Getting Back Into Meditation

I have been very negligent on my practice.  It's been (according to my meditation app) over 30 days since my last meditation.

I started having issues with my practice around the tail end of 2012.  At that time my mind was more materially focused. I was looking to leave my job at the time, so I was studying and interviewing.  My meditation practice slipped.  I ended up with a new job in December of 2012.  But my meditation practice didn't kick in.  Instead I preoccupied my time with learning the new job.

Meditation and work shouldn't be incompatible.  But for some reason I couldn't get myself to sit in the morning or at night.

About 3 or 4 months ago, I returned to the Ashram (Ananda LA) and began my meditation practice. It lasted about 3 weeks... and I was back to slacking off again.

Well today is the start of my current attempt to reset my meditation practice.

Rather then just strictly doing the the techniques of Anada (Paramhansa Yogananda), I have been reading Bhante Gunaratana's work "Mindfulness in Plain English."

So this morning I spent 30min in meditation.  It wasn't perfect. My mind was all over the place. I'm not sure if I got more then 10min of pure meditation, or if I even got pure mindfulness. It seemed I was chasing my tail the whole time.  But it's a start.

It's relearning all over again.

The first 20min of my meditation this morning, I spent in mindfulness meditation... meaning, I watched the breath.  The last 10min, I did some Hong Sau meditation.

The mindful meditation on the breath was, as mentioned, not very pure.  I found my mind constantly leaving concentration.  I was thinking about work, then a computer game, then something else.  I would bring the mind back when I realized where it was - but there was significant lag between the wandering mind and my realization it's off target.

I had more focus in Hong Sau.  Possibly because it's more visual, or possibly due to the first 20min priming my concentration.