Meditation Explained.
“An untrained mind - even a perfectly normal one - can be an extraordinarily unhappy place.” - Sam Harris
What is Meditation?
Meditation - the practice of focused or objectless attention - is the best tool we have available to us to train the mind.
Why Practice Meditation?
There is no doubt that meditation causes beneficial structural and functional changes in the brain, but the growing body of scientific literature will never be able to capture the deepest reasons we should meditate:
The insights earned through meditation afford us choices that wouldn’t otherwise exist to us, these are paths taken and not taken in the course of one’s life.
It allows us to break the link between a feeling and a behaviour - that is, it allows us to simply let go of emotion before we say or do something we’ll later regret. That is nothing short of a superpower.
It gives us the skills to consciously prioritise and direct our attention - and we largely become what we pay attention to. Another superpower, especially when you consider just how fragmented our attention has become.
This is the essence of training the mind. And you already know what it’s like to have an untrained mind - we all do.
How to Meditate?
Meditation is a skill, something you get better at with guidance and practice - like learning to play a new sport or instrument. But it is worth noting, there is a world of difference between practising meditation even occasionally and not practising at all, so it is always worthwhile to do what you can when you can.
There are three types of meditation: focused attention, Meta (or loving-kindness) and objectless awareness. Most people with an established practice will engage in all three of these interchangeably depending on what they feel or need on a given day, week or month.
If you are brand new to meditating it would be very beneficial to first get familiar with the guided voluntary relaxation practices below.
Once you’ve mastered them it’s time to progress to the dual practice of focused attention. It’s called a dual practice because there are two entities - the meditator and the object of attention.
Once your concentration is notably improved it’s time to move on to the beautiful and expansive practice of Metta or loving-kindness meditation.
Finally, the most advance practice is that of non-dual objectless awareness. It is called non-dual because there is only awareness - the meditator and the object of attention are one and the same, they are appearances in the open space of conscious awareness.
Step 1 - Voluntary Relaxation:
Progressive Muscle Relaxation Meditation.
Progressive muscle relaxation meditation is a behavioural therapy method developed by Jacobson (1938). In a therapeutic setting, it is taught to help people to cope with the stresses produced by daily living. Its main function is to achieve voluntary mental and physical relaxation. This method is easily learned but requires regular practice for optimum results. It is a somatic tool which helps with 'interoception' (the scientific name for basic self-sensing ability).
Autogenic Relaxation Meditation.
Autogenic relaxation meditation is a guided somatic practice which systematically focuses attention down through every muscle group in the body. This method strengthens the mind-body connection with the use of sensory imagination - the feeling of heat or heaviness. This is again an interoceptive rather than an introspective approach to meditation.
Step 2 - Focused Attention:
Visualisation Meditation.
Some people think predominantly in language, others in imagery. Visualisation meditation can be a good entryway practice for individuals with imagery dominant cognition or those with very busy minds. This method begins the training of active attention and focus.
Mantra/Transcendental Meditation.
Mantra meditation is a very powerful technique that not only cultivates clear awareness but also dissolves away layers of mental obstruction, increasing our capacity to benefit ourselves and others. The focus of your attention is on the mental recitation of a certain set of syllables that calm and clear the mind. In this meditation we'll use a very simple set of three syllables that make up the most basic of all mantras: OM AH HUNG.
Object Meditation.
Object meditation rests the mind by directing one-pointed attention on a specific object. This method involves directly using the senses as a means of calming and relaxing the mind. Buddhists texts refer to this process as “self-antidote”, which is using the source of distraction itself as a means to attaining freedom from distraction. If you want to cut glass, you use glass. If you want to cut iron, you use a tool made of iron. In this same way, we are using the senses to cut through the distraction of the senses. Through this training we become far less emotionally involved in what we perceive. Object meditation can incorporate physical sensations, form, sound, smell, taste and even pain, but for the purposes of this practice we will focus on the most universally accessible object - the breath.
Step 3 - Metta/Loving Kindness:
Metta (Loving-Kindness) Meditation.
"Love" is a word so closely connected with the mental, emotional and physical responses associated with desire that there's some danger in associating this aspect of opening the mind with reinforcing a sense of dependence on the beloved object. In this practice, the meditator is instead attempting to produce a specific state of mind: To feel loving-kindness for oneself and for everyone around them - liked and disliked. Below is the first of four stages of a very, very powerful practice that trains a compassionate, positive mind.
Step 4 - Objectless Awareness:
Vipassana/Insight Meditation.
The quality of mind cultivated in vipassana practice is almost always referred to as mindfulness. Mindfulness is simply a state of clear, nonjudgemental and undistracted attention to the contents of consciousness, whether pleasant or unpleasant. This practice has been shown to produce long lasting changes in attention, emotion, cognition and pain perception - and these correlate with both structural and functional changes in the brain. Being mindful is not a matter of thinking more clearly about experience, it is the act of experiencing more clearly - including the arising of thoughts themselves. It simply demands that we pay close attention to the flow of our experience in each moment, to recognise what is already arising in consciousness without modifying it, grasping or pushing away. This is a non-dual insight practice* used to examine the true nature of the mind and the most advanced meditation practice available to us. It is the pathway through which self-transcendence, nirvana or enlightenment is realised.
*At the beginning of this practice I describe how to make your way into the formal meditation posture called the seven-point posture. You can skip to 4:40 if you do not require this instruction.
A Trained Mind…
Nowadays, there are no secrets when it comes to physical training. If we don’t decide to get into the best shape of our lives, it’s not because we didn’t know that it was possible. But most of us are still genuinely unaware that it is possible to change our minds. The concept of mental training is barely entertained and yet there really are things we can do that lead to cognitive, emotional and even ethical changes that are wholly good for us. Mental training is possible and even continuously necessary throughout life.
Our mind is all we have to experience this life. The quality of our mind determines the quality of our life.
References
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