Sample Meditation

How to Meditate

Aspiration
Let the eyes close, bringing the attention inward. Bring to mind at the start of each sitting meditation why you are doing it. For example, do you hope for less stress or reactivity, perspective, balance amidst intense emotions, insight into your motives and behaviors, energy?

Posture
Sit as straight and tall as possible. Around this straight-back position, let the rest of your skeleton and muscles hang freely. Let the hands rest comfortably on your knees or lap.

Relax
Breathing through the nose, loosen the face, neck, hands, and stomach area. Beginning at the top of the head, methodically relax and soften each part of the body.

Focus
To steady the mind, choose a place to pay attention to the breath, such as:
> Air flowing in and out of the nostrils
> The rising and falling of the chest or abdomen

By trying to stay with the breath, you will become aware of the mind being distracted by other thoughts. It’s good news to be aware of thoughts. Simply make note of this when it happens, maybe saying to yourself, “thinking…thinking,” or “planning” and gently lead your attention back to the breath.

At first, you may be surprised at the number of thoughts you have and how often you forget about paying attention to the breath. Don't worry – this is natural. Don't try to force the mind to stop thinking. Again and again, patiently and gently bring your attention back to the breath.

Note: It is common to mistake thinking for meditating. It takes practice to distinguish pleasant, dreamy thoughts from having your attention on the changing experience of the breath. It is also common to judge ourselves as “doing it wrong.” Please be patient…no matter how distracted you feel, what you are experiencing is normal. Judging ourselves harshly only makes a calm spacious awareness more elusive.

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From The Issue at Hand
by Gil Fronsdal

"Sometimes people think the point of meditation is to stop thinking--to have a silent mind. This does happen occasionally, but it is not necessarily the point of meditation. Thoughts are an important part of life, and mindfulness practice is not supposed to be a struggle against them....we are not stopping thoughts as much as overcoming any preoccupation we have with them."

"Sometimes your attempt to be with the breath is the only way that you see the speed at which the mind is racing. Riding on a train, if you focus on the mountains in the distance, you might not notice the speed of the train. However, if you bring your attention closer, the rapidly appearing and disappearing telephone poles next to the track reveal the train's speed. Even when you have trouble staying with the breath, your continued effort to come back to the breath can highlight what might otherwise be unnoticed, i.e., the rapid momentum of the mind. In fact, the faster our thinking and the greater the preoccupation, the greater the need for something close by like the breath to help bring an awareness of what is going on. That awareness, in turn, often brings some freedom from the preoccupation."

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