Mind Work
By now you may already be practicing yoga and pranayama regularly, eating better, and starting your day with an intention. Isn’t this enough? Indeed taking care of your physical body is important and helpful, but it is not enough. Our health—physical, emotional, and spiritual—is affected a great deal by our mind, and without training the mind, we may find that health and happiness are still not guaranteed. The Buddha said the mind is everything; what you think, you become.
Why Train Your Mind?
My dad ate healthy and was in pretty good physical shape, but his mind was in constant worry and stress. He was bothered by why there were greedy people in his workplace and worried about whether my mom still loved him. He worried about us—his kids—and always expected more than what was realistic. He did have a heart condition as a child that may have remained minor throughout his life, but his state of mind affected his state of physical health, and he suffered a great deal because of this until his early death, at the age of sixty-four, from a heart condition that led to a stroke. True, doctors had not diagnosed him with stress—this is my observation. I have seen this over and over with students of mine, as well as with myself. The only times I get sick are when I enter my worried state of mind.
The good news is that with a sound, clear, and healthy mind, we have the ability to support our body as we eat better and exercise. We even have the ability to transform the feeling of unhappiness that can arise while we are ill or when life is not as we would hope for it to be.
Challenges are unavoidable. Life contains good and bad, ups and downs. We will always be exposed to the spectrum of life, no matter how well we take care of ourselves. There are many unpredictable things that can happen at any given moment. To experience the full gamut of life and not fall into suffering, we must train our minds to be disciplined, to not react in auto-mode and to not add stories and unnecessary value to a situation.
We can improve our immune system with the power of our mind and with our breath. Our mind, our willpower, and our determination are powerful healing tools.
Swami Vivekenanda said, “Whatever you think, that you will be. If you think yourself weak, weak you will be; if you think of yourself strong, strong you will be.” Your mind is very powerful, and your thoughts may actually change your reality. By training the mind, we become its master; we consciously create the reality that is good for us, and thus are capable of remaining happy beyond the circumstances that life may throw our way.
Taming the Beast: The Art of Focusing
Meditation is the intention to train the mind. We train the mind so that we can see reality for what it is, so that we are able to live our lives not through the projections or stories made up by our minds but through the direct experience of life.
Meditation can be practiced sitting on a cushion in what you may imagine as a classic Buddha picture, with eyes closed or half closed, finding bliss. And it can also be practiced throughout your life in everything you do. You will learn different techniques for meditation so that in different situations you can choose the one most appropriate for you. You may gravitate towards one more than the other, and that is completely fine. We train our bodies with yoga poses and our breath with pranayama practices. Our mind needs training as well. For many of us, the mind is the master and thinks at will and sometimes even causes us to speak and act in manners that our true selves would not choose.
The training of the mind goes through stages. The first is focusing, learning to keep the mind steady, even if not still. Focusing the mind will eventually allow the mind to drop away completely and not interfere with the true perception of reality. When seeing reality for what it is, you may come to experience higher states of realization—different levels of consciousness.
The practice of focusing the mind is done either by withdrawing from our perceptual senses (seeing, hearing, smelling, etc.) or by focusing the mind with one sense on one object, such as eyes on a candle or ears tuned in to a specific sound or music. We slowly become the masters of our mind. Think of a bicycle. When we get off the bicycle, our legs do not keep moving in the same manner as when we were pedaling. Our feet stand firmly on the ground, keeping us steady. As part of the process, we will train the mind to work and be active when it is needed and to be at rest when no thinking is of use. Focusing on one point allows the mind to slow down, thus creating a feeling of calmness and space, which are beautiful side effects to the training process.
Meditation takes an intention, not an effort. With no intention, nothing will happen; however, meditation needs to be effortless.
Tips to Help You Train Your Mind to Focus
Setting Up Your Space
It is helpful if you can set up a small place that will be your regular meditation area. It can even be a corner of your living room with something symbolic to represent something good, calm, and peaceful. Some people like to place a little statue of a Buddha to remind them that they are practicing, realizing their own Buddha nature (enlightenment). Maybe for you it is a flower, a crystal, or any other small object that allows you to feel safe, in peace, and calm. It may be a collection of objects. These are not things that you worship but rather mood setters and gentle reminders of your purpose, reminders to drop away from your habitual mind, from whatever was happening in your life before you came to look at this little altar.
