January 24 – Mindfulness based Stillness Meditation

Butterfly Ship in a Little Breeze

4 Simple Steps To A Mindfulness Based Stillness Meditation

Meditation is one of the simplest things to do. All you need is something comfortable to sit on, a timer, and quiet. Set the timer, sit, close your eyes, and become aware of your thoughts, feelings, and sensations arising when you turn your attention inward. Notice how your mind will run with a thought. When it does, simply bring your mind back to paying attention.

Cultivating a mindfulness based stillness meditation practice

Preparation, Relaxation, Mindfulness, and Stillness.

1. Preparation is the easy part, the practical details of where you will meditate, your posture, deciding what specific kind of meditation you will try, and everything relating to how you set yourself up to begin the meditation. Preparation involves establishing comfort and ease. We create a conducive external and internal environment for meditation by preparing the location, our posture and our attitude.

2. Relaxation. Here we simply take the time needed to relax our body and mind. A tight or tense body often accompanies a busy or restless mind. We use relaxation techniques to create more spaciousness in the body, which helps in calming the mind and bringing our attention into the present moment. Starting with your right foot, working your way up to the top of your head, then back down the other side of your body to your left foot, relax your body, and at the same time, begin to quiet your mind.

3. Mindfulness is simply paying attention to the present moment. This may or may not be a challenge. Let go of thoughts of judgement, mind reaction, past, future. Let all thoughts flow out. Just be here, now.

4. Stillness. Gradually, by just paying attention without reacting, we become aware of a stillness. Sounds, sensations, even emotions and thoughts just come and go. Free of judgment. Free of reaction. We notice a background of stillness against which sounds, sensations and thoughts come and go, appear and disappear. We become aware of the still and silent presence in just noticing the movement of sounds, sensations and thoughts. In this stillness, awareness is open and undistracted. Stillness is not a static nothingness; it is alive, alert and non-reactive presence.

I normally meditate between 16 to 71 minutes(normal on Sundays) each day. The longest I have meditated in one day was 9 hours (in 3 180 minute sessions). Wow! what a mind awakening experience.

Enjoy Meditating!

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