Meditation is a form of practise or training for your mind. For thousands of years, people have used it to improve their mental wellbeing, as part of their yoga or martial arts training, or as part of a spiritual journey. It is experiential: you achieve results by your own efforts and observe for yourself whether and how the practise benefits you.
There are many forms of meditation from many different traditions, but two golden rules are common to them all: (1) start, and (2) continue.
To begin, find a quiet place, where you will be free from interruptions. Try to avoid setting objectives for your meditation or attempting to achieve anything. Just sit and be. Try meditating at the same time and place each day, if possible. You can experiment to see which time of the day suits your temperament and schedule.
As a beginner, it is generally best to meditate for short periods regularly. Start by trying five or ten minutes daily to establish the habit of meditation. There are many free meditation timer apps available and these are useful as your meditation can become restless if you are interrupted by thoughts about how long is left or if you feel time is dragging, which is very common, even for experienced meditators.
Posture is important: adopt a stable position that allows you to maintain concentration and stillness for the duration of your meditation. The lotus or half lotus positions are generally considered excellent postures, but many of us find those difficult to begin with and so sitting cross-legged on a cushion, kneeling or using a chair might suit you better. If you are using a cushion, try a meditation cushion or “zafu”, which is usually stuffed with buckwheat husks or similar material: they give good support and hold their shape well during longer periods of sitting.
Keep your back upright, but not in a rigid way; allow the spine to curve naturally. Hold your head up as if it were connected to the ceiling by a piece of string. Close your eyes or, if you keep them half open, focus a few feet ahead of you, without looking at anything in particular.
There are many types of meditation. My own practise is from the Zen Buddhist tradition of silent illumination and is based around awareness of the breath. Focus on your in-breath and out-breath as a way of focussing on the present moment and bringing your attention away from the thinking mind towards the body, in particular the rise and fall of the abdomen. As you do this your mind will inevitably wander; each time that happens, you gently bring your attention back to the breath. If thoughts, feelings or sensations arise during your meditation, you simply note that they are present — without becoming caught up in them — and then return to the breath.
You might be surprised at how your mind continues to generate thoughts unbidden and at how restlessness will try to pull you away from concentrating. While we all find this frustrating, try and remember that you are learning the valuable skill of returning your attention to the present moment time and time again. You can use everyday events as a form of mindfulness bell to prompt you to take a moment to notice your breath and centre yourself throughout your day: waiting at a red light, washing your hands or answering the phone.
Other forms of meditation use mantras, body scans, visualisations or are guided, so you should feel free to experiment a bit and see what works for you.
While meditation is simple and available to everybody, it can also be deep and subtle. It is a practise that helps you to get to know yourself: your habits, your intentions, your reactions. In order to keep you on track and provide support, it is advisable to practise as part of a regular group with the guidance of an experienced teacher.
START HERE:
Absolute beginners
Jack Kornfield is an experienced meditation teacher and his book Meditation for Beginners is a great place to start, not least because it includes a CD of six short guided meditations to get you started – copies available from Dublin City Council Libraries: bit.ly/Kornfield
Medi-date
If you want to join a group to meditate with, there is a wide range of options on meditation.meetup.com/cities/ie/Dublin
Ask a monk
Zen advice
Zafu can do
Pick up a meditation cushion dervishdublinholistics.com or oscailt.com/shop
Words: Ronan Hession / Illustration: Fuchsia MacAree
