(10/25) Daily Practices

Last Week Total: 46,502 dots

Practice 13: Monday (10/19)

4,626 dots - Dorm Room

I've noticed that my body temperature increases while I'm doing the counting of the dots.  This caused a pretty large distraction from the counting itself--since I had to literally get up and turn on my fan.  I'm naturally warm almost all the time... but I usually don't notice it.  I wonder if my body temperature increases while we do the mindful yoga exercises.  Can you raise your body temperature under cognitive power--instead of physical work?

Practice 14: Tuesday (10/20)

4,350 dots - Dorm Room

I did today's dots fairly early in the day, which actually caused a problem.  I think my mind is a lot more active, so I miscounted fairly often.  I really struggled bringing my mind back to the counting, for it would immediately embark off somewhere else.  I would swear I was concentrating on the counting... then some complete tangent would hit me across the face.  I'm going to try and do this at night more often, since I feel like the day is slowing down and I can clear my thoughts easier.

Practice 15:  Thursday (10/22)

4,723 dots

I struggled with ignoring the frustration behind losing count of where I am in my counting--which in turn made it harder to keep count.  I found myself putting down the pen and "restarting" very often.  I eventually got into a better mindset once I concentrated on the fact that there is really no goal to this.  I am not going to ever "finish" this picture.  I am only drawing a picture in order to record the number of dots. 

Practice 16:  Friday (10/23)

3,663 dots -- 20 minutes

I experimented with changing the amount of time so I don't anticipate when the timer will go off.  I've gotten to the point where I can "feel" when the timer will be done, which in turn distracts me from the counting.  This 20 minutes also feels less threatening.  I know I can't get much done within the picture in 25, let alone 20.  This forces me to think about the counting more than the actual picture. 

Practice 17: Sunday (10/25)  "Mirroring Assignment"

3,800 dots -- 20 minutes

In response to the reading, I attempted to integrate the "mirroring" concept from this week's reading.  In addition to the counting, I wanted to add an additional element to my practice that I would be in control of.  I chose to monitor my breathing while doing the counting exercise.  I realize that I technically can't monitor or "do" both at the exact same time--but instead--I tried to keep the co-dependent on each other.  For every ten dots, I would inhale.  For the next ten, I would exhale.  In this way, I wanted to center my body rhythm by connecting these two actions.  

Since this exercise demanded more attention, I feel like I concentrated on the numbers a lot more often than drifting away.  It was easy to get out of synch with my breathing, so I became aware of my mental departure from the exercise much quicker.  In addition, once I got into a good rhythm, I felt more involved with the process.  I felt more centered around the action of dotting the paper since my concentration was heightened while monitoring multiple elements.  I also noticed I would sway with every breath--slightly, but noticeable.  

At times, the actions felt as if they were not separated by their numbers (1 2 3 4 5 ... for the numbers -- 1.  2.  1.  2.  for the breath).  The dots became a tapping that felt like a musician keeping time in a song.  Keeping with that analogy, the breath then became the melody.  At times, I wouldn't get enough air before 10 dots came, however, the melody carried through the dot counting as if it fit right in with the song.

Total Dots: 67,673