Meditation

This is a presentation I gave among the Pagan community in my town tonight. :) Enjoy!

“Meditation”

Allison Currie, 2009

I am not here tonight to teach you exactly a specific form of meditation, or train you in any particular method or convert you to any viewpoint. It's my wish to give you an introduction to what meditation is, with its many varieties, so that I pique your interest and inspire you to explore and experience some of these varieties for yourself. No personal experience of mine could ever validate a practice for you the way experiencing it for yourself could. However it is my personal experiences that showed me that this would be the first topic I could talk about at Fireside, and actually feel like I wouldn't be wasting your time.

In your every day life, your mind is a blur with a billion thoughts and decisions. Lists of chores, appointments, clips of conversations you had or are planning to have, ads from the television and songs fly back and forth in a manner comparable to the experience of browsing the Internet. Once in a while, you might find it clear for a moment, quiet, and peaceful, and then that very feeling is shattered the moment you recognize it, name it, and think “I should do this more often...”

Meditation is as a way to reach that blissful state, and to learn not to react, label, and end the feeling. It is a way to learn to just be, and live in the present moment. A large part of learning this non-reaction is to remove your attachment to the past and to your plans for the future. Detachment is not that you don't welcome the future, or that you completely forget the past. Those things are still what they are, but you do not spend all your time focusing on them; you become willing to let them be what they are without wasting time wishing you could change the past or trying to control the future. By detaching from this human concept of time you can live fully in the now, grasping that all you ever are is what you are in this very moment. When the moment changes, and you change with it, you are then that. That's not to say an average layperson is going to live like that all the time, it would be very hard to do so without living like a monk. We still have to interact with the world we live in, but you can set aside time to meditate and help condition the mind more toward detachment so that you are more free to live rather than to waste time in craving.

Another goal of meditation is that it is a tool for sharpening the mind, and in time, learning to calm and clear the mind with simple observation and mindfulness. This can be of particular interest to Pagans who want to focus their energies for ritual with less tendency to react to distractions either internally or externally. Non-reaction is still key in this, learning not to hold onto what you just experienced, whether good or bad, or thinking of what you want or do want to experience in the future. It was explained to me very well at the meditation retreat I went to that non-reaction is simply not reacting to feelings of craving or aversion, and that every reaction falls into either of those two categories. You either do or do not want something to or not to happen to you. So its important to practice non-reaction and not crave pleasurable things and not live in aversion of negative things. And again this isn't to say you never enjoy yourself or avoid doing something dangerous (like walking into traffic perhaps). It's that you do -these things without being hung-up on it, so that you just live in the moment, you are happy in the happy moment and sad in the sad moment, knowing that both are impermanent and will pass in the ebb of constant change we live in. In meditation, when you don't crave the pleasurable sensations and don't react adversely to unpleasurable sensations, (scratching EVERY itch that may come along during your sitting perhaps) then you learn to just BE. :)

There are several methods of meditation, but the basic process is that of sitting upright but without discomfort, not heeding the flurry of chatter the mind makes for you, and focusing your awareness on either a process or an object. Examples would be to focus on respiration, the sensations in the body, chanting a mantra, staring at a dot on the wall or at a deity's statue or poster. Other times you might choose walking meditation rather than sitting, in which the repetitive steps creates a rhythm to focus the mind and creating awareness of being in your body, of simply existing. Tai Chi is another moving meditation where your focus is on awareness of the body and the subtle energies within.

About Posture in Sitting Meditation:

You want your breathing to be clear and easy, so its important to use good posture: sit straight in your seat, shoulders slightly back, and try not to find yourself leaning to one side.

Many people meditate in lotus or cross legged position, but you can also sit on a cushion that raises you firmly about 5-6 inches from the ground, with your legs either crossed or straddled. An alternative to the cushion that some use is a small bench, tilted slightly forward at a light angle to help move the spine into upright position.

I always just rest my hands lightly on my knees, palms up. Others may choose to set their hands palm down or shaped into a mudra. Mudras are a whole other topic, they are a variety ritualistic gestures for a variety of purposes, so I won't get into that.

If you use prayer beads in your meditation by focusing on the repetition of touching one bead at a time, turning the beads in your hand, or counting them, you can also handle though instead of resting your hands.

Being barefoot is optional depending on your tradition. For me it just depends on if I am wearing socks that day or not. :)

Your eyes may be closed, or in some traditions such as Zen you might leave them half open half closed, gazing downward. The main idea is that your eyes are soft and relaxed, so if you are focusing on a dot or a deity image you may want to leave your eyes lightly half closed. The idea is to focus and look without staring a hole through your focus point. Your head should be in a relaxed position but not hanging downward, so as to make breathing easy and natural.

Generally you meditate silently unless you are using a mantra or holding a syllable.

Overall you should be relaxed and comfortable but not in an overly comfortable chair (like an arm chair or bed) that you fall asleep. It's not recommended to lay down for meditation unless you are ill and have to stay in bed.

About Posture in Walking Meditation:

You want to stand with good posture, but relaxed, shoulders back and spine straight for optimal breathing. Most often walking meditation is done very slowly, carefully placing your steps and using awareness to observe every muscle used in the step as your foot rolls down into place. In the west people often use a normal walking speed and focus on the rhythm of the steps to burn calories at the same time, and if you have the awareness and endurance some may use running or jogging to focus on the rhythm of breath and movement for a type of exercise meditation, but most often in the eastern traditions it is a slow easy walk with awareness and precision.

About Breathing in Meditation:

Breath should be your easy, natural breath. Do not force a specific beat or speed in your breathing. Then you can either start by thinking In, Out as you breathe, or focusing on the sensations around the nostrils as the air moves in and out of your nose. Eventually you will want to learn not to have to think In, Out as you breathe, but just be aware of the movement of the air through your lungs, pipe, and nostrils. Consider trying to sense the movement of small hairs, warmth or coolness of air as it comes in and out, or the tingling of the inner walls of the nose.

Time for Meditation:

At the retreat I was told to do meditation for an hour a day... to be honest I don't do meditation for an hour a day, though at first I was able to. I manage to sit for 20-30 minutes but then I give in to the urge to look at the clock and open my eyes, and ruin it. Some people choose only to sit for 30 minutes a day just to relax. Others find it hard to sit longer than 10 minutes so will meditate a few short sessions this way throughout the day. Like any exercise, you'll get better at it with practice and dedication, and eventually you'll be able to sit a little longer than you used to.

Different traditions will suggest different times of day to meditate and different durations, so unless you're following a special tradition then just find what time of day suits you best and try to do your sitting daily. :)

Area For Meditation:

You want to be in a quiet, clean room. The light should be soft but not dark. Some may choose to light incense to set an energy tone to the air you breathe or just for aromatherapy during meditation. (For example, lavender to relax or dragon's blood to empower.)

New age ideas about meditation have produced a number of CDs for “meditation music” but generally this will distract you from the focus on your breathing. If anything, listen to them beforehand to relax but turn off the music or switch to quiet white noise during your meditation so that you focus your mind sharply on your breathing or focal point or mantra.

Ending Meditation, Developing Metta:

Often in traditions, when you have been in that quiet place of mindfulness for a long time, its suggested that you end your meditation with cultivating Metta, or feelings of compassion or loving-kindness, within you, and radiate that outward into the world. Some traditions suggest doing this universally, others suggest that you name specific people or groups of people at a time and send the energy toward them.

For more information on Meditation:

http://www.buddhanet.net/meditation.htm

http://www.buddhanet.net/audio-meditation.htm

http://www.buddhanet.net/xmed7.htm

http://www.buddhanet.net/metta_in.htm