Encouraging Our Meditation
by Tulku Thondup
It will
be helpful to consider some logistical issues and tips on how we might
encourage ourselves in meditation.
SOME PREPARATIONS
Sit in the right position. Sit in a way that helps
you feel physically at ease and mentally alert. It is helpful to keep
the spine more or less straight and to hold the upper body erect as if
you were pulling it up slightly.
If your spine is straight, your breathing will be natural, the flow
of energy will be unimpeded, and your mental functioning will be
unhindered. If you are sitting on a chair, the soles of your feet
should rest flat on the floor if possible. It helps you to be grounded.
It is not beneficial to lean against anything unless you need to. Do
not keep any object on your lap, as it could cause a subtle distraction.
Decide whether to keep your eyes closed or open. It is better to keep your eyes open, because this facilitates clarity and wakefulness.
If you are not an accomplished meditator, however, then it will be
easier and more appropriate to keep your eyes closed, as this will
prevent you from seeing any distracting physical objects or movements.
So your eves can be open or closed, depending on your needs. If you
choose to meditate with your eyes open, try keeping them half open and
looking into space about two feet beyond the tip of your nose.
Relax the muscles. If you feel tight or tense, slowly
and gently tighten all the muscles in your fists and then the muscles
of your whole body. Then release them with a feeling of relaxation in
the muscles. Enjoy the feeling of relief from the tightness and repeat
this a few times if you like.
Breathe naturally. Breathing normally and naturally is
a great support for meditation. The relaxation can be deeper if you
relax your stomach muscles, so that the breath comes freely from the
area of the diaphragm. Also, it is relaxing to keep your mouth slightly
open, even if you are breathing through your nose.
Breathing techniques vary according to the purpose of your
meditation, whether it's to foster a contemplative state or to
encourage the movement of energy. Mostly, you are interested in
natural, relaxed breathing that promotes a calm mind.
If your breathing feels stifled or uncomfortable while you are meditating, do one of the following exercises:
Concentrate more on two aspects of the breathing, inhaling and
exhaling, with the inhalations shorter and the exhalations longer. Or
count your breaths. An especially relaxing exercise is to simply focus
on your exhalations. This releases tension and frees up the breathing.
If your breathing seems constricted, bring your awareness to the
feeling of the breath's being held back or blocked. Don't try to do
anything about it but just be in touch with that feeling. Then exhale a
deep breath and think and feel that the constriction is entirely
cleared, and all blockages are totally blown away, like unclogging a
faucet. Feel and believe that your breathing is now moving naturally.
SOME TIPS FOR MEDITATION
During
meditation, if you experience uneasy sensations pressure, stress,
suffocation, worry, or pain you could use any of the following
exercises that you find appropriate:
Take a couple of deep breaths and expel the sensation of worry or discomfort with the outgoing breath. Feel the peace.
With the outgoing breath, send the sensation far away in the form of dark clouds that dissolve into the open, empty, clear sky.
Think of the word and feeling of "boundlessness."
Think and feel that your body is boundless, that even its cells
are boundless. Allow your breathing to relax in the boundless feeling,
as though your breath were totally free and without limits or
constrictions.
Think and feel that all the cells are breathing, in and out, directly through the pores of your body.
Imagine your body as if it were a body of light. Light is intangible and free. Feel what that would be like.
Be aware of any uneasy sensation in an open way, without judging
it and without wanting to push it away or cling to it. Continue to
breathe naturally and remain in the state of mere awareness. Open
awareness is considered a high form of healing and can help anyone,
during meditation as in the rest of life.
If you feel as if you were floating, imagine that your body is
filled with light that somehow has a heavy quality. Although light is
insubstantial, we could think of it as heavy, the way air is weighed
down by moisture or the way the earth's atmosphere exerts air pressure.
Or just remain in open awareness of the floating sensation, without
judgment, worry, or grasping.
DURATION OF MEDITATION
People
often ask me how long and often to meditate. No one way suits everyone.
Spending more time is better, but it depends on the individual's needs
and potential. If you have demands on your time and energy, then the
effort to meditate could just create more of a burden.
So you should meditate as much as you can but only for as long as you feel comfortable.
Generally, training in meditation begins with a phase in which you
introduce your mind to the practice. After you have laid a good
foundation, it is a matter of maintaining and refreshing your habit of
a more peaceful mind.
In the introductory period, two approaches are possible:
1. If you are meditating in a gradual and relaxed way, it might be
important to practice for at least a couple of hours every day for a
couple of months.
2. If you are meditating more intensively, it might be appropriate
to meditate for many hours every day for a couple of weeks. If you have
never meditated before and find yourself struggling, the gradual way
might be better.
When you are maintaining your practice, it is best to meditate every
day or at least every other day. Otherwise, you will lose the
continuity you have achieved by your previous meditations. Spending
more time is always better, but practicing for thirty minutes or so
every day or every other day ensures continuity and increases the
healing power of meditation.
Whatever your experience, if you meditate for hours, take short
breaks of five minutes or so every half hour or hour. It will help you
keep alert, clear, and energetic. During breaks, don't get involved in
distractions such as talking with people or watching TV. Instead, do
something that eases any mental or physical fatigue caused by sitting
and concentrating. You could look at the open sky, breathe some fresh
air, enjoy a couple of sips of water or tea, or do some simple
stretches.
During meditation, you shouldn't put any pressure on yourself, rush
to finish this and that, or become mechanical. With a relaxed mind, let
the meditation unfold at a natural pace, like the flow of a stream
through a wide open plain.
This article was excerpted from
 Boundless Healing: Meditation Exercises to Enlighten the Mind and Heal the Body
by Tulku Thondup.
Reprinted with permission of the publisher, Shambhala. ©2000. www.shambhala.com
Info/Order this book.
Another article by this author.
About the Author
Tulku Thondup was born in Tibet and studied at the Dodrupchen
Mastery. He fled to India in 1958, where he taught for many years. In
1980 he moved to the United States as a visiting scholar at Harvard
University. His many books on Tibetan Buddhism include The healing
Power of Mind, Masters of Meditation Miracles, Enlightened Journey, and
The Practice of Dzogchen.
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