BASIC MEDITATION INSTRUCTIONS
Take a position where your spine is erect but relaxed. If you’re sitting in a chair, have your feet flat on the floor, your hands relaxed in your lap. Let your eyes close gently, or keep them open but relaxed, gazing at nothing. Bring your attention to the flow of your breath, without manipulating or controlling it. Notice the movement of the breath at the point that it’s most noticeable, e.g. the rise and fall of your chest or abdomen, or the in and out of the air at the tip of your nose. Just rest your attention on the breath, and stay with it from its very beginning through to the end. When your mind wanders away, simply relax and return your attention to the breath. Do not judge the fact that your mind has wandered, just let go of thinking and bring it back to the breath. Come back again and again to the present with gentle alertness and without judgment.
Take a position where your spine is erect but relaxed. If you’re sitting in a chair, have your feet flat on the floor, your hands relaxed in your lap. Let your eyes close gently, or keep them open but relaxed, gazing at nothing. Bring your attention to the flow of your breath, without manipulating or controlling it. Notice the movement of the breath at the point that it’s most noticeable, e.g. the rise and fall of your chest or abdomen, or the in and out of the air at the tip of your nose. Just rest your attention on the breath, and stay with it from its very beginning through to the end. When your mind wanders away, simply relax and return your attention to the breath. Do not judge the fact that your mind has wandered, just let go of thinking and bring it back to the breath. Come back again and again to the present with gentle alertness and without judgment.
Mindfulness meditation instructions*
Don’t be concerned about learning how to meditate. The practice is not something to learn. It is something to do. With the doing will come the learning.
The first and possibly the most important step in developing a meditation practice is to commit to sitting every day, or as close as you can to every day. Consistency is important. If you are new to meditation you might want to start with sittings of a modest length, even five minutes is fine; you have nothing to prove. There is no ideal length of time for sitting although many teachers suggest working your way up to thirty or more minutes.
You want to find a comfortable position in which you can be both relaxed and alert, a position you can maintain without moving for the duration of the sitting. If sitting on a meditation cushion is not comfortable, a chair is fine. There are also meditation benches on which one sit /kneels during the session. Whatever posture you choose, have your back straight. Sit in a dignified manner. If sitting in a chair, be slightly forward so that you are not leaning back against the chair. Let your hands find a comfortable position where they can remain without moving throughout the sitting. Eyes can be closed or opened. If open, take a soft focus toward the floor about six feet in front of you. An advantage to the eyes being closed is that there is one less sense door, sight, for distractions to enter.
Now bring you awareness to what is traditionally called an object of concentration, such as the sensations of the breath. You can note these sensations at the nostrils, abdomen, chest, or whatever works best for you. What we will observe is that the breath may be long, deep, short or shallow. It may feel free and easy or it may feel rough and constricted. There is no need for concern and no reason to change anything. The object of concentration will be your anchor during sitting. When concentration does wander, simply return to the sensations of the breath without criticism or judgment. Drifting of the mind from thought to thought is to be expected. You are experiencing the nature of the untamed mind. Direct your awareness back to the sensations of the breath. Each time you notice that the mind has wandered is a moment of mindfulness and is viewed as a most important moment in meditation. Your gentle yet firm determination is what matters, not how often the mind wanders.
Nothing can come up in meditation that is not already inside you. No thoughts or feelings penetrate from outside ourselves. Our anxieties, heavy and light, related to daily functioning are likely to appear at some point as we practice. What is most important is your intention to be present, free of expectations and concerns. Observe and accept whatever arises and know that everything is as it needs to be. Direct your gentle effort toward being present (returning to the breath) and noticing whatever is.
In the early stages it can be astonishing to observe how the mind wanders from thought to thought. Memories from long ago meld into visions that reach far into the future as the mind recalls what was and fantasies about what is yet to be. People often think that the mind suddenly becomes hyperactive when they sit down to meditate. In truth, while meditating we are simply seeing what the mind has been doing all along, only now we are taking time to observe, to be mindful. It can help to remember that you do not have to believe everything you think. In meditation our practice is to watch our thoughts with a light heart and keen interest. As we learn to do this, we actually are able to see thoughts and feelings as they arise and then fade away. That is what all phenomena do, they arise and then fade away. When we learn to see them simply as thoughts, feelings, and sensations, they lose their power to pull us into negative emotional states or to react with knee-jerk, potentially harmful, conditioned responses.
Once a basic level of concentration becomes fairly consistent you can begin to open the field of vision from focusing on a single object to mindfulness of the various mental events that arise in your sitting, be they thoughts, feelings, sensations, sights, sounds and so forth. This is called vipassana, or “insight”. It is often described as seeing into the nature of reality, or seeing things as they really are. This part of our meditative experience reveals most directly the relationship between practice and our “real life” activities. Vipassana practice helps us stay calmly present with what is happening at the moment.
If you experience a thought or a feeling and do not cling to it or create scenarios around it, it has a short life span and will fade away. The reason thoughts and feelings stay with us for longer periods, be it hours, days, or decades, is that on a certain level, we cling to them, create “add-ons,” write our stories, our biography; all from a single thought or feeling. As we learn about the true nature of our thoughts and feelings, it becomes easier to release those that cause stress and grief. You may notice that by relinquishing thoughts and feelings more positive ones begin to emerge and take their place. Encourage that positivity with resolve and determination..
