Meditation for Thursday 8th June 2023

Today let’s remind ourselves of some basics. We close our eyes while we reflect on the following…….

When we meditate we sit down, preferably in a straight backed chair and become still. We make sure that we are sitting upright with a straight back.

We close our eyes lightly; some people like to have their eyes a little open in what’s called ‘a soft gaze’.

Choose what is comfortable and what works for you.
We make sure that we are comfortable and relaxed but not to the extent that we might fall asleep.

Interiorly, silently we concentrate on the breath, breathing in through the nose and breathing out through the nose. Some people recite a single word – a prayer word or mantra.
We breathe normally and give our full attention to our breath.

The essence of meditation is simplicity. We stay concentrating on the breath during the whole meditation and in each meditation day after day, after day.. We don’t visualise and enter into any commentary on what we might hear or indeed those distractions that enter our head but we listen to the breath.

We let go of all thoughts, even good thoughts, images and words.
We don’t fight our distractions, we let them go by… faithfully concentrating on the breath gently and attentively, returning to it as soon as we realise that our attention is wandering.

Most traditions recommend that we meditate twice a day, morning and evening, up to 20 minutes. This is the ideal but for many this ideal is onerous. We need to adapt to our circumstances.
We must not allow ourselves to be discouraged as it may take some time to develop this discipline.
Meditate
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