Meditation Lesson 2: Tuning into your own 24/7 HD Channel

To understand what we're doing when we meditate, it helps to know the original Sanskrit for the effort, bhavana, can be translated as "mental development." When Tibetans imported the practice, they deliberately chose instead to call it gom, which translates as "to familarize" or, if you prefer, to become familiar with. In other words, meditation is simply the process by which we discover how our own private mind actually works. We just have to dive in.

We are clueless only because we haven't. We've never bothered to even tune in. Our lives have been entirely outward bound, outwardly focused on all the hubbub around us. We think of ourselves as control freaks, yet ironically, we have no idea what's really controlling us and therefore how out of control we really are. 

In Lesson 1, when we just stopped for a minute, literally a minute, and for the first time ever peeked inside, we made the I bet shocking discovery that our mind is a runaway, a daredevil that doesn't want to stay home and be with us. It lives on the streets. By running back to replay what we've already done, or racing ahead to imagine what we're going to do, our mind makes daydreamers out of us. It forces us through our lives like drivers who sit at a red light and until horns start honking, don't notice the signal's green, drivers so distracted, they can't remember how they got where they ended up. Daydreaming makes us sleepwalkers; meditation helps us to wake up. 

Why should we want to do that? Mainly because there are no limits on the glory that can be achieved when all the energy of the mind is working in perfect tandem with all the energy of the body.  Mind and body as the same team is the essence of "peak experience."  It's the meaning of enlightenment. Perhaps more importantly on an everyday basis, it's the cure for our subtle stress and sharp emotional pain. . Meditation is like a police hunt for the culprit who won't stop bothering us, the one holding us back. (Spoiler alert: we're going to find out that we are our own worst enemy.) Meditation shows us that when our mind runs away from where we actually are and what we are doing, we can't see straight and thus get into all kinds of trouble. We cause ourselves suffering because we cannot respond with wisdom and skill.  The Buddha called his teaching medicine for the mind. He said it was the way to end our suffering. And in fact it is. Best of all, when we learn how to help ourselves stop suffering so much, we're going to be able to help others too.

So there's nothing to do but be Inward Bound and familiarize ourselves with our very own mind. It's good to do the 60-second sit again to see what you can see this time. Try it for 2 minutes, even 3.  Just notice how you start out counting your breathing cycle maybe one, two or three times and then what? Just try to discover what is going on. Just watch. My teacher says we should just watch our mind like a birdwatcher focusing their attention on the species they've spotted.  They just watch it. They don't try to control it and they definitely don't judge it. They just watch to become familiar with its ways.  That's how we should watch our own mind while we are learning to meditate.

It's optimum of course to meditate sitting very quietly in a comfortable chair or on a fat floor cushion if you are able. The reason the Buddha suggested crossing ankles or sitting cross-legged is to blur distracting distinctions like left and right, so do that if you are able. Rest your hands palms down on your thighs or knees, and leave your lips slightly ajar so air flows. It will help immeasurably if you can sit erect instead of slouched. Sitting erect makes you a warrior unafraid to face whatever happens. It also helps energy flow more freely through your body to keep it relaxed. The point is to get your body situated comfortably enough to not have cramps or itches or pains that distract you from watching your mind.

Try this simple mind watching meditation twice a day if you can. Just watch for a minute or two to learn. And never feel bad about anything you discover. It's all good because it's helping you get better at life. If it wasn't there, you'd have nothing to work with, no fertilizer to make perfection grow. This is very important to remember. Everything you need to reach perfection is right there inside you just waiting to be discovered. This is a practice in which all that toxic stuff works like homeopathic medicine to cure you.

And by the way, here's more good news.  Meditation is a very portable practice. You can try one minute of it while standing in the endless post office line, ignoring a commercial on TV, riding public transit, even lying in bed. Just not while driving, okay? 

You're going to find your mind is a fascinating 24/7 running news channel you can tune into at any time.







~Sandy Garson "Wordsmithing to attest how the Dharma saved me from myself!"
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