Quite often when people first start meditating it is because they are feeling stressed, tired or emotionally imbalanced. One of the most useful things that we can do to help to start to remedy the above issues is to learn to create a ''safe space''. This is an inner space where our mind can relax and heal, and where we are not adding any further burden upon ourself with a meditation technique that is over complicated. Creating a safe space needs the following conditions:
A placed where we can sit or lie down quietly (or appropriate environment for a meditative walk if so desired)
A decision to yourself that, for the time that you have allotted (10 minutes or whatever you have decided) you are in a safe space, and are going to not allow negative, stressful or fear based thoughts to attack you from within. It is a time that you have specifically set aside where the only agenda is to relax and enjoy a quiet, healing time in your own company.
Having created the above conditions, you then simply sit with your body and mind and allow them to catch up with themselves in an inwardly loving and compassionate environment.
You can click here to listen to a 15 minute guided ''safe space meditation'' (taken from a talk I did recently at NUS) that gives you a good idea how you can do this, and how useful it can be for our overall balance and inner peace.
To return to the first of this series of five articles on meditation definitions, please click HERE.
© Toby Ouvry 2009 Please do not reproduce without permission.
Sunday, October 4, 2009
Friday, August 14, 2009
Meditation Definitions 4 – Meditation is Being rather than Doing
This is another extremely useful definition of meditation, and one that is very appropriate for today's super busy ''post-modern'' lifestyles. One of the basic challenges that we face today is that there is always so much that we seem to need to do. Not only that, even when there is nothing in particular to do, because we have been programmed to just ''do things'' all the time, we just invent stuff to keep ourselves busy, as the process of simply sitting down and enjoying the present moment has become an alien and uncomfortable experience for us!
It is also a great definition in the sense that it helps us to see that meditation can include a very broad range of activities, as it is the state of mind that makes an activity meditation, not the particular activity itself. For example if you are sitting in formal meditation on your meditation seat, but your mind is wondering about all that you have to do after you get up, that is not meditation. However, if you fold clothes you do so with an awareness of what you are doing, and with an appreciation of who you are as a human being, then that is a form of meditation. As has been pointed out by someone wise, we are human BEINGS not human doings, and whenever we sense an appreciation of that beingness within us, and the beingness of the Planet and other living things around us, then we are naturally moving into a meditative state of mind.
Another way of putting this is that a state of beingness focuses on the QUALITY of our subjective experience, whereas doingness focuses on the QUANTITATIVE, objectively measurable nature of what we are doing. So, what meditation can give us is in terms of our daily life is a refocusing on the depth of quality of our experiences. Meditation offers a sense of appreciation that will give us back our life in the sense of helping us to find a sense of connectedness and depth that we have lost touch with due to an over emphasis on quantitative achievement in our life.
The now classic book ''Zen and the Art of Motorcyle Maintenance'' by Robert M Pirsig is in large part an exploration of how modern culture has gradually lost its sense of appreciation of the qualitative experience of life through its obsession with quantity, efficiency, getting things done and generally ticking boxes of all descriptions. To become a meditator is to decide that ticking boxes is no longer good enough for you, and you want to reclaim the quality of life that is rightfully yours, and can be found simply by deciding to appreciate what you have right now, and cultivate your beingness. Your beingness is the natural human spirit within you that, when you are in touch with it, nothing else is necessary to feel happy, fulfilled and complete in the here and now.
Meditation on becoming a Man or Woman of no rank.
From the above we can see that, in a sense no specific technique is needed to move into a state of being. It is simply a matter of choosing to slow things down a bit for a while, and really try to appreciate the experiences you are having at any given time in your day or life. However, certain meditation forms lend themselves particularly well to the development of a deep sense of beingness, and the meditation on the man or woman of no rank is one of these.
To become a man or woman of no rank simply means to consciously chose to put down all the labels that you normally attach to your sense of self, and just become a human being. You can do it in formal meditation, or you can just practice it as you are sitting in you office chair, walking in the park or wherever. If you are a company manager, married, father, physically strong, put down all these labels that you normally put on yourself and let them go. Feel yourself to be no better or worse than anyone else, their equal. Temporarily allow yourself to be free from all the concepts of yourself that normally surround you, let yourself be in the present moment here and now, and just appreciate whatever is there.
Try it now if you like, just for a minute or two!
To read the first in this series of articles on meditation definitions click HERE.
To read the next (5th) article click HERE.
© Toby Ouvry 2009 please do not reproduce without permission.
It is also a great definition in the sense that it helps us to see that meditation can include a very broad range of activities, as it is the state of mind that makes an activity meditation, not the particular activity itself. For example if you are sitting in formal meditation on your meditation seat, but your mind is wondering about all that you have to do after you get up, that is not meditation. However, if you fold clothes you do so with an awareness of what you are doing, and with an appreciation of who you are as a human being, then that is a form of meditation. As has been pointed out by someone wise, we are human BEINGS not human doings, and whenever we sense an appreciation of that beingness within us, and the beingness of the Planet and other living things around us, then we are naturally moving into a meditative state of mind.
Another way of putting this is that a state of beingness focuses on the QUALITY of our subjective experience, whereas doingness focuses on the QUANTITATIVE, objectively measurable nature of what we are doing. So, what meditation can give us is in terms of our daily life is a refocusing on the depth of quality of our experiences. Meditation offers a sense of appreciation that will give us back our life in the sense of helping us to find a sense of connectedness and depth that we have lost touch with due to an over emphasis on quantitative achievement in our life.
