A SHORT REPORT ON MEDITATION & WHAT IT MAY MEAN TO YOU

Then Comes Meditation

When you’re able to enter the right state of mind and brain activity, to invoke the correct level of pure concentration at will, you can access a world of different perspectives.

I’m not into a lot of Zen-speak. I could go on all day with proses and quotes etc, and to my mind, none of that helps anyone, they’re just words. I would rather you try it out for yourselves, and feel what you feel; to interpret what you experience for yourselves. As individuals, we will all have our own, unique experiences and perspectives – and that’s as it should be.

Let me put something to you to consider; a short exercise if you will.

Sit quietly and think of nothing. Go ahead and try that – time yourself, just for 5 minutes.

………….Did you do it?

What was the first thing you did? Did you actually try to think about ‘nothing’? Not possible, is it? A highly trained mind could get into a state where all other thoughts are cast aside, but they still need to focus their minds on something to achieve this.

Let’s try that exercise again. Time yourself, for 5 minutes, but this time, focus your mind on this: a solitary yellow flower in the midst of a lake of green grass, on a bright and sunny day. Concentrate on the flower flickering in a gentle breeze – nothing else.

…………How was that?

A VERY different exercise to the first, is it not? …and much more effective!

Okay, you may not have been as successful at that little exercise as you would have liked. Perhaps your mind was distracted by some small sound somewhere; a passing car outside; or errant thoughts that leaked in from various directions. That’s fine, and it’s to be expected in the early stages, but when these distractions happen, you bring yourself right back to that yellow flower and re-focus. The more you practice, the better your concentration will be and the less you will find yourself having to re-focus.

The Posture

Here, is probably the very first image that comes to most people’s minds when they think of meditation. The perfect and well-recognisable posture. Guess what? That isn’t actually necessary to meditate. You could be sitting up in bed, a pillow behind your back, and neck support in place with your arms at your side. You can meditate in this position just as well. What’s important is that you are relaxed, comfortable, and ready to focus and control your mind. You may find that taking up the usual traditional pose helps you to gain that focus and control, if that’s the case, then by all means, adopt it. But, if you feel more relaxed and comfortable in some other position, then that works fine too – remember, this is about you. Most groups will require you to adopt this posture and that’s cool, nothing wrong with that, I’m just making a point.

In fact, a friend of mine, who introduced me to meditation, does his meditation standing on his head at home. Thirty minutes each day. How in the world he can do that, I don’t know, but he swears by it – it works for him and I wouldn’t dream of arguing with it, but I know it’s not for me! (Sorry Colin!)

So, if you can train your mind to concentrate this way and to maintain it for as long as you need, without distraction, drowning out your surroundings, focusing on one thing and no other, you will find yourself progressing beyond the initial levels of meditation and into what’s called contemplation.

Here then, is your first rung of the ladder, will you climb it?

Go ahead and practice that for a few days; this very simple exercise. It is very powerful if you give it a chance. Set aside your stresses, your frets, and worries. Find yourself a little space of your own and take 10-15 minutes to do the exercise I just gave you. It doesn’t have to be a yellow flower in a sea of green.

It could be anything you like. Even a word; the choice is yours; the important thing is that you settle on a target, whatever it is and stick with it as you train yourself to meditate. Do it for a week, make notes after each session if you want to, and see what you notice about your thoughts, your feelings, and how much easier you are able to concentrate as your sessions progress. I think there is much you’ll learn about yourself in the process.

Now bear in mind, this is not something that happens overnight. As with most things, it takes practice and self-discipline, but trust me, it’s well worth your efforts if you persevere.