Meditation for Thursday 1st May 2025
Over the years people coming to meditation often arrive with some experience of their own practice, a preference for meditating in a particular way.
There have been those who have dabbled in Zen, umpteen varieties of Buddhist practices, Hindu traditions, many emanating from familiar Yoga experiences, Christian forms such as the popular Orthodox, ‘Jesus Prayer’ , Centreing Prayer and the Christian Meditation Movement that utilises a mantra . This short list is by no means complete for meditation practices are as personalised as each and every individual seeking stillness and silence. (Admittedly there are those that use music or chanting so it is not always complete silence.)
All meditation traditions and techniques involve awareness, relaxation, and concentration. These are essentially present in one form or another.
When people without meditation experience come looking for guidance, I generally suggest they concentrate on the breath and if that is insufficient, I might suggest they compliment the breath by looking at the flame of a candle. Most people close their eyes, though there are some that prefer to have their eyes half open in what we describe as a ‘soft gaze.’
Almost everyone that comes to meditation has a reason for coming. Some to de-stress, others express a need for more calm in their lives and a considerable number have a religious motivation. Some are unsure and others have a list as long as your arm! It’s my belief that whatever the reason they can all be categorised as spiritual. After all spirituality has to do with the transformation of our consciousness and our lives as outcomes of that experience.
I cannot express strongly enough that once you have found a practice that works for you that it’s best to avoid chopping and changing. There is always an attraction for novelty but ultimately it will cause grief as you will drift away from the purpose which is to capture that moment-by-moment, non-judgemental present moment always anchored by the point of concentration, be it the breath, a mantra, a mandala or other forms.
Several contemplative traditions describe the ultimate state of meditation as one of perfect mental mastery. Of course, you will experience the benefits of meditation without reaching or even nearing such mental mastery (at least that’s my experience). Still, it’s an inspiration for our practice!
Meditation
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