Sitting meditation

Sitting meditation is intended to give you a lens into your inner life—to let yourself focus on the thoughts and feelings that flow through you. You don t undertake this process with any goal in mind your only ob-... 

By the way, sitting meditation is a bit harder to learn than some of the other practices in this chapter, so I recommend you seek some guidance, especially early on. Many people are able to learn this technique by using a tape, but when I was first learning to meditate, I appreciated having someone to answer my questions, and I also found it helpful to hear about the experience of my fellow students. Look for a class in Mindfiilness-Based Stress Reduction, the process developed by Jon Kabat-Zinn. 

I used to keep a meditation place in a closet with no clothes or anything in it, just a pillow and a blanket for sitting on the floor. I liked it that way. No noise, totally black, nothing human at all. I d actually sit in that incredible black abyss, but it didn t feel bad. I was renewed in that place. It was scary to go there at first, because I had to take a leap of faith into something that was unknown. But when I learned to trust the abyss, it was amazing. I recognized it as home. It is my center, my core. I can trust the abyss because I m never alone there. 

When, after prayer and meditation, it becomes clear that decisive action must be taken—on whatever plane of existence—place a drawn sword upon the table, the blade s point toward the Grail and its hilt toward you. You now sit at the Table of Action. If a sword is then laid upon the table by each of the Companions—until the Grail is surrounded by twelve shining swords—this indicates that the proposed action is just and that the energies of the table and its Fellowship will flow through you. 

To Franz alchemy was a meditative practice. Fie would sit for hours in his study reading his books, and sometimes he would just sit and contemplate one of the illustrations. On several occasions it was an illustration that seemed to open an inner door in his mind and allowed him to travel to a spiritual dimension. Once there, he was able to hold conversations with ancient alchemists and philosophers and sometimes even with angels. 

The simplest form of concentrative meditation is to sit quietly and pay attention to your breathing. Focusing the mind on the continuous rhythm of breathing in and breathing out provides a natural object of meditation. As you focus your awareness on breathing, the mind becomes captivated by the rhythm of inhalation and exhalation. As a result, breathing becomes more regular and the mind becomes more tranquil and aware. 

Dear kinswoman," said Fable," It matters little to me if I am idle. I really had to laugh at your doorkeeper. She would have like to hug me to her breast, but she must have eaten too much She was unable to stand. Let me sit beyond the door and give me something to spin I cannot see very well here and, what is more, I need leave to sing and chatter, and that might disturb you in your profound meditations."... 

Sitting absolutely still, not acting, also frees energy that would otherwise be automatically absorbed in acting meditation is a technically simplified situation in this way. 

Since the meditator is sitting absolutely still, his muscular subsystem similarly has little to do beyond postural maintenance. This further reduces loading stabilization. Thus many sources of activity that maintain ordinary d-SoC fade out when the meditative posture is assumed. 

But as the day stretched out, and the intensity deepened to the point where I had to pull my car over to the side of the road to sit out the pains, I began to draw more closely on the breathing meditations I d learned in yoga class. 

Deliberate meditation practices, done at times specially designated as meditation time rather than ordinary life, can also lead to a temporary lessening of the identification process. If you spend fifteen calm minutes just observing your breathing while sitting still, for example, you have fifteen minutes in which your mind has been filled with the simple, emotionally neutral experience of breathing, rather than the typical mental/emotional activities that reinforce false personality and its multitudinous identifications. In his lectures Sogyal Rinpoche emphasized... 

Sit for a few minutes with the blank sheet of paper in front of you, and meditate on the person you will write to, let your friend come to mind until you can almost see her or him in the room with you. Remember the last time you saw each other and how your friend looked and what you said and what perhaps was unsaid between you, and when your friend becomes real to you, start to write. 

Sit and meditate for five to ten minutes, focusing on your breathing. You can simply sit and allow yourself to focus on the breath, or you can follow my suggestions for meditation in Chapter 15. 

Sit comfortably, your back upright but not rigid. You may sit on a meditation cushion, bench, or chair. Try not to slouch or lean back in the chair. Imagine yourself sitting up straight (but relaxed), with your head erect and floating directly above your spine. 

I could see that people would sit and meditate for hours on end just in the hope that this little bit of light would contact them. I begged for it to continue and come closer but it did not. It faded away not to return in that particular guise the rest of the day. 

When not at work, take time to relax and get rid of work-time stresses. This could include simply sitting down and closing your eyes for a while. It could also be meditating, reading, taking a bath, or watching TV. If none of these methods work, you might ... 

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