Discursive Meditation: Useful Tips
Oct. 6th, 2019 01:18 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
ecosophia
The method of discursive meditation covered in last week's post on the subject is the framework for everything you do with this kind of meditation: settle your physical body, let go of unhelpful tensions, use rhythmic breathing to settle your subtle body, and then think, slowly, patiently, with as much mental focus as you can manage, about the theme of your choice. That's the method; know that much, and practice it daily, and you'll find your way step by step through the complexities of the process and achieve the states of increased clarity, perception, and wisdom that meditation brings. Yes, it really is that simple. Are there difficulties? Of course. I've already mentioned that meditation is the most boring activity you will ever experience, and I mean that quite literally. At some points it's maddeningly dull. That's true of every kind of meditation, by the way, and it's essential to its effectiveness. Boredom is always a sign that you're not paying enough attention. Meditation works by teaching you to notice what you don't usually notice, to pay attention to the things you usually slide right by. Thus there are two rules for dealing with boredom in meditation. The first is to keep going; the second is to slow down and pay more attention. That's not easy, but it'll get you through the boredom and help you notice what you've been missing.
You'll almost certainly go through the stage at which your body itches, aches, and throws every other possible annoying and distracting physical sensation at you. All those are sensations that you've been having all along anyway, without noticing them. Now that you're quieting the constant babble of sensory and mental chatter, you're going to notice them. Remain motionless and keep on with the meditation; you can scratch or whatever once your meditation session is over. This is a passing phase and your body will quiet back down after a while.
Many people also go through a stage when, as soon as they start meditation, they get really sleepy. That's another body issue; sometimes it's a way for your body to tell you that you aren't getting enough sleep, sometimes your body simply isn't used to being quiet except when you're going to sleep, and so it treats the meditation session as the lead-in to a nap. Fairly often this is just another passing phase. If it's not, you can add a bit of physical discomfort into the mix. I had a hard time with this early on in my practice, and solved it by meditating stark naked on a metal folding chair -- oh, and did I mention that it was winter? ;-) It was too cold for me to feel drowsy, and that broke my body out of the habit of treating meditation as naptime.
Some other points may be worth mentioning. Most people find that it helps to practice meditation at the same time every day, so that it becomes a habit. Most people find that it's a good idea to wait at least an hour after eating a meal or having sex before practicing meditation -- in both cases, your body has most of its energies directed somewhere other than the thinking centers in the head, and needs time to redirect those. Traditional lore has it that it's a bad idea to meditate while drunk or under the influence of drugs, though a mild dose of caffeine seems to be exempt from that -- Zen monks in Japan drink plenty of tea before meditating, and so do I, with good results.
Finally, there's a habit you may want to try introducing into your practice once you've gotten some experience with discursive meditation. When you're meditating and realize that your mind has gone rabbiting off away after something other than the theme of your meditation, don't just pop it right back onto the theme. Instead, notice what it's thinking about, and then work your way back through the chain of associations that got it to where it was. If you suddenly notice that you're thinking about your grandmother, let's say, stop there and go back. Why were you thinking about your grandmother? Because you were remembering a Thanksgiving dinner at her house when you were a child. Why did that memory come to mind? Because you were thinking about nuts, and she always had bowls of mixed nuts out on Thanksgiving day. Why were you thinking about nuts? Because you thought about squirrels, and the association came to mind. Why were you thinking about squirrels? Because one ran across the roof of your house, and the skittering noise broke into your train of thought and distracted you from your theme.
Do this repeatedly and you'll find that it trains your mind to run back to the theme just as readily as it ran away from it. You'll also become more aware of your habitual thought patterns, which is a serious plus, as this will teach you over time to work with them consciously rather than having them control you unconsciously. Give it a try and see where it takes you.
Mixing business with pleasure
Date: 2019-10-07 06:07 pm (UTC)Tripp