Meditation is a Practice
Yogis have been telling us for thousands of years that meditation is good for us, and now doctors and scientists are saying the same thing.
Meditation is a practice…you can’t do it wrong.
It’s simply coming back to your direct experience of the present moment, over and over. It’s a practice because although it’s a simple concept, it’s not easy. Each of our brains thinks 65,000 thoughts a day on average, and 95% of those thoughts are the same ones that you thought yesterday.
Yogis have been telling us for thousands of years that meditation is good for us, and now doctors and scientists are saying the same thing. There is so much written about how to meditate and why.
Different people and different schools have varying opinions about how to meditate and why…it could be to heal your body, to relieve stress and anxiety, to have better focus, to feel more peaceful and kind, for enlightenment (which would take care of all of the other reasons, lol). For various reasons, pretty much everyone agrees that it’s a good thing to do.
Why and How?
Being in the present moment, in direct experience, is a peaceful place to be. It’s the only moment that exists. That’s hard to wrap our minds around. Although we remember the past and project onto the future, they are not happening now. We cannot change the past and we cannot control the future, so they are stressful places for the mind to be. Our bodies can never be in the past or future, so ruminating on the past or future creates a fracture between the body and mind; the result is a feeling of disconnect between the body and mind, and this disconnect creates a feeling of stress.
When we bring our awareness to the present moment and observe our direct experience, we stabilize the mind. We can bring awareness to the breath, the sounds in the room, the body. The thoughts can be there, floating by, but they’re not the main show. And if we are walking or doing the dishes or typing, we can bring awareness to that activity. Now the mind is with the breath and body. All of you is in one place, and this relieves a lot of stress in mind, emotions, and body. In the nervous system, there is a feedback loop between thoughts, emotions and sensations; when we start to notice and let go of attachment to the thoughts and the thought patterns that occur in the brain, not only do our minds settle, but our bodies and emotions also settle.
If we can observe our thoughts, then we can begin the cultivate the skill of responding instead of reacting to them. If we can respond instead of react, then we are no longer controlled by our thoughts; the ability to notice, pause and respond brings us freedom to actually choose, as opposed to following the unconscious programming in our minds.
With practice, we start to notice that is a gap between our thoughts, and in the gap is where the freedom lies…the freedom to make a different choice…if you want to make the same choice as in the past that is fine too, but the point is that you actually have a choice. When we periodically notice the gap, even if it is small and intermittent, we know we have the capacity to let go of the habits that bind us. And if we can notice once, we can notice it again and again with practice.
Everything moves, everything changes, and all things flow.
In meditation, we are embracing fluidity and spaciousness. We are noticing. We are noticing that thoughts change, emotions change, the body changes. Meditation teachings encourage us to embrace the changes, accept the changes, instead of trying to control those things. We observe and see how everything comes and goes. We can have intentions, but we cannot control the outcomes.
As we observe and let go of trying to control, physiologically, the mind, emotions, and body soften. Gentleness to yourself is important. Swami Kripalu said, “Self-observation without judgment is the highest spiritual practice.” Thich Nhat Hanh said, “The future is made of only one thing – the present. And we can only take care of the future by taking care of the present moment.”
Compassion and non-judgment toward yourself help to relax your body and mind. Just one simple direction…come back to direct experience over and over. You can notice one breath in and one breath out, if that is helpful. Breath is often the anchor we use to come back to direct experience. For some people, the breath helps them to feel present and relaxed. Others prefer the sounds in the room to keep them present, and others like a mantra or prayer to keep the mind focused here and now.
Whatever direct experience you choose, give yourself time, space, and support. Set aside time for yourself, even 5 minutes is great. Find a comfortable space where you have a chair or cushion. And feel the support of the chair or the cushion beneath you. Feel the earth supporting you. If you don’t feel the support, then imagine the support. Meditating with another person or a group of people can also be very helpful. We are biologically designed to relax more when we feel the support of others. Come back to the breath/direct experience over and over, and let the thoughts go by like clouds in the sky. Or imagine the thoughts disappearing back into nothing. They are not concrete. They come and go. In meditation, we can practice letting the thoughts be the fluid, ethereal creations that they are.
As Pema Chodron says… “Thoughts are not a problem; it’s the attachment to them that’s a problem.”
Some thoughts are more sticky and triggering than others. Some have deeper patterns and grooves in our nervous systems. But every time you come back to the present moment and let the thought pass by, you shift the patterning in your system, creating new neural pathways to direct experience and weakening the pathways of the habituated thoughts and stories. And you are on your path to more peace and less anxiety.
I’ll leave you with a quote from Eckhart Tolle:
“When you are present in this moment, you break the continuity of your story of past and future. Then true intelligence arises. And also love.”
True intelligence and love arise in the gap. I invite you to practice.