Meditation

A great life starts with good practice.

No wonder I have been feeling uneasy lately. Life has been so overwhelmed that by the end of the day, I am totally exhausted and went straight to sleep. In the morning when I wake from slumber, it is time to hustle again. At first, I feel energetic but after a few days, I feel torn inside like never before. Now sitting down as I am writing this, I realized that I have not meditated for a few days in a row.

Majority of the people may think it is the norm to live life full of activities. Sitting still is a waste of time. Some people just like to be surrounded by people.

Perhaps I am not the norm. I used to find meditation a hassle, like any regular person that I know. I used to think that meditation is some kind of psychic development in the brain that will make us go crazy. After practicing meditation only I realize that it is quite the opposite.

Meditation is just a simple practice to quiet the mind. Nothing fancy about that.

Some practitioners make it so intricate that something so simple becomes overwhelming. There is no right or wrong way to practice meditation. We can choose to have aroma diffuser in the room, dim lights or total darkness, and even soft music to accompany our practice. We can even do it in a self-help class, or together with a partner in the bedroom. Some will go to the extreme to meditate under a tree, next to a lake, or even in the beach. Wherever, however… it really does not matter.

We can start our meditation practice in many positions. The most common would be to cross-legged like the Buddha statues we see. However, this is not a must. This is just a common practice as meditation often refers to the total calmness of Buddha. Let us just put it this way, meditation is by choice. There is no limitation. We can choose to stand on our two feet, sit on the ground, sit on the chair, or even lay in bed. Any position that is comfortable to us can be the position we choose to meditate, just as long as we do not fall asleep in the process.  

I personally prefer to choose any sitting positions comfortable to me at that very moment. If I am at home, I would sit cross-legged like Buddha. If I am in the car or office, sitting up straight with feet on the ground become my preferred position. Aroma therapy or music is totally unnecessary.

Whatever position we choose, most importantly we have to ensure that our back is straight. Beginners, especially those who are used to slouching, will find this very difficult. But it is okay. We can start at the very beginning, one minute. Just practice straightening the back for one minute a day for a week and we will soon find that sitting up straight actually provides additional energy like never before.

The next week we can try to do two minutes. Keep the back straight throughout the two minutes and add in breathing through the abdomen. Those who love to breathe in hard directly forcing the lungs to open up may find this a tough exercise. They may find that breathing through the abdomen make them slouch and uneasy. Just hang on there for a week and the body will feel the difference.

In the third week, add another minute. Keep the back straight and breathe through the abdomen for the whole three minutes. Just concentrate on the breath. We may find on occasions that the mind is busy, always moving fast with events that happened yesterday and all the “what if” questions popping up here and there. We cannot stop the monkey mind, but we can choose to let go of the thoughts.

By the fourth week, we will find that sitting up straight is easy. We can even breathe right. We are able to concentrate on slow thoughts and even brush off some of the thoughts in the brain. Now, we can add in more minutes along the way. The longer we stay in the meditation state of mind, the clearer our vision become. As time goes by, meditation will become a norm in the lifestyle.

Meditation keeps my mind sane.

 

Meditation is like a gym in which you develop the powerful mental muscles of calm and insight.    

Phra Visuddhisamvarathera or Peter Betts (Ajahn Brahm), British-Australian Theravada Buddhist monk, 1951-present