Meditation How To: Now Control Your Mind (Part 2)
The Meditation How To series aims to set you on a path to meditation. There are many paths and many schools of thought and theory. This is but one that I have found useful for me personally and that I have seen many other people successfully adopt.
My first post in the Meditation How To series - introduced you to the power of the breath in meditation and in life. I gave some direction for you to follow to get to know how you breathe. I know that sounds strange but a lot of people give ZERO thought to their breath until something goes wrong with it.
Developing an understanding of breath in your day to day life is a good grounding skill on the path to meditation.
Second in the series: Meditation How To - First Control Your Body gave some simple and effective techniques and insights to assist you to work with your body in a constructive way that would lead to a meditation practice you would enjoy and be successful with.
Third in the series: Meditation How To - Now Control Your Mind! began with the premise that, just like the body, the mind is not used to you asserting conscious control over it’s activities and would, given the opportunity, attempt to dissuade you from your chosen activity - meditation.
This fourth post in the series continues on the theme, Now Control Your Mind. You may have discovered that you were unable to stop your mind from thinking thoughts as you sat in your meditation space, in quiet contemplation. Hooray! That makes you human and you are one step closer to a successful meditation practice.
I have already shared with you the first most useful tip I ever received about meditation and now I want to share the second most useful tip. For most people, the ’silence’ they experience in meditation lasts for a matter of seconds only. Many people who meditate will not stop their thoughts and they are still able to derive the myriad benefits awaiting them through their meditation practice.
When I first heard this from my meditation mentor I was so relieved! I had come to believe I was failing at meditation because I couldn’t stop my thoughts. The trick, I was told, was to catch myself being drawn down a pathway of thought and to bring myself back to my focus on meditation.
How on earth was I going to do that? With my breath!
Hopefully you’ve watched your breath these past couple of weeks. You may have begun to notice when you are stressed and your breath becomes shallow and quick, or when you are a little afraid or doing something particularly difficult and perhaps, like me you hold your breath. Now is the time to take this personal knowledge and apply it to meditation.
Once again, sitting upright and comfortably in your favourite meditation space, relaxed and calm, quiet your body. Once the body feels content to remain still you can place your focus on your breath. Take a couple of deep breaths and as you release them, allow your body to relax even more. Put all your focus on your breath, feel it enter your body through your nose and then gently release it, either through your nose or your mouth, whichever you prefer.
Spend a little time with this process, you will notice that as you become accustomed to it that your breath will relax along with your body. Do not force it, allow it to flow naturally, becoming calmer and quieter just like your body.
Your mind will begin to attempt to attract your attention. Do not fight it. That’s right - to fight it is to give it your attention. As you notice that you are thinking thoughts just bring your focus back to your breath. Gentle breath in, gentle breath out and amazingly, the thoughts recede back from whence they came.
Of course, there are many tools you can use as a focus for your meditation. Candles, incense, music, affirmations, prayers, mantra and even a guided meditation such as the one available for purchase on this site. Master this breath meditation practice and a whole world of possibility will open for you. Perhaps you will become one of those who can transcend thought and reach that place of absolute silence within. Perhaps you will be one of the many who manage to quiet their mind and for a few sweet seconds catch a glimpse of the divine within.
The combination of body, breath and mind can bring you into that wonderful place of meditation. Practice each day until it becomes something you look forward to. Another teacher of mine gave me this wonderfully uplifting advice: Just by turning up, you win. Even if you are unable to settle your body or your mind and you feel frustrated today, that you were unable to reach that meditative state to which you aspire. Do not despair, you turned up today for your meditation practice and that makes you a winner every time.
