Heartbeat meditation - An idea I came up with

[kag101]

Well, I'm sure someone has already thought of this, but I had this idea while reading the book "Focus". He was talking about how being able to sense ones's own heartbeat is an indicator of self-awareness.

I've tried many techniques in the past: SDS, do nothing, mindfulness, vipassana, etc. None seem to work that well. IMO, the simpler the meditation, the better. When the technique starts to get too complicated (like body-scanning), it becomes less effective for me.

The simplest technique is focusing on the breath. Problem is, I can't seem to just observe the breath, I end up breathing manually. And this creates anxiety because then my breath is not natural and I can't seem to stop controlling it.

 

So I thought, "What if I used my heartbeat as the object of my meditation?" This way, I wouldn't have to worry about not interfering with the natural process, because I don't control my heart.

I've been doing it over the past few days, and I really liked it. Sometimes it's not easy to feel it, but I believe that the more I practice, the easier it is getting. And it's giving me a very calm feeling afterwards. I feel like this is what meditation should feel like. I have no interest in enlightenment meditation, because they end up driving me nuts. I just want to feel calmer and quiet down my monkey mind for a while.

I suppose that the breath would be a better object of focus, but I want to take a break from "observing my breath without interfering it". It's simply not working.

So this "heartbeat meditation" has been working for me.