A Buddhist Practice, Borrowed for ADHD
My wife went to a Buddhist retreat. It was very good for her. She brought home a practice to share.
At this temple, one practice is at the sound of any bell, stop whatever you are doing and take three deep breaths. I have been doing it and find it very helpful.
It takes me out of the pressure mode, relaxes me, and unhooks me from the “urgency” of my current task or activity. It feels like a connection to God. It is a pause and, I think, a form of meditation.
They have bells at the temple. We fortunately live close to the Cathedral, where the bell sounds the quarter hours. So the bell is an anchor for the practice, but you could use any other recurrent thing – going to the bathroom, eating or drinking anything, noticing a thought of food, etc. The anchor then directs you to the practice, the three deep breaths.
Meditation is good for ADHD
I’ve been trying to meditate for years, but rarely can get past 5 minutes. I have a new STRATEGY. I set my alarm for 20 minutes. Now I can stop thinking about the time. I know it will not take over 20 minutes and the iPhone will let me know when it’s over.
This seems successful and I believe the meditation is helping me. Now we will see if I keep it up.
Your practices or suggestions?
doug
Links:
Simple Meditation, from Leonie
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I’ve tried using a mindfulness technique for my AD(H)D. Did it work? Technically, yes — but not without unacceptable side-effect. I was able to stay on task more during my waking hours — however, the amount of waking hours I had per day drastically decreased. It got to the point that I only had about eight waking hours per day. Obviously, I can’t live like that.
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sophia – i dont understand, how did the mindfullness take away the waking hours? seems like the ones you did have were more quality?
thank you for commenting
doug
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Hi Doug. Does a microwave beep count? Ha, ha. I never hear bells, but hear timer beeps. Mostly from the microwave (heating my coffee), but also my Pomodoro timer beeps (learned of Pomodoro from one of your recent posts – quite helpful). I’ll try to remember to breathe deep when I hear them. Breathing deeply helps with my stress, but I seldom remember to do this! As for meditation: The biggest benefit to me from meditation is it has made it easier for me to fall asleep at bedtime. Also, a tip you may find useful: I use a timer which does a quick “beep, beep” at the 10 minute mark, then goes off after 20 minutes until I shut it off. Before using this special timer I would constantly catch myself during meditation thinking “Hasn’t it been 20 minutes yet?” But I can usually go 10 minutes without that entering my mind. Works for me, maybe for you and others? Thanks for the your tips included with this post! Jeff
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jeff – anything that happens with some frequency is good for an anchor. i like your 10 minute helper, and you are using it as a good strategy.
i’m finding to my surprise i can usually comfortably go the 20 minutes now that it has a defined stop.
thank you for commenting.
doug
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