MEDITATION... ITS GONE TO THE DOGS!

Meditation... its Gone to the Dogs!

 

Actually that’s not true, the dogs and the cats and the horses and the cows and the donkeys have always had it. The point of meditation is, very simply, a moment of stillness and every animal seems to have the capacity to slip into stillness in an instant. We humans had to invent a thing called ‘Meditation’ to find our way back to the stillness.

There are many ways to meditate. Some require rigorous discipline and effort, some just a piece of synthesized music. Different styles bring different challenges and I don’t think there is one style that works for all. If there was, we’d probably all be doing it.

If, instead of ‘trying to meditate’, we simply do what it takes to experience stillness, we shortcut the process. Repeated experiences of stillness, however small, create an appetite for stillness and also make it progressively easier to access.

Here is the simplest technique I know for experiencing a moment of stillness. It always works for me and so far has worked for everyone with whom I've shared it. Here’s what you do:

Step One: Turn off your mobile phone and sit down in a comfortable chair somewhere you won’t be disturbed for a minute. By a minute, I mean literally sixty seconds.

Step Two: Cross your ankles.

Step Three: Raise your non-dominant hand to your chest and gently press your pulse into the centre of your chest.

Step Four: Raise your dominant hand to your chest and place its pulse over the wrist of your non-dominant hand with a gentle pressure. Your wrists are now crossed, one over the other, dominant hand on top and non-dominant hand pulse down on your chest. Notice the point of contact, chest to wrist to wrist.

Step Five: Sink back in the chair and close your eyes. Enjoy the stillness.

That’s it!

Notes: This is a soothing posture and always pleasant to do. To start, the moment of stillness usually lasts only a split second so do the posture for only fifteen or thirty seconds. However try and do it at least five times throughout the day.( That’s less than five minutes out of your day.) The important thing is to access it frequently. Frequency is more important than attempting to prolong the length of the experience. Over time the length of the experience of stillness will increase naturally.

 You can do the posture while sitting comfortably or lying down.

            DO NOT DO IT IN A STANDING POSITION.

 Let me repeat that:

 DO NOT DO IT IN A STANDING POSITION - you will almost certainly fall over when you close your eyes.

Within two weeks you will find you have an appetite for stillness and the technique has become something you enjoy and want to do. Many of you will find, in a short space of time, that it’s possible to simply access the stillness because you want to; there is no longer any need for the special posture.

We are told that the benefits of meditation flow from the stillness, and this has been my experience. Apparently so too do the higher states of consciousness. It's all good!

I have kept this as brief as possible, however meditation is something about which we could talk forever, so please feel free to comment or ask questions.

Thanks for looking in,

Rex

ps: The picture of the meditating dog is from the public domain.

'DON'T FORGET YOU ARE ALSO A PERFECTLY GOOD ANIMAL.'

‘You’ve spent your whole life learning to be a good person. Don’t forget you are also a perfectly good animal.’ _{Rory Miller, Martial Artist and Writer.}

In game reserves in Africa, many Game Rangers have had the experience of suddenly, inexplicably, becoming aware of imminent danger in time to avoid it; or of being able to track an animal simply from a sense of knowing where the animal is in an area that could be several square miles in size. It’s not uncommon in these cases hear a Game Ranger explain what happened as an example of the ‘bush talking’ to them.  

This sort of experience is not confined to the wilds of Africa; it is available in any bit of wild countryside and even suburban parks large enough to have mature trees and some wild fauna.

But why would you want to let the natural world talk to you? I could say try it and see and I hope that somebody reading this will do just that. However in the so called 'developed world', too many of us are identified with the world we have constructed and alienated from where we originated. To put it another way, ‘You’ve spent your whole life learning to be a good person. Don’t forget you are also a perfectly good animal.’

This alienation has come at a high cost and the best way to evaluate that cost is to ‘let the bush talk to you’. Here’s how you do it:

Step One: Go out into the wild country side and go deep enough into it to feel you’re actually in it. You don’t want to be able to see the car park or a boundary onto a road or some developed area.

Step Two: Move your awareness to your heart and say to yourself the word ‘soften’. What you’re doing here is actually commanding your heart to soften.

Step Three: Pause when you’ve made the command and notice what it is you’re becoming aware of.

Step Four: Keep repeating steps three and four until you’ve had enough.

That’s it!

Notes: allow your mind to entertain anything in the moments of pause; resist the urge to interpret or explain what’s happening to you. Notice, when it seems that the ‘bush’ actually is ‘talking to you’, how that makes you feel.

