With regards to meditation it is better to get in to good habits as soon as possible, and one of the main good habits that we are trying to develop right from the outset of our meditation practice is discipline and focus. This means that once we have sat down on our meditation seat we are entirely focused on the job at hand and do not allow our mind to be knocked off course by distractions, no matter how much they may be nagging us. To this end it can sometimes be better to focus on the quality of our meditation practice rather than the quantity. Five minutes of really focused and applied meditation is worth more than twenty minutes where our application is somewhat half hearted, and our mind spends 90% of the time distracted!
To this end here is a five minute meditation where we practice stopping our thoughts ‘Cold Turkey’:
Sit comfortably with a naturally straight back, have a watch or other timing device handy.
Take a few deep breaths, centre yourself, then imagine that the past and future dissolve away, only the present remains.
Be aware of the inner voice in your mind that is talking pretty much all of the time in our waking life, take about 1 minute to watch it and listen to it, ensuring that you do not get identified with it.
Using your watch or countdown timer, now begin a period of five minutes where you are 100% focused, and your only task is to let go of your thoughts and stop thinking. Imagine that the thoughts and images in your mind are like a TV, as soon as a thought or an image appears, inwardly press the ‘off’ button on your inner remote control, and let go of the thought, return your mind to zero, no thought.
For the five minutes that you have given yourself, apply yourself to this task with total commitment. No ifs and no buts, your only job is to keep alert, be fully present and stop thinking. You are not asking yourself to be perfect, but you are committing yourself to really applying yourself for this short time to do the very best you can. Initially you may get knocked off track a few times, but if you do it regularly with real application, you will find that your ability will improve substantially in a short period.
Once the five minutes is up, spend a final minute relaxing and observe the space that you have created in your mind through your efforts. When you bring the meditation to a close, be sure to congratulate yourself, for that short time you can say with your hand on your heart that you gave it your all!
As well as creating good meditation habits, this form of ‘power meditation’ also trains our mind to focus quickly on the tasks immediately at hand in our life. This in turn helps us to achieve the goals that we have set ourself, save time and get more out of the opportunities that we have in each day.
Wednesday, February 18, 2009
Thursday, February 5, 2009
Breathing Meditation for Calming the Mind, Body and Spirit
In both the Wednesday and Tuesday classes over the next few months we are going to be using a basic fundamental meditation 'form' at the beginning of each class, so I am placing it on the meditation blog so that people can print off a copy and use it by themselves during the week.
In this meditation we focus on three different physical aspects of our breathing in order to calm the energies of our body, mind and spirit. According to Taoist philosophy, our bodies 'qi' or energy is centred in the belly, our mind qi or energy is centred in the heart, and the qi of our spirit/soul is located in the centre of the brain and head. Accordingly we focus on the movement of the breathing in the nostrils, chest and belly on order to calm and centre these three aspects of our being.
Within this context the 'mind at the heart' refers to our emotional being and the everyday discursive thoughts that flow through our mind during the day. The 'Spirit in the head' refers to the pure essential awareness that lies at the centre of our being, but also to the reflective, philosophical and ethical aspects of our thinking (in Yoga philosophy this is what as referred to as the 'intellect' as opposed to the everyday mind).
So, here it is:
1. Having seated yourself in a comfortable meditation posture with a straight back, make a decision to yourself to give yourself a mental holiday, and put down your 'inner baggage'. You should approach the meditation in a light spirit, as if it is a game that you are playing with yourself.
2. Bring your awareness into the present moment, be aware of your body, breathing, mental activity, what appears to your sense awareness. Consciously decide to let go of the past and future. Imagine that the past and future dissolve away, so that temporarily only the present moment exists for you. Relax into the present moment.
3. Become aware of the inner dialogue or voice in your mind that is constantly commenting on everything. Listen to this voice for a short while, then consciously let go of it. Be aware of the natural space and silence in your mind, become a listener rather than a talker! Relax further into the space and silence of your mind.
Don't rush through these first three stages, if you try and go from your normal everyday busy mind to focusing exclusively on the breathing it can be quite frustrating! Stages 1-3 above are designed to bride the gap between an initially moving and distracted state of mind and a focused,concentrated one.
4. Focusing on the breathing in the nostrils.
Become aware of your breathing, in particular the breathing as it enters and leaves the nostrils. You will note a slightly cool sensation on the in breath, and a slightly warmer sensation on the out breath. Take the breath within the nostrils as your object of focus. If you like, see if you can count from 1-5 or 1-10 without becoming distracted. When your concentration is relatively steady, consciously relax the face, head, brain and neck as you breath so that energy can flow freely through the top part of your body.
5. Focusing on the breathing in the chest.
When you feel ready, lower the focus of your breathing down to the chest. Be aware of the movement of the Chest, ribs and lungs as you breathe in and out. If you find counting the breaths helpful for focus, then do this. Once your attention is relatively stable, you can consciously relax the Chest, shoulders and back so that energy flows freely through this area of your body and torso.
