I just finished a 10-day course a few days ago and I noticed that after being thrust back into reality it takes much longer for me to get in the mode of Meditation. I force myself to do 1 hour in the morning and 1 hour in the evening and what I noticed was that it takes me about 30-40 minutes before i can get to the stage of full concentration without wandering. During the course, it was almost immediate to get to a full concentration state with little to no wandering.
The length of the meditation in my opinion matters since the wild mind so to speak has free reign to run during the day. During the time of meditation it takes much more to try and tame the mind. I liken it to a workout warm up. It takes me 40 minutes to warm my mind up to actually working.
Hi behappy
I find that if i begin my meditation with a Focused Attention exercise
i somehow reach the 'meditation zone' much more quickly.
What do i do ?
I find that my breathing is very light and shallow... there's not much
to perceive there. So instead i focus on the perceptions coming from
my hands. As i breathe in... i think about how my hands feel, the
fingers touching the other fingers, the weight of my hand on my lap,
the feeling of my arms and wrist joining my hands.
The tension in my shoulders... which i then release (I'm often
releasing tension from my arms, shoulders and neck when i meditate
-- and i find that helps me 'sink' into the meditation zone).
As i breathe out.. i think again about how my hands feel.
So i'm _not_ using my breathing as the object of attention.
I'm using my breathing to 'cue' my attention to focus on my hands.
Sometimes i will think about my left hand, sometimes i will think about
my right hand. I notice that when i do this... related bodily perceptions
will pop into my mind. The feeling of my lap having the weight of my
hand on it. The feeling of my legs generally. The feeling of my feet
on the floor (etc)
Perhaps you could try this... perhaps you will find that you can get into
the 'zone' in much less time... And hence make more efficient use of
your meditation time.
be happy behappy
