Easy Meditation

http://dennisgeorgerudolph


In this life stuff happens.  Like a wheel... going round and round, up, then down... people set goals, strive for them, the goal is achieved... or not... and then on to another goal... Maybe there’s a larger vision in mind, with goals on the way to it, maybe that vision changes sometimes... on we go...


Yet at the center of that wheel, that endless cycle of change, is a hub, a still point that remains unchanging while all around it spins through time.  Whether you’re aware of it or not, it’s still there, never going any place, never changing.  This stillness is both inside of you and outside at the same time.  When you access it deeply, become acutely aware of this stillness, it becomes obvious that inner- and outer- are just ways of thinking about it, and that you are it... inner and outer all at once. 


Meditation is often suggested as a way to get to this inner stillness, and yet having such a goal is often an obstacle to meditating.  If you haven’t done it before, or even if you’ve been doing it for ages, you might want to start with the idea that you’re just going to sit quietly and do nothing... meditating just for the sake of meditating.


There are many methodologies for meditation, and many are worthwhile.  I’m going to suggest a simple form of sitting breath meditation, which is usually more than sufficient.  This is not at all a dismissal of other worthy ways, just some suggestions for easy, effective meditation.


You may want to set a timer for about 20 minutes, so you don’t have to look at the clock while you meditate.  If you want to do it for longer or shorter periods of time, that’s okay; 20 minutes is a good time to start with.  Now, sit quietly and gently pay attention to your breathing.  You can close your eyes to make this inner awareness easier.  Don’t try to change your breathing now, just let it happen.  Some methods have you counting your breaths, or saying things like “In... out...” as you breathe. Right now you’re doing none of that, you’re just focusing on your breathing, feeling it, and allowing whatever sensory awareness comes along with that attention.


Thoughts will come along from time to time, especially at the beginning.  That’s okay.  It’s like you’re watching a stream, maybe from a bridge above it, and that stream is your breathing.  Occasionally some object comes floating down the stream... a thought... so you notice it as it goes by, and return your attention to the stream.  No need to follow or chase the thought, you just let it go as you return your attention to your breathing.


Sometimes those thoughts may seem important, like... “I’ve got to do something!”  It’s useful to have a paper and pen or pencil handy, to jot those thoughts down... then you can get back to meditating.


So what are you doing when you do this type of meditation?  Ultimately, nothing... but it’s nothing packed with stillness, with the silence at the core of all things. 


The Tao Teh Ching puts it well, in chapter/verse 48:


Learning consists of daily accumulating;
The practice of Tao consists in daily diminishing.


Keep on diminishing and diminishing,
Until you reach the state of Non-Ado.
No-Ado, and yet nothing is left undone.


Meditating is not about setting goals.  Transformation happens, but not because you’re trying to make anything happen.  You don’t make it happen, you let it happen.  The bigger You becomes more apparent when you let the little “you” step down out of the way.


What do you think might happen if you were to sit quietly, for twenty minutes each morning, and just pay attention to your breathing?  What if you were to do this for twenty minutes in the afternoon as well?


The effects of regular meditation have been described and even formally researched.  Inner effects include a greater sense of personal peace, freedom from depression and anger, greater openness to useful ideas, increased creativity, and greater awareness of personal identity with All That Is.  Outer effects include greater harmony with people around, goals achieved more easily, and there have even been studies to suggest that violent crime rates go down in communities where numbers of people begin meditating on a regular basis.


Meditating with these effects as goals, though, seems to block them for many people.  To meditate just for the sake of sitting quietly and doing nothing... that is enough.  As the Tao says, “No-Ado, and yet nothing is left undone.”


http://dennisgeorgerudolph.com
dennis@dennisgeorgerudolph.com


Copyright 2011 by Dennis George Rudolph.  All rights reserved.