7/27/2019 Know Thyself Library - Basic Elements of Traditional Meditation.pdf

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Meditation is a holistic discipline by which the practitioner attem pts to get beyondthe reflexive, "thinking" mind into a deeper state of awareness. Different meditativedisciplines e ncompass a w ide range of spiritual and non-spiritual goals; achieving a higherstate of consciousness or enlightenment, developing and increasing compassion andloving kindness, receiving spiritual inspiration or guidance from God, achieving greaterfocus, creativity or self-awareness, or simply cultivating a more relaxed and peacefulframe of mind.

Four Basic Elements of Traditional Meditation

A quiet place to meditate,A comfortable or poised posture,An object for attention-awareness to dwell upon,A passive attitude.

A quiet placeThe best environment for the practice of meditation is similar to that most conducive to lying down or sitting toprogressively relax the body muscles. Sit in a quiet place with minimum distractions. Later, you may be able tomeditate well in places where more is going on: launderettes, railway stations, doctors' or dentists ' waiting rooms, ontrains and buses, and so on.

A comfortable or poised posture

Assuming a certain posture has been central to many meditation techniques. Classic postures, integral to HathaYoga, are given in the Yoga Sutras of Patanjali, which codify ancient yogic healing practices. Other postures appearin the Kum Nye holistic healing system of Tibet, in Islamic prayer, and in Gurdjieff movements. Posture is consideredvery important in Zen Buddhist practice.

A major characteristic of prescribed meditation postures in many traditions is that the spine is kept s traight. This istrue in Hindu and Buddhist yoga, in the Christian attitude of kneeling prayer, in the Egyptian sitting position, and inthe Taoist standing meditation, "embracing the pillar." People with misalignments may feel uncomfortable in thebeginning when assuming these postures. The spine is put back into a st ructurally sound line, and the weight of thebody distributed around it in a balanced pattern in which gravity, not muscular tension, is the primary influence. It ispossible, although it has not been conclusively proven, that this postural realignment affects the state of mind.

A sitting posture is better for meditation than lying down. This is because lying down is the normal sleep position andmeditation lying down could easily lead to s leep. If you are not a person who easily goes to sleep during the day, youmay like to meditate in a semi-reclining position on a sofa or large armchair with the back of your head supported. Intraditional meditation postures, however, the back is normally kept erect, though not rigidly upright. This is calledpoised posture. The right attitude for meditation may itself be described as poised: alert yet also relaxed. Poisedposture promotes the right state of attention-awareness for success ful meditation.

In the East, the cross-legged postures, with head and back in vertical line, are considered ideal for meditation. Inclassic Lotus posture, the legs are crossed with feet on thighs, and imparts the right feeling of poised sitting formeditation. These postures are difficult and even painful at first for those who are not familiar with them. We willdescribe two traditional oriental postures, viz., half lotus and lotus posture and an easier posture called Burmeseposture. For those who prefer to do the meditation sitting on a chair, we will describe a posture called Egyptianposture.See :Half Lotus PostureFull Lotus PostureBurmese and Egyptian Postures

An object to dwell uponIn Hindu Yoga the object the attention dwells on is often a mantra, usually a Sanskrit word or syllable. In Buddhismthe focus for bare attention is often the meditator's own breathing. Both mantra meditation and awareness ofbreathing fulfill all the elements required for meditating for relaxation.Some meditation methods involve looking at objects with open eyes, but in others, the subjects close their eyeswhich makes relaxation easier to induce.

Instructors in transcendental meditation give importance to each person being given a mantra that suits his or hernervous system, but there does not appear to be any scientific support for this. Any technique used with any soundor phrase or prayer or mantra has been found to bring forth the same physiologic changes noted duringTranscendental Meditation.There is much to be said for choosing either a neutral word or a meaningless sound for mantra meditation. Somepeople, however, like to use a word like 'peace' which has relaxing associations. This is all right provided the worddoes not set off trains of associative thought. In this type of meditation the single thought-sound has the effect ofquietening the mind; Maharishi Mahesh Yogi says that the thought-sound takes the meditator to the source ofthought. Studies of the brain wave patterns of meditators indicate that the deepest relaxation results when thoughtsare absent, or few and of no importance.If you make awareness of breathing your single meditation method, let your attention dwell on the gentle rise of yourabdomen in diaphragmatic-abdominal breathing. Your breathing becomes very quiet and even after several minutes ofmeditation and the gentle movement and rhythm of abdominal breathing promotes relaxation.

A passive attitude or poised awarenessThis last element of meditation for relaxation is said to be the most essential. It is sometimes called poised

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7/27/2019 Know Thyself Library - Basic Elements of Traditional Meditation.pdf

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1/23/13 Know Thyself Library - Basic Elements of Traditional Meditation

www.know-thyself.org/basic-elements-meditation.html

awareness or attention-awareness because in it, relaxation and alertness are in perfect balance.

A pass ive attitude means that distractions from environmental sounds, skin t ingles etc., and the inevitable intrusioninto the mind of thoughts and images are viewed casually and detachedly. Let them come and go, of no moreconsequence than small clouds passing across an expanse of sky. But each time you become aware that yourattention has slipped away from the mantra or the sensation of abdominal breathing, and you are engaging in a chainof logical thinking or developing interest in some sounds or other sensations, bring your attention and awarenessback to the meditation object.It is really very simple, as long as you keep a relaxed attitude going. Don't force, and don't cling. With practice,moments of great calm and deep restfulness during meditation will become more frequent.

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