Ugh, dreaded feeling. I often feel guilty after meditation if I didn't focus on the breath enough, didn't scan the body carefully, didn't keep the attention on the sensations, or was "taken over by the chatting mind" with no chance to coming to the present moment.
Sometimes I come out of meditation thinking it was a "bad meditation", which is ridiculous. I get mind attacks. Good thing lately I am realizing meditation is something really much, much simpler, with a lot less stress involved.
There are many ways to reach the state of yoga, and many teachers who teach them differently. But the truth is only one, and the practice that suits some may not suit everyone.
I am basing the article on two facts: one, that you like me, are a house-holder, someone who works, sweats, and lives among other people (as opposed to in a cave) and two, on the very skimpy teachings of someone who was in the state of yoga (Ramana Maharshi), and so had it very clear what was important and what was not (he spoke very little as he saw little need for that too!)
Here are five usually held beliefs that are NOT necessarily true when it comes to meditation, when it comes to putting in the effort (and letting it go eventually) of being present, of coming here and stopping the projections, of being in the "pristine state" -as Ramana Maharshi would say-:
1.- YOU MUST BE SITTING UP STRAIGHT
Some traditions even go as far as to suggest you need to be sited in the lotus position and for at least an hour or 5 hours, or 10 hours! Without moving. This might apply to certain monks in a secluded monastery but not for every day householders like you and me. I know I cannot sit in lotus for an hour. I just won't do it. The resistance is enormous, it won't happen.
Since the only reason behind this is that the back needs to be straight, then if you are laying down, you are also able to meditate.
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Bending the knees will prevent falling asleep
and give the benefits of creating a stronger
and stronger presence and awareness of the present moment |
Laying down is quite all right.
What if you fall asleep? You can either keep your knees bent, which will prevent it, OR... realize that maybe you need to rest. Maybe the pressures of every day are too much and the rest is necessary. It does not mean you are failing at meditation it means you are taking care of your body.
Eventually when feeling the benefits we might be able to stay up longer. We may even want to sit down. But to not do it on account on "it has to be done sitting down" is a trick of the mind robbing us of the stillness we know we want.
Of course in retreats, say in the Vipassana tradition or in any tradition where you get hundreds of students coming into a hall to meditate, guidelines may be established whereby for example everyone sits down. This is to avoid a dozing off domino effect and to give a certain atmosphere of respect to the duty at hand. But in every day life, it is perfectly fine to meditate while laying down.
2.- YOU NEED A MANTRA, OR TO FOCUS ON THE BREATH
Maybe in the beginning, maybe not. The goal of yoga -of which meditation is one of the last limbs (the 7th out of 8)- is to come into the present moment. To merge with the awareness or consciousness that we are, free of mind projections. It cannot exist in the future or in the past.
Therefore simply entering the stream of this moment is all that is needed. No mantra, no scanning, no nothing.
If a mantra helps quiet the mind that is great. If focusing on the breath helps limiting the fluctuations of the mind that is good too. But in the end meditation is about being fully aware, not thinking about a mantra, not focusing on the breath. It is all about coming into NOW.
Pointers From Ramana Maharshi (book) says:
"Dhyana (meditation) really means concentrating the mind on the Object of the dhyana but meditation is our real nature; if we give up unnecessary thinking what remains is I."
Just giving up the thinking, just coming to now. No need for breath or mantra or mandalas, or images or anything. Unless they help, and only up until when necessary. No need to use the clutches once we can walk. No need to focus on the breath when we can more steadily begin to be present in this moment.
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| Giving up thinking is enough! |
Of course some teachers advocate these techniques, and they have their place. The 6th limb of yoga deal with it (concentration on an object (6)) and it is taught in different ways...
But we must keep the goal in mind.
Cessation of the fluctuations/projections/chatting of the mind is the goal, not being able to focus on a mantra, not focusing on the breathing or scanning the body. Coming into this moment, with full awareness, with no projections.
3.- IT WILL MAKE YOU PEACEFUL
Not necessarily. Just try it for a moment right now. Go ahead and stop your thinking (one good way to do this is to think: What will my next thought be? Then wait). You may then begin to notice what you are "feeling" in the body underneath the thinking.
The feelings we have underneath all that thinking tend NOT to be very pleasant. In fact, the first couple of minutes of any of my meditations are pretty horrendous.
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Feeling what we are feeling with full acceptance tends to resemble a jungle
rather than a peaceful lake |
We may learn to feel the body and to see how emotions arise and subside, but learning how to weather the storm without reacting blindly is not necessarily a peaceful practice. It is the stuff of warriors. The stuff of standing your ground. Come what may.
There is quite a bit of emotional stuff that needs to be purified before we can be fully in the now without projecting into the future to escape it or going into the past or into fantasy. Without having the need to "defend" the ego. The forest needs to be crossed, it is bound to be a voluptuous ride.
4.- YOU NEED TO DO IT TWICE A DAY FOR 20 MINUTES
Non-sense. You may, of course, dedicate this amount, or any amount of time to be quiet and seek silence and stillness, and away from all other activities if you choose to,
yes, but the practice, if we mean it, happens 24/7.
There is no stop, no break. If we want to be of service to others to this planet, then there is no better way than to alchemize ourselves into the golden present, into being fully aware. That cannot happen until we are at it all the time.
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Time disappears in the present moment and the aim is to live in it
Time-Free |
Falling back into unconscious (and by that I mean reacting just because someone said we looked "funny" or when things don't go as you would hope they would, and going mad over a little incident like that) is very, VERY easy.
We need to bring awareness and presence into each and every little thing we do, it is the only way we can avoid the pitfalls of reacting in old ways. It is the only way we can awake.
The sitting in the cushion may serve as preparation, but the real practice happens when someone cuts you off in traffic, that is when we see if it is working or not. Those are the little opportunities to put into practice the stillness of the cushion, to strenhgten our awareness.
5.- MAGICAL/SUBTLE/OUTER-WORLDY EXPERIENCES
Oh please! Then again, maybe, maybe not. Most likely whoever is telling you about magical experiences is within a delusion.
It is enough work for us in the times we live to come to the present and accept it with a full YES, and because it is what IS. That is hard work, it takes resolve, it takes determination.
It is important to let go of illusions of magical things happening because such beliefs can provoke new projections, new expectations and derail us from the track.
Seeing ourselves disappearing, auras of lights, chakras and kundalinis. It all might have a place and time, we might find out, but for now we are interested in this moment, as it is, in the way your eyes browse the post as you read, the way the chair feels under you, the temperature perceived by the body, the light around, the way the breath helps us be the space for this moment.
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The present moment is sacred enough
no need for fairy tales |
This is the sacred moment, as it is, in all its simplicity.
Whenever we are able to take ANY situation without any resistance, then we might wanna think about magic, and even then we may not need to because we would see that everything is magic, everything is sacred in this moment.
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The ultimate truth is extraordinarily simple: it is nothing more than being in the pristine state. It is a mystery that to teach this simple truth there should come into being so many religions, creeds, methods and disputes among them....- From the book: Pointers from Ramana Maharshi: Read and Reflect.
So in general, let's not sweat it so much, let's be present for what is, at all times.
May we all be aware and present today, in every moment. May we honor the sacred space of each and every sacred now as it comes to manifest.
