Om’ing Device - Understanding Meditation
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Before I completed my Yoga Teacher Training, I did not have a meditation practice. I definitely dabbled with meditation, though, in a variety of ways. I attended yoga classes and yoga clinics that focused on breathing and breath-work (pranayama). Almost every yoga class ends with the coveted Savasana (Corpse Pose), where one can experience a mini-meditation. I experimented with free apps like Headspace, and ambient sound apps like Insight Timer and Relax Melodies. Other than hearing and thinking that, 'I should meditate' (Hello, Dorkas.) I didn't understand why I should meditate. Not really. I also didn't understand how to meditate. Not really.
The first thing that made me realize I knew very little about yoga and its relationship to meditation was this little tidbit of information:
Yoga means "union" in Sanskrit. The goal of practicing yoga is for people to reunify with our Divine Source (I talk more about the Divine Source, here). We can theoretically achieve union with our Divine Source through stilling the mind. Practices of yoga purify the body and the mind to develop concentration. Perfect concentration leads to a thoughtless mind and superconsciousness (samadhi in Sanskrit). This higher consciousness brings knowledge of reality and peace.*
A sage named Pantajali is considered to be the creator of several Sanskrit texts, including most famously the Yoga Sutras over two thousand years ago. Pantajali described the process of yoga as having eight parts or "limbs"; thus, the system is called Ashtanga (Sanskrit: ashta = eight, anga = limb) Yoga.
The eight limbs of yoga are:
Yama (restraints)
Niyama (observances)
Asana (posture, seat)
Pranayama (control of prana, breath)
Pratyahara (withdrawing the mind from sense perception)
Dharana (concentration)
Dhyana (meditation)
Samadhi (superconsciousness)
While I spent decades practicing what I thought was yoga, I was only consciously practicing one-eighth of actual yoga discipline: asana. Asana is the practice of performing physical poses (a.k.a. a Western Yoga class) for flexibility and strength. Practicing asana is an important component of yoga because it helps people sit for long periods in comfort. Still, if your goal is superconsciousness, you cannot perform asanas alone and expect results without practicing the other seven limbs.
When trying to picture what meditation should be like, I imagine some people visualize scenes of bearded men isolated on mountaintops, or monks silently sitting in incense-filled temples. In the movie "Eat, Pray, Love," we see Julia Robert's character, Elizabeth Gilbert, sitting on a pedestal in a perfect half-lotus position, in a beautiful Asian garden. I feel that these are variations of the expectations that people have for what is required to meditate: a beautiful isolated setting, an extremely long amount of time, and a requirement to sit in a "mediation" pose.
If you haven't tried sitting on the floor for any length of time, you may want to give it a try. I gave floor-sitting almost no thought until I attended my first sessions of Yoga Teacher Training. We had all of our classes and lessons on the floor, and the first couple of days, in particular, were agony for me. I was not alone. I noted that almost all of the students who were with me were continually shifting, adding and taking away props to support their seat, then after a while needing to move again to find comfort and ease while sitting on the floor. Regularly practicing asanas helps alleviate the discomfort, but frankly, the only way to get used to sitting on the floor is by sitting on the floor.
I will interject here that, in my opinion, sitting on the floor is NOT a requirement of meditation. However, I do feel that getting yourself on and off the ground is a sign of good health. If you are not able to comfortably get onto the floor and stay there for a short while, then get up with ease, you may want to address why this action is challenging for you.
If we look at the eight limbs of Ashtanga Yoga again, there are three limbs between asana (posture, seat) and dhyana (meditation):
Pranayama (control of prana, breath)
Pratyahara (withdrawing the mind from sense perception)
Dharana (concentration)
Pranayama is the practice of consciously regulating the breath. While practicing breath control we are also tricking our brains into changing our thought process. This practice can be performed as long as you are sitting with the head, neck and spine erect, but not stiff. You can sit on the floor or in a chair to achieve that.
Pratyahara means ‘withdrawing the mind from sense perception’. It is a process of retracting the sensory experience from external objects. Rather than thinking about removing yourself, pratyahara encourages you to instead reverse your senses by consciously closing your mind to the sensory world.
Dharana means "to hold, carry, support" in Sanskrit. Specifically by holding one's mind onto a particular inner state, subject or topic. Dharana is the thing on which meditation classes try to have us learn. Your teachers and guides hope that with regular practice, you can bring your mind into absolute focus and allow everything other than your connection to your mind to dissolve. Letting go of that focus eventually will enable you to plunge yourself into a meditative state.
