Day 2 – Samatha – Breathing Meditation – Mindfulness of Breath

Just as we detox and clean our body through diet and drinking lots of water, we can detox our mind. We’re all aware of disease caused by or exacerbated by stress. On the other hand, when we are relaxed and feel at ease, our body stops producing stress hormones. Meditation helps calm the mind and bring the body back into balance.

There are many ways to meditate. And some will resonate with you, perhaps some won’t. Today we’ll practice a method called Shamatha or Samatha meditation. It’s an ancient method of meditation originating from the Buddhist tradition. You may have heard of it as Zen or Zazen. Samatha is usually translated as ‘calm abiding’ or ‘tranquil abiding’ - meaning long lasting or enduring calm. It’s the method most people associate with meditation and perhaps the cause of the common misconception that meditation is about emptying the mind, which is in fact not something we aim for in meditation.

It uses a single point of focus, which can be anything. A candle flame, the breath, the fragrance of incense, even walking. This meditation is perfect to practice outside in nature.

Today we’ll use mindfulness of breath. Fortunately our breath is always with us and we don’t have to think much about it. Our body breathes by itself.

TIP: It doesn’t take much sitting still to realise that the mind is very busy. The untrained mind doesn’t like to be held down to one single point of focus. We think we’re in control of our mind, but perhaps we’re not?

It’s easy to think meditation makes our mind busier, but actually our mind is constantly busy in the background, only we don’t sit still long enough to notice. It is estimated that the average mind processes over 50 000 thoughts each day. That’s a lot of thinking! Without training, when we sit still, memories rush in or thoughts race around and our mind will flash back to the past, worry about the future, make lists, fret. When we train in mindfulness, we teach our mind to be in one place – the present. After all, we can’t change the past, and the future we imagine might never happen.

It can be challenging not to get annoyed or frustrated when our mind doesn’t stay where we want it to. If you notice your busy mind making lists, remembering or worrying about something which hasn’t happened yet, our challenge is to remain calm and choose to refocus our mind on our breath. If you have a

tired mind, you might find your mind wandering around, daydreaming.

Either way, when we notice our mind has strayed away, we welcome our mind back, gently, kindly, again and again and again – whether it’s ten times, fifty times, a hundred times …

Often the most critital, judgmental, harsh words we use are those we use in self-talk, so above all be kind to yourself.

This meditation is very useful to practice when find yourself caught up on emotions you are not enjoying. When you need to calm your mind, or relax your body, take a moment to focus on the breath. You can practice this anywhere at any time. It only takes a minute or two. Breathing meditation has the ability to bring you back to that calm centre we all have within us. It’s good for stress, anxiety, insomnia, depression, pain.

Today’s session is very short, so you don’t have to worry too much about posture and how to sit. But if you feel you might want to continue meditation and maintain a regular practice, please contact me and I’ll arrange a special session covering posture and how best to sit. This makes your sitting more comfortable and stable, both mentally and physically.

I hope you enjoy it.

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