Whats your take on earworm cures?

[Arda]

Hello fellow seekers!

I have this annoying problem with earworms . Especially during meditation or trying to get to sleep. I let it just flow. What you resist persist right? I tried to replace it with different relaxing music. It works kinda but sometimes it switches back to the old song. Nevertheless I would like it to control it mentally. I feel not in the driver seat on this one. Kinda frustrating... Any suggestions appreciated.

Namaste, Arda

[reeay]

Why not flow with it instead of controlling it? Any specific experiences around these ear worms that were frustrating for you?

[Arda]

Well my concentration is not at its best. I get easily distracted . And I have some bad sleep patterns because of that

I kinda think that you have to go in silence in meditation so its not possible for me at all.( To get to hear the low volume inner voice I mean)

Actually I just learned from that I got to deal with it and see the beautiful side about it I can change the melody with my will at least athough it comes back again. Who knows someday I can hear the whole song and I have mental mp3 player in my head

[Monica]

I've been living with this all my life so if anyone finds a solution, please let me know!

[Guardian]

What are ear worms?

[reeay]

It's OK to have a busy mind during meditation, I think. The process is to slowly work towards utilizing that time to focus and refine your skills in focusing... at your own pace. When my mind gets busy during meditation I like to play little word-association games to work with those 'earworms' to understand what needs to be made conscious. Maybe you're onto something that's right below that surface, waiting to be made conscious. I'd draw those thoughts out, play with it in my mind... try all sorts of ways to work with what keeps repeating in your mind and see what it means, etc. When you're stuck, try something new!

Or you could try to re-focus your attention to your breathing or body sensations as your mind 'wanders'.

[Monica]

What are ear worms?

I didn't know either, even though I've been afflicted with them all my life.

I can't believe I've never heard the term before! Except in a Night Gallery episode!

I looked it up:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Earworm

It's particularly annoying when it's some dreadful pop song with a hook! Arrggh!

I don't mind if I like the song...for a little while. But if it persists for days and days, then it starts ruining the song for me. So the only way out of it is to play a different song. Right now I've had a beautiful song by a fav band stuck in my head for about a week. I really love that song and played it about 5 times in a row, so I set myself up for it to get stuck.

Back to the topic: how to get rid of it so it doesn't play during meditation? Answer: The same way we get rid of chatter. Focus on the 3rd eye, chant, or whatever technique to stop the chatter.

For me, the Kriya Yoga technique of rubbing the eyeballs works the best to clear my mind and leave me with a blank slate.

Another good method is to memorize an image, say for example a Tarot card of your choice. Scan it row by row in your mind. Then, unscan it row by row, making it disappear. When it disappears. so will mind chatter...and earworms.

For awhile anyway. The idea is to get better at it and be able to empty the mind for longer periods of time.