Meditation is more than sitting.

Part Two: An expansion on its theory and practice.

"What's encouraging about meditation is that even if we shut down, we can no longer shut down in ignorance. We see very clearly that we're closing off. That in itself begins to illuminate the darkness of ignorance." - Pema Chodron.

Meditation, in and of itself does not exclusively belong whatsoever to any particular religious faith and belong in the confines of that faith only. In a sense, it is actually a staunch rebellion of having to belong to anything. There is no snobbish Buddhists-only philosophical club that you are not allowed to trek anywhere near. The simple act of meditating is not exclusive to Buddhists at all, and there are no reins within which it should be restricted.

While you are meant to let go of your problems, rampant unpleasant emotions, and certain kinds of thoughts; the way in which you do so, your intent, the time that passes, the style in which you do it, the chosen focus, or lack of a focus, and the extent that you desire to take it, is all up to you. There are a lot of recommendations, but no rules. To quote Sakyong Mipham Rinpoche, "Meditation practice predates Buddhism and all of the world religions. It has lasted through the centuries because it is direct, potent, and effective."

Perhaps we associate meditation with spirituality because when we experience a moment of peacefully abiding, it seems so far-out. Our mind is no longer drifting, thinking about a million things. The sun comes up or a beautiful breeze comes along—and all of a sudden we feel the breeze and we are completely in tune. We think, "That's a very spiritual experience! It's a religious experience! At least worth a poem, or a letter home." Yet all that's happening is that for a moment we are in tune with our mind. Our mind is present and harmonious. Before, we were so busy and bewildered that we didn't even notice the breeze. Our mind couldn't even stay put long enough to watch the sun to come up, which takes two-and-a-half minutes. Now we can keep it in one place long enough to acknowledge and appreciate our surroundings. Now we are really here. In fact, this is ordinary. This is the not just the point of being Buddhist, it's the point of being human. (Rinpoche)

It is with that observation in mind, how I will begin my second meditation session today. Due to being very tired, I've had coffee first (a lot of it), put some cold water on my face and added a few gentle slaps to wake myself up, and due to an intensely painful athletic soreness in my back - today I will be meditating on the couch. Thus, I started my meditation session just after I typed that sentence. I turned all of the lights off and set my alarm for 30 minutes, I chose this time because I knew that my mind would drift a lot as it always does, and I really wanted to feel what I had felt last time.

With my computer asleep I began to try to meditate again, but this time I was at home, which is drastically different than being at a Buddhist temple. As I started to meditate, I really missed that strong scent of incense that I had once smelled sitting in Ekoji. So I thought about lighting a candle, remembering that I had just bought a few brand new ones from Target that might smell great, but then it suddenly hit me that I know myself all to well in that regard, meaning that I would end up over thinking that as well. I know for certain that within minutes of lighting that little scented candle I would then start to wonder why I wasn't smelling it enough, whether or not I should blow that one out and switch to another one, this distracting and irrelevant thought, that distracting and irrelevant thought, etcetera.

Subsequently, I was sitting half lotus-style on the couch with my eyes completely closed, initially thinking incessantly about remembering small details to later put in this post. I was wondering how much time had already past (most likely after only a few minutes), even peeking with one of my eyes at the clock at for a moment. However, I wanted to have this experience. I had already felt many of the benefits of meditation in full-force after just one time and I wanted to feel it again with a passion. I realized somewhat quickly that I would be there for a half an hour no matter what, so I might as well just relax. I was beginning to let go of all of my perpetual thinking about what exactly I was going to write about my experience, how I would phrase it, and what words I would choose. It was then that I began gradually falling deeper into my mind, with much less concern about the things going on in the outside busy world, without a care about minutes, or time.

In total, I most likely fell asleep at least twice, if not a few times more, with each time being a duration of about a couple seconds (as I live in an apartment building, staying asleep midday is highly unlikely) but most of the time I was completely aware. Thoroughly breaking with any true Buddhist posture, I decide to grab onto my cold toes to stay awake and attempted to repeatedly clutch them semi-tightly whilst meditating as a means of not drifting off again. I proceeded to pull my foot further onto my thigh to add more resistance, and leaned my head backward to create some tension in my neck. All of this I did because I thought it would keep me more awake.

I regained focus on the dark black underneath my eyelids that I had been watching while inside of my closed eyes, and returned to noticing the feeling of my breath moving slowly in and out of my stomach. I felt that the most helpful concept as I was sitting there, was to listen and to notice all of the miscellaneous sounds going on around me: the heater's fan-like noise, the crackling of the internet modem and other electronics, people in other apartments coming and going, the planes flying overhead.

After meditating, I cared so much less about the distractions: that of this entry being overdue, getting it in as soon as possible, that girlish-perfectionist personality type goal of my hair and skin being perfect, anything about transferring schools or my figure, anything at all about social media, the future, and even my worrying about cleaning up the room I'm in. I've noticed there is a clear correlation between the distractions one hears while meditating, and the personal struggles that occur within us, and the emotionally stirring distractions that we experience daily in life. I've noticed this, based on only two short periods of meditation so far, and by using myself as the experimentation. There is truly something about letting yourself get a little lost internally and consciously bringing yourself back, that gives you a more proficient awareness of your thoughts, and forces you to be centered.

In conclusion, the time that I have spent meditating has always gone by surprisingly fast. When you consider the length of the average commercial break, the amount of commercial breaks, and the time that you must spend having to wait in line for things in life: the spending of a short amount of time to re-ground yourself to the basic structure of living a good life is not so bad.

Sarah

Works Cited

"Meditation FAQ." Shambhala. Shambhala International, n.d. Web. 21 Feb. 2013.

"Pema Chodron quotes." ThinkExist. ThinkExist, n.d. Web. 21 Feb. 2013.