The practice of meditation is a way to reduce and eventually eliminate all the agitation,
And all the stress that we experience in our life.
The instruction for how to meditate is simple.
Take a good posture,
Like that of a Buddha.
Follow your breath as it moves out of the body,
And simply come back to the breath when you forget.
When we get into the just breathing zone in this way,
Then we can feel a kind of settling of our mind,
Relaxation.
The stress diminishes and we start to feel more human again.
It is natural to feel just how busy our mind is when we try to meditate.
That can be the first thing we experience.
I'm anything but peaceful.
But when you hold that posture,
Staying still without moving,
You are setting up the conditions so that you can return to your peaceful nature.
You just hold that posture and let yourself feel the agitation or busyness of your mind.
Thinking more and thinking less means that we don't have to analyze our experience.
We don't have to think that there is something wrong.
But feel the detail and textures of our experience.
Just come back to your breath without analysis.
Hold still and feel.
That feeling begins with feeling the breath.
Just keep coming back to the breath.
The breath is a neutral factor.
It's just breath.
I know that it is maybe not so easy to feel the breath.
You might think that it is more like you over here trying to feel the breath over there.
There's a sense of separation.
You are divided.
You can't dissolve into one with the breath.
Or else as soon as you start to get in touch with breathing,
Your mind leaps away in distraction.
Or else you start to drift off into sleepiness.
This is all perfectly normal.
There is nothing wrong with you.
Thinking more and thinking less begins with having some trust in the simplicity of the meditation instruction.
Tell yourself,
Just do the technique.
Keep coming back.
And since we are always talking to ourselves anyway,
Just redirect the monologue in this way.
I am perfectly fine just as I am.
Stress,
Agitation,
Nervousness,
Pain are not fundamentally me.
My nature is peaceful.
And I can tune into this peace by keeping the meditation practice as simple as possible in the technique.
Then follow the breath.
Thinking more and thinking less means that we don't try to block our thoughts in meditation.
It is true that the wandering mind is distraction from the breath.
We can't feel anything when lost in distraction.
We are lost in thinking which produces agitation.
But again,
There's nothing wrong with you.
At some point you realize,
Oh,
I'm distracted.
Got to get back to the breath.
So that little bit of self-programming reminds you to come back.
We have a little wake-up call in the middle of distraction.
We come back to the breath.
Thinking more and thinking less means that we let go of just a little bit of ourselves.
We tend to hold on so tight to keep it all under control.
Try making a fist.
Clench it very tightly.
And while you're at it,
Tighten the whole body.
Hold it there.
Now,
Let it all go.
Relax the body.
Open your palm as if you're offering a flower to somebody.
That's letting go.
Then try the same thing with the breath.
Only this time let go of the tightness you feel in the mind.
Breathe and feel the airy,
Windy breath.
Let go.
Feeling more and thinking less is trusting in myself.
I can let go and just feel everything that's going on.
This feeling is intuitive contact which bypasses the intellectual,
Analytical mode.
Of course,
There is nothing wrong with the intellect or analysis,
But it isn't always the thing that we need.
Sometimes we need personal care and love.
And this comes from feeling.
Feeling more and thinking less.
I think this kind of simple meditation instruction can apply to everyone,
Whether you are predominantly emotional,
Intuitive,
Or intellectual.
Feeling is a different kind of knowing which can lead us to a very advanced and sophisticated way of being in the world.
It's really worth exploring this kind of meditation.
Feeling is warm and intuitive,
Emotionally connective,
Caring,
And love,
Breaking down barriers,
Highly intelligent,
And very satisfying.
It makes us feel full and rich like we have everything we need inside us.
Feeling more and thinking less begins with just this moment of feeling the breath now,
Just simply doing it.
