This is the beginner's practice focusing on sitting,
Stillness,
And calming the body and mind.
We will begin this mindfulness meditation practice with the intention to train the body in sitting and stillness while also maintaining attention to the breath as our meditation object.
Sitting stillness of the mind and body as a novice student of meditation is one of the biggest initial challenges to overcome in one's practice.
Intention,
Diligence,
And repetition are the necessary ingredients to build the required muscle memory within one's body and mind.
This will eventually make these efforts become second nature.
Continued practice will lead to a deeper,
More grounded meditation experience,
Eventually leading to more advanced stages of concentration and insight practice.
It's at this point where stillness becomes nothing more than a natural state of existence while experiencing little to no discomfort.
So let us begin this training by ensuring a safe and quiet environment.
You can be sitting upright in a chair or on the floor supported by a traditional meditation cushion.
Your request is to find a middle way between comfort and discomfort.
Being too comfortable will inhibit your meditation and lend yourself to sleepiness,
While discomfort will only lead to experiencing unnecessary pain.
So,
If in a chair,
You may support your lower back with a small pillow,
But avoid leaning back on your shoulders.
Your spine should remain upright and straight,
But with your shoulders relaxed,
Somewhat hanging down along your sides.
Your hands may be either placed together gently in your lap or face down on the top of your knees.
The same principles apply on a meditation cushion.
However,
Your legs should be crossed in a comfortable way,
Ideally with your hips supported slightly higher on a cushion than your knees.
This allows for maximum blood and energy flow.
There are many cross-legged positions to explore,
But for now,
Just find what is most comfortable and works for you and your individual body and level of flexibility.
Whether sitting in a chair or on a cushion,
You can begin to rock your pelvis gently front to back and side to side to determine your comfortable center.
When you have found it,
Make a mental note of the sensations that you feel in that position,
So that throughout your meditation,
You can subconsciously recognize and return to it if you feel you have erred from that position.
When you've determined your ideal sitting position,
Begin to pay some attention to the position of your head.
It should remain upright,
In line with your spine,
And you may gently close your eyes.
The position of your eyes,
Whilst closed,
However,
Should remain cast at approximately 3 to 4 feet in front of you at about a 45 degree angle.
Next,
Bring your awareness to your mouth.
Your lips should remain relaxed,
Gently closed,
Never pursed or strained.
Your jaw relaxed and the tip of your tongue gently resting on the roof of your mouth,
Just behind your teeth.
Now,
We are ready to progressively relax,
Calming the body and the mind.
We will then begin to develop a single pointed concentration on our meditation object.
In this and most mindfulness meditations,
It will be the sensation of our breath.
Let's begin with bringing your awareness to whatever sensations you are feeling at the top of your head,
On your scalp.
With each inhale and exhale,
Imagine yourself releasing any tension or built up stress that your body may be holding in your scalp,
In your forehead,
Around and between your eyes,
Moving down your mouth,
Cheeks and jaw.
Feel everything release and relax.
With each exhalation,
Let it all go.
Each breath is a renewal of fresh life and energy,
Allowing all of your being to become balanced and calm.
Move down through your shoulders,
Your arms,
Hands and fingers,
Recognizing and relaxing each muscle,
Large and miniscule,
As you become aware of them.
Now move your awareness back up again,
Pausing for a moment at the complexity of your neck,
Becoming aware of the energy and delicate connections within your nervous system.
Then begin to travel down through your spine,
Inch by inch,
Once again releasing any tension along the way,
With each in and out breath.
Now down to your pelvis,
Hips and upper and lower leg.
Just let go with each exhalation.
There is no need to hold tightness or tension in any of these areas.
When you've reached your feet and the very tips of your toes,
Know that you are setting the stage of a relaxed,
Blank canvas of your body on which to paint the stillness of the present moment.
You the artist are in sole control of this fluid medium,
Keeping it still and relaxed,
Relinquishing ownership to the rhythm of your breathing,
Yet noticing all of the details and nuances that it entails.
Completely still,
Despite the waves of your breath,
Like the weak pulses of ocean waves trying to break on a day with no wind,
Only still calm.
Feel and notice the feeling of your sheer weight on the cushion or seat that you are sitting.
Feel grounded to the earth below you,
The energy of the earth penetrating directly through your being,
Connecting and linking your individual entity with the whole of everything around you.
Complete and total oneness.
Any urge to move,
Just recognize the urge.
Look at it for a moment.
Feel it.
Watch it arise.
Let it be.
And then let it dissipate.
You will begin to see and recognize that all feelings,
Thoughts,
And sensations are impermanent.
They will arise,
They will be,
And they will disappear into the abyss of the flat calm of the ocean.
Even as you are floating,
But still anchored to the present moment.
As you maintain this stillness,
Begin to become more aware of each in and out breath.
Without attempting to control your breath,
Allow each breath to just be what it is.
Pay attention to your breath.
Feel the sensations.
The coolness of the air as you inhale.
The warmth of the air as you exhale.
Make note where you feel each breath most prominently.
Is it at the tip of your nose?
In another area of your nostrils?
Or is it simply in the rise and fall of your chest that you can most easily follow the breath?
There is no right or wrong.
Just your individual attention and concentration on your breathing.
Any thoughts that arise at this stage,
Just allow them to come into existence like a single rogue wave would.
Acknowledge its presence,
But then let it swell,
Crest,
And wash away into the calmness and stillness of the surrounding waters.
The content of the thought is just washed away along with any thoughts that would accompany it.
This is the time for stillness.
You and your breath are the immovable anchor of peace and serenity.
You are the breath.
One fluid entity,
Eternal and infinite.
Follow this pattern of breath,
Waves,
And oneness for the next several minutes.
Using your anchored solidity and single pointed concentration.
For as long as you can,
Be that stillness.
And then,
When you are ready,
You may open your eyes at the sound of the bell.
And then,
When you are ready,
You may open your eyes at the sound of the bell.
And then,
When you are ready,
You may open your eyes at the sound of the bell.
And then,
When you are ready,
You may open your eyes at the sound of the bell.
And then,
When you are ready,
You may open your eyes at the sound of the bell.
And then,
When you are ready,
You may open your eyes at the sound of the bell.
And then,
When you are ready,
You may open your eyes at the sound of the bell.
And then,
When you are ready,
You may open your eyes at the sound of the bell.
And then,
When you are ready,
You may open your eyes at the sound of the bell.
And then,
When you are ready,
You may open your eyes at the sound of the bell.
And then,
When you are ready,
You may open your eyes at the sound of the bell.