The now classic book ''Zen and the Art of Motorcyle Maintenance'' by Robert M Pirsig is in large part an exploration of how modern culture has gradually lost its sense of appreciation of the qualitative experience of life through its obsession with quantity, efficiency, getting things done and generally ticking boxes of all descriptions. To become a meditator is to decide that ticking boxes is no longer good enough for you, and you want to reclaim the quality of life that is rightfully yours, and can be found simply by deciding to appreciate what you have right now, and cultivate your beingness. Your beingness is the natural human spirit within you that, when you are in touch with it, nothing else is necessary to feel happy, fulfilled and complete in the here and now.
Meditation on becoming a Man or Woman of no rank.
From the above we can see that, in a sense no specific technique is needed to move into a state of being. It is simply a matter of choosing to slow things down a bit for a while, and really try to appreciate the experiences you are having at any given time in your day or life. However, certain meditation forms lend themselves particularly well to the development of a deep sense of beingness, and the meditation on the man or woman of no rank is one of these.
To become a man or woman of no rank simply means to consciously chose to put down all the labels that you normally attach to your sense of self, and just become a human being. You can do it in formal meditation, or you can just practice it as you are sitting in you office chair, walking in the park or wherever. If you are a company manager, married, father, physically strong, put down all these labels that you normally put on yourself and let them go. Feel yourself to be no better or worse than anyone else, their equal. Temporarily allow yourself to be free from all the concepts of yourself that normally surround you, let yourself be in the present moment here and now, and just appreciate whatever is there.
Try it now if you like, just for a minute or two!
To read the first in this series of articles on meditation definitions click HERE.
To read the next (5th) article click HERE.
© Toby Ouvry 2009 please do not reproduce without permission.
Monday, August 3, 2009
Meditation Definitions 3 – The Development of Awareness
In this third article looking at definitions of awareness I want to relate a four point structure that I used a couple of weeks ago when giving a talk on walking meditation. I'll give the four points first, and then I'll expand a little bit on each point:
1) Meditation is any activity that leads to the sustained stimulation of the awareness reflex.
2) Sustained awareness is what is meant by meditative concentration.
3) Meditative concentration leads to the wisdom of insight, which in turn offers the potential for authentic change and transformation.
4) This change and transformation may be willed and/or expected, or it may be unforeseen, spontaneous and not previously anticipated.
The first point above is that ''meditation is any activity that leads to the sustained stimulation of the awareness reflex.''
So, meditation can be any activity that stimulates your awareness. Awareness is a faculty that you use when, rather than being completely involved and identified with an aspect of your experience or identity, sensory, mental, emotional etc... you are instead detached enough to observe it in a reflective and considered manner. To give a simple example lets take a person who has become annoyed by the comments of a colleague at work. If that person lacks awareness he or she will very quickly find herself identifying with the feelings of irritation and reacting impulsively to the provocation, without reflecting effectively on what may be the best course of action to take. If the person has awareness in the situation, although he may still feel the anger, he will feel detached and reflective enough to consider how best to respond in a way that is going to represent both his own best interests, and the best interests of the group within which the situation is playing out. From this example we can see that what awareness gives us is the PRESENCE OF MIND to respond freely to any aspect of our being or situation, rather than just reacting blindly and non-reflectively because we are totally involved and identified with the ''mechanisms'' of what is happening.
ANY activity that stimulates our ability to reflect on our experience in an aware way is meditation. So, one of the first things that this definition of meditation will help you to do is to see that there may be several activities that you are doing in your life already that are meditation! If you regularly go for a walk in the evening and watch the sunset or moon rise, and this helps you to step back from your life, process difficult emotions and reach a point of inner stability and peace, then that walk functions as a form of meditation. This definition of meditation allows you to look at the meditative activities that you are already doing, and to place them in a context where you can appreciate and grow these activities so as to facilitate the development of your overall meditative awareness.
The next thing that this definition tells you is that whether an activity can be considered meditative or not depends upon the QUALITY with which you are doing it, rather than the nature of the activity in itself. Any activity that helps you to develop your awareness can be considered a form of meditation. There are certain formal methods that different schools of meditation teach, but these are techniques of meditation, rather than being meditation in and of themselves.
The second point above is that ''sustained awareness is what is meant by meditative concentration''.
This points out the difference between meditative concentration and ordinary mental concentration. Our day to day mental concentration allows us to focus on one thing at a time without getting distracted, which in turn enables us to be effective in accomplishing things in our lives. Many meditation techniques also include this initial form of mental focus (for example learning to meditate on the breathing without distraction, or to focus on a feeling of love to the exclusion of other emotions). However, all of these techniques are merely DEVICES that are designed to lead the meditator to an experience of sustained self awareness that takes in the WHOLE of your experience in the present moment, rather than just one singles aspect of it. To give an analogy, if you are staring at a landscape, mental focus is like examining very closely one blade of grass or one tree to the exclusion of all other aspects of the landscape. Meditative awareness is aware of the whole landscape, and sustained awareness provides a context within which our perception of the landscape is experienced.
Moving onto point three: ''meditative concentration leads to the wisdom of insight, which in turn offers the potential for authentic change and transformation''.
This third point indicates that one of the main purposes of meditative awareness, and the process of mediation in general is to help us to see clearly what is going on in our life and in our consciousness, and to effect change in a way that is conscious and considered. I would say that the process of meditation is catalytic, that is to say that when we start to meditate, it tends to encourage different levels of our experience to come more fully into focus, and place us in a situation whereby if we do NOT change, things can become a little challenging! Meditation provides a space whereby our consciousness can start to HEAL ITSELF, and when it does this, what we see or experience may not always be pretty, or fun. In the long term however we can be confident that it will always be taking us in a direction that leads to an experience of greater holism, integrity, happiness and harmony.