The only thing you really need for meditation is a cushion to sit on. You can have it in your meditation space regularly, or if there is no room, you can tuck it away and pull it out every time you sit. There are plenty of dedicated meditation cushions out there, but anything that will elevate your seat and be firm enough to help you keep a tall spine will do. If the cushion is placed on a carpet, wonderful; otherwise, consider placing a folded blanket underneath your ankles or knees, depending on your sitting style. Your sitting area should feel very welcoming. It should be a place that you want to go to, a place of refuge, a safe place where you feel comfortable dropping away your worrying mind and just being.
Review of Setting Up Your Space
Set a dedicated space for your practice. Create a small altar; it can be just a flower or a candle. Have a cushion or other object to sit on (bench, chair) and keep the area clean and welcoming.
Meditation: Zen Basics
Zazen is the fundamental practice of Zen. It is the practice of sitting in meditation. When looking at a group of meditators in a Zen monastery, you may think that everyone looks similar, sitting tall and still with eyes lowered, but it is what is happening in the mind that matters. Zazen meditation is a process. The simple instruction is just sit! For most of us this is not an easy task, and just sitting is neither fun nor easy on the mind. Zazen uses the tool of the breath to begin the process of training the mind.
Meditation Instruction (Zazen Meditation)
Sit as in the breathing exercise. Lower and soften your gaze in front of you. Keep your eyes open or half open. Drop your awareness inward and observe your breath in the belly area.
Begin with counting the breath to help you stay focused. Count each inhalation and each exhalation. As you inhale, count one, and as you exhale, count two. Count to ten, and then go back to one. If you lose your count, just go back to one. Let thoughts come and go while you keep returning to your breath. It is sometimes shocking to see how hard it is to count to two without drifting away. Don’t give up. Smile every time you lose the count and come back to one. It is only with practice that it gets easier, so just stay with it. Before you know it, it will become very soothing.
We all have different “break out” times, the moment where the mind yells “enough!” Many times, the mind has a great excuse. There is an e-mail that needs to be written just this second, or maybe you just have to drink some water and then you will come back. Normally, when we give in to the mind’s demands, we reinforce its control over us. It is when we sit through these moments of distraction that the training of the mind begins taking place.
Start with five minutes, and increase your sitting time by one minute every day until you reach twenty or thirty minutes and sustain that. If you find it easy and accessible to sit longer, wonderful. Go for it.
Review of Zazen Meditation Practice
Sit in a comfortable position with your spine tall. Lower your eyes and tune in to your breath at the belly. Count your breath—inhale one, exhale two. Count to ten, and then start over again. If you lose your count, simply go back to one.
Start with five minutes and increase the time daily until you get to twenty or thirty minutes. Use a timer, so you do not need to worry about the time.
Sky Meditation: Soft Focus, Clear Mind
Sitting in zazen meditation is a great way to begin training your mind. It will help you gain focus and steady your mind. After doing zazen for many years, I discovered that I needed to soften and try less. This is where the sky meditation came in. Sky meditation is a meditation of surrendering—of allowing.
Sky Meditation Instructions
Sit quietly and be an observer. Do not try to resolve anything. Listen to your breath, and observe the thoughts that pass by. You will be like the empty sky accepting any cloud coming by, noticing, but not holding on to any cloud. The sky does not choose the clouds; it does not hold on to them or control them. Try to be like the sky, notice your thoughts, but let them keep moving. Do not add any stories, remarks, labels, or preferences.
Observe your thoughts and your body. Who is it that is observing? Are you your thoughts? What happens when you just let the thought float away without cultivating it?
Try to set a timeframe of at least twenty minutes. It takes some time to be able to drop into the place of sky. There is no limit to how many times you can do this. Get up after twenty minutes, stretch your legs, smile, and go back to sitting. If there is no time (and somehow there never is), dedicate time once or twice later that day to sit for another twenty to thirty minutes. It really helps to do this often, as then you will notice which thoughts are constantly coming up. You will start seeing patterns, and answers will start being clear without you even needing to look for them.
