep. But I spent twenty-three whole minutes focused on Mu. I consider that a victory.

I'm wondering what fellow sitters do during meditation when body parts start to fall asleep. Am I the only rookie out here whose lower body hits snooze after 20 minutes of sitting?

I think I've finally had a breakthrough with Mu. It is actually very calming. It sweeps the mind and makes it more difficult for the mind to wander or to stay focused on a stream of thoughts... the focus is always on that next Mu. It takes doing it. Thinking about it wasn't going to get me to this place.

Comments

[Eric]

I'm nowhere near contemplating Mu as yet, but I've had that issue with my foot falling completely asleep. I don't mind it while I'm in the midst of sitting (I tend to just not feel it at all), but afterwards when I'm getting off the zafu I'm a little less than dignified as I hop around trying to get my foot to work again...

E

[Stephanie]

Hi, I found your wonderful blog through Zendiary.org.

The circulation in my extremities has never been that great, and one of my feet (whichever is the top foot/leg in Lotus) often goes to sleep, I would guess also around the twenty minute mark. If I'm sitting with a group, I just grin and bear it the best I can. (Standing up after sitting to do kinhin, I am grateful it starts out with slow kinhin - it takes most of slow kinhin for my foot to painfully wake up!) I have the tendency to get mildly panicky about it - "Oh no, I can't move my foot, it's going to turn blue and fall off!" It all seems kind of silly once my foot has woken back up and is fine, but that doesn't keep me from freaking out the next time it happens :)

When I'm sitting on my own, if the foot goes to sleep, I simply take the leg down, massage it awake, and switch which leg is on top. Sure, there's value in not automatically reacting to every unpleasant stimulus, but there's also value in keeping the blood circulating... I try to listen to my body. Actually, noting where pain, tension, or numbness come up in my body when I sit can tell me a lot about what's going on in my consciousness, particularly on a subconscious level.

[chalip]

Eric, Stephanie... Thanks for commenting.

Eric, I can relate. Trying to walk on a sleeping foot is clumsy and even somewhat painful sometimes...

Stephanie, I think you are using Japanese(?) terms that I'm not familiar with... Is kinhin walking meditation?

Hmmm... practicing Insight with bodily sensations. I've never tried that but I think I will.

Sangha definitely bolsters my practice. When I'm sitting with others, I'm more apt to "sit out" whatever sensations arise.

Great insights... Thanks :)

[Stephanie]

Sorry about that! Yes, "kinhin" is the Japanese word for walking meditation.

I find that working with the body can often be a way to get right to the heart of the matter. Sometimes, I'm not directly aware of what's going on underneath the surface in my mind, but yet know, through the way my body holds tension in certain places, that I'm resisting something, or conversely past grief is working its way to the surface, etc.