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THE FOLLOWING MEDITATION suggestions were written by Darrell Glenn for members of the Meditation Circle of Charleston, West Virginia. They may be helpful to anyone interested in meditation or wishing to deepen their experience of meditation practice.
SO YOU HAVE ATTENDED a meditation workshop or a meditation group,and you have learned the basics of breath-centered meditation. You sense that this can be of help to you in your life and you want to keep doing it. But you find it difficult to keep up a regular meditation practice after you go home. Here are some hints that have been given to me over the years that I have found helpful.
1. Do not get discouraged if your mediation sessions aren't exactly models of peace and equanimity. Keep in mind why you are meditating. The goal of this type of meditation is to work with your mind as it is, not to enter into a blissful state that is free from agitation, worry, or thoughts in general. Thoughts are a normal part of the meditation process. As thoughts arise when we meditate, we notice them and let them go. Avoid the extremes of not allowing the thoughts to occur on the one hand, and getting carried away by thoughts on the other.
2. Recognize the value of short meditation sessions. An hour can be good, but some days you don't have the hour, and you don't practice. This happens day after day, then a month has passed without meditating. Then it is very difficult to get started again. Try ten or twenty minutes, or even five minutes. That is enough time to see how your mind is working that day.
Some days we have lots of time, but our mind is so wild we don't want to sit down with it for 30 minutes. Try ten minutes, or five. Get in the habit of working with your mental states regardless of how unworkable they might seem to you at the time.
3. Try to create a regular time and place for your meditation session. The best time will depend on your schedule, but many people like the morning or the last thing in the evening. It has to fit into your life. Your meditation space should be clean, neat, and reasonably free from distractions.
4. Some people like to burn candles and/or incense while meditating. Doing this creates an environment that you begin to associate with meditation and makes it easier to "shift gears" from being busy to sitting still. Try this if you like. You will know if it works for you or not.
5. It is traditional to ring a bell or gong to begin and end mediation periods, especially in group practice. The recommendation is to intently follow the sound of the gong as it becomes fainter and fainter, until you cannot hear it any longer. Then begin your meditation technique. Do the same with the ending gong, arising from your meditation cushion or chair only when you can no longer hear the sound.
6. Meditate with other people when you have the opportunity. Many times it is easier to make it to a group session than it is to sit on your cushion in your own house. Also, group members are a support to your regular practice. If you have problems, you can ask people questions. And just knowing that other people you know are practicing inspires you to practice as well.
7. Combine practice and study. To get somewhere you have never been, you need a map and legs. Study gives you a map and right directions. Then using the legs of meditation, you get there. Many good books on meditation have been written in English by wonderful teachers. Find some teachers whose books you can connect with, who inspire you.
People in the Charleston Meditation Circle of Charleston have read books by Thich Nhat Hahn, Bhante Gunaratana, Jack Kornfeld, Chogyam Trungpa, Pema Chodron, Suzuki Roshi, and Philip Kapleau, among others. Often, you have a problem or get stuck, and a particular passage in a book seems like it was written just for you.
8. When you feel overwhelmed by all the meditation advice you get, the things that you have read, or your wild horse of a mind; R-E-L-A-X. Smile.
Just do it.
PREVIOUSLY:
Meditation Corner, Fall/99:
How Much Effort in Meditation?
Meditation Corner, 5/99:
One-Minute Meditation at Work