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So let’s cut to the chase. If you really want to know more about meditation all you have to do is Google single- or double-word-search on the subject. My Google “mediation” word search today yielded 151 million results, and “meditation benefits” about 9.5 million. You’re spoilt for choice really!

I had a quick trawl through a handful of sites. The information ranged from definition and benefits of meditation to explanations and claims about favourable scientific evidence. Some of the information was well-informed, and much of it entailed speculation or lack of a full understanding of the current scientific evidence. Mostly however, the information is positive and peppered with anecdotal accounts. This is not a bad thing at all. There is however, a gap in the information.

In all the time I have educated, delivered training, or carried out research in this field, I have found that everyone starts off feeling eager and excited, only to hit, what I call, “the resistance wall”. The resistance wall is a mental wall upon which people write over and over again what’s wrong or not working for them. The resistances cited range from not being able to find a suitable time to practice, to falling asleep, and/or plain old impatience. Most times this leads to giving up within the first month of practice or struggling through it determinedly. Both responses are unnecessary, and the later, a painful experience!

Whatever the resistance, it can be dealt with easily under the guidance of a good teacher. In the initial weeks of meditation the body and mind is adjusting and acclimatising to the experience of new wave patterns, and reduced activity in a part of the brain called the orientation association area (OAA). The OAA, as the name suggests, helps determine our position in time and space. More on this, in a future blog.

Several questions arise for the beginner. What is the best time to meditate? How long should I meditate for? What are the different types of meditation? Which type is best for me? What are the effects of switching between different types of meditation?

To put your mind at rest – no pun intended – your meditation does not have to be a full-on, sitting, 20-minute practice from day one. You can start off by priming your capacity to focus where you are right here, right now. You could just choose to become aware of the many sounds around you, and then focus on one particular sound that you feel you can comfortably bring your attention to. Just stay listening for it. You’ll find that it is not a difficult thing to do. Quieting your thoughts and focusing on a single stimulus is far easier than you imagine!

This in essence, is what meditation is about. Ease. Focus. Flowing attention on purpose.

Whilst complex cognitive and biological processes occur during the practice of meditation, keeping your practice simple and uncomplicated is a wonderful way to begin. Most of all, be playful with it and enjoy the quiet and not so quiet mind-time, for they are both aspects of a spectrum of concentration and focus.

THE CAT’S OUT OF BAG

The relationship between cognitive science and contemplative practices has escalated in recent years creating a wealth of hypotheses and insights about extending the limits of attention and creative thinking. But whilst science takes a while to sort and sift through data, and then decipher the neurocognitive correlates and mechanisms of meditation and its effects on body and behaviour, more and more people are finding that they don’t want to wait around for an ultimate scientific endorsement in order to take up the practice of meditation. Musicians, actors, film directors, business leaders, athletes, and sports coaches talk openly about the personal and professional benefits of meditation. Long time meditators such as Clint Eastwood and David Lynch attribute their continued success to the effects of meditation on their vitality, creativity, and emotional balance. A more recent meditator, comedian Russell Brand, attributes his ability to manage his emotional responses and addiction to drugs to the practice of meditation.

Meditation has been practiced the world over for centuries within the religious and mystical traditions. From this has accumulated a rich repertoire of techniques that are versatile and often confusing for the beginner. No matter what the tradition from which the practice is derived, in essence, meditation requires setting aside time for regular practice of focused attention to a specific stimulus.

This repetitive training of the mind to focus and refocus on a given point is like being a conductor of an orchestra and tuning in to the sound and timbre of a specific instrument and differentiating it from the all other sounds of the orchestral meld. This takes some practice, but does not require determined effort. Trying only sabotages the joy of exploration and the insights that contemplation yields. And meditation is all about the enjoyment of leading your own mind; of gently directing your mind to where you want it to go.

Training your mind in this way very quickly leads to insights into the nature of thinking in general, and the nature and content of your own thought processes. Most of all, it’s about the willingness to enter into this training and to see what happens. For it is an entry into a new world of experiencing.

Category: Earlier posts

Let’s cut to the chase

The cat’s out of bag