A Variety of Ways to Meditate (Part 1)

There are a variety of ways to meditate. Differing life circumstances sometimes require that we change our approach. Here are two approaches; experiment with these, and others, to find personal ways of deepening your conscious contact with the “Great Reality within.”

I often hear people say things like, “I had a really good meditation session; I got into the zone.” Or, “I had a really bad meditation session! I couldn’t make my mind be quiet.” I challenge them: “What is a ‘really good’ meditation session?” I ask because I want to make people conscious of their expectations. There is no such thing as a good or bad meditation session. Whatever happens in our meditation is simply the experience of those moments. It is neither good nor bad. It just is.

When meditating, we are not trying to make ourselves be a certain way. We don’t make ourselves do anything except sit down on the cushion, hold the posture, and breathe. Once seated, we are simply present to and curious about whatever arises, observing our mind as we would watch clouds pass in the sky. We acknowledge, with kindness, whatever is happening.

The idea in this form of meditation is to simply rest the mind for three minutes.

Try this:

Sit with your spine straight. Make sure you can breathe easily, with the body relaxed.

Allow your mind to rest. Let it go anywhere it goes. Whatever happens — or doesn’t happen — is part of the “mental experiment.” Simply notice it. You might feel physically comfortable or uncomfortable. You might hear sounds or smell smells in your environment. You might get lost in thoughts or become aware of feelings of anger, sadness, fear, or other emotions. Just go with any of it. Anything that happens — or doesn’t happen — is simply part of the experience.

When the three minutes are up, reflect. Ask yourself: How was that experiment? Don’t judge or evaluate, or try to explain. Just review what happened and how you felt.

Congratulations! You have just meditated for three minutes.

Some beginning meditators fight the sounds, sights or other sensations they experience while meditating, thinking of these internal events as unwelcome distractions. Instead, you can make them the object of your attention. Buddhism refers to this technique “as ‘self-antidote,’ using the source of distraction itself as a means of freedom from distraction.”

The idea behind this practice is to focus on an object for five minutes. Try this:

Sit with a straight spine. Relax your body. Let your mind rest, just as it is, for a few moments.

Deliberately rest your awareness on a specific object. These can include:

• Physical sensations. Be curious about what you feel in your body, such as a tingling in your leg, or tune into the sensations in a specific area, such as your hands, jaw or forehead.
• Painful sensations. Rather than fight physical pain, trying to push it away, become interested in it instead. Notice the sensations of a headache or toothache. See how the sensations change as you become aware of them.
• Forms. Focus on the sensory perceptions of seeing. Really lookat the flame of a candle, the shades of scarlet in the autumn leaves.
• Sounds. Tune in to what you hear in the environment, such as the ring of a cell phone, the whoosh of cars going by, or the beautiful sound of a birdcall.

Be aware of your object-of-choice for a few moments. Just notice it. Bring your awareness to what you experience moment by moment while observing the object of your meditation.

Let go of your concentration. Just let the mind rest for a few more moments.

Reflect on the experience. Ask yourself: How was that experiment?

In our next blog, to be posted next week, we’ll talk about movement meditation and phrase recitation. Happy holidays!