Review of Sky Meditation Practice
Sit in a comfortable position with your spine tall. Close your eyes and become an observer. Let go of what you observe. Notice what comes up next. Let go of what you observe.
Visualization: Object Meditation
Object meditation is similar to Zen meditation, but with this meditation, you keep your awareness and attention on an external object, either one that you can actually see or an image within your mind.
This meditation is particularly helpful as a tool for staying in a meditative state while functioning in the “real world,” since you will learn to be able to keep your mind focused and calm on everyday objects.
Object Meditation Instructions
Sit comfortably with a tall spine, and set your gaze softly on an object in front of you, hopefully something you find pleasing. Take a deep breath.
Options may include the flame of a candle set three to four feet away from you, a flower, or even a tree. When gazing at the object, find a balance between focusing on the object and finding softness with the gaze so that you are not seeing any one specific detail.
It is important that as you gaze at the object, you are not tempted to use words to label what you are seeing (do not use adjectives such as green, tall, small, beautiful, dying, etc.). As you gaze at the tree, you are simply seeing the tree for what it is with no interpretation or labeling from the mind; do not go inward and drift into thoughts or stories about the tree, and try not to allow what you see to remind you of other trees in other situations, thus bringing in stories from your past or creating fantasies about the future (the tree house from childhood or the swing you want to hang on it, for example).
This meditation is not easy at first as the mind is very well trained to see something and immediately associate it with a word. Sometimes I call this meditation “the art of non-labeling.” If labeling or stories come in, remember not to be hard on yourself but to simply take action and just return to the simple activity of only seeing.
The beauty of this meditation is that it can be practiced anywhere, anytime. You may be waiting for a friend outside a café and while you are waiting, you practice looking at a tree, a flower, or even a knob on a door. Maybe you have a favorite tree that is right outside your window or balcony, and gazing at it regularly helps you discover the tree from a completely new perspective.
I used to take breaks from creating my art to sit on my small balcony and stare at a huge tree that was pretty much blocking my whole view. I would sit and simply lose myself in the tree. I would look with some distracting thoughts at first, and then the more I surrendered into just seeing the tree, the more the tree revealed itself and became much more beautiful than I have ever seen it before.
Review of Object Meditation Practice
Sit in a comfortable position with your spine tall. Find something pleasing to stare at and simply look blankly at the object and let yourself surrender into it. As thoughts come in, allow them to float away and return to simply seeing your object.
Imaginary Object Meditation Instructions
Bring into your mind an object or being that you find very pleasing or that you feel unconditional love towards. It may be your favorite animal, flower, or person. See it clearly within your mind’s eye. Begin noticing every part of the object. If it is an animal, for example, begin with the head. Observe the eyes, the nose and ears, the fur, and the entire face; take your time to really get to know what you are envisioning. Keep going through the entire body if this is your vision, or simply remain with the head. You want to eventually see it as clearly as if it were there in front of you, allowing it to fill up the whole concentration of the mind and all of its space.
Thoughts may appear, either about your object or something else. Simply return to your object over and over again. Over time, the image will become more and more familiar and associated with a good feeling of calmness and relaxation.
We learn that just by bringing the object to mind, the signals of centeredness, focus, love, ease, and so on will be “attached” to the image, and thus it will be easier to enter this state of mind. The mind will obey and release faster. When a distraction happens in life or the mind gets agitated, close the eyes for a moment and return to the object with a sense of allowing—letting the object be—without interruptions.
Review of Imaginary Object Meditation Practice
Sit in a comfortable position with your spine tall. Bring into mind the image of a pleasing object or being to focus on. Study your object without labeling it and get to know it. See the object in your mind’s eye and keep “looking” at it. As thoughts come in, allow them to float away and return to simply seeing your object.
Mantra Meditation
Mantra meditation, or japa, is the practice of repeating a word, a name, or a sound over and over again. Normally, this word or sound is either given to a student by the teacher or has a special symbolic meaning to the student. Sounds and words that might work for you are a word or a name that represents something you look up to, or see as representative of goodness, wholeness, love, or enlightenment.
