"...the strong will survive, but the smart get way further..."
WHAT IS MEDITATION
When talking about Meditation, people often argue about the correct way vs the wrong way. What is the right way to practice and what is the wrong way to practice? Meditation is supposed to be a very simple form of practice, so simple that you cannot get it wrong. But, simple is not easy. Nothing of real importance and meaning comes out easy. Effort is needed. Conscious effort.
A Shaolin Monk has answered this question very beautifully. There is no wrong practice, there is only wrong attitude. We are here to learn. Keep your mind open. Always practice "beginner's mind". That will help us to stay humble, let go of our ego and of what we think we know and then learn better. This way, we may even inspire others. Assuming that you already know what meditation is - how will you learn more about it!? Supposedly, you wanted to study Music. The reason for which you want to study is because you don't know. Besides the fact that you like it, you want to know more about it. If, one day you say that you have learned enough and now you know, then it is much more difficult for you to learn anything new. And there is always something new to learn.
Meditation can be regarded as a spiritual or religious practice. And it can also be regarded as a scientific and medical practice. It is a medical tool that allows our mind and body to REST. So that we can move forward with our lives, we need to take some rest every now and then. To heal our bodies, our minds, and to process the events and the emotional context through which we are passing. Sleep does not always allow us to fully rest. During sleep we may experience dreams and nightmares of which we are not fully conscious about. Next day we wake up in a certain mood and we don't understand why. Next day we wake up tired. Meditation allows us to rest in a conscious way.
ABOUT THE PRACTICE
When talking about Meditation, people often argue about the correct way vs the wrong way. What is the right way to practice and what is the wrong way to practice? Meditation is supposed to be a very simple form of practice, so simple that you cannot get it wrong. But, simple is not easy. Nothing of real importance and meaning comes out easy. Effort is needed. Conscious effort.
A Shaolin Monk has answered this question very beautifully. There is no wrong practice, there is only wrong attitude. We are here to learn. Keep your mind open. Always practice "beginner's mind". That will help us to stay humble, let go of our ego and of what we think we know and then learn better. This way, we may even inspire others. Assuming that you already know what meditation is - how will you learn more about it!? Supposedly, you wanted to study Music. The reason for which you want to study is because you don't know. Besides the fact that you like it, you want to know more about it. If, one day you say that you have learned enough and now you know, then it is much more difficult for you to learn anything new. And there is always something new to learn.
Meditation can be regarded as a spiritual or religious practice. And it can also be regarded as a scientific and medical practice. It is a medical tool that allows our mind and body to REST. So that we can move forward with our lives, we need to take some rest every now and then. To heal our bodies, our minds, and to process the events and the emotional context through which we are passing. Sleep does not always allow us to fully rest. During sleep we may experience dreams and nightmares of which we are not fully conscious about. Next day we wake up in a certain mood and we don't understand why. Next day we wake up tired. Meditation allows us to rest in a conscious way.
ABOUT THE PRACTICE
Shaolin Monks have developed different ways to practice meditation. The most common way to practice is Seated Meditation Cross Legged. Another way to practice meditation is by training Kung Fu & QiGong. Meditation can be Static or Dynamic.
Kung Fu & QiGong are forms of Meditation in Motion.
In order to practice Kung Fu - or anything at all, we first need to have a strong, sharp and calm MIND and a strong and healthy BODY. Kung Fu does not only refer to the fighting art. Kung Fu can be anything. It is about acquiring skill over a certain period of time through hard work and repetition. It can be Music, it can be Cooking, it can be Painting, it can be Designing accessories, clothing, gardens, houses, etc. Whatever we want to do in life, whatever we want to achieve, we need a good mind and a good body to help us with that.
THE BODY
Seated meditation can be practiced anytime anywhere. We recommend sitting crossed legged, on a pillow. The spine is maintained straight, without arching the lower back, without bending the upper back. The chin is slightly tucked in so that we can keep our neck straight and not leave the weight of the head behind. The jaw is relaxed, the mouth slightly open/not fully closed. We may even put a subtle smile on. It will trick our minds into getting in a better mood. The eyes are relaxed and closed so they can rest. The focus of the eyes goes forward, on top of our nose. If the eyes look down while closed in meditation, we get sleepy. We don't have to fall asleep. We need to be sharp, attentive, alert, like a cat hunting. The muscles on our face are relaxed.
The legs are crossed and the pillow will help us keep the hips and the knees on the same level so that there is not too much tension in the lower abs. This posture will allow us to stretch and open our hips and stretch our ankles and knees. The arms are either dropped in our laps with palms facing up or kept in front of the chest in a prayer position. Keeping the palms together in front of the chest will help us keep our upper body straight and will bring our energy into the HEART. We do this so we can aim for a more compassionate and open heart.
The whole body is relaxed, but tensed enough just to maintain this posture without too much effort. We need to let the weight of our bodies drop and find comfort and balance. At first, we may lean back and forth but that will change with practice. We want to achieve complete stillness.
THE BREATH
The breath is the link between our mind and our body. Physical effort changes our rythm of breathing. So does mental and emotional stress. When we are angry or sad we breath in a certain way and the posture of the body automatically changes as well. When we are very very happy our rythm changes again.
Our breath alone can tell us a lot about our physical and mental state. So we need to learn how to listen to our breath and look after it.