We cannot achieve Pratyahara or Dharana if we are uncomfortable. If you force yourself to sit on the floor and contort yourself into a position that is not naturally available to you, you will be thinking about nothing other than how much your back, hips, thighs, knees, or ankles hurt. Withdrawing from your senses will be impossible, and concentrating on one focal point other than your discomfort will be equally unlikely. My suggestion is to sit in a way that works for you. While seated, as long as your torso and head are positioned in a tall, dignified way, then, to me, you are in an excellent position to try meditation.
Meditation is considered not easy for two reasons:
It takes a commitment of daily, regular practice.
It may take a long time to see any gains.
These are the reasons why I feel that meditation is a tough sell for many people. Meditation is like starting a new exercise regime without celebrating a big reveal at the end. Like all things that require some level of skill, meditation takes some discipline. The gains that you experience may be subtle at first, and all on the inside. We live in a world where we want to see dramatic transformation, and meditation is not about that. At least, not in an obvious way.
Here are a few points that can help meditation be more comfortable to digest:
Your meditation practice can start as small as five minutes. You can learn more about breath control and start your practice with that, and slowly increase your meditation as it becomes easier to quiet your mind and allow yourself to focus inward.
Your mind can still benefit from practicing meditation even if you have a long lapse in your practice. Your mind will remember what it feels like to practice meditation once you have figured out what you are doing.
You can practice meditation anywhere, and it requires no special tools or equipment.
Trying to explain what meditation is like trying to explain the colour blue to a blind person, or describing the sound of birdsong to someone who can't hear. I remember sitting in my first meditation class. We talked about how to sit comfortably. We learned about breath and breathing techniques. We heard readings from Hindu scriptures, the writings of gurus, and the musings of poets. We listened to singing bowls, chanted in Sanskrit, and imitated our teachers. Not once did anyone try to describe to me how to meditate. I realized that they simply couldn't because it is such an intensely personal experience that is imperceptible outside of an individual's experience.
I regularly try different meditation and asana classes to learn new perspectives and gain insight into my practice and continue to fuel my teaching. I recently tried an online Ecstatic Breathwork class with Scott Schwenk, and at the end of the course, he described some of the feelings one may have at the end of the class when you allow your breathing to subside and try to settle into a meditative state. His description of meditation is as artful and ambiguous as you would imagine: 'A dark velvety feeling inside that is also luminescent, or maybe you feel a humming vibration inside of you that started during the ecstatic breathing exercise, and continues once you slow your breathing.' As I listen to this description and hear a teacher's voice encouraging my thoughts to 'move inward' and 'dissolve away,' there is something in me that understands and absorbs what these guides are trying to teach me despite how ambivalent the words seem on the surface.
With these gentle coaxings, my mind and body could figure out what meditation feels like to me. What helped a lot was listening and reading prose from people who have a lot of experience meditating. These gifted gurus and authors can open our imagination to the possibility of experiencing a meditative state. They are so eloquent in sharing their world views and experiences as a result of their meditation practice; it allows us to reconsider our perceptions and perspectives of our lives.
I have definitely not reached samadhi. I have felt what it is like to allow your mind to become quiet, though, and it is a pretty neat feeling. I have learned over time from many teachers that the one consistent thing to keep practicing is to gently coax your mind back to your focal point, dharana, with kindness and patience. I have learned that even if you don't feel a direct connection to the Divine Source, there are still many benefits to practicing meditation (This is when the cliché comes out about the journey being more important than the destination).
Benefits of regular meditation:
You become less agitated by things that annoy you.
You begin to sense subtle changes and become more 'in-tune' with your body.
You learn to recognize when and how you react to things that happen around you and can be impartial enough to make a different choice.
You can release tension and pain in your body.
You can relieve worry and anxiety.
You can help yourself to fall asleep.
You can appreciate your surroundings more through your senses: the sound of laughter, the smell of a garden, the taste of your first sip of coffee, the feel of a breeze on your skin.
You can slow your breath, and eventually, lower your blood pressure.
You can gain perspective about what is important to you and what isn't.
You can generate kindness.
Meditation is something everyone can do to improve their mental and emotional health. You can practice anywhere without special equipment or memberships, and meditation courses and support groups are widely available. (I scheduled an online meditation class for the fall.) There's a great variety of styles, each with different strengths and benefits. Trying out a method of mediation suited to your goals is a great way to improve your quality of life, even if you only have a few minutes to do it each day.
I hope I have given you some curiosity and confidence to give meditation a try. There are many resources available in your community and online; you can even practice from your home's comfort and safety. Regardless of where you are in your education of self-discovery, meditation will always be a helpful addition. Breathe on, my friend.
*source: Ashtanga Yoga Primer, by Baba Hari Dass