End All Beat All

Its no secret that I haven't posted here for a while. We were attempting to explore the journey of meditation together. And its something that I would like to continue - if you're interested.

I would like to clarify a point at this time. Meditation is not the end all, beat all of things. It is a tool. A very beneficial tool. I am aware because experience has taught me so, that if I can sit through the ups and downs of life's situations it can make the difference between surviving a storm in a row boat or riding it out in a Coast Guard cutter.

I am in the row boat. and life is hard.

Goal-less action

Tao abides in non-action,

Yet nothing is left undone.

If kings and lords observed this,

The ten thousand things would develop naturally.

If they still desired to act,

They would return to the simplicity of formless substance.

Without form there is no desire.

Without desire there is tranquility.

And in this way all things would be at peace

"How's the meditation blog going?"

"Depends on your perspective" I said.

"Well, yeah," she replied with a laugh. "You are hoping for a bunch of readers aren't you?"

"I guess that some of that is true," I said. "You blog and hope that someone out there reads it. But really, I'm just doing it to do it. If anyone reads it and benefits in any way from it, that's just the icing on the cake."

One of the outcomes of meditation practice is

that one slowly comes to a state

that can only be described as

"goal-less."

This being "goal-less" in not something to be sought after like a growing flower seeks its bloom. No, it grows like the acorn becomes the tree. As our awareness grows we become less focused on past and present. No, you won't float about like the proverbial Zen-Zombie who feels nothing about past events nor hopes for nothing. Its more like letting the past go, learning from it what you can and then you pass on. Like leaving your shoes at the door.

The highest virtue is to act without a sense of self

The highest kindness is to give without a condition

The highest justice is to see without a preference

Meditation Day - A full Month

"Before you study meditation, mountains are mountains and rivers are rivers. While you are studying meditation, mountains are no longer mountains and rivers are no longer rivers; but once you attain enlightenment, mountains are once again mountains and rivers are rivers".

It is imperative that you come to understand one thing and one thing only right now. We are using words to describe something that is beyond words. Alan Watts stated, "The common error of ordinary religious practice is to mistake the symbol for the reality, to look at the finger pointing the way and then to suck it for comfort rather than follow it".

If we are seeking to wrap our minds around this thing called, "meditation", to wrap it up in a box, to find a book that will map out a definitive portrait to which we can say, "Yes. That's it" then you are sorely misguided.

And that's the dig, you know. We want our Gods wrapped in neat little packages.

Sit down. Be quiet. Listen and experience.

A full month of Meditation - Equanimity

We've talked much over this last month about posture, the mind and body, watching the breath. About awareness vs being led about by your mood and obsessions. About what it means to build a strong foundation. Today, I would like to talk about a word that you may or may not be familiar with; Equanimity.

I haven't been able to post for a while due to several factors. My computer experienced a slow unraveling because of a virus that uninstalled many of my drivers and doorways of access that one would normally enter when trying to proceed on finding a fix. My "my computer" icon disappeared and almost no amount of searching would reveal the "device manager". An online tech support proceeded to do further damage until I at long last took the tower to the local computer fix-it shop. $75 and three hours later it is like having a new computer.
And speaking of fix-it, a family member that is fighting a battle over heroin addiction had to hit rock bottom again before rehab could be presented as a viable option.
A furnace malfunction almost caused our demise years before we were planning to die.
My only source of daily transportation began to run like an old man with pneumonia while my youngest son is also finding it difficult in getting around since his non-collision insured car was totaled during one of our famous New England ice storms.
Sometimes life can be tough.
Equanimity is a place of being that is developed with the aid of meditation. Equanimity helps us to deal constructively with our emotions. You know, those school yard bullies that keep you down. It provides us with the vehicle within which we can flow with change. You know, job loss, health problems, money woes: change.
Keep in mind that we are seeking to build a firm foundation. We are seeking to build (and find) compassion. Compassion for ourselves and for the world around us. It seems a formidable task, eh?
Remember this post? We will be able to experience experience as both the holder and the one being held. Relaxed. Secure. Contentment.
Nice!!!

Morning has broken - Meditation Day 25

I prefer the early morning for meditation practice. Winter indeed is a most difficult time to begin setting up a daily practice and it is not proceeding forward without its share of missed early morning sessions.

I may have indicated or perhaps you may have guessed that I previously had a regular meditation practice for several years. When your daily routine is established it is easier to sit through obstacles as they arise because that which arises will also pass. Arising in the early morning for practice is a beautiful thing. You notice the changes as you prepare to sit. The alignment of the stars with the horizon. The changes in the trees. The coming and going of birds. The changes from Winter, Spring, Summer, Autumn, Winter.....This is our life after all. You become aware of the beauty of change. And you feel blessed.

Body and Mind are One - Meditation Day 23

Let us get back to discussing the synchronization of our bodies with our minds. We're not looking to develop some ascetic form of being. We have all heard the stories of the ascetic that risked the elements in the most harsh of ways and later come away unscathed. That is not where we are going. But I do want you to notice: note, subtle changes in what you would describe as your "normal behavior" or responses as we progress in our practice. Label nothing as good or bad: just note the experience.
When we approach each day in our usual unconscious fashion as if asleep, we follow after thoughts and whatever our bodies would suggest to us. After spending some time in meditation we begin slowly to awake. Our growing awareness is the antithesis of our moments of being in unconscious sleep. It is a re-wiring of sorts. But it is a sort of rewiring that allows us to see that the mind and the body are not two separate entities; They are but one. We are not our minds driving about in the vehicle of "the body".

In the science of Embodied Cognition we can see just how deep and unconscious our wiring is

Try this

In ATM, Feldenkrais therapy we learned this little trick: Stand with your feet shoulder width apart, arms at your sides. Now raise your right hand with the arm straight out ahead of you and give the thumbs up sign. Now slowly twist as far to your right as you comfortably can - allowing your thumbs up to align with some focal point. A point on the wall behind you, the corner of your bed post, your significant others derriere: to indicate where your ending point is. See where your thumbs up lines up with whatever object helps you in establishing a point of reference. Hold that pose.

Focus your eyes on your thumb and then look further to your right, beyond your range of motion to a point further to the right. Focus back on the thumb: then back to the further point. Back to the thumb and back to the further point.

Return to your starting position with your thumbs up still facing forward. Then twist back to the right while watching your thumb line up with a focal point..

Did you find a greater range of motion - were you able to easily expand your range beyond the first focal point and arriving at the second point?

This also works when watching the tip of your toes. Sit and raise your foot outstretched before you as high as you are comfortably able.. Align the tips of your toes with something on the horizon. Focus on the toes and then to a point several inches higher....and back to your toes...back to the higher point...back to your toes again.

When you bring your foot back down into a resting position. Slowly raise it up to as far as it will comfortably raise. Are you able to easily see that your range of motion has expanded beyond the original starting point ending at the higher second point?

I want us to focus on finding our center-point when we settle down to practice our meditation. I want that we should remind ourselves often to correct our posture when sitting in practice and throughout the day. We should body scan ourselves for hidden tightness. We should pause and watch our breath (not control it) several times a day.

We are orienting ourselves towards being beacons of steadfast calm, humor and kindness. Not creating a race of non-feeling ascetics. We will soon begin to realize that body and mind are one. That the universe and all that it contains is one.

Cool, eh?