Words Less Spoken
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My Yoga Practice
Exploring our actions & livelihood as part of the Eightfold Path that promotes well-being. A talk by Lyndon at Cenla Meditation Group on 5/7/13.
Someone generously donated funds for 20 of these brand new cushion sets for our meditation group recently. Now we just need to fill them with people. Sun & Moon gave us a great deal, and they are really well made, if you’re looking for a set.
blackwhitecupcake said:: what about all the psychological aspects that take part in the formation of “self”.Your answer made me realize that the way we experience reality depends on our past experiences, how we were brought up and the image we have of ourselves.
Lyndon:: Our past definitely shapes our experience of reality, but the idea of past is just another mental formation. It doesn't exist outside of the storehouse of our memory anymore than the future. So we don't have to be held hostage to it or bound by it. We can choose differently any time. We don't have to keep replaying the same old footage, reliving the same tired old dramas. We can see them for what they are, let go, and move on. There is only the present moment, as we perceive it.
Who am “I”?
My reply to a question I received, “what is self?”.
The question is the answer so to speak. “Who am I?” It’s one we keep asking deep into practice.
We typically identify self with form. We think of ourselves as solid things, but we are human “beings” not human things. Our bodies are alive and constantly in a state of change. At the atomic level there is constant energy that we perceive to be a solid state. Our bodies are a verb not a noun, and they are constantly “verbing” all the time.
Whenever consciousness touches form, sensations arise, whether physical or mental. Whenever there are sensations, there is always our perception of the sensation as positive, negative, or neutral. We create new formations based on our perception of the sensations, ie thoughts about the sensation or reactions to them. Our consciousness touches those formations and the whole cycle repeats itself, sometimes hundreds of times in a moment. It’s how we experience reality, and somewhere in that rapidly repeating cycle we perceive that there is a sense of self. That is known as the “five aggregates” of existence.
In meditation when we step back from mental formations (opinions and reactions), we can just watch our sensations without judging them. You can’t stop them, but you can watch them, come and go… arise and pass away. Now, who is watching? Who is the witness? Who am “I”? Have fun with that one.
“
Maharaji told us to meditate like Christ, and when I asked him how to do that, Maharaji closed his eyes and sat in front of us, completely still; so still that it felt like the whole world stopped turning.
After a couple of minutes, two tears came down his cheek, and then he opened his eyes, looked at us and said, “He lost himself in love. That’s how he meditated. He’s one with all beings. He never died, no one understands. He lost himself in love.”
”Ram Dass
“Contemplation is a way to describe what Jesus did in the desert. It is not learning as much as it is unlearning. It is not explaining as much as containing and receiving everything, and holding onto nothing. It is refusing to judge too quickly and refining your own thoughts and feelings by calm observation and awareness over time—in the light of the Big Picture.”
Richard Rohr
Meditation: When, Where, and How?
Anonymous: Hey I’m kinda new to mediating and I really want to get serious about and would just to know if have any tips for such as posture, place, time and etc.. I would really appreciate. One love
Sure. You can practice anywhere, anytime, in any posture, but there are some conditions that may help you calm down and be more centered. Thich Nhat Hanh talks about stopping, calming, resting, and healing, which I find very helpful.
Just find a quiet place where you can be alone. You don’t need a special altar or cushion to practice. You may find it easier in the beginning to practice in a place with less distractions.
You may want to experiment with different times of day to see what works for you. Not everyone is a morning person, but there is usually more alertness and focus in the mornings. Others who are night owls may have no problem practicing late at night before bed without becoming too sleepy. You may be able to steel away for a few minutes during the day to a park or chapel somewhere. Do whatever works for you.
Consistency will be more helpful than longevity. You don’t have to set new world meditation records. Even 5 minutes everyday can be very helpful and give you a practice that doesn’t frustrate you and that you can build upon.
You can practice walking meditation, sitting, or even lying down, though lying down is likely to cause sleepiness if you’re practicing late at night. In seated meditation just find a comfortable cross-legged seated position. Don’t worry about full lotus position, which is difficult for most of us. You can sit half lotus, simple cross-legged, or whatever is comfortable for you.
It’s important to sit upright with your spine upright but not rigid. Even if you need to sit in a chair because of back problems, sit toward the front of the seat with your back off the chair but upright.
You can cup your hands in front of you or just lay them on your thighs. If you grab your knees, it may tend to lean you forward and put a strain on your back. If you keep your hands near your hips, you may notice you lean back. A good trick is when you sit down just to rock your torso around in all directions then settle in the center that feels right for you and let your hands fall naturally on your thighs.
You can sit with your eyes open or closed. It’s up to you. You may find it less distracting in the beginning to sit with eyes closed, unless it’s late at night and you feel sleepy. If you sit with eyes open, just let your gaze fall down and out in front of you a few feet, sort of out past the tip of the nose somewhere. Find a focal point and just rest your gaze there. Not straining, not spaced out. Just resting.
There are several posts on the meditation page of the blog that have instructions for different types of practice that you may find helpful.
Namaste
Mindfulness in a Wireless Age
We need mindfulness practice in our lives more than ever because we’ve come to believe that we can like, follow, and retweet what agrees with us and ignore, block, and spam what doesn’t.
Lyndon
“The scary stuff and the beautiful stuff both come in practice. Our work is to relate with awareness and compassion.”
Sharon Salzberg (via twitter)
Hi :) I'm exploring Buddhism, meditation, yoga and all those stuff that come along, trying to get some peace into my life because I'm very veeery anxious person and I had panic attacks, but I can't hold on to think positive. So nothing changes, and I'm constantly in fear. I was wondering if you could tell me with what can i start, what's the first step to inner peace. I really appreciate the opinion :) Thank you in advance!
Anonymous
Meditation isn’t the power of positive thinking. It’s about being aware of all your thoughts, feelings, and sensations, including and especially the negative ones. Awareness is enough to transform our suffering into wisdom and compassion. I wrote several posts about beginning meditation on the meditation page of the blog. Loving kindness meditation is a good place to begin again :)
“Mindfulness allows us to watch our thoughts, see how one thought leads to the next, decide if we’re heading down an unhealthy path, and, if so, let go and change directions.”
Sharon Salzberg, “Real Happiness”
There’s a new Podcast Page on the blog. Check back for new podcasts uploaded each week, or you can subscribe to the podcast feed
“A very good place to become familiar with the way mindfulness works is always close by—our own bodies. Investigating physical sensations is one of the best ways for us to learn to be present with whatever is happening in the moment, and to recognize the difference between direct experience and the add-ons we bring to it.”
Sharon Salzberg, “Real Happiness”
“Silence is meditation without mental activity. The inner silence is self-surrender and that means living without the sense of the ego. Silence comes into being when the individual is completely free from ego, when he surrenders himself totally to the Lord.”
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