This brings us to the fourth aspect of the original statement: ''This change and transformation may be willed and/or expected, or it may be unforeseen, spontaneous and not previously anticipated''.
This final point indicates to is that meditative awareness acts as a forum or environment where change and transformation can take place within our subjective experience of ourself and the world that we interact with. Sometimes this change may have been something that we may have been consciously working towards and using our willpower to bring about. At other times the change that we find ourself undergoing may be entirely unforeseen, taking us well beyond the paradigms or models of consciousness that we may have previously had as our points of reference. Our present awareness is generally very limited, and so it is quite natural that as our awareness expands we should find ourselves moving into inner territory that we could not have predicted. In this sense every time we sit down to meditate there should be a sense of adventure and a willingness for our previous sense of limitations and impediments to be shifting according to what we may experience in the sitting session. Ideally meditation should be both a space where we are able to rest, relax and recuperate/regenerate, whilst AT THE SAME time move into an entirely creative and spontaneous space where anything may become possible.
An example of an awareness exercise:
The below meditation is a simple breathing exercise that I use in the Trans personal Coaching Program to help students to develop awareness of their relationship to their physical body. It helps the mediator to see their current relationship to their body AS IT IS, and also encourages them to consider new ways in which they can establish a positive relationship to their experience and awareness of their body. Once you are familiar with it, you can make up your own ''poem'' that integrates all of the essential aspects of awareness that you wish to develop with regards to your body.
Poem of Care for the Physical Body
Breathing in I am aware of my physical body,
Breathing out I calm and care for my physical body,
Breathing in I am thankful to my physical body,
Breathing out I feed my physical body love and gratitude,
Breathing in I am aware of psychological tensions I hold within my physical body,
Breathing out I release this tension,
Breathing in I am aware of the still point within my physical body,
Breathing out I move deeper into that still point,
Breathing in I see and experience my physical body in perfect radiant health,
Breathing out I see and feel that health in every cell and atom of my physical body,
Breathing in I align my physical body with my other bodies,
Breathing out I feel all my bodies as one, balanced and aligned,
Breathing in I feel energy flowing into my body from above and below,
Breathing out I feel that energy expanding and increasing.
Breathing in I feel at home in my physical body,
Breathing out I rest within that homely space.
To read the first in this series of articles on meditation definitions click HERE.
To read the next (4th) in this series of articles click HERE.
© Toby Ouvry 2009 Please do not reproduce without permission.
1) Meditation is any activity that leads to the sustained stimulation of the awareness reflex.
2) Sustained awareness is what is meant by meditative concentration.
3) Meditative concentration leads to the wisdom of insight, which in turn offers the potential for authentic change and transformation.
4) This change and transformation may be willed and/or expected, or it may be unforeseen, spontaneous and not previously anticipated.
The first point above is that ''meditation is any activity that leads to the sustained stimulation of the awareness reflex.''
So, meditation can be any activity that stimulates your awareness. Awareness is a faculty that you use when, rather than being completely involved and identified with an aspect of your experience or identity, sensory, mental, emotional etc... you are instead detached enough to observe it in a reflective and considered manner. To give a simple example lets take a person who has become annoyed by the comments of a colleague at work. If that person lacks awareness he or she will very quickly find herself identifying with the feelings of irritation and reacting impulsively to the provocation, without reflecting effectively on what may be the best course of action to take. If the person has awareness in the situation, although he may still feel the anger, he will feel detached and reflective enough to consider how best to respond in a way that is going to represent both his own best interests, and the best interests of the group within which the situation is playing out. From this example we can see that what awareness gives us is the PRESENCE OF MIND to respond freely to any aspect of our being or situation, rather than just reacting blindly and non-reflectively because we are totally involved and identified with the ''mechanisms'' of what is happening.
ANY activity that stimulates our ability to reflect on our experience in an aware way is meditation. So, one of the first things that this definition of meditation will help you to do is to see that there may be several activities that you are doing in your life already that are meditation! If you regularly go for a walk in the evening and watch the sunset or moon rise, and this helps you to step back from your life, process difficult emotions and reach a point of inner stability and peace, then that walk functions as a form of meditation. This definition of meditation allows you to look at the meditative activities that you are already doing, and to place them in a context where you can appreciate and grow these activities so as to facilitate the development of your overall meditative awareness.
The next thing that this definition tells you is that whether an activity can be considered meditative or not depends upon the QUALITY with which you are doing it, rather than the nature of the activity in itself. Any activity that helps you to develop your awareness can be considered a form of meditation. There are certain formal methods that different schools of meditation teach, but these are techniques of meditation, rather than being meditation in and of themselves.
The second point above is that ''sustained awareness is what is meant by meditative concentration''.
This points out the difference between meditative concentration and ordinary mental concentration. Our day to day mental concentration allows us to focus on one thing at a time without getting distracted, which in turn enables us to be effective in accomplishing things in our lives. Many meditation techniques also include this initial form of mental focus (for example learning to meditate on the breathing without distraction, or to focus on a feeling of love to the exclusion of other emotions). However, all of these techniques are merely DEVICES that are designed to lead the meditator to an experience of sustained self awareness that takes in the WHOLE of your experience in the present moment, rather than just one singles aspect of it. To give an analogy, if you are staring at a landscape, mental focus is like examining very closely one blade of grass or one tree to the exclusion of all other aspects of the landscape. Meditative awareness is aware of the whole landscape, and sustained awareness provides a context within which our perception of the landscape is experienced.
Moving onto point three: ''meditative concentration leads to the wisdom of insight, which in turn offers the potential for authentic change and transformation''.
