Three Simple Tips For Meditation Practice

In this talk I discuss a few tricks that have helped me in my meditation practice. The aim of sharing these ideas is to make your practice more enjoyable, and peaceful. If any of these tips seem confusing, don't hesitate to ask a question! Hopefully by the end of the talk you are energized and enthusiastic for your next meditation session!

Transcript

Here are a few tips for meditation practice.

The first one is quality over quantity.

Choose a length of time that you feel like you could sit and not be disturbed by anything.

Whether that be an itch or a pain in your legs or some crazy ideas you have,

Choose a length of time that you feel that you could 100% dedicate to focusing on your object of meditation.

That could mean that it's only for 10 seconds.

It could also mean it's for 10 minutes.

But whatever you feel like you can 100% be so determined to just focus and be excited to do it too.

So now I'm giving you permission that you don't have to sit for an hour or a really long time to feel like you're starting to touch on some sort of peace.

If you can sit for a few seconds and be really,

Really,

Really determined to just focus on maybe it's your breath,

Maybe it's a mantra,

And not be distracted by anything.

After a few days,

Maybe a few weeks,

You'll start to feel the peace that has been cultivating.

But remember that you need to pair that with the second tip,

Which is relaxation.

So when I say be strongly determined to focus on the object of your meditation,

That doesn't mean something that you're tensing up to do.

That doesn't mean something that's going to be that you're going to be scrunching your eyebrows and making a frown and clenching your fists.

It's just something that you're going to be choosing to do in a relaxed manner.

So when I'm really focused on something and truly focused on it,

It's not like I'm even thinking about,

Oh,

I'm being focused on it.

It's more like the flow state where you're in a pleasant conversation with somebody or you're playing a video game.

You're not tensed up usually during that unless it's something that's stressful,

But that's not what this would be.

So relaxation is something that needs to be paired with your meditation practice because when you're relaxed,

It allows you to let go of things easier and allows you to focus better.

So whenever you notice that maybe you're caught in thought or you're trying to resist something,

You're trying to resist an itch maybe,

Just see if you can relax the area of your body that you feel like is asking you to do something.

And so for the 10 seconds or the 30 seconds or the 10 minutes that you decide that you're going to meditate for with strong determination,

Make sure that you're relaxed during it as much as you can.

And sometimes you can't really control this relaxation,

But there are things that you can do like letting your shoulders down or not scrunching your lips or lessening the tightness of your jaw or letting your abdomen be more relaxed.

And maybe that's not something that you have direct access to,

But by just having the intention to be relaxed during your meditation,

You'll gradually be given the reins in a sense.

You'll gradually be able to figure out what to do to allow those muscles to relax more.

And so now we have our two things,

Our first two tips,

Which is to remain relaxed and to have strong determination to be still during your meditation practice and to choose quality over quantity.

So that might mean decreasing your meditation practice way more to a way shorter time than you than you'd ever thought,

Which I'm not saying that you should stop your current meditation practice.

So if you meditate or if you do some sort of practice for an hour,

Maybe try also having another time of one minute where you're just going to maintain your focus no matter what,

And you're not going to let yourself itch like you normally do.

You're not going to let yourself move,

But you're going to remain relaxed too.

It's not like you're going to resist the itching,

Quote unquote resist.

You're going to relax.

You're going to resist by relaxing into it.

And then the third thing,

And I think this one is,

This could be a major key,

But is to look at meditation as if it is practice for how you would live if you already had everything you could ever want.

So that means if you had all your desires fulfilled,

How would you act in life?

And that is what meditation practice is for in a sense.

But by acting like you have everything you want,

Eventually that just happens naturally.

Maybe you end up manifesting the perfect life or you just realize you don't need so many things to have that state.

And so what is the state of feeling like you have everything you could ever want?

And you can maybe try to imagine it too.

But for me,

It'd be like,

I don't need to look towards the future for anything.

And I don't need to worry about the past because all my problems are solved and I don't need anything else.

I have everything I could ever want.

And so that's kind of like the attitude that we want to take into our meditation practice.

