Exploring Conducive Conditions for Meditation
Here are some inner conditions/attitudes that may positively affect your meditation experiences. I have included a few guiding questions for each condition for you to explore:
Trust and Reliance - Can you trust your posture to support you comfortably and allow your body to relax into it? Can you rely on your meditation object to support you by returning your attention to it again and again as your meditation progresses?
Kindness, Compassion and Letting Go - How can you relate to the different experiences in your meditation with kindness?Instead of judging your meditation practice as right/wrong, good/bad, or success/failure, can you respond to the different experiences with compassion, wishing, "May I be free of suffering and the causes of suffering"? What are the things that preoccupy your mind/heart and prevent you from settling deeper into your meditation?
Acknowledging Old Habitual Patterns and Forgiving Past Mistakes - Old habits surface in your meditation where you get to see the repeated patterns of your reactivity. Can you fully acknowledge their existence before trying to change them? Can you forgive others who have, intentionally or unintentionally, harmed you? Can you forgive yourselves for the harm you have caused, intentionally or unintentionally, to self and others?
Rejoicing and Generosity - Has your meditation practice become very serious and dull? Is it possible to let in some sense of joy into meditation by rejoicing over past and present happiness, positive deeds, accomplishments, good fortune, etc.? If there is an inner sense of abundance, a willingness to give and share, and a feeling of contentment thinking what you have now is "good enough", then how would this spirit of generosity affect your meditation? How would its opposite, a inner feeling of "not enough" or impoverishment, affect meditation?
Living in accordance to our ethical principles - How would mindfulness of your physical behaviour, speech and thoughts as well as their effects on yourselves and others in your daily life benefit your meditation practice?
Inspiration - What are the sources of inspiration for you? Who are the people in your life that inspired you, encouraged you, trusted your abilities, or awakened your potentials? How would your meditation change if you periodically remember your sources of inspiration and allow your heart to be touched by their presence and past influence?
Mindful Awareness as the Path to Meditative Absorption
In this effortless approach to meditative absorption, mindful attention to our body, our feelings or sensations, and our mind serves as a path leading us to deeper experiences of stillness:
Mindful Awareness of Body - as we return our attention to our body, noticing the tension, relaxation, and other bodily sensations, we initiate and sustain a process of gradual unwinding, loosening up and releasing of habitual tightness and contractions. This often gives rise to pleasant sensations associated with our meditation.
Mindful Awareness of Feelings/Sensations - we pay attention to any pleasant sensations arising in our meditation. There are two main types of such pleasures: rapture and contentment. It is through contact with such pleasant sensations that our mind begins to settle down.
Mindful Awareness of Mind - as our mind settles down, we become aware of the different mental states influencing our mind. We notice the presence or absence of craving, aversion, restlessness and worry, lethargy and dullness, and doubt. Through steadying the mind when it is agitated and uplifting it when it is sinking into dullness, we can liberate our mind from such imbalances and release it into states of deepening stillness and bliss.
Here are some inner conditions/attitudes that may positively affect your meditation experiences. I have included a few guiding questions for each condition for you to explore:
Trust and Reliance - Can you trust your posture to support you comfortably and allow your body to relax into it? Can you rely on your meditation object to support you by returning your attention to it again and again as your meditation progresses?
Kindness, Compassion and Letting Go - How can you relate to the different experiences in your meditation with kindness?Instead of judging your meditation practice as right/wrong, good/bad, or success/failure, can you respond to the different experiences with compassion, wishing, "May I be free of suffering and the causes of suffering"? What are the things that preoccupy your mind/heart and prevent you from settling deeper into your meditation?
Acknowledging Old Habitual Patterns and Forgiving Past Mistakes - Old habits surface in your meditation where you get to see the repeated patterns of your reactivity. Can you fully acknowledge their existence before trying to change them? Can you forgive others who have, intentionally or unintentionally, harmed you? Can you forgive yourselves for the harm you have caused, intentionally or unintentionally, to self and others?
Rejoicing and Generosity - Has your meditation practice become very serious and dull? Is it possible to let in some sense of joy into meditation by rejoicing over past and present happiness, positive deeds, accomplishments, good fortune, etc.? If there is an inner sense of abundance, a willingness to give and share, and a feeling of contentment thinking what you have now is "good enough", then how would this spirit of generosity affect your meditation? How would its opposite, a inner feeling of "not enough" or impoverishment, affect meditation?
Living in accordance to our ethical principles - How would mindfulness of your physical behaviour, speech and thoughts as well as their effects on yourselves and others in your daily life benefit your meditation practice?
Inspiration - What are the sources of inspiration for you? Who are the people in your life that inspired you, encouraged you, trusted your abilities, or awakened your potentials? How would your meditation change if you periodically remember your sources of inspiration and allow your heart to be touched by their presence and past influence?
Mindful Awareness as the Path to Meditative Absorption
In this effortless approach to meditative absorption, mindful attention to our body, our feelings or sensations, and our mind serves as a path leading us to deeper experiences of stillness:
Mindful Awareness of Body - as we return our attention to our body, noticing the tension, relaxation, and other bodily sensations, we initiate and sustain a process of gradual unwinding, loosening up and releasing of habitual tightness and contractions. This often gives rise to pleasant sensations associated with our meditation.
Mindful Awareness of Feelings/Sensations - we pay attention to any pleasant sensations arising in our meditation. There are two main types of such pleasures: rapture and contentment. It is through contact with such pleasant sensations that our mind begins to settle down.
Mindful Awareness of Mind - as our mind settles down, we become aware of the different mental states influencing our mind. We notice the presence or absence of craving, aversion, restlessness and worry, lethargy and dullness, and doubt. Through steadying the mind when it is agitated and uplifting it when it is sinking into dullness, we can liberate our mind from such imbalances and release it into states of deepening stillness and bliss.