M E D I T A T I O N
“Empty your mind, be formless, shapeless - like water. Now you put water into a cup, it becomes the cup, you put water into a bottle, it becomes the bottle, you put it in a teapot, it becomes the teapot. Now water can flow or it can crash. Be water, my friend.”
BRUCE LEE
BRUCE LEE
Right, empty your mind, just like that. Bruce nimbly avoids the most important bit; and that is how exactly do you accomplish this astounding feat.
Getting your conscious mind under control is the cornerstone of any mystical practice. There are dozens techniques you can mobilise each with their own flavour of result. The following is an introduction to mantra meditation (loosely based on TM) that has the benefit of simplicity and ease of deployment and which has been working for me for over 20 years.
Select a mantra. Make it simple, just two syllables, make it nonsense (not nonsense as in joke, but a word with no meaning, no literal associations), find something unique to you. Remember it, don't write it down, tell no one what it is.
Go somewhere where you will be undisturbed for 20 - 30 minutes. If you are a masochist sit in a hard chair; but probably best to start with an arm chair or on a settee. You don't have to be in the lotus position, or even bolt upright. Sit in a relaxed posture that you feel you can maintain comfortably for 20 minutes or so. But, definitely, not slumped in a pile like you've come home from work and collapsed in front of the box. Rest your hands in your lap or on the arms of the chair; preferably not clasped (sends tension messages) and don't cross your legs (cuts off circulation).
Become aware of your breath; the rise and fall of your chest; how the air feels entering and leaving your lungs. Don't try to control it, just be a witness to the movement and the feeling of taking in breaths and out breaths. Take three of four long, deep breaths and gently hand the breathing function back to your autonomic system.
Become aware of the action of gravity; feel how it is gently pressing you into the chair. Have a stretch; roll your neck and shoulders if you need to. But this isn't a relaxation class so you don't need to go all boneless; there's nothing wrong with a bit of positive physical tension, you need to stay alert.
If you haven't closed your eyes by now, let them gently close. If you feel like opening your eyes at any time do so. Don't force them open or shut; sooner or later they will close naturally, just be a witness to this happening.
After a few seconds with your eyes shut you will begin to focus internally and you'll become aware of an in-rush of thoughts. These will lead to other thoughts and soon you are entrained, fascinated and involved. This can be very pleasant; but the process has to be interrupted.
Getting your conscious mind under control is the cornerstone of any mystical practice. There are dozens techniques you can mobilise each with their own flavour of result. The following is an introduction to mantra meditation (loosely based on TM) that has the benefit of simplicity and ease of deployment and which has been working for me for over 20 years.
Select a mantra. Make it simple, just two syllables, make it nonsense (not nonsense as in joke, but a word with no meaning, no literal associations), find something unique to you. Remember it, don't write it down, tell no one what it is.
Go somewhere where you will be undisturbed for 20 - 30 minutes. If you are a masochist sit in a hard chair; but probably best to start with an arm chair or on a settee. You don't have to be in the lotus position, or even bolt upright. Sit in a relaxed posture that you feel you can maintain comfortably for 20 minutes or so. But, definitely, not slumped in a pile like you've come home from work and collapsed in front of the box. Rest your hands in your lap or on the arms of the chair; preferably not clasped (sends tension messages) and don't cross your legs (cuts off circulation).
Become aware of your breath; the rise and fall of your chest; how the air feels entering and leaving your lungs. Don't try to control it, just be a witness to the movement and the feeling of taking in breaths and out breaths. Take three of four long, deep breaths and gently hand the breathing function back to your autonomic system.
Become aware of the action of gravity; feel how it is gently pressing you into the chair. Have a stretch; roll your neck and shoulders if you need to. But this isn't a relaxation class so you don't need to go all boneless; there's nothing wrong with a bit of positive physical tension, you need to stay alert.
If you haven't closed your eyes by now, let them gently close. If you feel like opening your eyes at any time do so. Don't force them open or shut; sooner or later they will close naturally, just be a witness to this happening.
After a few seconds with your eyes shut you will begin to focus internally and you'll become aware of an in-rush of thoughts. These will lead to other thoughts and soon you are entrained, fascinated and involved. This can be very pleasant; but the process has to be interrupted.
"Your mind is a constant traffic of thoughts, and it is always rush hour, day in, day out. Meditation means to watch the movement of thoughts in the mind."
OSHO
OSHO
(In these days of the ubiquitous tea bag the following analogy may not work; but let's hope it does, it's a good one. You have put tea in the pot and poured in the scalding water. You're in a hurry; but, of course, you don't want tea leaves in your cup. However if you try to force the tea leaves to the bottom it'll just stir up the water and the tea leaves will take even longer to settle.You must leave the pot alone and by natural process the tea leaves drift to the bottom in their own time. Your approach to meditation must in line with the natural processes of mind. Any aggressive intervention is counter-productive.)
