In the last part of the article, I reviewed the techniques and methods that can be used during meditation to improve attention. But this arsenal of ways to increase concentration is not exhausted. There are techniques that allow you to prepare for meditation, to “center” your mind immediately before practice. Thanks to these techniques, the practice will be much more stable and carry more relaxation, peace and acceptance. You can learn these techniques by reading this article.
But the question does not end there.
You will be surprised, but your lifestyle, your daily habits and even your moral values can influence the degree of concentration during practice! Therefore, today I will also talk about it.
What to do before meditation
Conscious stretching, breathing, yoga
Until now, I meet people who perceive yoga as a kind of physical culture that develops strength and flexibility. This stereotype is reminiscent of the belief that meditation is needed to relax. In fact, the purpose of these practices is much deeper and wider than the relaxation and strengthening of the body.
In the traditional sense, yoga has been used and is used both as a self-sufficient practice of “dynamic meditation” and as a practice preparing the body for “static”, sitting meditation. In the last aspect, we will consider it here.
First, yoga asanas really prepare the body for "just sitting": stretched and developed muscles of the lower back, legs and buttocks allow you to sit in a straight posture longer with less discomfort and pain. Secondly, as a “dynamic meditation,” yoga stabilizes concentration, calms the mind, translates attention from the head, where all disorderly thoughts are piled up, into the body.
In my experience, ordinary sitting meditation may not always help to overcome strong feelings, especially when you are at the peak of nervous excitement. There is a high probability that you will simply “sit out” the time allotted for practice, scrolling through different emotions in your head: imagining revenge on your abuser, imagining various variations of your behavior in a crisis situation, etc.
In my opinion, “body meditation”, in particular yoga (not only as dynamic postures, asanas, but also in the form of pranayama breathing exercises) helps to cope better and faster with strong emotions and annoying thoughts. It stabilizes your mind and prepares it for ordinary meditation.
In addition, yoga helps to mobilize the body's energy resources. It works very well if you are too tired to meditate. Yes, yes, meditation is training. And like every workout, it requires energy.
From various yogis you can hear a good circulation of energy flows in the body due to the performance of asanas, which contributes to deeper meditation. I do not know whether this is true or not, but I can say one thing. After practicing yoga, I feel not only greater peace of mind, but also some kind of internal “charge”, a rod, a balance formed in the space of the body and mind. The feeling is quite pleasant and conducive to the practice.
Even though I do yoga, I'm not a big expert on it, so I will refrain from detailed advice. Perhaps, some exercises will advise you your personal instructor. In my opinion, an excellent arsenal of "energy" yoga practices (so called because they charge energy), which you can do before meditation, is presented in the course of Igor Budnikov.
I recommend it to anyone who wants to improve their practice of meditation, supplement it with new features that will make it deeper and more interesting.
Form intention
There is one belief that can interfere with concentration. This belief is that during meditation can not be tinker. This is not true. Yes, I remember that in the article "how to meditate correctly" I wrote that "if you sat down to meditate, then you meditate." I still think that this advice is suitable for newcomers, who for the first time encounter an enormous stream of thoughts, bombarding the mind every second and distracting their attention. To help them let go of excessive control and tension (“I must concentrate, must, must”), the thought that meditation “failed”, inspire motivation to continue the practice (“I don’t succeed, so I give up the practice”) I give this recommendation.
But if you want to improve the quality of your practice over time, then you should not be tinkering, using the time of meditation as a way to dream and think. You must have an intention, at least this time, to develop your own mind, to improve your inner peace and quiet. Your concentration will be much better if you tune in to practice.
Many different exercises help to tune in to practice. For example.
Speak to yourself a couple of short affirmations: "" I form an intention to watch my breath, "" I plan to devote this short time to myself, "any other affirmations that you come up with for yourself (affirmations must be in real time, not contain particles of" NOT "be smooth and slow).
Perform a ritual, do any action that, on the one hand, motivates you to cultivate, direct work, and on the other, soothes the mind: light incense or a candle in concentration and silence, read your favorite prayer, imagine the image of a person who inspires and awakens you light feelings (A set of exercises from yoga is also a kind of ritual). This will help to treat the practice as something special that requires a delicate approach.
