This is a discussion and meditation on a technique from Meditation Made Easy by Dr Lauren Roche of Doing Nothing.
One of my favourite meditation techniques.
One of the greatest treats we can have is to give ourselves permission to do nothing for a while.
Of course it takes a bit of planning,
But the time you spend doing nothing will reward you with more energy and probably give you back more time than you spend in doing nothing.
Now when we think about it,
Doing nothing is really impossible.
Our brain has billions of cells,
Each with hundreds or thousands of connections to its friends.
Neurons firing maybe 200 times a second.
How could we possibly think that we can ask our brain to do nothing?
So rather than focusing on doing nothing,
Which would be a difficult thing,
What if we simply thought on having no intention except to be with ourselves in a restful state for 5,
10,
15 minutes?
It can be useful to take a couple of long,
Easeful breaths.
Often just starting with a sigh is a wonderful way of settling into our body,
Feeling the sensation of what it's like to breathe,
To breathe out.
After that the invitation is just to hang out with yourself,
Without having any agenda.
What we know is that there is no way that your mind will stop.
There is no chance at all that you will have no thoughts.
Or that you will dive deep into this peace and stillness that is often talked about as the goal of meditation.
So the first thing you have to do is accept this.
It's part of being alive and having a life that whenever you give yourself time to do nothing,
You will have thoughts.
See meditation is a time you give yourself to tune up for life and also to repair.
And your whole being,
Body,
Mind and spirit,
They will take the opportunity to do these things without your involvement.
It's natural for you to start to replay your day.
A conversation you have had last week perhaps or even last year.
You will review moments and try to set them right,
Preparing yourself so that if the same situation comes up again,
You may act more gracefully,
More assertively.
Whatever is needed to bring a more beneficial outcome in future.
You may find you are creating a shopping list as you try to do nothing.
And that you think you are doing it wrong.
Nothing can be further from the truth.
It's natural to set your house in order.
What would happen if you came up with a shopping list and chopped it off half way?
The skills we are practicing here are simple.
Learning to be with ourselves and accept whatever comes up.
Without telling ourselves that we are wrong,
Without telling ourselves that we need to quieten our mind.
If we simply go with the flow of the sensations that we feel,
The thoughts and emotions that arise,
We allow the voice of our subconscious,
Our spirit,
The life force that is flowing through us to be heard.
Maybe for some clarity to be gained or for some healing to take place.
There are parts of you that may not have been heard for a long time waiting for your attention.
By doing nothing,
Having no agenda but to accept and even celebrate what arises,
We begin to honour all parts of ourselves.
And this is the goal of meditation.
This is the true yoga,
To bring ourselves together into a single unified being that can move more gracefully through the world.
You will rest.
You will feel the ouch of the pain of the past.
You will feel restored as you hang out with that sensation,
Those feelings,
Those emotions for a while.
And you will plan for the future.
But in your doing nothing meditation,
Understand you will never be doing nothing.
Accept it.
Celebrate your life.
And you will feel afterwards rested,
Prepared and ready to go.
