Meditation Instruction
Posture: Sit or lay down comfortably in a chair, couch, or on a cushion. You may also walk very slowly in circles around a room. If your eyes are open, focus the eyes on a specific spot and when the eyes wander, bring the eyes back to that spot. You may also meditate with eyes closed. Try to pick a position and refrain from moving much.
Working with thoughts: With all of the following meditations, when you notice that your mind is thinking, drop the thought and return to the meditation. Your mind will think a lot; the point is not to stop the mind from thinking. The point is to notice when you are thinking and to let go of the thought and return; this trains the brain over time to be less taken away with random thoughts and to be able to return to present moment experience more readily.
Loving-Kindness: One important aspect of meditation is noticing the self-critical thoughts of not doing it right, or not being able to count very high, or not being able to stop thoughts, etc. If these types of thoughts arise, treat them like any other thought--let them go and return to the breath. In meditation, we are cultivating non-judgmental awareness--being able to observe ourselves and others without attaching to our narratives about us or them.
Pick One
Pick one of the following meditations, or choose another meditation that is not in this list, and commit to doing that meditation practice for the entire period of meditation.
Stage 1: Extension of Breath
As you inhale, count up to somewhere between 4-8, and on the exhale extend the exhale longer than the inhale to a 6-12 count. Try to make the transition from inhale to exhale and exhale to inhale smooth, without holding the breath at either transition.
Stage 2: Counting Breaths
Allow the breath to run its natural course without making it longer or shorter. On the exhale, count 1. On the next exhale count, 2. And so forth. When you get to 10, start over at 1. Along the way, if you lose track of the counting because thinking has taken over, drop the thought, return to the breath, and start over at 1. The point is not to get to 10; the point is to notice when you are thinking and return to the breath. How high you get in the counting only shows you how busy or clear the mind is at the time. Each day is different.
Stage 3: Following the Breath
Follow the breath without counting or extending the breath--just purely observing the breath, not needing it to be different. It may take many years of meditation to be ready to follow the breath without counting or using a mantra (see below); a practitioner may never get to this stage. If one tries to go to this stage too early, they will likely be daydreaming for most or all of the meditation period.
Stage 4: Meditating with the Body
Extend the awareness to include the breath and all of the physical sensations of the body. You might focus on certain parts of the body that have a lot of sensation, such as the palms of the hands or where the body is making contact with the chair. Eventually, you can feel or imagine the whole body breathing and feel the entire body at once.
Stage 5: Open Awareness
After many years of meditation, one might be ready to enter open awareness. Without having learned first how to concentrate the mind on a certain object, such as the breath or the body, the mind will wander a lot.
Other Options
Listening to Sounds
This is an excellent and often very enjoyable meditation practice. Concentrate the attention on the sounds or a single sound that is happening in your room. When then mind wanders, bring the attention back to the sound. Eventually, in this practice, the body and the sound become one experience and they vibrate together.
Mantra/Divine Word
Choose a word or short phrase and say the word/phrase inside your mind as you exhale. Ex: Love, kindness, acceptance, humility, etc.
Just Sitting
When the mind is busy and it is hard to stay with counting or with the breath and it feels exhausting to try, just let go. Just sit there and let the mind wander anywhere it wants to go. Watch it objectively or with curiosity. Watch the thoughts without trying to stop them.
Note-Taking
Sometimes the mind is coming up with a lot of "to-dos" and it feels important not to let those go. In these situations, it can be nice to keep a notepad by your side and write a to-do down and then it will stop circling around in the mind.
Heart Breathing
This is great for opening the heart. Visualize the breath entering the lungs through the center of the chest, and then exhale through the mouth or nose. When visualizing the breath entering through the chest, you can also visualize something that evokes the feeling of love and warmth, such as a pet, or someone you love; breathe their warmth through the chest.