In vipassana meditation we come to see that every thought, feeling and sensation arises then passes away. All phenomena are impermanent. When practicing meditation we can see this more clearly because we lay aside all other activities and focus our attention on the activity of the mind.
No matter how pleasant or unpleasant a thought or sensation may be, it will pass away and we can observe that passing as it happens. We can with patience and practice learn to observe the entire cycle of arising and passing away. Understanding that everything is impermanent, we don’t need to react with our usual craving for more of what we find pleasant or with desire to push away or escape from that which we find unpleasant. This is the ground for equanimity and inner peace.
*These meditation instructions have been extracted and condensed from: Lokos, Allan, Patience: The Art of Peaceful Living, 2012. Please click the link for the Community Meditation Center below if you would like more information about Patience or Allan Lokos.
The first and possibly the most important step in developing a meditation practice is to commit to sitting every day, or as close as you can to every day. Consistency is important. If you are new to meditation you might want to start with sittings of a modest length, even five minutes is fine; you have nothing to prove. There is no ideal length of time for sitting although many teachers suggest working your way up to thirty or more minutes.
You want to find a comfortable position in which you can be both relaxed and alert, a position you can maintain without moving for the duration of the sitting. If sitting on a meditation cushion is not comfortable, a chair is fine. There are also meditation benches on which one sit /kneels during the session. Whatever posture you choose, have your back straight. Sit in a dignified manner. If sitting in a chair, be slightly forward so that you are not leaning back against the chair. Let your hands find a comfortable position where they can remain without moving throughout the sitting. Eyes can be closed or opened. If open, take a soft focus toward the floor about six feet in front of you. An advantage to the eyes being closed is that there is one less sense door, sight, for distractions to enter.
Now bring you awareness to what is traditionally called an object of concentration, such as the sensations of the breath. You can note these sensations at the nostrils, abdomen, chest, or whatever works best for you. What we will observe is that the breath may be long, deep, short or shallow. It may feel free and easy or it may feel rough and constricted. There is no need for concern and no reason to change anything. The object of concentration will be your anchor during sitting. When concentration does wander, simply return to the sensations of the breath without criticism or judgment. Drifting of the mind from thought to thought is to be expected. You are experiencing the nature of the untamed mind. Direct your awareness back to the sensations of the breath. Each time you notice that the mind has wandered is a moment of mindfulness and is viewed as a most important moment in meditation. Your gentle yet firm determination is what matters, not how often the mind wanders.
Nothing can come up in meditation that is not already inside you. No thoughts or feelings penetrate from outside ourselves. Our anxieties, heavy and light, related to daily functioning are likely to appear at some point as we practice. What is most important is your intention to be present, free of expectations and concerns. Observe and accept whatever arises and know that everything is as it needs to be. Direct your gentle effort toward being present (returning to the breath) and noticing whatever is.
In the early stages it can be astonishing to observe how the mind wanders from thought to thought. Memories from long ago meld into visions that reach far into the future as the mind recalls what was and fantasies about what is yet to be. People often think that the mind suddenly becomes hyperactive when they sit down to meditate. In truth, while meditating we are simply seeing what the mind has been doing all along, only now we are taking time to observe, to be mindful. It can help to remember that you do not have to believe everything you think. In meditation our practice is to watch our thoughts with a light heart and keen interest. As we learn to do this, we actually are able to see thoughts and feelings as they arise and then fade away. That is what all phenomena do, they arise and then fade away. When we learn to see them simply as thoughts, feelings, and sensations, they lose their power to pull us into negative emotional states or to react with knee-jerk, potentially harmful, conditioned responses.
Once a basic level of concentration becomes fairly consistent you can begin to open the field of vision from focusing on a single object to mindfulness of the various mental events that arise in your sitting, be they thoughts, feelings, sensations, sights, sounds and so forth. This is called vipassana, or “insight”. It is often described as seeing into the nature of reality, or seeing things as they really are. This part of our meditative experience reveals most directly the relationship between practice and our “real life” activities. Vipassana practice helps us stay calmly present with what is happening at the moment.
If you experience a thought or a feeling and do not cling to it or create scenarios around it, it has a short life span and will fade away. The reason thoughts and feelings stay with us for longer periods, be it hours, days, or decades, is that on a certain level, we cling to them, create “add-ons,” write our stories, our biography; all from a single thought or feeling. As we learn about the true nature of our thoughts and feelings, it becomes easier to release those that cause stress and grief. You may notice that by relinquishing thoughts and feelings more positive ones begin to emerge and take their place. Encourage that positivity with resolve and determination..
In vipassana meditation we come to see that every thought, feeling and sensation arises then passes away. All phenomena are impermanent. When practicing meditation we can see this more clearly because we lay aside all other activities and focus our attention on the activity of the mind.
No matter how pleasant or unpleasant a thought or sensation may be, it will pass away and we can observe that passing as it happens. We can with patience and practice learn to observe the entire cycle of arising and passing away. Understanding that everything is impermanent, we don’t need to react with our usual craving for more of what we find pleasant or with desire to push away or escape from that which we find unpleasant. This is the ground for equanimity and inner peace.
*These meditation instructions have been extracted and condensed from: Lokos, Allan, Patience: The Art of Peaceful Living, 2012. Please click the link for the Community Meditation Center below if you would like more information about Patience or Allan Lokos.