This is the instrumental value of any ritual, prayer. They direct your attention to something sublime, removing him from everyday fuss. Agree, after you direct your mind to the brightest and highest (for example, to your ideas about God), read the prayer, it will be difficult for you to think about where you left your socks or what skirt the secretary will wear from your work tomorrow.
Highlight a separate meditation room. This is great advice, but I understand that it can be difficult to implement in everyday realities. I do not have a personal practice room, like many people. But if you have the opportunity to allocate a separate space for yourself, then do not neglect it.
Remember, being alone in peace and quiet is a rare luxury in the modern world. You do not have much time for this, so use it sensibly. Try not to do a “tick” meditation. I understand that doing “for show” is better than not doing at all. And I am convinced that many novice practitioners do just that. This is natural and normal. But as you develop in practice, try to treat this as something special, one might even say, “sacred,” allowing you to strengthen your consciousness and be alone with yourself. Achieve the most important life goals. Take care of yourself, become happier and calmer. Believe me, in your life few things are more important than this.
What to do between practitioners of "formal meditation"?
What we do every day: at work, at home. That is how we wake up and fall asleep, how we wash in the shower and eat food. All this can also affect the quality of meditation.
Awareness "here and now"
"Tenno came to Nan-inu to visit. He studied with him for more than 10 years and now he taught the students himself. It was raining outside, so Tanno put on his wooden shoes and took an umbrella.
Greeting him, Nan-in asked: “You, I suppose, left the shoes in the hallway, I would like to know, did you leave the umbrella to the right of the shoes or to the left?”
Tanno hesitated. He realized that he did not embody Zen in every moment. Therefore, he returned to Nan-inu and studied for another six years. "
~ Parable
I know what a pleasure it is for meditation teachers to break the myth that meditation is only a fixed sitting with eyes closed. Not only yoga can be a form of meditation, but in general, any action can turn into a practice of awareness, if you do it carefully. Walking, eating, hygienic procedures can also become "informal meditation." This is the topic of a separate article, so here it is short.
During the day, try to devote at least some time to being here and now with immediate sensations. Turn off the TV during breakfast and focus on the taste of the food.
“The greatest value of meditation is when you start to“ carry it out ”into your daily life: use it not only in a quiet room, imbued with the smell of incense, but also in tense working negotiations, in a noisy city traffic jam, in face-to-face communication with your loved one. "
If you walk on the street, stay with the immediate sensations that occur at a given time. As an object of walking meditation, you can choose any sensations: contact of the air flow with your body, sensations in the muscles, breathing, whatever! A good option is to concentrate on the feelings that occur when walking in the legs. I practiced this kind of meditation on one of the retreats.
Walking Meditation Instructions:
- First, the forefoot falls on the heel, followed by a toe.
- At this time, the back foot begins to rise, starting from the heel, gradually releasing from the weight of the body.
- The weight gradually falls on the entire forefoot, and now it is completely on the ground
- The back leg is carried forward, the leg in front is behind, and its heel begins to rise, giving the opportunity, which is already in front, to fall to the ground and take the weight of your body over. The cycle repeats.
This is a natural process of normal walking. But have you ever watched him in such detail? Try it! Such meditation does not require a separate room, no silence, no special time: you can practice it on the way to work, home, to any other place. Only I recommend slowing down the pace of walking.
Another technique that you can do while walking is called 5-5-5.
Technique 5-5-5
- Note 5 things you see
- Note 5 things you feel
- Note 5 things you hear
Such a simple technique allows you to very quickly center your mind and get out of memories, disturbing thoughts and maintain awareness and a sense of "here and now" throughout the day.
Yes, it is very difficult to be aware.
And the most difficult thing is not to concentrate on the moment "here and now." The most difficult thing is to remember that you need to be aware. It constantly flies out of your head, you just forget that you promised yourself to be "here and now" and again plunge into endless thoughts and plans.