This third point indicates that one of the main purposes of meditative awareness, and the process of mediation in general is to help us to see clearly what is going on in our life and in our consciousness, and to effect change in a way that is conscious and considered. I would say that the process of meditation is catalytic, that is to say that when we start to meditate, it tends to encourage different levels of our experience to come more fully into focus, and place us in a situation whereby if we do NOT change, things can become a little challenging! Meditation provides a space whereby our consciousness can start to HEAL ITSELF, and when it does this, what we see or experience may not always be pretty, or fun. In the long term however we can be confident that it will always be taking us in a direction that leads to an experience of greater holism, integrity, happiness and harmony.
This brings us to the fourth aspect of the original statement: ''This change and transformation may be willed and/or expected, or it may be unforeseen, spontaneous and not previously anticipated''.
This final point indicates to is that meditative awareness acts as a forum or environment where change and transformation can take place within our subjective experience of ourself and the world that we interact with. Sometimes this change may have been something that we may have been consciously working towards and using our willpower to bring about. At other times the change that we find ourself undergoing may be entirely unforeseen, taking us well beyond the paradigms or models of consciousness that we may have previously had as our points of reference. Our present awareness is generally very limited, and so it is quite natural that as our awareness expands we should find ourselves moving into inner territory that we could not have predicted. In this sense every time we sit down to meditate there should be a sense of adventure and a willingness for our previous sense of limitations and impediments to be shifting according to what we may experience in the sitting session. Ideally meditation should be both a space where we are able to rest, relax and recuperate/regenerate, whilst AT THE SAME time move into an entirely creative and spontaneous space where anything may become possible.
An example of an awareness exercise:
The below meditation is a simple breathing exercise that I use in the Trans personal Coaching Program to help students to develop awareness of their relationship to their physical body. It helps the mediator to see their current relationship to their body AS IT IS, and also encourages them to consider new ways in which they can establish a positive relationship to their experience and awareness of their body. Once you are familiar with it, you can make up your own ''poem'' that integrates all of the essential aspects of awareness that you wish to develop with regards to your body.
Poem of Care for the Physical Body
Breathing in I am aware of my physical body,
Breathing out I calm and care for my physical body,
Breathing in I am thankful to my physical body,
Breathing out I feed my physical body love and gratitude,
Breathing in I am aware of psychological tensions I hold within my physical body,
Breathing out I release this tension,
Breathing in I am aware of the still point within my physical body,
Breathing out I move deeper into that still point,
Breathing in I see and experience my physical body in perfect radiant health,
Breathing out I see and feel that health in every cell and atom of my physical body,
Breathing in I align my physical body with my other bodies,
Breathing out I feel all my bodies as one, balanced and aligned,
Breathing in I feel energy flowing into my body from above and below,
Breathing out I feel that energy expanding and increasing.
Breathing in I feel at home in my physical body,
Breathing out I rest within that homely space.
To read the first in this series of articles on meditation definitions click HERE.
To read the next (4th) in this series of articles click HERE.
© Toby Ouvry 2009 Please do not reproduce without permission.
Thursday, July 23, 2009
Meditation Definitions Part 2 - Meditation Means to Still the Mind (Amnesia)
The next definition of meditation that I want to give is a simple one, and one that many people will associate with their idea of meditation:
''Meditation is stilling the mind''.
Many people are constantly trying to solve their inner problems and find inner peace by using their mind to ''think'' their way out. In many ways this is actually a contradiction, as the nature of mind in action is activity, and activity generally produces stress and and absence of peace to varying degrees of intensity. I remember in one of his books Osho said that anyone who writes a book called ''Peace of Mind'' is an idiot (he called quite a few different kinds of people idiots :-)) as the only way to find real peace is to move into a state of no-mind, where the thinking and imaging processes have stopped.
Actually, it is 100% true that if you can stop yourself thinking, then peace and a sense of well being will arise naturally and easily from your consciousness, because peace, wholeness, luminescence and stability are the true nature of your consciousness when there are no thoughts getting in the way of it.
So, of course simply stopping thinking will not solve all the problems in your your physically embodied journey through time and space. However, it can enable you to enjoy inner peace regularly through meditation, and this peace can give you the inner stability and perspective that you need in order to face your challenges without feeling as if they are harassing you in a way that is out of your control.
So then, stilling the mind, or learning how to temporarily move into a state of no-mind is an essential skill that we are trying to develop in meditation. In many meditation schools, such as Zen, moving into a state of no-mind and stillness is emphasized as a major goal right from the beginning, it is THE training.
Before I go onto explain two techniques for stilling the mind, I want to point out that many people consciously or unconsciously resist moving into a state of no-thought because a state of no-thought seems to be associate with a sense of emptiness (in the negative sense of the word) or meaninglessness. Moreover, to our egos a state of no thought seems like a death, and so our ego, interpreting it as a threat in this way resits vigorously!
This resistance can actually be solved through practical experience of the no-thought state, but in the interim period between fear of no thought and stable experience of it, it may be useful to consider as follows. When your mind is empty of thought, rather than considering such a state to be devoid of life, we can consider it to be in a state of wholeness of life, or fullness of life. When there are no thoughts dividing it up, our consciousness and being naturally and easily become whole, undivided, united. It is a state where we can find unity not just with ourselves, but also with other living beings, the planet, the universe. So, approaching the space of no thought in this way can help us build a positive relationship with it from the outset.
No-mind technique: Amnesia or becoming a Simpleton.
This meditation technique or form involves an act of imagination, where you either imagine that you have suddenly bee afflicted with amnesia and can remember nothing, not even your name, or that you have become a complete simpleton. You have become so simple-minded or ''stupid'' that you can no longer even string a sentence together!
