Hello everybody,

I have been meditating daily for almost 2 months, making it my priority after waking up in the morning. In the meantime I read the most important pieces of text regarding concentration and insight training. I've progressed in the regard of the easiness in managing to concentrate on my object but in my area there are noises that I suspect slower my progress. The most disturbing one is that dog barking which is many times chaotic and hysterical. I know that I have to encompass it in my efforts as a challenge, and I've managed to cope with it but I still feel that I would do much better without it.

So, my idea is to wear headphones with white noise (the generic CMB noise), as it is quite neutral and evens out as a sensory input. Is it a good idea? Will it affect my sessions?

Thank you!

hi, here is an alternative option.
I had same problem, so i just couldn't get absorbed never ever and noting was annoying and tireing and boring. But thank God the opposite way to absorption works perfect too, that means trying(will, force) to being attentive, clear, bright, lucid whatever word there might be give the idea and thats it.

The main problem with that kind of thing is that, ideally, you want to be able to keep your awareness on an object at any given moment in a way that is not dependent on external circumstances; if you learn how to focus with a dog barking, then you will probably be able to focus on a bus, in a supermarket, in a crowdy environment and so forth; if you don't, probably the distractions that daily life is filled with will be problematic because you haven'ttrained your muscles for that, so to speak -and, since we are not monks, for most of us most of the practice is done during daily activities.

Apart for that, I don't think there is anything wrong with headphones.

I think those kind (of) headphones work best when you have a steady distracting noise, but not something with stops and go's. I bought the cheapest musician earplugs and they worked fine. The problem with this solution, is that thoughts and images proliferate...wildly, IME. You may overcome this with out-loud Mahasi noting, which could help you during the M&B, A&P and DN, but perhaps not in EQ.

If you think it will help, go for it.

Eventually you should reach a point where you don't need crutches and won't get so bothered by distracting noises, but in the meantime it isn't going to hurt long term. It is a bit like training wheels on a bike.

The training wheels I used at the beginning was listening to Binaural beats to entrain the brain frequency to the "meditative" frequency....worked great and it was very easy....just use it til it stops you from getting better then move on to something else.

I'm not sure white noise headphones are a good idea. Forced sensory deprivation can lead to hallucinations. That is one of the things that are done in Guantanamo. You should inform yourself very well before using that, imo.

I rather enjoy float tanks aka sensory deprivation tanks....maybe you should try one and then come back and tell us how it is and how it relates to just using headphones to quiet a barking dog. You seem to be accentuating the fearful aspects....is this your intention?
~D

you could also try a box fan on med or high, same white noise, it is safe, and much better to hear white noise than the constant barking of a dog. The headphones might give you a physical ear sensation to also contend with.

B

Nice to see someone else likes the Tank, I think Lilly always objected to the term "Deprivation" because it connects more to an implication to forms of torture. I agree, no senses are deprived, but are rather "Isolated" and one can step out at any time from the tank. So I do agree with his distinction and SIT tank sounds about perfect four our purposes.

I think I will start a SIT Tank thread so we can all talk shop about it and collect places where we can use one and trade wild stories about tanktime.

Yes, sort of.