Therefore, various reminders are useful here: alarm clocks that ring, say, every hour, reminding you to be "here and now", stickers at home, in the car, short rituals, etc.
The ideal that the parable embodies above is the constant 24/7 meditation, continuous awareness, eternal contact with the moment here and now (Update: the question immediately arises “when and then to think,” I answer it in the comments). It must be understood that this is a very, very difficult attainable ideal (if at all possible). Therefore, do not scold yourself when it will not work. We are not monks.
As they say, "just like the work of the stomach is to digest, the task of the brain is to think." That's why he and the brain to captivate us with memories, tease us with desires, capture plans for the future. This is its natural function. It is very difficult to be constantly aware. Nevertheless, one can at least strive for this ideal.
From "informal" meditation, to how much we manage to be conscious during the day, the quality of "formal" meditation grows. The longer you remain attentive, mindful and calm throughout the day, the better you will be able to concentrate in sitting practice. And the same is true and vice versa! This is a positive feedback.
All of this will improve as the complex practice includes both the formal and informal aspects of awareness.
People often ask me: "I do not have time for formal practice, can I confine myself to the informal one?" I usually answer that of course, if there is no possibility at all, then it is better to engage in informal meditation than none. But it is highly desirable to do both. For example, training in martial arts will not be as effective if you just pair up. In addition, you need to devote time to independent, personal, "formal" practice when you are alone with yourself, slowly working out your tricks, learn to relax your muscles and concentrate on your body.
Ethics
In all the long meditation courses I took, the teachers talked about how important an ethical life is to gain concentration. This explains the strict prohibitions on these courses (No sex, smoking, etc.)
Recall Raskolnikov from "Crime and Punishment." He could not relax even for a second and gather either before the murder of the old woman, the money lender, or after. This act captured all his thoughts and emotions.
Often unethical behavior is associated with strong desires: lust, anger, envy, irritation. Everyone knows how hard it is to pull yourself together at the peak of these emotions. Accordingly, if you are angry with someone, then thoughts connected with anger will completely take possession of you.
For example, in the sexual desire there is nothing bad, it is a natural human need. But unrestrained, uncontrolled sexual activity "takes over" all your attention, becomes the strongest distraction.
Strong, obsessive desires attract your mind as a “magnet”. And very often these desires will be associated with something unethical.
Ethics and meditation are also associated with positive feedback, like formal and informal meditation.
As soon as we begin to meditate, we achieve greater awareness, greater control of desires and peace, a better understanding of other people, less attachment to our “I”, to our whims and instant desires, and, most importantly, a more subtle understanding of “good and bad.” We begin to see something bad in unethical behavior, not because we were told, for example: “to lie is bad,” but because we learn more subtly to feel our consciousness, to feel what hurts it, and what helps, to notice how anger , resentment, lies penetrate deeply into us, causing deep suffering and dissatisfaction. For a conscious person, moral behavior is natural, not normative. He aspires to him, because he does not want to suffer, and not because he was told that some kind of action is bad, sinful and, all the more, not out of fear of punishment.
Peace of mind naturally leads to ethical behavior. The more calm and balanced our mind is, the less we are subject to anger, envy, irritation, the less our passions guide us.
Ps. Striving for morality doesn’t mean scolding yourself for every sin and denying your “dark sides”, remember your shadow.
Practice and life
Meditation, the practice of awareness is not just lazy sitting in one place. This is an action that requires a lot of intention, diligence, purposeful effort.
This is not just a "relaxation technique", but an integrated training of your consciousness. Normal training will be much more effective if you prepare for it a little bit, do a warm-up. Meditation also sometimes requires preparation and a special approach.
Meditation is very closely related to our life. If you practice meditation "in isolation", outside the context of the use of meditation skills in life, then this will not be a big deal. The greatest value of meditation is acquired when you begin to “carry it out” into your daily life: use it not only in a quiet room imbued with the smell of incense, but also during tense working negotiations, in a noisy city traffic jam, in a face-to-face communication your loved one. Only then can practice transform your life.