Sitting quietly in your meditation seat in this way, just maintain the recognition of your amnesia or simpleton-ness. Progressively let go of any thoughts, images and feelings. When they threaten to arise, simply remember that you have amnesia, or that you are simply to simple to hold the sentence or stream of thought together in your mind.
Practicing in this way, you will find that your mind will gradually become more and more relaxed, with less and less thought activity arising. From this absence of thought will come a sense of inner peace. When you get good at this, you will be able simply to let your mind rest in a state of no-thought for longer and longer periods of time. This will give you a tangible experience each day of inner peace, and it will allow the mind to start engaging in a process of self-healing that affect your everyday life positively on many different levels.
Question: Won't meditating on no-mind in this way make me actually more stupid, less intelligent and more forgetful??
Answer: Quite simply, no. We are using our imagination here to create a condition of no-mind or no-thought within our consciousness. This in turn allows our mind to really have a good rest and recuperate its faculties, which in turn should result in an increase in our awareness, clarity, intelligence and natural creativity. It should also result in an improvement in mental factors such as memory.
Once you become used to moving into a state of no mind you will also discover that you can use it in many different situations in your daily life. For example if you find that as you walk down the street your mind is commenting in a negative way on all the passers by and this is upsetting you, you can simply ''switch it off'' and ride out your difficult mood in relative inner silence, without making it any worse than it needs to be.
To read the first in this series of articles on meditation definitions click HERE.
To read the next (3rd) in this series of articles click HERE.
© Toby Ouvry 2009 Please do not reproduce without permission.
''Meditation is stilling the mind''.
Many people are constantly trying to solve their inner problems and find inner peace by using their mind to ''think'' their way out. In many ways this is actually a contradiction, as the nature of mind in action is activity, and activity generally produces stress and and absence of peace to varying degrees of intensity. I remember in one of his books Osho said that anyone who writes a book called ''Peace of Mind'' is an idiot (he called quite a few different kinds of people idiots :-)) as the only way to find real peace is to move into a state of no-mind, where the thinking and imaging processes have stopped.
Actually, it is 100% true that if you can stop yourself thinking, then peace and a sense of well being will arise naturally and easily from your consciousness, because peace, wholeness, luminescence and stability are the true nature of your consciousness when there are no thoughts getting in the way of it.
So, of course simply stopping thinking will not solve all the problems in your your physically embodied journey through time and space. However, it can enable you to enjoy inner peace regularly through meditation, and this peace can give you the inner stability and perspective that you need in order to face your challenges without feeling as if they are harassing you in a way that is out of your control.
So then, stilling the mind, or learning how to temporarily move into a state of no-mind is an essential skill that we are trying to develop in meditation. In many meditation schools, such as Zen, moving into a state of no-mind and stillness is emphasized as a major goal right from the beginning, it is THE training.
Before I go onto explain two techniques for stilling the mind, I want to point out that many people consciously or unconsciously resist moving into a state of no-thought because a state of no-thought seems to be associate with a sense of emptiness (in the negative sense of the word) or meaninglessness. Moreover, to our egos a state of no thought seems like a death, and so our ego, interpreting it as a threat in this way resits vigorously!
This resistance can actually be solved through practical experience of the no-thought state, but in the interim period between fear of no thought and stable experience of it, it may be useful to consider as follows. When your mind is empty of thought, rather than considering such a state to be devoid of life, we can consider it to be in a state of wholeness of life, or fullness of life. When there are no thoughts dividing it up, our consciousness and being naturally and easily become whole, undivided, united. It is a state where we can find unity not just with ourselves, but also with other living beings, the planet, the universe. So, approaching the space of no thought in this way can help us build a positive relationship with it from the outset.
No-mind technique: Amnesia or becoming a Simpleton.
This meditation technique or form involves an act of imagination, where you either imagine that you have suddenly bee afflicted with amnesia and can remember nothing, not even your name, or that you have become a complete simpleton. You have become so simple-minded or ''stupid'' that you can no longer even string a sentence together!
Sitting quietly in your meditation seat in this way, just maintain the recognition of your amnesia or simpleton-ness. Progressively let go of any thoughts, images and feelings. When they threaten to arise, simply remember that you have amnesia, or that you are simply to simple to hold the sentence or stream of thought together in your mind.
Practicing in this way, you will find that your mind will gradually become more and more relaxed, with less and less thought activity arising. From this absence of thought will come a sense of inner peace. When you get good at this, you will be able simply to let your mind rest in a state of no-thought for longer and longer periods of time. This will give you a tangible experience each day of inner peace, and it will allow the mind to start engaging in a process of self-healing that affect your everyday life positively on many different levels.
Question: Won't meditating on no-mind in this way make me actually more stupid, less intelligent and more forgetful??
Answer: Quite simply, no. We are using our imagination here to create a condition of no-mind or no-thought within our consciousness. This in turn allows our mind to really have a good rest and recuperate its faculties, which in turn should result in an increase in our awareness, clarity, intelligence and natural creativity. It should also result in an improvement in mental factors such as memory.
Once you become used to moving into a state of no mind you will also discover that you can use it in many different situations in your daily life. For example if you find that as you walk down the street your mind is commenting in a negative way on all the passers by and this is upsetting you, you can simply ''switch it off'' and ride out your difficult mood in relative inner silence, without making it any worse than it needs to be.
To read the first in this series of articles on meditation definitions click HERE.
To read the next (3rd) in this series of articles click HERE.
© Toby Ouvry 2009 Please do not reproduce without permission.