6. Focusing on the breathing in the belly.
Now move your attention down into your abdomen. Notice that as you breathe in and out your belly naturally rises and falls. Take the movement of your belly as you breathe as your object of focus, again use counting if you find it helpful. Once you feel like your attention is relatively stable, then consciously relax the whole abdomen, hips and pelvis as you breathe.
7. For the final part of the meditation simply change the focus of your concentration from the breathing and body to a state of pure awareness. Up to this point we have been using our awareness to focus on the breath. Now we turn the focus of our attention in upon itself so that the object of our meditation is awareness itself. In this final stage of meditation the main thing is just to keep the mind in a state of 'letting go'. This will allow our pure awareness to manifest freely, and we will then be able to gently sustain our attention upon it.
8. Bring your mind fully back into your physical body, be aware of the earth beneath your feet and your physical surroundings, when you feel ready relax your concentration and bring the meditation to a close.
A 15 minute meditation period per day is sufficient to develop your proficiency in this meditation. Initially you will find that you have to work through each of the stages systematically, but over time you will find that you can move through stages 1-6 relatively quickly and easily, and extend the duration of stage 7.
A final note here is that you can find a related standing practice based around the three 'dan tiens' or 'elixir fields' which you can find here on the Creative Qi gong blog.
In this meditation we focus on three different physical aspects of our breathing in order to calm the energies of our body, mind and spirit. According to Taoist philosophy, our bodies 'qi' or energy is centred in the belly, our mind qi or energy is centred in the heart, and the qi of our spirit/soul is located in the centre of the brain and head. Accordingly we focus on the movement of the breathing in the nostrils, chest and belly on order to calm and centre these three aspects of our being.
Within this context the 'mind at the heart' refers to our emotional being and the everyday discursive thoughts that flow through our mind during the day. The 'Spirit in the head' refers to the pure essential awareness that lies at the centre of our being, but also to the reflective, philosophical and ethical aspects of our thinking (in Yoga philosophy this is what as referred to as the 'intellect' as opposed to the everyday mind).
So, here it is:
1. Having seated yourself in a comfortable meditation posture with a straight back, make a decision to yourself to give yourself a mental holiday, and put down your 'inner baggage'. You should approach the meditation in a light spirit, as if it is a game that you are playing with yourself.
2. Bring your awareness into the present moment, be aware of your body, breathing, mental activity, what appears to your sense awareness. Consciously decide to let go of the past and future. Imagine that the past and future dissolve away, so that temporarily only the present moment exists for you. Relax into the present moment.
3. Become aware of the inner dialogue or voice in your mind that is constantly commenting on everything. Listen to this voice for a short while, then consciously let go of it. Be aware of the natural space and silence in your mind, become a listener rather than a talker! Relax further into the space and silence of your mind.
Don't rush through these first three stages, if you try and go from your normal everyday busy mind to focusing exclusively on the breathing it can be quite frustrating! Stages 1-3 above are designed to bride the gap between an initially moving and distracted state of mind and a focused,concentrated one.
4. Focusing on the breathing in the nostrils.
Become aware of your breathing, in particular the breathing as it enters and leaves the nostrils. You will note a slightly cool sensation on the in breath, and a slightly warmer sensation on the out breath. Take the breath within the nostrils as your object of focus. If you like, see if you can count from 1-5 or 1-10 without becoming distracted. When your concentration is relatively steady, consciously relax the face, head, brain and neck as you breath so that energy can flow freely through the top part of your body.
5. Focusing on the breathing in the chest.
When you feel ready, lower the focus of your breathing down to the chest. Be aware of the movement of the Chest, ribs and lungs as you breathe in and out. If you find counting the breaths helpful for focus, then do this. Once your attention is relatively stable, you can consciously relax the Chest, shoulders and back so that energy flows freely through this area of your body and torso.
6. Focusing on the breathing in the belly.
Now move your attention down into your abdomen. Notice that as you breathe in and out your belly naturally rises and falls. Take the movement of your belly as you breathe as your object of focus, again use counting if you find it helpful. Once you feel like your attention is relatively stable, then consciously relax the whole abdomen, hips and pelvis as you breathe.
7. For the final part of the meditation simply change the focus of your concentration from the breathing and body to a state of pure awareness. Up to this point we have been using our awareness to focus on the breath. Now we turn the focus of our attention in upon itself so that the object of our meditation is awareness itself. In this final stage of meditation the main thing is just to keep the mind in a state of 'letting go'. This will allow our pure awareness to manifest freely, and we will then be able to gently sustain our attention upon it.
8. Bring your mind fully back into your physical body, be aware of the earth beneath your feet and your physical surroundings, when you feel ready relax your concentration and bring the meditation to a close.
A 15 minute meditation period per day is sufficient to develop your proficiency in this meditation. Initially you will find that you have to work through each of the stages systematically, but over time you will find that you can move through stages 1-6 relatively quickly and easily, and extend the duration of stage 7.
A final note here is that you can find a related standing practice based around the three 'dan tiens' or 'elixir fields' which you can find here on the Creative Qi gong blog.
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