Meditation
Take some time for yourself to relax and find some inner quiet.
Some people find that meditating helps them so much that it becomes part of their daily routine. If you have not meditated before then read below and give it a go and don’t give up, it will get easier with time and you will start to feel the benefits.
“I never realised how much meditation could help me, from being a very angry anxious person , I found after a while that things didn’t affect me so much. I try and meditate every day for 20 minutes. It is usually the best time of the day…..”
With all the busyness and difficulties of our lives it is easy for us to rush around and get caught up in endless activities. We are constantly distracted by the outside world, all the things we have to do and get done. We also choose to distract ourselves with external things believing that they will help us with the problems and sufferings that we have in our lives. Although it may give us a feeling of happiness it’s usually only lasts for a short time and then we find ourselves looking for something else to give us that sense of happiness. We can find ourselves chasing after so many things yet still feeling discontented and unhappy inside.
Strangely, it may seem, but all those things on the outside don’t bring us true happiness it is the way that we look at things that really gives us happiness, its our thoughts, our sense of well being of our mind that helps us deal with all the joys and sufferings that we experience in our lives. So to help us it’s a good idea to take some time just for us, to sit and relax our mind just like we rest the body at night so with meditation we rest and quiet the mind during the day.
What is meditation?
Meditation is a time we take to sit quietly and let the mind relax. With the constant stream of thoughts that run through our mind in meditation we can let those thoughts quieten and soften and find a stillness and ease which will help us with our daily thoughts and activities. Meditation practice allows us to become calm and clear and when this happens, from a Buddhist point of view, other good qualities of the mind can come through.
How do we practice meditation?
First of all find a quiet space where you won’t be disturbed. Sometimes its nice to create a space where you have some of your special things, such as pictures and photos of special people and places that bring good and happy thoughts to your mind. You’ll also find it good to wear some loose, warm, comfortable clothing.
How should I sit?
Relaxed yet straight!
Good posture is essential for good meditation practice, establishing the right body posture helps the mind to settle down. Its most important that our back is straight, so try keeping the neck back and head in a straight line, imagining there is a pillar of light from where your bottom rests on the cushion up through your spine and out through the top of your head.
If you can, its best to sit cross-legged on the floor, use a cushion to support your bottom and to give you height so that your knees can rest comfortably on the floor. (Tip..! If you’re not used to sitting cross-legged it may take a little practice, try sitting on the floor when watching TV and very quickly, with practice, you will find it quickly becomes easier). You can either relax your hands on your thighs or you can have them in your lap like Buddha. In this case you rest your right hand on your left and touch your thumbs together.
Become aware of the muscles in your face, soften them letting all the tension go. Relax your mouth and rest your tongue on the roof of our mouth (which helps to reduce the saliva) and relax your eyes, keep them open looking at a point about 3 feet away. Its important to meditate with the eyes open as it helps the mind become clear. If you find this difficult, you can begin with closing the eyes and then gradually introduce opening them. Experiment with it, see how your experience is different with your eyes open and closed.
If you find sitting on the floor too difficult you can sit on a chair, with both feet on the floor hip-width apart, with your back straight, not leaning to either side or forwards or backwards. Rest your hands, palms facing down, comfortably on your thighs.
When is the best time to meditate?
We try to take some time in our everyday life, usually it best to try and find some quiet time in the morning or in the evening before we go to bed.
How long should I meditate for?
Buddhist teachers recommend that it’s better to start with lots of short sessions rather than try to endure an hour. So start by sitting for five minutes, there is more benefit in practicing 5 minutes a day every day than one hour once a month. But remember, be gentle on yourself, don’t expect that you will have a perfect practice straight away and don’t get discouraged if you find it difficult, like anything it takes practice and perseverance. It’s a good idea to make a little plan, starting with 5 minutes practice a day and slowly slowly building it up until you are sitting for an hour a day twice a day! Encourage yourself to take this time for you, don’t beat yourself into doing it!
What happens in meditation?
With our bodies we learn to relax and feel at ease and likewise with our minds we become relaxed and at ease. When we start meditating we notice that our minds are very busy that we have constant thoughts that jump around all over the place. What do we do? Should we try to tell our mind to be quiet, if we try telling it ‘to be quiet’, we notice that it does not seem to listen to us and if we try to tell our mind ‘not so much thinking’ it seems to get more busy. Often the more we try, the worse it gets! So what do we do?!…We have to learn to let the thoughts be, so when thoughts and emotions come up we learn to just let them be, or just let them go. So when a thought comes up we don’t follow it or take it somewhere, we just let it go. When we stand out in sunshine on a summer’s day and look up into the sky we see the clouds drifting around, these can be likened to thoughts, they drift in and drift off and don’t need to be followed or chased anywhere. We aim to not get caught up in our thoughts, just noticing them and then letting them go. We try not to judge our thoughts, ‘this thought is good or this thought is bad’, instead we just let them be, recognising that it is just a thought, not chasing it anywhere or stopping it we just notice that they come and go, like clouds in the sky. Thoughts come and go and emotions come and go, we don’t react we just let them be.
If we are able to do this we will feel a sense of being in control rather than being controlled by our thoughts and emotions. Usually we are overpowered by our thoughts, emotions and memories and they take us over and this is what causes us all of our difficulties and anxieties, but by not giving our thoughts any power we can relax and feel confident that whatever comes into our mind we can let go of.
A focus to help us with our meditation practice.
When we’re sitting doing our meditation practice all seems to be going well and suddenly we notice that we’ve got caught up in our thoughts and gone on a long adventure. What can we do to bring us back? A traditional method in the Buddhist teachings is to use our breath to bring us back into the present. So whenever we notice that we are distracted we gently bring our awareness back to our breath. We can focus our attention on counting a complete breathing cycle, (ie breath in, breath out = 1) and try to keep our awareness with this until we get to 10 and then begin the counting this process again and again until we do it without even thinking. Practice is what makes us learn and meditation is practising. First we learn and then we practice what we learnt, and keep on doing it!
If you find focussing on your breath difficult, another method used in Tibetan Buddhism is focussing on an object. Choose something that will not make the mind busier, such as a pebble. Place is in front of you and focus your awareness on it. In the same way as you bought your attention back to your breath when you noticed that your mind had wandered, do the same with your focussing your attention on the pebble. Don’t worry if you realise that your mind keeps wandering off, just gently bring your focus back to the pebble.
How will I know that my meditation practice is going well?
You may find that feelings such as anger and other strong emotions feel like they have become weaker and that you are not overwhelmed by them as much as you were. You will find that situations that you used to find stressful will feel a little lighter and will be more easy for you.
We wish you all the best with your meditation and hope that it brings you much happiness.
Where can I find out more about Buddhism and Buddhist meditation?
Websites
www.samyeling.org
Samye Ling in Scotland is the largest Buddhist Monastery in Europe, the website has Buddhist teachings that you can read as well as information about events being held
www.Lekshe.typepad.com/nyinge
This is an American site which is packed full of information about all Buddhist Traditions and is particularly for kids.
Movies
You may want to find out about the life of Buddha, The film ‘Little Buddha’ with Keanu Reeves explains Buddha’s life and also shows the Tibetan Buddhist tradition.
Books you could read
There are many books that are available in good book shops by His Holiness the Dalai Lama. You may also find books by Lama Surya Das which would be helpful. Thich Nat Hhan is a Vietnamese Buddhist who has written many amazing books. Samyeling.org has an online shop where you can find many books as well as tapes and DVD’s on the site.