Friday, July 17, 2009
Meditation Definitions Part 1 and a Positive Mindfulness Game
In the next few articles what I intend to do is to outline different definitions of meditation, and then give a practical technique of how it might be done. In general meditation is just a word, its meaning depends (like all other words I suppose) upon the context within which it is presented. So, different schools of spirituality and thought have different ideas about what meditation is about. For myself, I like to use multiple definitions as it broadens my practical ability to apply meditation to my daily life, and thus increase its level of quality, depth and effectiveness. So, without any further ado, here is the first one:
''Meditation means to focus on an object of mind (meaning a mental or inner object) that, when we contemplate it causes our mind to become positive, peaceful and happy.''
This is the definition that I learned when I first joined the Tibetan Buddhist group that I was connected to for many years and that, as a Buddhist monk I would teach to people. It is at once quite specific, telling us that meditation is a form of mental focus that functions to generate and hold positive states of mind, but also quite general, leaving scope for the meditator to choose the particular objects that he or she wises to focus on. During my training in Tibetan Buddhism the foundation of the daily meditation practice that we had were twenty one specific positive or ''virtuous'' feelings and determinations that we would study and train our mind to hold without distractions.
So, working with the above definition, you can if you like take a little inventory of all the things that, when you think about them cause you to become happy, peaceful, energized, appreciative, grateful and so on. All of these things are possible objects of meditation for you. The interesting thing about making such an inventory is that it can cause us to reflect on the things that we currently THINK make us happy, and make us realize that actually, maybe they don't make us a happy as we thought. Conversely, some of the things that are right in front of us all the time have a substantial power to make us happy, but we realize we are not appreciating them, and so this reflection can cause us to re focus on these potential causes of happiness.
What I want to explain now is a mindfulness game that we can play with ourself as a form of meditation. In this exercise the positive object of meditation is not so much one particular object, feeling or affirmation. Rather it is the PROCESS that it invokes that is the object of our meditation and that functions to make our mind peaceful and happy. One of the main benefits of this exercise is that it gradually trains our mind to orientate itself around positive thoughts and feelings, and consciously edit out our negative ones.
STEP 1:
Sit down and either think of or write down three things in your life that you feel positive and happy about. There are infinite possibilities here, here are three that I am going to pull out of my mental hat right now:
1)I enjoyed my Qi Gong class this morning, I was encouraged by the progress that people seemed to be making.
2)Enjoying learning about how to create a website
3)Daughter was happy going to school this morning, no tears!
So there we are, three things.
STEP 2:
Set aside a certain time, say ten minutes. During this time you can choose to sit in meditation, or you might choose to go for a walk, have a bath or any activity where you can maintain a relative state of relaxation and focus.
Once you have settled yourself and the allotted time has begun, your job is simply to keep your mind oriented around three above three topics, and the positive feelings, thoughts and images that are generated in your mind in association with them. Your mind may wonder onto any object that is positively related to the above, but it MAY NOT move onto and object of contemplation that is either unrelated to your three topics, or that is a negative contemplation of them.
So, for example of what I MAY contemplate with regard to my above three topics above are:
- A sense of the positive flow of Qi/light and energy within my body (relating to point one).
- The harmonious sense I get from one of the Artworks that I have placed on my website
- An appreciation of my relationship to my daughter.
Examples of what I may NOT contemplate or get distracted by:
- Recalling something I disliked about one of the Qi Gong class members
- Getting involved in a ''to do list'' for my website
- Worrying about my daughter on any level
So, you get the idea, as long as you are keeping to an aspect of the three topics that is making your mind positive, happy, peaceful, appreciative etc, then you are on the right track. Any negative or worrisome thoughts are not to be followed, as are any thoughts that are simply distractions!
This is a simple meditation or mindfulness form that I would say is a very good for the overall long term health of our consciousness. It leaves plenty of room for us to make the practice ''our own'' and be creative. It enables us to experience first hand how to train in the meditative activity of learning to generate and hold positive and peaceful states of mind for extended periods.
To read the next article in this series of meditation definition articles click HERE.
© Toby Ouvry 2009 Please do not reproduce without permission.
''Meditation means to focus on an object of mind (meaning a mental or inner object) that, when we contemplate it causes our mind to become positive, peaceful and happy.''
This is the definition that I learned when I first joined the Tibetan Buddhist group that I was connected to for many years and that, as a Buddhist monk I would teach to people. It is at once quite specific, telling us that meditation is a form of mental focus that functions to generate and hold positive states of mind, but also quite general, leaving scope for the meditator to choose the particular objects that he or she wises to focus on. During my training in Tibetan Buddhism the foundation of the daily meditation practice that we had were twenty one specific positive or ''virtuous'' feelings and determinations that we would study and train our mind to hold without distractions.
So, working with the above definition, you can if you like take a little inventory of all the things that, when you think about them cause you to become happy, peaceful, energized, appreciative, grateful and so on. All of these things are possible objects of meditation for you. The interesting thing about making such an inventory is that it can cause us to reflect on the things that we currently THINK make us happy, and make us realize that actually, maybe they don't make us a happy as we thought. Conversely, some of the things that are right in front of us all the time have a substantial power to make us happy, but we realize we are not appreciating them, and so this reflection can cause us to re focus on these potential causes of happiness.
What I want to explain now is a mindfulness game that we can play with ourself as a form of meditation. In this exercise the positive object of meditation is not so much one particular object, feeling or affirmation. Rather it is the PROCESS that it invokes that is the object of our meditation and that functions to make our mind peaceful and happy. One of the main benefits of this exercise is that it gradually trains our mind to orientate itself around positive thoughts and feelings, and consciously edit out our negative ones.
