Meditation made easy

Grandmaster Hui Liu always emphasized the importance of practicing both the active and passive aspets of Dayan Qigong. ”The Form,” she explained, “is a moving meditation, the Yang expression of Dayan Qigong. Sitting meditaiton is the Yin expression of it. If you practice the Form, but do not practice meditation, your Form will be empty.”

One roadblock I see is that people often make meditation too precious as a concept. They associate meditation with silence, stillness, or the idea of a completely quiet mind. “I can’t meditate,” they say sometimes with pride, sometimes with exasparation. “I have too much of a monkey mind.” To those people . . . and my students, I ask, “Have you ever gone into another room to get something (let’s say the kitchen, garage or bedroom), and upon arriving could not remember why you were there? Turns out, the question is not, “HAS that ever happened.” The real question is, “HOW OFTEN does that happen.”

The mind is such a powerful tool. it can literally move you from one room to another and leave you standing there wondering why . . . while it flits off to some other topic. The mind is a tool. It is a tool for noticing contrasts (degrees of same and difference), a tool for navigation, strategic planning and problem solving. Our minds should not be keeping us up at night, creating anxiety, or running us ragged however.

So I think it’s helpful for beginning students to think of Meditation as nothing more than a practice of regaining control over your mind. Meditation requires seat time or some kind of sustained focusing activitiy: Standing meditation, Walking meditation, Sitting meditaiton. Likewise sustained tasks like weeding the garden, cooking, washing dishes, quilting, and all kinds of artistic endeavors can also become very meditative activities.

We live in a society constantly bombarded with too much input, media, and information. Meditation is a gift we give to ourselves, like a no-cost, mini-vacation from work, worry or pproblem-soving.. Developing a regular meditation practice is a wise, easy selfcare goal anyone can achieve to relieve stress, improve grounding, and renew one’s spirit. The trick is to start slowly, set “do-able” goals that fit within your everyday lifestyle, and to create time for yourself as a priority, even if it’s only 5 or 10 minutes.

A simple recipe for success is to 1) choose a specific time, place and style of meditation that appeals to you (e.g., Standing, Walking, or Sitting meditaiton); 2) write down the specifics of your commitment. Writing something like: “8 PM, living room, Monday, Thursday evenings, and 9 AM on Saturday morning” concretizes the appointment you are making with yourself. Subliminally, everytime you walk by that spot in your living room you will be reminded of your commitment. And 3) Keep your practice simple. Give your mind a single focus (maybe just noticing everywhere in your body that you experience the “in breath” as you are breathing in, and the “out breath” as you exhale . . . not controlling your breath . . . just noticing. Notice how quickly your mind begins to wander. As it does, gently return your attention to your breath. Remind yourself that it’s okay to be quiet now. This is the process of regaining control over your mind, rather than allowing your mind to run you ragged. If in a 5-minute meditation you had to corral your mind 50 times, I would say you had a very successful meditation experience. Good news: The more you do this, the easier it becomes to quiet your mind.

It’s helpful for people who are new to meditation to start with just 3- 5 mnutesa day, maybe two or three times a week. Acknowledge your progress and success while achieving your goals. When the first goal becomes easy, either increase the number of times per week OR lengthen the amount of meditation time by a small (do-able) increments of time.

And be kind to yourself. Remember: Flowers do not effort and neither should you. Medittaion is the art of allowing ourselves to just BE.