I know it's kind of difficult,

But when we start getting distracted by thoughts,

If we have this attitude,

We can just be like,

No,

I don't need to engage with this.

I already have everything that I want.

I don't have any problems.

I'm just all my only requirement is to focus on my breath or focus on whatever object I choose to hold for my meditation practice.

And so if we can start to train our mind to behave in the way that we would want it to behave,

If we had everything that we could want,

Maybe one day we actually get everything that we want.

And now we already,

Our mind is already behaving correctly.

So we get the house,

We get the money,

Everything,

All our problems are solved.

And we don't have to deal with the mind still thinking that it needs stuff too.

But what happens is that we've been spending our whole lives,

Some of us,

Not all of us,

But I know I have spent a lot of time looking forward to things or thinking that I need something else.

And so I don't think that if I ended up suddenly getting all those things that I wanted,

That those feelings would go away immediately.

I'd still have to do work,

Or maybe I'd trick myself into thinking I still needed more.

And that's the problem,

I guess,

Is that we're always going to trick ourselves into thinking that we need more,

Unless we adopt a practice that is in a way tricking ourselves into thinking that we already have everything that we need.

But in a sense,

I think for most of us,

We do have almost everything we need.

And even if we don't,

We might as well start practicing for what it would be like if we did have everything we need.

And so that's a bit of a heavier one,

I guess,

You would say,

But I really like it because it makes meditation more into an exciting,

Purposeful practice.

Whereas sometimes,

I don't know,

We might feel like we have to do it.

But if you get a little bit of chance every day to practice feeling and being like you would be if you had everything you want,

I think that's a pretty exciting thing to do.

And it doesn't happen right away either.

It's totally natural for it to not be necessarily pleasant at first.

But if you're choosing to do less time and prioritizing quality over quantity,

Then there will never be a dry meditation session.

It will always be work.

But it will always be,

Or it won't always be work,

Obviously.

You have to work and then eventually it will flow more naturally.

But yeah,

I think just deciding to be determined to focus,

Maintaining your relaxation,

And looking at meditation as practice for how you would live if you had everything you could ever want.

Those are some of the main keys for me.

And I think for people that have been meditating a long time,

The quality over quantity thing might come in handy.

Because I know for me,

I had a daily meditation practice where I'd meditate an hour,

Twice a day.

But I felt like I wasn't really making progress,

In a sense.

Which I definitely was,

But it was just more of a passive thing.

And I think meditation shouldn't be something that you're actively doing.

But you also shouldn't be actively thinking about things.

You shouldn't be actively itching yourself.

So that's kind of a little rant that I have.

But again,

Follow what you feel is best for you,

What resonates most for you.

And take what I say with a grain of salt.

But take it somehow.

And if you want to incorporate it,

Incorporate it.

If you don't feel like it excites you to do so,

Then don't.

But yeah,

I think,

Like I was saying,

For advanced meditators,

If you feel like meditation is just something that has become a ritual,

Try and decrease the time and implement your firm determination.

And for newcomers to meditation that feel like maybe they can't meditate,

That's a sign of success in my books,

That you have meditated enough to feel that you can't meditate.

It's showing that there's some part of your mind that's already having resistance to it.

And it shows that it's right out there.

The resistance is right out in the open now.

And it shows that it's been a success because you've hit against your initial resistance to it.

And I am telling you,

You can meditate.

And you already have meditated if you can meditate to the point of having said that.

And don't push.

You don't need to push yourself.

You just do what you feel comfortable doing and meditate how you feel comfortable doing.

And it will become something that you enjoy,

Like working out at the gym.

It might not be fun at first,

But if you keep coming back to it,

You'll eventually start really liking it,

At least in my experience.

Alright,

These are some of my personal,

I guess,

Things that have helped me.

And so if you feel like they'll help you too,

Please try and incorporate them.

And if you don't feel like they'll help you,

Then you don't have to incorporate them,

Obviously.

But I just thought I'd share.

Thank you so much.

And may all beings be happy.