Begin to repeat your mantra out loud (you only need to repeat it out loud for the first two or three meditations; after which start your mantra with with your your internal voice only). Repeat it with whatever frequency feels natural to you. Gradually lower your voice and hear the sound repeated internally. It will inevitably change pace from time to time but let it. Thoughts will struggle for supremacy, you'll stumble, lose rhythm and the thoughts will take over and you'll probably forget your mantra. It is amazing how ingenious your mind becomes at manufacturing thoughts and regurgitating memories in it's bid to entrain you from thought, to linked thought, to linked thought. When you lose your mantra, don't struggle to reassert it (remember the tea leaves).
This is always the most difficult and troublesome phase of the process. I identify it with bumping up against the endopsychic barrier (term borrowed from from Freud). Your conscious mind (the control freak element of your psyche) doesn't want to let go. And the very greatest difficulty of all is in avoiding the mistake of attempting to force things. The only attitude to adopt is that of indifference and detachment.
In the same way as you witnessed your breath begin to witness your thoughts. Say to yourself "...................(your name) is thinking a thought" watch the thought arise and fade, watch it offer another thought for your attention and witness that process. At some point you'll feel ready start your mantra again. Don't aggressively push it into the forefront of your mind to block out these thoughts (this next phrase came from my teacher; and it's golden) merely "innocently prefer" your mantra.
At some stage you'll find your mantra synchronising with your breathing. It can be irritating; but don't stress. As your meditation progresses sooner or later you'll loose awareness of breath and your mantra will find its own independent pace. Loosing awareness of your breath can be another distraction; you'll notice it missing and and in a fit of self-congratulation there you are you are back in the 'real world' again. Soon you'll get used to this happening and it'll be no big deal.
If you follow this process without stressing yourself overly you will reach the point (first time if you're lucky or, more likely, after a few sittings) where your thoughts fade and your mantra is being repeated clearly and effortlessly at its own pace and in a steady gentle rhythm. You'll probably become aware at this point, possibly even panic. But again you'll soon you'll get used to it and, again, it'll be no big deal. Your mantra will become established once more. Your sense of detachment will effortlessly increase.
Your thoughtless mantra repetition, however, is only provisional; your mantra itself will gently fade. Just let this process happen. And there you are meditating, stabilisers off, all on your own. Of course thoughts will re-emerge. Then you 'innocently prefer' your mantra and so on. Your consciousness will rise and fall in this manner; and 'coming up for air' from time to time is a natural part of the process of meditation.
Begin to repeat your mantra out loud (you only need to repeat it out loud for the first two or three meditations; after which start your mantra with with your your internal voice only). Repeat it with whatever frequency feels natural to you. Gradually lower your voice and hear the sound repeated internally. It will inevitably change pace from time to time but let it. Thoughts will struggle for supremacy, you'll stumble, lose rhythm and the thoughts will take over and you'll probably forget your mantra. It is amazing how ingenious your mind becomes at manufacturing thoughts and regurgitating memories in it's bid to entrain you from thought, to linked thought, to linked thought. When you lose your mantra, don't struggle to reassert it (remember the tea leaves).
This is always the most difficult and troublesome phase of the process. I identify it with bumping up against the endopsychic barrier (term borrowed from from Freud). Your conscious mind (the control freak element of your psyche) doesn't want to let go. And the very greatest difficulty of all is in avoiding the mistake of attempting to force things. The only attitude to adopt is that of indifference and detachment.
In the same way as you witnessed your breath begin to witness your thoughts. Say to yourself "...................(your name) is thinking a thought" watch the thought arise and fade, watch it offer another thought for your attention and witness that process. At some point you'll feel ready start your mantra again. Don't aggressively push it into the forefront of your mind to block out these thoughts (this next phrase came from my teacher; and it's golden) merely "innocently prefer" your mantra.
At some stage you'll find your mantra synchronising with your breathing. It can be irritating; but don't stress. As your meditation progresses sooner or later you'll loose awareness of breath and your mantra will find its own independent pace. Loosing awareness of your breath can be another distraction; you'll notice it missing and and in a fit of self-congratulation there you are you are back in the 'real world' again. Soon you'll get used to this happening and it'll be no big deal.
If you follow this process without stressing yourself overly you will reach the point (first time if you're lucky or, more likely, after a few sittings) where your thoughts fade and your mantra is being repeated clearly and effortlessly at its own pace and in a steady gentle rhythm. You'll probably become aware at this point, possibly even panic. But again you'll soon you'll get used to it and, again, it'll be no big deal. Your mantra will become established once more. Your sense of detachment will effortlessly increase.
