Niềm An Vui - Meditation

Meditation

Meditation is being quiet, finding a center, being in the present moment, seeking awareness and calm.  Though it is spiritual, it is not necessarily "religious".  You can use methods of formal meditation as well as techniques for being mindful and "awake" throughout each day.

The simplest formal meditation method is watching the breath.  Sit comfortably, whatever that is for you.  Let your eyes close gently.  Invite your body to relax and release into the ground or cushion.  Become sensitive to and listen to your breath.  Breathe through your nose.  Feel the air as it goes in and out of the nostrils.  Feel the rising and falling of the chest and abdomen.  Allow your attention to settle where you feel the breath most clearly.  Focus there.  Follow the breath.  Allow the breath to be as it is without controlling it.  Thinking will start.  It is a habit.  See each thought like a railroad car of a train going by.  See it, acknowledge it, let it go, and come back to the breath.  It does not matter how many times you get caught up in a thought or for how long.  Begin again and bring awareness back to the breath.  If a physical sensation or pain arises, do the same.  See it, acknowledge it without getting caught up by it, let it go, and come back to the breath.   For twenty minutes follow your breath with bare attention.  When your mind wanders, stop and come back to the breath.

Meditation is the best tool we have to deal with thinking.  Every time we let go of a thought to return to the breath we are gaining the skill we need to develop our minds.  Throughout the day mindfulness allows us to catch an unskillful thought rising, and regular meditation enables us to let it go before we end up on the thinking merry-go-around.

Barbara Ann Kipfer, Phd