Since my mind already has the tendency to lean towards words, I prefer to use more abstract sounds, as they allow me to drop away more quickly. The sound “Ohm” is one such example. It creates a vibration in the body, thus helping me physically as well as mentally as I drop away and relax. It may even be a short phrase such as “Sat Nam,” which represents the true nature of who we are, or “Ohm-Mani-Padme-Hum,” which is a classic Tibetan prayer mantra said to contain all of dharma (teachings) within it.
Find something that you can enjoy repeating that will become second nature for you so that if at any time you find yourself distracted, you can just bring in the mantra and repeat it to yourself, whether you are sitting in meditation position or driving to work. When you repeat it over and over it becomes a refuge—a place to go back to find your peace. You may stay focused on the sound or the meaning, but eventually allow yourself to let go of the observing mind and simply let the mantra take over. You will feel as if you and the mantra have united. The mantra is yours, so keep it special and meaningful for you.
Review of Mantra Meditation
Choose a word or sound that resonates with you, or one of the chants below. Practice repeating it over and over. Allow yourself to be lost in the sound.
Chants
Chanting is a way of meditation and setting intentions. For some, the meaning of the chant is very important; for others, like me, the act of repeating sounds is what makes chanting powerful. The repetition of words that are considered powerful helps, and by focusing on the sound as it happens, we can be more present and maybe even drop from the mind into the heart space.
I chose three mantras that originate from the Upanishads, which are Hindu sacred texts, whose meanings I like and that are chanted by millions around the world. No need to fear religion; they do not require you to believe in anything and do not interfere with any belief you may hold.
Aum/Ohm
Aum (or Ohm) is the primal sound, or word. We chant this mantra from the Mandukya Upanishad to connect to the universal vibration, the energy that connects us all together.
Peace Mantra
OM SAHANA VAVATU SAHANAU BHUNATTU
SAHA VIRYAM KARAWAVAHAI
TEJASVI NAVADI TAMASTU
MA VID VISHAVAHAI
OM SHANTI SHANTI SHANTI
Together may we be protected
Together may we be nourished
Together may we work with great energy
May our journey together be brilliant and effective
May there be no bad feelings between us
Peace, peace, peace
Prayer for Enlightenment
OM
ASATOMĀ SAD-GAMAYA
TAMASOMĀ JYOTHIR-GAMAYA
MRITHYORMĀ AMRITAM-GAMAYA
OM, SHĀNTI, SHĀNTI, SHĀNTIH
From ignorance lead me to truth
From darkness lead me to light
From death lead me to immortality
Let peace prevail everywhere
Walking Meditation
Walking meditation serves as a release for the body between two sessions of sitting, as well as a gateway for bringing meditation to your everyday life. Though walking meditation is done in a controlled environment and the walking does not serve to bring you to at any destination, it is the practice of your meditation in movement that creates the challenge and begins to bridge your seated meditation to your daily life activities.
Begin your walking meditation very slowly. Stand tall; bring your left hand into a fist right below your belly button and wrap your right hand around it. Keep your shoulders relaxed, your neck long and your head tilted slightly down so that you are seeing the space just in front of you with a soft gaze. Maintain connection with your breath and drop your awareness all the way to your feet.
Begin taking your first step. Go as slowly as you need to in order to really be able to notice all of your movements. Be aware of every little detail—from the lifting of the right heel to the releasing of the ball of the foot and the toes from the earth, from the movement of the foot just a bit forward in front of you to the landing of the heel and the touching of the balls of the feet and toes to the ground. Notice the slight weight shift as the left heel starts to lift up and the balls of the feet release from the earth—and another step is taken.
Allow the movement to happen with your awareness but practice the art of non-labeling described earlier. Simply walk. No need to describe what you are doing; no need to tell yourself that the floor is cold or warm. Just be with it—let the sensations be. It is difficult to walk and meditate. It’s like learning a new skill. The walking meditation may be short—six to ten minutes—between sitting sessions, or as a meditation on its own for as long as you feel comfortable.
Over time, experiment with increasing the pace of your walking. You may notice that it is easier as you increase the pace, but at a normal or faster than normal rate, it is hard to remain present. This is great practice for training the mind to stay present even as things speed up, and in modern day life, it appears as though life is constantly moving faster.