Your thoughtless mantra repetition, however, is only provisional; your mantra itself will gently fade. Just let this process happen. And there you are meditating, stabilisers off, all on your own. Of course thoughts will re-emerge. Then you 'innocently prefer' your mantra and so on. Your consciousness will rise and fall in this manner; and 'coming up for air' from time to time is a natural part of the process of meditation.
"Whatever forms of meditation you practice, the most important point is to apply mindfulness continuously, and make a sustained effort. It is unrealistic to expect results from meditation within a short period of time. What is required is continuous sustained effort."
DALAI LAMA
DALAI LAMA
Once you get good at it; it'll be such a buzz that you'll be tempted to sit longer, hours maybe. (One winter I got into the habit of meditating for an hour or so outside in the snow in my shirt-sleeves; and that's just plain showing off.) Try to discipline yourself to 20 minutes and establish a regular time for your practice. Best to make it twice a day - morning and evening. Your subconscious responds to regularity. Treat it right and it'll start to work with you instead of against you given enough time. But don't be fascistic, be forgiving of any lapses, treat yourself gently but firmly.
Have a watch or clock within an easy glance and time yourself. Make it one that has no audible tick. Regular sounds entrain your mind it is amazing how sensitive you ears become in a meditative state. Don't set an alarm clock; you don't want to come back to earth with a bump. After a while your subconscious will time it second perfect.
It's good practice, but not obligatory, to meditate before you eat (you don't want your body to be distracted by digestion.)
When you get really proficient you won't need a quiet room to meditate. Airport lounges, tube trains, doctor's surgeries will do fine as long as you can guarantee yourself 20 minutes. When you get really proficient you will discover that distractions can work for you; sudden noise and all you do is pop back to the surface register that you have heard a sudden noise and then plunge even deeper.
There will be times when you are aware of everything around you throughout your meditation. There will be times when you go so deep that you feel and remember nothing of the experience. But mostly these states will naturally alternate. All is good. Some days you won't feel like meditating. So don't. But, nevertheless, sit down for 20 minutes. And if you are going to sit still for 20 minutes, well, you might just as well meditate. And after a few months if you skip a meditation you'll feel like something is missing.
During meditation you may feel your body make spontaneous movement; don't let that concern you, sometimes these are therapeutic, your subconscious is simply realigning some aspect of physiology.
Meditation is not sleep; or daydreaming; or contemplation. In meditation you gain a whole new level of consciousness. You are probably aware by now that meditation is not meant to be a one-off experience. Meditate first thing in the morning and you will have an immeasurably better day. Once you've tasted this effect you'll make it a lifetime commitment.
The meditation process will teach you a massive (and magical) lesson. You are not the sum total of your thoughts; you're something else entirely.
Have a watch or clock within an easy glance and time yourself. Make it one that has no audible tick. Regular sounds entrain your mind it is amazing how sensitive you ears become in a meditative state. Don't set an alarm clock; you don't want to come back to earth with a bump. After a while your subconscious will time it second perfect.
It's good practice, but not obligatory, to meditate before you eat (you don't want your body to be distracted by digestion.)
When you get really proficient you won't need a quiet room to meditate. Airport lounges, tube trains, doctor's surgeries will do fine as long as you can guarantee yourself 20 minutes. When you get really proficient you will discover that distractions can work for you; sudden noise and all you do is pop back to the surface register that you have heard a sudden noise and then plunge even deeper.
There will be times when you are aware of everything around you throughout your meditation. There will be times when you go so deep that you feel and remember nothing of the experience. But mostly these states will naturally alternate. All is good. Some days you won't feel like meditating. So don't. But, nevertheless, sit down for 20 minutes. And if you are going to sit still for 20 minutes, well, you might just as well meditate. And after a few months if you skip a meditation you'll feel like something is missing.
During meditation you may feel your body make spontaneous movement; don't let that concern you, sometimes these are therapeutic, your subconscious is simply realigning some aspect of physiology.
Meditation is not sleep; or daydreaming; or contemplation. In meditation you gain a whole new level of consciousness. You are probably aware by now that meditation is not meant to be a one-off experience. Meditate first thing in the morning and you will have an immeasurably better day. Once you've tasted this effect you'll make it a lifetime commitment.
The meditation process will teach you a massive (and magical) lesson. You are not the sum total of your thoughts; you're something else entirely.
“Meditation is the dissolution of thoughts in Eternal awareness or Pure consciousness without objectification, knowing without thinking, merging finitude in infinity.”
SWAMI SIVANANDA
SWAMI SIVANANDA