STEP 1:
Sit down and either think of or write down three things in your life that you feel positive and happy about. There are infinite possibilities here, here are three that I am going to pull out of my mental hat right now:
1)I enjoyed my Qi Gong class this morning, I was encouraged by the progress that people seemed to be making.
2)Enjoying learning about how to create a website
3)Daughter was happy going to school this morning, no tears!
So there we are, three things.
STEP 2:
Set aside a certain time, say ten minutes. During this time you can choose to sit in meditation, or you might choose to go for a walk, have a bath or any activity where you can maintain a relative state of relaxation and focus.
Once you have settled yourself and the allotted time has begun, your job is simply to keep your mind oriented around three above three topics, and the positive feelings, thoughts and images that are generated in your mind in association with them. Your mind may wonder onto any object that is positively related to the above, but it MAY NOT move onto and object of contemplation that is either unrelated to your three topics, or that is a negative contemplation of them.
So, for example of what I MAY contemplate with regard to my above three topics above are:
- A sense of the positive flow of Qi/light and energy within my body (relating to point one).
- The harmonious sense I get from one of the Artworks that I have placed on my website
- An appreciation of my relationship to my daughter.
Examples of what I may NOT contemplate or get distracted by:
- Recalling something I disliked about one of the Qi Gong class members
- Getting involved in a ''to do list'' for my website
- Worrying about my daughter on any level
So, you get the idea, as long as you are keeping to an aspect of the three topics that is making your mind positive, happy, peaceful, appreciative etc, then you are on the right track. Any negative or worrisome thoughts are not to be followed, as are any thoughts that are simply distractions!
This is a simple meditation or mindfulness form that I would say is a very good for the overall long term health of our consciousness. It leaves plenty of room for us to make the practice ''our own'' and be creative. It enables us to experience first hand how to train in the meditative activity of learning to generate and hold positive and peaceful states of mind for extended periods.
To read the next article in this series of meditation definition articles click HERE.
© Toby Ouvry 2009 Please do not reproduce without permission.
Wednesday, July 15, 2009
Wheel of Life summary meditation
I am pasting the class notes for the Wheel of Life Class 1, principally so that those attending later classes can consult it as a point of reference:
July 7th Class1: Introduction and Overview of the Planetary, Lunar and Solar Wheel of Life, Finding the center of our own Wheel of Life.
The main content of the talk of the class was a review of the diagrams that were handed out in class, if you have the time to review the diagrams before the next class, just to get a little bit more familiarity with the constitution of the wheel of life it will pay some dividends! (pdf copies of the diagram attached)
One basic point about the Wheel of Life is that it has evolved out of received ancestral wisdom, rather than being a revealed teaching from one particular master.
Received ancestral wisdom is really an organic body of ever-evolving wisdom that we inherit and build upon.
Revealed teachings are where a teacher such as a Jesus or a Buddha makes some form of revelatory format for a new spiritual path, and then his or her followers create a path or religion based around that approach.
The meditation:
This is the basic format for meditation work on the Wheel of Life, it can be done as a 5 minute exercise (once familiar with it), or as a longer more contemplative meditation.
Awen and Ioho
Use of the Awen (pron: AA-OO-EN) and the Ioho fo activate the directions.
Awen is the ancient Celtic (and pre-Celtic) invocation meaning ''fluid inspiration'', or ''blessings of God/the Goddess.
As we focused on the ''Aa'' we focused our energy on the sky and stars above. As we changed to the ''Oo'' we sent our energy down into the earth and land below. As we changed to the ''En'' we focused our attention on our inner center. We did this three times and then just felt the flow of energy activated between above, below and our own inner center.
Ioho is the word for the Yew tree, and invokes the mysteries of life, death and rebirth/regeneration.
We focused our attention on awareness of the 4 directions (NSEW) stretching across the planet around us, awareness of the movement of nature and the seasons and ourself as the center. With this awareness we then recited the Io-ho three times. We then sat in silence and felt the flow of directional energy activated by our chant.
Within the context of the 7 directions (invoked above), we then saw two intersecting, moving circles of light in the center of our meditation space, one embodying time (past, present, future, the cycle of the 4 seasons and 4 times of day, 4 stages of life), the other embodying energy (4 elements, 4 states of consciousness, 4 energies of creation).
These two circles expanded to enclose us, we then focused on placing our energy in the center of the still point in at the middle of this cycle of time, space and energy.
(Note: If we are doing this meditation by ourself the center of our circle/wheel of life is our own center (within our heart center), if in a group we can feel the center to be the central point within the space that we are working in).
We held our awareness in this center, and moved our mind gradually and without hurrying into a state of stillness.
After staying with this state for a while we then visualized 4 gateways around us. In the north was earth, night, winter. In the east air, dawn, spring. In the south fire, noon day, summer. In the west water, evening, autumn. We felt the energies of each of these gateways, and the effect of the interaction of these 4 directions when visualized together.
In the intermediate directions we then visualized the 4 stages of life, and the 4 stages of manifestation.
NW: Old age, death completion.
NE: Birth, childhood, new creation
SE: Young adult, formulation
SW: Maturity, manifestation
Again we felt the effect of these energies in our space for a while.
We then moved back into the center of the wheel, back into silence and stillness for a short while.
Without hurrying we then moved out of the meditation and back into full awareness of our physical being.
July 7th Class1: Introduction and Overview of the Planetary, Lunar and Solar Wheel of Life, Finding the center of our own Wheel of Life.
The main content of the talk of the class was a review of the diagrams that were handed out in class, if you have the time to review the diagrams before the next class, just to get a little bit more familiarity with the constitution of the wheel of life it will pay some dividends! (pdf copies of the diagram attached)
One basic point about the Wheel of Life is that it has evolved out of received ancestral wisdom, rather than being a revealed teaching from one particular master.