When we practice seated meditation, we may first take a number of very conscious breaths. Let's say 9. We breath in and out on the nose. We try to breath as slowly and as deeply as possible, without pushing ourselves to do so and without making any noise. A Shaolin Monk who has inspired me a lot tells us to let the breath breathe itself. When we breath in, we know that we breath in. And we follow with our focus the in breath. When we breath out, we know that we breath out. And we follow with our focus the out breath. Then there is a small gap. In between the breaths there is a small gap, a void. Empty space. We just listen what happens. And the next breath comes and we follow that.
These 9 breaths will allow us to CALM DOWN and to put our minds in a meditative state. After these 9 breaths, we really let the breath breathe itself. We no longer try to control the breath. We just observe it. If we control it for too long we get tired. The body knows how to breath. Let the body breath and it will find its own natural pace.
THE MIND
Meditation is a form of MIND TRAINING.
Our minds get very distracted over the day. There are work schedules, deadlines, appointments, bills, goals, projects, tasks, news, social media notifications, friendships and relationships that need to be taken care of. The body sends us notifications as well. We may experience fatigue, hunger, thirst, discomfort, pain or even sickness.
Our minds can get tired and lose focus and slowly become sluggish due to exhaustion and escapism. We want to escape because we are constantly under pressure and our minds naturally seek peace and relaxation. Our mind is originally peaceful. But it has been exposed and conditioned. Exposed to trauma and conditioned through wrong education. There is a process of understanding the patterns of our minds that needs to be done. Certain things we may need to unlearn, like bad habits and distorted views and wrong attitudes.
We don't always have the strength and motivation or the knowledge to take care of our minds. Sometimes, we are not even aware that there is something about us that we need to take care of. We can find relaxation in certain vices - smoking, drinking, drugs, food, sex - or in certain habits - watching tv, wasting time on social media, shopping, consumerism, etc. All these may give us some temporary comfort but will not help us stay smart, healthy and at peace on the long run.
When we practice seated meditation, we allow all of our thoughts to come and go. We just don't serve them tea, as a great martial arts master used to say. We don't entertain them. We don't allow ourselves to get trapped in our thinking. We don't lose ourselves in our thinking. Naturally, it will so happen. That we lose focus and that we will find ourselves thinking about some random things, time and time again. Important is not to try and stop our thinking, but to try and minimize the duration of time in which we become aware that we have lost focus. The amount of time in which we become aware of our lack of awareness. That also happens naturally. So, just the way we maintain our body posture relaxed and tensed at the same time, in the same way our mind has to stay relaxed but sharp at the same time. If the mind is not relaxed, it soon gets tired. If the mind is not sharp, it cannot react in an intelligent way. During meditation we OBSERVE our thoughts and the reaction to our thoughts without judgement, without knowledge of good and bad, without intent to correct, change or even understand. The moment we try to understand or analyze a thought, we are no longer observing. And when we are no longer observing, thousands of other thoughts will come to us before we are even aware of them.
In our day to day life, we may be stressed about the state of our minds or the general state of ourselves and we may want to change in a certain way. In Meditation, we need to drop all that, we really need to take a rest from everything. We need to let go of our names, our personalities, who we think we are, who we want to become, we need to let go of everything that happens in our heads.
MEDITATION & FIGHTING
Some people may want to achieve a calm and peaceful mind and don't understand the link between Fighting and Zen. While fighting, the body has to be relaxed. The mind has to be sharp. If the body is tense, it first needs to relax and then move and then get tensed again so it can block or hit with power. When the body is relaxed, it can move straight away. If the mind is not sharp, if it is dreamy, worried and sluggish - you get hit. You will not have the time to react in an intelligent way and you will instantly get your feedback for your lack of awareness.
Fighting can be regarded as an Application of Zen. It is not about being violent, it is about learning how to control violence. And the better you learn how to fight, the less violent you need to be in order to stop a fight.
Having a calm and peaceful mind, being confident and fearless, you become able to even prevent fights from happening at all.
But the fighting skills may still be of use to your body, to make your body strong, flexible, sharp, explosive, to make your body have stamina and to make your body easy to use.
GETTING THINGS DONE
In order to study and understand Meditation, we need to PRACTICE Meditation. Understanding does not come from reading all this or even from studying proper scientific researches and teachings of authentic Zen Masters. That is knowledge about meditation. Knowledge is not the same with Understanding. Understanding comes from DOING. Everyday, for 10 minutes, for 30 minutes, for 60 minutes, for 90 minutes. Once, in the morning. Or both in the morning after wake up, and in the evening before going to sleep. Or after you finish your work. Whenever you feel like doing it and for as long as you feel comfortable doing it. Don't push it. Don't be greedy, nor lazy. Quality first. Quantity second. Consistency is key.
This text is my personal view of Meditation, this is my personal understanding of it that comes out of my practice. I am still at the beginning of this Journey called Life and I still have plenty of things to learn and improve about myself. I am here to learn and I am glad to share what I am learning with others who are willing to learn. I am also glad and open to study the understanding of other, more advanced and more dedicated practitioners, so that I do not get stuck in my own perspective.
Everyday, every single session is different. That is why, I believe, it is important to stay humble and open to learning, to keep a kind, forgiving and compassionate heart and preserve a sharp mind so that we can fully enjoy living life and be flexible about it!
