The 11 Hour Challenge: 11 hours of meditation in 11 days

[flowerseverywhere]

Previously when I have done this I start out doing 3 20s and then 2 30s. But I have done 20 and 40 as well as 60 straight. And that is tough!

For me anyway...

The research shows that physical changes to the brain happen once 11 hours is reached. But it has to be in a fairly short period of time, and 11 days is short enough.

It takes a lot of will power to do 60 minutes of meditation a day when you are already depleted from work, commutes, chores, etc.

That is why I have to put everything on pause, to save up my grit! haha

if you are already depleted why do it? Like Apathetic NM says, our lives are full enough. I really don't get the purpose of a challenge if it will stress you out more. Maybe an extra 60 minutes of sleep might help.

You don't have to be the best at everything. Just the best person you can be.

[Ultralight]

if you are already depleted why do it? Like Apathetic NM says, our lives are full enough. I really don't get the purpose of a challenge if it will stress you out more. Maybe an extra 60 minutes of sleep might help.

You don't have to be the best at everything. Just the best person you can be.

“You should sit in meditation for twenty minutes every day — unless you’re too busy. Then you should sit for an hour.” -Zen proverb

[catherine]

I also used to just go out into the woods and sit without moving. Stump sitting is a form of meditation and I made a few life decisions after sitting on a favorite Swamp Oak stump overlooking a deep valley with a flowing stream I could hear in the distance.

Love this!

There is a famous house built for a Pittsburgh businessman in the department store named Kaufmanns. The house is named Falling Waters built by Frank Lloyd Wright. The house is built over a water falls and to me the whole thing is meditative.

You live near Falling Water? So cool! I've always wanted to see it!! I went to Taliesin West in Arizona and it was absolutely amazing. It was so well integrated with the environment it was like a chameleon.

[ApatheticNoMore]

Maybe an extra 60 minutes of sleep might help.

truthfully that was one of, if not the major competitor, that meditation lost out to when I was doing it. I was too tired to do it after work without falling asleep, and I did it reliably in the morning mostly for a couple months, but eventually the desire to grab more sleep in the morning was strong indeed. I'm not saying maybe I shouldn't have meditated but just what actually happened last time.

I can sit for hours in nature as well and it makes me happy, like little else, though formal meditation is much more difficult.

The xmas period they do the challenge in really only has one more day off than a normal week (xmas day unless you take vacation time) as they don't even overlap with the other day off in that period, which is new years day.

[Ultralight]

truthfully that was one of, if not the major competitor, that meditation lost out to when I was doing it. I was too tired to do it after work without falling asleep, and I did it reliably in the morning mostly for a couple months, but eventually the desire to grab more sleep in the morning was strong indeed. I'm not saying maybe I shouldn't have meditated but just what actually happened last time.

I can sit for hours in nature as well and it makes me happy, like little else, though formal meditation is much more difficult.

The xmas period they do the challenge in really only has one more day off than a normal week (xmas day unless you take vacation time) as they don't even overlap with the other day off in that period, which is new years day.

I think that is a sign of major problems in our culture (our culture of total work). Who has the time to do much besides work and sleep?

Every single day I see my sis and BIL come home from a long day of school and/or work. They prepare a simple dinner -- often tacos. They eat. Then they watch TV for a few hours and then go to sleep. My girlfriend does this too.

I totally understand the urge to live this way. They are tired, exhausted really. They are not all that into their work or school. Their social lives are sparse (friends moved away after college).

So work, TV, and sleep.

Work. TV. Sleep.

It is alluring in a way.


But I still grapple with the current pushing against me. Meditation is one way I do this.

[Gardenarian]

But I still grapple with the current pushing against me. Meditation is one way I do this.

More power to you.

People say TV is dead, but I recently read that Netflix accounts for most of the bandwidth use during evening hours. All this technology to watch a slightly modified form of TV? eh.

I find meditating more than 10 minutes or so at a time very difficult, but I do keep a regular meditation practice. The 11 hour challenge sounds like a good way to re-ground yourself - even if it's only to prove that, yes, you do have that one hour a day to do something more meaningful than work, TV, sleep.

[Ultralight]

More power to you.

People say TV is dead, but I recently read that Netflix accounts for most of the bandwidth use during evening hours. All this technology to watch a slightly modified form of TV? eh.

I find meditating more than 10 minutes or so at a time very difficult, but I do keep a regular meditation practice. The 11 hour challenge sounds like a good way to re-ground yourself - even if it's only to prove that, yes, you do have that one hour a day to do something more meaningful than work, TV, sleep.

Thanks!

And yup, I meant Netflix too. It is essentially just TV. haha You're right on that!

[Williamsmith]

Too many people are working harder than they want, at things they don't like to do.....Why? So they can afford the existence they don't care to live.

Bradford Angier

Regarding your "culture of total work"...... Perhaps you might enjoy my friends little channel if you've got 15 or 20 minutes to spare.

[Ultralight]

Too many people are working harder than they want, at things they don't like to do.....Why? So they can afford the existence they don't care to live.

Bradford Angier

Regarding your "culture of total work"...... Perhaps you might enjoy my friends little channel if you've got 15 or 20 minutes to spare.

I'll watch this after work this evening! Looks cool! Thanks.

[ApatheticNoMore]

Pushing back is good.

A while ago I heard how my coworkers spend their lives after work, they were discussing it. Oh the horror of it all

Now it is NOT watching t.v. all the time. Whatever the demographic that does that, it is not this modest careful practically educated middle class white collar work force with kids. They mostly set pretty tight limits on t.v. allowances in their houses (even if it's just to set an example for their kids whatever). And yet people did put in an hour so a day on t.v. - usually after everything was done to fall asleep (and what do I do different, put in the hour on the internet or fall asleep reading instead).

Truthfully I think having kids seals the deal and seals one's fate, *IF* both parents are working full time, it pretty much guarantees there will be no time. So everyone's evening is pretty much: often time consuming commute home, make dinner, eat with family, spend time with kids and making sure homework is done etc., watching tiny bit of t.v. before bed (again not hours), sleep.

even if it's only to prove that, yes, you do have that one hour a day to do something more meaningful than work, TV, sleep.

provided you don't fall asleep meditating, actually only mornings remotely worked for that reason of course