Review of Walking Meditation
Stand tall with shoulders relaxed and eyes lowered. Place your left hand in a fist below your navel and wrap your right hand over it. Walk slowly with awareness of every movement. Increase the speed of your walk when you can maintain a steady mind during the slow walk.
Meditation in Everyday Life
Bliss is possible both on and off the cushion. Meditation is a fantastic tool, a wonderful school for unlearning, for training the mind to not be attached to the conditioning it has engrained within it. It is important that you begin your training in favorable conditions, in a quiet and supportive place.
You also have the ability within the practice of meditation to drop into places that would not be functional off the mat—levels of consciousness that are beyond the functioning of space and time where you can experience absolute bliss beyond your body and mind. Since a great part of your daily life does require your body to function and your mind to make decisions or execute tasks, you will need to learn how to take these tools of meditation and cultivate them while sitting so they can become useful in your daily life. This is where the practices of object meditation and walking meditation help build a bridge between meditation on the cushion and functioning in the real world. Begin to practice everything you do in life as a meditation.
You can begin with some simple tasks such as brushing your teeth. At first, you will need to move almost in slow motion so that you can really practice awareness of the fingers opening the cap of the toothpaste, pressing the thumb to squeeze the tube, seeing the toothpaste on your toothbrush without labeling it, and placing the toothbrush in your mouth. Be mindful of every movement, knowing exactly which part of your mouth has been cleaned already; be aware of the pressure, the taste and the texture of everything that is happening at the moment without using words to describe it.
Of course, just now, I have used words to explain the process, and thus words have an important role. Just remember to use them only when it is important for communication, while at other times be fully with the experience that is happening at the present moment.
Another such practice would be eating in meditation. You may notice new flavors, new sensations, and a lingering enjoyment of the process. When eating with awareness, you are no longer in auto-mode. There is an explosion of flavor with every bite. When you chew rice longer, you will discover its sweetness as it releases its natural sugars in the mouth.
Start with small practices of mindfulness in your life, especially routine ones like brushing the teeth or eating a meal—or even just a piece of fruit. Over time, allow these practices to expand into all parts of your life—opening your bag to reach for your keys, placing a glass of water back on the table, switching the light on, driving, and every other action you take in life.
Meditation is needed on and off the mat so that eventually your whole life is one big continuous meditation, an experience of the present moment in which you are mindful of all you do, leading to an existence of bliss at all times.
Review of Meditation in Everyday Life
Practice being aware of small tasks in your daily life, then try to do them without labeling the actions you observe. Start with simple awareness practices, such as mindfulness as you brush your teeth. When you eat, chew slowly and notice every flavor, smell, and texture. Use these practices with all of your activities in life.
Experiencing Life Here and Now
When we are fully present with the moment in front of us, the little mundane things appear magical and supreme. Have you ever watched raindrops make patterns of circles in a temporary asphalt pond? These moments are precious, and last just as long as you are fully there. The moment you wish you could share this with someone, is the moment it is gone.
You can practice being in the moment with specific actions. In Japan, drinking tea is an entire ceremony, one that is a practice of awareness in action. Try to make your own ceremony. Watch the stream of water as it flows into the kettle. Later, watch your hand as it lifts the kettle to pour the water into the teacup. Look at the tea first. Just observe; no need to describe what you see. Then smell it. Take a moment—no rush. Watch your hand as it lifts the cup to your lips. Take a sip. Let the liquid rest in your mouth for a moment. Experience the flavors. Take another sip and allow the warmth to spread through your body. No one else needs to understand this tea experience, and no one really can. The experience is gone, and what is left are words describing something that was not words.
Slowing down is a key aspect of being here and now, really seeing and experiencing the process. As you learn to see the little details, you also learn to see in slow motion the fast actions, such as riding a fast motorcycle.
