Meditations
As
a general note, all these meditations should be done with full feeling.
In other words engage your capacity to feel completely – don’t hold
back. You can develop your capacity
to feel over time, enabling you to feel better in both sense of the word.
None of these meditations are designed to be done in a dry, mental,
unfeeling and detached way. If I
ask you to detach yourself from something it is only to reveal the nature of
what such attachments hide. The
only way you experience anything is through feeling – even thought is known by
being felt. So even if you do not
consider yourself a feeling person, you do, in fact, do nothing else but feel.
1.
Breath in the good, breath out the bad
A good exercise to use at the start of a
meditation period. Do it with your
thoughts, emotions and anything else you want to transform.
Can also be done anytime during the day to help restore your balance.
2.
Follow the breath
Exercises and disciplines attention.
As you notice your attention has wandered simply bring it back to
noticing the breath. Remain relaxed
and indifferent to whatever else is going on.
3.
Be aware of sounds
Be aware of what you can presently hear.
As the meditation progresses you may become aware of the more subtle
sounds going on inside your body. If
your attention wanders bring it back to present sounds.
This helps develop the capacity to be in the now.
4.
Be aware of visual perception
Do this with the eyes open.
Sometimes a candle is used as a focus.
You could also use a “Mandala” which is a sacred picture said to
represent the Divine. As for
sounds, when your attention wanders simply bring it back to what you can see.
5.
Be aware of kinaesthetic sensations
This includes all body sensations such as, feelings of weight,
temperature, subtle movements, breathing, etc.
Keep your attention on the feeling of the body and what it feels.
Invariable your mind will intrude and you will be aware of thoughts and
possibly distracted by them. Well,
that is good, that’s what is supposed to happen and the point of the
meditation. You are training
yourself to not pay so much attention to your thoughts.
So, if and when your attention wanders, notice that it has and focus it
back on the feeling of your body.
6.
Observe bodily perceptions
Be aware of the input from the 5 senses.
Simply notice whatever your
attention is drawn to. Should your
attention wander from what you merely perceive then bring it back to a present
perception. This will help you
connect more to the present.
7.
Observe the mind and its contents
Initially when you do this it is likely to be
the mind observing the mind. In
time and with practice you will be able to feel beyond the mind and observe the
mind from there. If your attention
wanders into the mind and its content then simply bring yourself back to the
position of observation.
8.
Circular breathing
As you breath in, feel energy moving down the
front of your body, turning round at base of your body and then, as you breath
out, feel it flowing up your spine. You
may feel energy continue up the spine and into the head and even beyond.
This meditation exercise helps to conserve outward
going energy and attention and promotes balance and equanimity.
9.
Feel through a present feeling to a greater feeling
Whatever you are feeling there is a greater feeling behind it.
Feel into your present feeling, feel through it and beyond it, relaxing
and releasing it into the feeling behind it.
If you continued this process through to the end you would end up with
the “greatest” feeling. This feeling is one of love, bliss and oneness.
This exercise can be done at anytime.
As you become more sensitive to the feeling dimension of your being you
will notice how you come to feel the “lesser” feelings and also how to
quickly release them into a greater feeling.
For example, you notice you feel stressed then you feel through it,
relaxing and releasing it into a comfortable and calm feeling and so on.
10.
Letting go
Whatever is before you relax your hold on it, release it and let it go.
Do this with everything that arises before you, be it a thought, a
feeling, a state or whatever. You will gradually and effortlessly fall into the infinity of
your true self.
11.
Discriminate between yourself and experience
Make a distinction between what is “you” and what is not “you”.
You might simply ask yourself of whatever is before you “Is this me?”
Feel what is “you” and what is not “you”.
This will move you step by step closer to the feeling of your true self.
It has the effect of removing what is not “you” so that in the end
all that is left is “you” and there is nothing that is not “you”.
12. Notice all experience arises within awareness
Put simply
there is experience and there is the awareness of experience.
Experiences arise to and within awareness. There is no “you” apart from experience and awareness.
Any “you” felt to exist apart from these two is merely another
experience. You will end up with
greater clarity as to exactly who or what “you” are.
When it is clear that you are awareness, which is the same as
consciousness, you can go on to the meditation where you contemplate
consciousness.
13.
Who am I? What am I?
Where am I?
Best only to do this if you can do it with feeling, otherwise it will
tend to just stimulate the mind, which would not be that productive.
Feel the “answer” to each question.
In time the question becomes non-verbal and is simply a feeling
intention.
14.
Be the witness
Observe everything that arises
Feel and give it full attention
Remain impassive towards what arises
Feel the separateness that everything observed
embodies
Feel that the witness does not embody separateness
Feel that you are the witness
Observe the feeling of relatedness
Feel and observe how attention arises from mere
awareness
Feel the love and bliss that is there where you, mere
awareness, are.
Allow attention and all feelings of separation and
relatedness to dissolve in love and bliss
15.
Contemplate consciousness
You are consciousness and as such you can contemplate yourself.
If this is attempted before consciousness has awakened sufficiently then
it tends to be the mind meditating on the idea of consciousness.
Consciousness is the senior principle of life.
It is the origin of our feeling of being, it is very existence.
As you contemplate consciousness you come to realise that you are
consciousness. As consciousness you
feel yourself to be radiant as love and the world begins to dissolve in this
radiance. You see that not only is
consciousness the senior principle in life but it is the only principle.
Everything that appeared other than consciousness is recognised to be the
“form” of consciousness and dissolves in it.