Meditation ~ When You Don’t Know How . . .
There is a lot to understand of meditation and my first and foremost basket full of un-educated assumptions had been the following things;
- Some silly process that makes me giggle at the foolishness of how it physically looks and how it may or may not sound; (silence in lotus position?)
- It was for hippies- what is a hippy? Long haired weird people who dress funny and believe in naive peace.
- It was for monks or Buddhists or those having a break down.
- Placebo/imaginary effects, whatever the effects.
Despite my ignorance, it is something I was still intrigued by. My hesitancy came from a question of not knowing how or what to do beyond closing my eyes. Stillness wasn’t a state that I had ever considered with much analysis.
HOW?
My very first practice into the question of how, came from a mobile phone application that offered a free ten day trial for ten minutes of meditation each day. THAT, I could do for educational purposes only without;
- Laughing
- Being a hippy
- Being a Buddhist monk
- Being tricked for any particular reason
Any one of the above equating to self-judged shame, a very personal and ignorant insecurity.
.
Anyway, little over a year ago, the journey began with a download of Headspace. Ten days was an easy commitment and the application itself is simple, animated and coaching in an interesting way. Being alone or staying still, isn’t a state I had even been truly aware of until it was the main focus in Headspace. The only considerations I had been sure of, was that I didn’t particularly like silence or lack of company. I didn’t even recognise it was something I could choose.
.
Choosing it isn’t easy, the practice isn’t easy. The acceptance of distraction and autopiloted imagination/thought has been so programmed and deep in my sub conscience mind that not choosing it had never been an option. Mastering this takes control and brain training. Meditation.
My next point of reference continued on from another easy flow of information. An audio book! Namley – Mindfulness, A practical guide to finding peace in a frantic world, by Mark Jacobs. Similarly, this book taught me a lot about noticing. Awareness in every mapped process in the brain, before it slot into autopilot. Mildly longer exercises spanning over a 8 week period help to isolate sensual processes and so, in turn, give you some sort of chance in controlling what you see, hear, smell and instantaneously deduce.
Apparently, 8 weeks is when a study can exibit physical changes in brain imagery. Neuro-plasticitic changes. Don’t ask me, believe Ted, Ted-Ex. At this point, I did consider one big conspiracy, of a fake un-researched neuroscientist. However, I bore no desire in source validation and so, just assumed the below experiment and talk, did indeed take place.
So moving onto the future, I would like to learn more about mediation and more of the different techniques that I could employ to train my complicated and over mapped brain.
My next step would likely be to visit a temple for meditation lessons and practice. I have walked past one at 330 Caledonian Road, London – https://rigpa.org.uk/london/events/. With the location being less then ten minutes walk from my home, it is again, too easy for me to not explore, and to me, training the brain does not sound so different as training the body.
– written by HoiYan C – Blogger at MyLondonCry
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