Here is another example. I travel mostly on my own. Many times people would ask me, “Who do you tell to look at this wonder, or that amazing sunset? Don’t you have a need to share what you are seeing? Is it even really amazing if you did not tell someone about it?” Some people travel to places that others have been to before so they can share the same experience. The trip to Paris, or the Venice canals. Others live their experiences through photographs. Some people are satisfied to just be able to tell their travel partner to look at something and then recall it later at dinner. Maybe they will add their own interpretation of the situation, or their own perspective of what they saw.
I have learned that the moment you speak of the wonder, the wonder is gone. It is no longer the experience but a story of the experience (which may be a wonderful experience on its own). It is never an easy task to portray an experience in words. Some gifted writers are capable of bringing experiences to life, but even then it is not the writers’ experience, but rather your interpretation of what you are reading. Give five people the same story to read, and then ask them to draw or express what they have just read, and you will most likely have five new stories.
Let’s get back to the trip. You are traveling with a friend and you really want him or her to see the sunset, or the castle, or the old woman on the street corner. What you may do, is call attention to what you want them to see, experience or enjoy, but don’t describe the details. If the friend can divert the attention to it, and experience it without thoughts, they can find the same bliss and awe you experienced. The more detail you give, the more you put the friend at risk of focusing on your description and not the thing itself. The focus should be only on helping get the attention, and then allow them to enjoy what you saw. Trust that they are capable of seeing what you saw, and if not, it’s okay.
The camera may be your good friend, as it is as close as possible to bringing the experience of what you saw to others. But in reality, it does not really show what you saw and experienced, but rather a fragment of it. It does not include your emotion, smells, weather, etc. Consider taking photos of what really moved you, even if is a detail of something, capturing a Zen moment rather than a common postcard.
When the experience is lived fully as a complete moment, it will be followed by many other amazing moments. Eventually, life becomes so full of these moments that there is nothing to lose, nothing to hold on to, just bathe in the presence of constant beauty.
There sure was a moment on my spiritual path, where life seemed lonelier than before. Most of the sweetest moments of seeing reality, as it truly is, the experience of bliss, are moments that cannot be spoken of. It is the knowing that others can experience this too, a deep connection with the universal energy, that allows the sweet understanding that the experience IS shared with others, just not through words.
There’s Nothing Wrong with Thoughts
In many meditation classes you will hear: quiet the mind, stop thinking, calm yourself. But really, nothing is wrong with your thoughts; it’s your attitude towards them that creates problems. Thoughts can come and go; are they yours? Are they you? When sitting, being aware, we notice thoughts come in. If all we do is notice and do nothing about them, they will go away. They have no reason to stay unless you hold on to them and encourage them. Thoughts are like clouds in the sky, they come and go, but does the sky care? Does the sky get irritated about them?
Be like the sky. Allow the clouds to be, and they will soon drift away. Try and fight them and they will persist. The peace of mind is within you and beyond you. There is no attaining peace of mind; there is allowing it to be there. You already have peace; it is just tainted by your thoughts, by your attitude towards them. When you let the thoughts fool you to believe that they themselves are who you are, when they create an identity that you hold on to—when you become your thinking—you lose yourself.
And the self you lose, is not the self you THINK you are. You lose your true self, the self that is beyond a momentary thought. The sky is not the sky that appears when clouds are there. That is just a sky with clouds. But the real sky is just sky. Like you, when you find the surrender, when you become a complete observer, when the thoughts pass through you without leaving a trace, then you realize yourself, you become the clear sky.
The Pain of Pain!
Imagine this: After your visit to the dentist, the bottom left side of your mouth was filled with sensation, unpleasant sensation. A sensation that caused discomfort, so much so, that you just had to tell everyone about it. Then you tried to do some work, but instead, you were constantly telling your colleague how impossible it is to work like this, how this dentist did a horrible job, how upset you are because you think that he did the injection wrong. This may not be a real scenario, but not an unlikely one. The frustration, the complaining and suffering can go on and on for a while, creating more irritation, and constantly making the situation worse. It is adding suffering to the pain that already exists.
