MEDITATIVE PATHS: The What, Why & How of Meditative Practice for Beginners
Miroslava Angelova performs the technique “Snake Creeps Down” from the Yang Family TaiJi Long Form.
I’d like to take the time to say Hello to everyone who’s interested in learning a little about meditation. I’ll be outlining the details and how-to of what I hope will be both an informative, and enjoyable, series of essays on the subject from a lay perspective. In these writings I’ll cover various styles of meditation, and more importantly, what the benefits of each can be in daily life for each of us as practitioners. Finally, as you follow along and begin your practice, this transformative experience gives us the ability to derive more happiness in the day to day living of our lives.
MINDFULNESS MEDITATION
One of the most popular techniques of meditative practice is called Mindfulness Meditation. And it’s just as the name implies – we’re learning how to be mindful. Literally, just that. Not mindful of this or that, but mindful of this and that, of everything, all the time. The simplest and often cited technique for beginners is following – or paying attention to – the breath. We pay attention to it as it enters our body, and as it exits. We pay attention to the sensations we experience such as the expansion and settling of our chest as we inhale and exhale. We even pay attention to the sensations felt when air passes over the very edges of our nostrils when we begin to take a breath. If our thoughts stray and we catch ourselves moving away from these sensations, we just stop, and take the next breath starting all over again. This is usually referred to as Returning to the Breath. In this way we’re learning (and teaching ourselves) how to develop an awareness of and build an understanding of what it means to pay attention. This process strengthens our sense of attention, leading to ever-deepening layers of awareness. All of this is designed to keep us ‘in’ the present moment. To keep ourselves held in this single moment of Now, without bias or attachment, fixed in place like a reed; stationary as the stream flows around it. We too are stationary in this fixed moment as the river of time seems to flow around us in our meditative practice.
While the process is simple, the description of it seems… fantastic. It doesn’t happen overnight, it is by definition the practice of Practice. But the path really is simple. Sit in a quiet ‘space’ free of physical, mental, and emotional clutter. Simply be, without purposefully generated cognitive designs or subconscious intrusions. Adhering to the breath. No special equipment, no special attire. No rushing to or from the gym, monthly membership, or schedule juggling. All it requires is time, space, and one breath.