There can be a misconception about what meditation is all about.  There is an image of an Indian person sitting quietly in a cross-legged position.  Meditation does have its roots in Indian but it is just a relevant in today’s world and culture.  How often have you wished to find the ‘off’ button for your mind, with its ceaseless chatter? Meditation allows peace and harmony to filter through into your every day life.  It is very practical and life enhancing.

Anyone who has tried to sit quietly and stop thinking will immediately find that the mind goes into over drive, it darts this way and that.  It can play the game of wishes and desires for things to be different, it can replay past scenarios or it can imagine all sorts of wondrous things.  The mind loves to think and that is what it does best.

The mind is the enemy of peace, it has to be stopped and emptied to allow the peace to flow in.  If the mind is full of chatter, there is no gap for peace to take hold and so meditation is about calming the mind, allowing it to become empty and for peace to flow into it and expand.  That is why Buddhists talk of ‘no-mind’ being the essence of meditation and something to aspire to.

The ancient teachings propound ‘know thyself’ and this is the crux of meditation. Know yourself not to be the physical body or mind.  Know yourself to be something more, a spiritual being.  This does not happen over night, there is no magic wand to be waved for you to become enlightened over night.  Enlightenment can be interpreted in many ways and I see it as the Light flowing into your being.  We are born full of light, you only have to look at a young baby to see that.  But this light gets covered over by life’s experiences and mental conditioning.  The work of meditation is to clear away all the coverings that stop this Light be accessed and let it shine.

To know yourself, you have to closely watch yourself.  Note how you react in certain situations; see how people cause a set reaction in you.  Meditation is all about developing a witnessing awareness, watching yourself.  As only by closely watching your reactions and your mind set, can you see the triggers that can cause disease in your body.  Splitting the word into ‘dis’ and ‘ease’ clarifies it i.e. unease in the body (as with psychosomatic illness at one end of the scale or perhaps anger, frustration at the other end).  Watching a situation and your reaction to it, will allow change to begin.  For if change does not happen, the same situation will be repeated over and over again until it becomes unbearable.

Meditation is clearing the clutter out of our minds, be it repetitive thought patterns or detrimental behaviour patterns.  There is so such mental agitation in our minds, which we do not need.  It is unnecessary and harmful.  Review and clear.  This is where the help of a teacher is beneficial; one who has trod the path before you, who understands the difficulties involved and can help you overcome them.

As you slowly get to ‘know yourself’ and the way you operate, a deeper understanding of your ‘self’ develops.  You can see the wider picture, that you are a spiritual being.  From that moment your life takes on a spiritual aspect, it becomes more meaningful and rewarding.  You do not have to just exist in an alien world, you realise you are part of the greater whole.  Consciousness is a good word to describe it, as you become more conscious or spiritually aware, you feel the spiritual connection with something far greater.  The process of meditation is transformation, as you become more spiritually connected you begin to understand what works to maintain the harmony or what works against it.  It challenges our habitual patterns and teaches us to go beyond them.  A deeper meaning to life emerges and living becomes more meaningful. 

Recent students feedback " Your quote 'resolve not to be emotionally disturbed'  I found really effective particularly over a certain situation that occurred.  Although I felt (initially upset) about a situation that happened I found that my resulting action proved much stronger and somehow more resilient - difficult to put inot words but I felt less undermined and more positive about the situtation that resulted - so thank you."

Meditation is experiential, your personal experience.  You can read about meditation in books but it is only by experiencing it first hand, that you can really know.  It is not just another mental activity to be carried out, it has to touch your heart for it to work.

Getting started

Meditation is such a life changing experience it is difficult to compact it down into a digestible chunks. We will start with the physical body, which is far easier to quieten than the mind.  If you want to practise meditation regularly I would suggests finding a set place to regularly sit in your home, preferably away from family noise and chatter, which could distract you.  Make this your meditative space, where it is pleasant to sit and that you look forward to going to.  An upright chair is preferable as it is important to keep your spine straight, allowing each vertebrae to sit on top of the other, so that there is no strain involved and you are relaxed as you can be.  Tuck your chin to allow the back of the head to become aligned with the spine. Then forget about it.

The simplest way to relax your physical body is to follow your breathing.  Gently breathing deeply into your abdomen, feeling it expand and contract with each inward and outward breath. Any jerkiness will soon smooth out with practice.  Make the outward breathe twice as long as the inward breathe.  This long deep abdominal breathing naturally slows down the physical body.  Heart rate and metabolic rate decreases, allowing everything to slow down.  Keep your mind focus on the breathing as it will help to eliminate mind chatter.  If the mind wanders bring it back to the breathing. It will wander many times but you keep bringing it back.  This is the first step in meditation, keeping the mind focused or concentrating.

Start to do this practice for ten minutes everyday and do it regularly.   It is just like any other accomplishment it needs practise if you are to become proficient.