Instead of being so upset with the pain and situation, you may recognize the sensation, and then let it be and move on to whatever else you need to do. Maybe your awareness is not as quick and you already labeled this sensation as “discomfort.” You can still stop here and just go on with your life. Focus on what you are doing, while the sensation takes backstage. Maybe you go on with your mind one more step, and decide that you dislike the sensation, the discomfort. Again you can stop here, and most likely it will fade away. If you continue in your mind chatter further, and reinforce this dislike, by talking about it, telling others about it, analyzing it, even getting upset at the dentist or the whole medical system—throwing out claims that the system is corrupt and that’s why they gave you this cheap anesthesia—you are adding pain to the basic sensation that was there. You are adding pain to the pain. This mind pain, the pain of pain, is what creates suffering. It is what strengthens the neuron knots in the mind and creates a conditioned reaction that will follow in the future, planting a seed of karma. You have the choice to stop your suffering today. Maybe there will still be pain in your life, but the suffering does not need to remain.
By training your subconscious to be aware of your mind’s response, of your automatic actions and conditioned behavior, you can stop the response at an early stage, eliminating the chain of reactions that happen as patterns of conditioning. Once you are released from this cycle of automatic reactions, you are moving into a state of freedom, a place of less suffering, and more awareness. When suffering is gone, bliss is what remains. Practicing awareness in daily life as well as meditation will help you take charge of your life.
Sangha, Your Support Group
Sitting to meditate is a great task; there is always something better to do (or so you’ll likely tell yourself). Meditation can be very challenging. If you are new to it, you may feel boredom, agitation, or just the struggle to quiet the mind, which will often call up thoughts we believed were long gone. Sitting alone is wonderful, and in addition, sitting in a group environment can be a good way to enhance the practice. In many of the Buddhist traditions, meditation is done in groups.
Most meditation centers have a variety of offerings, from individual sittings of various lengths, including half-day and even ten-day sits. Some combine the sitting with walking meditation, and some with a talk about the practice.
If you look for a Zen center near you, you will probably find that they have hours when they are open to the public for an intro session. There are also insight meditation centers and Tibetan centers, which may offer slight variations on their techniques of meditation. You can always try and decide for yourself if it is something that resonates with you.
The benefit of a longer practice period is huge. When sitting for a few sessions in a row, the mind begins to tire from repeating the same thoughts, and sometimes it’s just easier to drop away. Sometimes the body gets very uncomfortable, and since there is no escaping the sitting, the only way out of suffering is to change the state of mind, dropping the mind’s reaction to the pain and going beyond its thoughts of how bad the situation is. Many times the great revelations happen during these longer sitting periods.
Explore and find out what resonates with you and what is convenient for you. The specific group of people—the sangha—may be a big part of your decision. If nothing is available in your area, you can create your own sangha by finding a friend or partner who will sit with you at regular times. It may even develop into a small sitting group. Whether you practice alone or in a group, having the support of others can be very helpful.
Review of Sangha: Your Support Group
Find other people that can support your practice. Join yoga classes for yoga asana and meditation groups to enhance your practice. Join a sangha even if you practice with them just once a week. Remember to still keep your personal practice alive alongside your sangha practice.
Mind Maintenance
Have you sat down in meditation over and over to clear your mind, to train it to stay focused and feel that it is not getting much easier? Maybe you notice some change but it is very subtle. Why isn’t it easier? I have tried a variety of meditations, visualizations, focusing techniques, Tibetan, Osho, and Zen, and the list goes on. They are all wonderful and do work, but I have constantly needed to go back to them for maintenance, and it wasn’t getting any easier.
I kept feeding my mind with tons of input; I read every sign I saw, even when not looking for directions, read all the little advertisements at the side of my Facebook page, listened to NPR so much that I knew every inch of progress of the oil spill, and on and on. How could I ever keep up with cleaning my mind when it was just used to reacting to anything that popped up in front of me?
Think of spring cleaning your closet. When you keep your closet clean and don’t collect more than you need, when you give away generously the clothes that no longer serve you, you are constantly aware of what you have in the closet, use what you need, and have a great feeling looking at its contents, as it is organized and well maintained.
The same goes for the mind: if you keep your mind clean, then sitting becomes much more efficient. If you collect info that you do not need, you will keep cluttering the mind, and never get to the place of real peace. Maintain a clear mind throughout your life, clutter less now, so that you will have less cleaning to do later.
Review of Healthy Mind Maintenance