Received ancestral wisdom is really an organic body of ever-evolving wisdom that we inherit and build upon.
Revealed teachings are where a teacher such as a Jesus or a Buddha makes some form of revelatory format for a new spiritual path, and then his or her followers create a path or religion based around that approach.
The meditation:
This is the basic format for meditation work on the Wheel of Life, it can be done as a 5 minute exercise (once familiar with it), or as a longer more contemplative meditation.
Awen and Ioho
Use of the Awen (pron: AA-OO-EN) and the Ioho fo activate the directions.
Awen is the ancient Celtic (and pre-Celtic) invocation meaning ''fluid inspiration'', or ''blessings of God/the Goddess.
As we focused on the ''Aa'' we focused our energy on the sky and stars above. As we changed to the ''Oo'' we sent our energy down into the earth and land below. As we changed to the ''En'' we focused our attention on our inner center. We did this three times and then just felt the flow of energy activated between above, below and our own inner center.
Ioho is the word for the Yew tree, and invokes the mysteries of life, death and rebirth/regeneration.
We focused our attention on awareness of the 4 directions (NSEW) stretching across the planet around us, awareness of the movement of nature and the seasons and ourself as the center. With this awareness we then recited the Io-ho three times. We then sat in silence and felt the flow of directional energy activated by our chant.
Within the context of the 7 directions (invoked above), we then saw two intersecting, moving circles of light in the center of our meditation space, one embodying time (past, present, future, the cycle of the 4 seasons and 4 times of day, 4 stages of life), the other embodying energy (4 elements, 4 states of consciousness, 4 energies of creation).
These two circles expanded to enclose us, we then focused on placing our energy in the center of the still point in at the middle of this cycle of time, space and energy.
(Note: If we are doing this meditation by ourself the center of our circle/wheel of life is our own center (within our heart center), if in a group we can feel the center to be the central point within the space that we are working in).
We held our awareness in this center, and moved our mind gradually and without hurrying into a state of stillness.
After staying with this state for a while we then visualized 4 gateways around us. In the north was earth, night, winter. In the east air, dawn, spring. In the south fire, noon day, summer. In the west water, evening, autumn. We felt the energies of each of these gateways, and the effect of the interaction of these 4 directions when visualized together.
In the intermediate directions we then visualized the 4 stages of life, and the 4 stages of manifestation.
NW: Old age, death completion.
NE: Birth, childhood, new creation
SE: Young adult, formulation
SW: Maturity, manifestation
Again we felt the effect of these energies in our space for a while.
We then moved back into the center of the wheel, back into silence and stillness for a short while.
Without hurrying we then moved out of the meditation and back into full awareness of our physical being.
Monday, July 13, 2009
Housework Meditation
I was talking to one of the meditation class members the other day, and she was mentioning to me how she had started doing her own housework again (as opposed to getting a cleaner in), and what a grounding and positive effect she had found it had on her. I have also found that cleaning forms a regular part of my overall weekly routine, and that it is a great way of doing a little bit of active meditation. This is because when you are cleaning the movements are simple enough such that you can combine them with being mindful of the present moment, and of your body. An hour of mindful cleaning work can really bring your mind into a wonderfully relaxed and calm state. When I was a Buddhist monk cleaning was very much a part of my meditation practice, and in many of the different Buddhist traditions mindful cleaning is a central part of the path to enlightenment. There are quite a few stories in the Tibetan and Zen traditions of people attaining spontaneous and profound spiritual insights in the midst of sweeping this or cleaning that!
Recently quite a few of the machines in my house have been breaking down. One of them was the vacuum cleaner. Initially I was a bit irritated, as I had intended to vacuum and mop the house on that particular day. I picked up a dustpan and broom and started sweeping the floor of dust. Very quickly I was quite glad that the vacuum cleaner had broken, as I found the activity of sweeping in silence much more conducive to mindful cleaning. One hour later the floor was swept and mopped (actually it was about the same time as doing it with a vacuum cleaner, surprising but true!), and I felt truly grounded and happy. Needless to say, my vacuum cleaner is still sitting unrepaired in the cupboard!
Cleaning meditation is as simple as can be; just keep present, focus on what you are doing, don't go too fast or too slow. You'll be truly surprised how many worries and anxieties can be let go of through this process, and how much natural, uninhibited peace and happiness can be generated without much effort. In these days of trying to cram all our activities into too little time, and also in a maid-culture like Singapore where it is all too easy to get others to do it for us, maybe it is time to integrate a little mindful cleaning into our routine?
Recently quite a few of the machines in my house have been breaking down. One of them was the vacuum cleaner. Initially I was a bit irritated, as I had intended to vacuum and mop the house on that particular day. I picked up a dustpan and broom and started sweeping the floor of dust. Very quickly I was quite glad that the vacuum cleaner had broken, as I found the activity of sweeping in silence much more conducive to mindful cleaning. One hour later the floor was swept and mopped (actually it was about the same time as doing it with a vacuum cleaner, surprising but true!), and I felt truly grounded and happy. Needless to say, my vacuum cleaner is still sitting unrepaired in the cupboard!
Cleaning meditation is as simple as can be; just keep present, focus on what you are doing, don't go too fast or too slow. You'll be truly surprised how many worries and anxieties can be let go of through this process, and how much natural, uninhibited peace and happiness can be generated without much effort. In these days of trying to cram all our activities into too little time, and also in a maid-culture like Singapore where it is all too easy to get others to do it for us, maybe it is time to integrate a little mindful cleaning into our routine?
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