My Meditative Journey So Far (Learning Meditation)
8 Comments | July 16, 2007 at 11:43 pm by mahud
Filed under Sprituality, Buddhism
Since, looking at Religion from a New Perspective, I have been figuring out how how to meditate.
I’ve been aware of the connection between dream and myth symbols for a while now, but I’ve only recently made the connection between myth and visualization, specifically through meditation.
Personal Mythology and Self-Identity
We all create our own myths or stories about ourselves. Myths tells who we are and where we are, and the give our lives meaning. It’s important to have a healthy personal mythology. For the past fifteen years my personal mythology has been completely the opposite.
I want to use Meditation to begin a new chapter of my own personal myth, perhaps even trash all previous chapters and start the story again from the beginning, using visual meditation as the key to my inner self. I’m not sure if I need to escape my prison or just transport myself beyond my prison walls, and take it from there.
Learning to Meditate
I find visualization simple enough, it’s moving around in my imaginative landscape I find difficult, esp if the meditation is being guided. Too much going on at once makes me loose the mental image. So before I can begin my visualizations I’m focusing on some simple meditation exercises.
I also need to find my meditation posture. It would be cool to do the cross-legged full lotus thing, or even a half lotus, but my legs can’t take the pressure. I find it impossible to get comfortable and relaxed. I came across an article a while ago called, A Druid Meditation Primer, which suggests using a chair, and I really like that idea.
I also discovered another article from Wildmind, a site devoted to Buddhist meditation, that also recommends Meditating sitting in a chair.
I’m a tall chap, so I need to place a cushion on my seat so I can keep my legs comfortably straight. To enable my arms and shoulders to relax, I rest my arms on a second cushion on my lap. Wildmind also recommends that the back of the chair be slightly elevated, and so I’ve placed a couple of coffee mug mats under the rear chair legs.
I find that this position works for me.
How you sit is not really that important, but you should keep your spine as straight as possible and be relaxed.
Meditation Exercise
Breathing is another important aspect of meditation. Doctors and Therapists recommend breathing exercises to people (like me) who suffer from anxiety, And it really helps to calm both the mind and the body.
Before I sit down to meditate, I set my alarm for twenty minutes and 30 seconds, using the half minute to get into position.
The meditation exercise I’m using comes from The Blooming Lotus written by a Vietnamese Buddhist Monk called Thich Nhat Hanh.
It consists of two stages
Stage One
- Breathe In (Calm Body)
- Breathe out (Smile)
Stage Two
- Breathe In (Live in the Present Moment)
- Breathe out (It is a Wonderful Moment)
My mind likes to wander all over the place, and I mix up the order a bit, and start smiling when I’m breathing in, etc, but the more I allow myself to focus on the meditation, the easier it becomes.
I’ve also experimented meditating to music. I have a 73 minute instrumental complete with vocal mantra called Breath of Odin by Julian Cope, which makes things kinda interesting.
That’s my meditative journey so far 
