Astronomical clock by judepics at flickr

Session Timers

Having taken up some tiny bit of the old training again I'm immediately reminded that the things I've found most useful are not drums, rattles, incense holders, musical CD's or books. What I've used most often is a digital timer.

In meditation, there's genuine need to have a way to limit your time and measure your progress. Clocks tend to be distracting--especially noisy clocks. Tick tock, throw the clock, watch it drop, no more clock. I spend more time looking at what time it is than I do meditating, if there's a clock in view.

A timed session helps keep you going. In temples somebody rings a bell to start and stop the sessions. If you practice alone, you need something else. I used to use a stick of incense, back in the 70's when my lungs were young and healthy. Half a stick of incense burned was a good session. Many Asian stores sell meditation candles in various sizes, built to burn for half an hour or one hour. Those also work, and focusing on a candle can be a useful mental trick. Some things work for some people and not for others and having spent countless hours staring at candles without result I no longer pursue that myself. But as a timer it does work, so long as it's within view.

Some people like music, and since most songs are a fairly standard length it's possible to play an album you know well and judge from what song is playing how long you've been in the session. Equally possible to lose track and become hopelessly confused--meditations play games with perception and memory quite a lot.

Audible signals are better, as long as the mechanism is silent until time's up. Two or three event digital cooking timers are absolutely great for this type of training. Three event timers can be set to run all three simultaneously, with overlapping ending times, so you automatically get notice when the different periods of a three phase practice are over.

Of the several software programs I've tried, I still use only one -- Cool Timer. Cool Timer is freeware, and although it's a one event timer it does have several nice options. You can select from a list of sounds, one of which is a gong (I like that one) and you can program a list of preset times to make setting the session length a bit easier. Keep the monitor in view and you can even set a positive feedback statement to scroll across the screen when you're done. Mine says "It's been two hours already -- Take a break!" Even if it's only been five minutes that makes me happy.

Strangely enough, many sessions end themselves, marked by coincidental but very appropriate events--noises, electronic startups and shutdowns, machine cycles, bird and animal activity. Pay attention and you probably don't need a time. Quite often I hear a temple bell ring even without one physically here. And, at the right time.