            All comments and questions welcome and thanks for looking in,

Rex
(Picture found in public domain)

UNDER MY TREE

 UNDER MY TREE

I’ve spent a lot of time this year standing or sitting under a Lime Tree, carving wood. In the late spring the leaves on the tree gave me perfect shelter from the rain. During summer I carved wood wrapped in the exquisite perfume of its blossoms. Lately, bereft of leaves it has allowed my soul to soar into the ice blue sky of winter ( on a good weather day). Out the kitchen window as I fill the kettle for that first cup, its bare branches allow me to soak in the first gold of morning across the field.

My relationship with that tree and through it, the countryside around, is one of contentment. Today’s ‘Way’ is, I suppose a ‘way of contentment’; perhaps that’s what all these ‘Ways’ will turn out to be.

 You’ll need to be outdoors in the countryside, somewhere that for you has a huge amount of natural beauty. Here’s what you do:

Step One: Notice the beauty all around you and allow yourself to move or to be still as you do. Resist the temptation to impose an idea of how you should be; if you want to walk about looking and absorbing, do and if you want to be still, do.

Step Two: Begin to give thanks for every aspect of the beauty before you and give thanks too for how that makes you feel.

Step Three: Notice how, in the moment, what you begin to experience is contentment.

Step Four: Ask yourself the following question, ‘Right now, do I need anything else in my life to be completely content in this moment?’

Step Five: Go back to Step One.

That’s it.

Notes: Repeat the cycle two or three times in a slow and gentle manner. You will probably notice that with each cycle, your experience of beauty increases, as does the profundity of the gratitude you feel. You may even get a little teary and emotional and that’s perfectly ok; let it pass through you. Best of all, the level of contentment you experience will increase.

            At Step Four, you will sooner or later, arrive at the answer that you need nothing to be completely content in that moment. Allow yourself to enjoy and be grateful for that realisation.

            With continued practice of this ‘Way’ your awareness and understanding of yourself in relation to the Natural World and Mother Earth will deepen and be enriched. It is possible that you will realise that all the beauty around is only available to your senses because it already exists inside you. Maybe you’re carrying it with you wherever you go, even in a sealed building with artificial light and an invisible smog of electromagnetic radiation. Perhaps it’s possible to access that beauty and the contentment, even in those circumstances…

            Feel free to do this in whatever way feels natural to you and gives you the best results. Comments and questions welcome as always.

Thanks for looking in and enjoy!

            Rex

FOLLOW THE WHITE RABBIT

FOLLOW THE WHITE RABBIT

Eventually Rabbit always goes into a hole in the ground. This happens sooner rather than later if Rabbit feels threatened, for it is in the earth’s embrace that Rabbit feels safe.

Years of meditation and working to access higher conscious states can be a wonderful thing, however we also need to allow our awareness to sink into the earth and develop a conscious connection with what lies below the pavement. If we don’t, those lovely higher states become what we long for, become our new attachment and we miss the opportunity for real contentment in the earthly realm.

Real contentment is not just a powerfully soothing thing; it creates openness and surrender and allows the most subtle experiences of unity with all.

To call this ‘grounding’ puts us at risk of trivializing the importance and power of developing a connection to the Earth. It’s one half of the yin-yang of existence.

 Over the next few weeks I’m going to be exploring how to develop a relationship with this beautiful, giant orb we’re all riding through space. I’ll be offering some of the ways that have worked for me in developing and nurturing my own relationship. They’ll be simple, sometimes simpler than my original Hacks for Soothing. I also won’t be referring to them as hacks since they’re not just pre-digital and pre-industrial; they’re Prehistoric. I’ll be referring to them as Ways.

Today’s ‘Way’ for you to explore is this:

Step One: Find yourself a smooth barked tree, preferably with a small diameter trunk. I find a Birch tree is best, but even a mature Beech will do. Oaks, Sycamores and other rough barks are not great to start on.

Step Two: Place one of your hands, palm down on the trunk of the tree, exhale and put your attention on the sensation of physical contact with the tree.

Step Three: Stay like that for a few minutes and notice what comes into your awareness.

            That’s it.

Notes: Resist the urge to hug the tree. It’s important to keep the point of physical contact small when starting out; this will allow your awareness to be more sensitive. The first couple of times you try this ‘Way’ use your non-dominant hand.

 I’ve deliberately not spoken of what I experience or what I might think you would experience in trying this. I want your experience to be your own. However I’d love to hear anyone’s experiences so don’t hesitate to get in touch to share.

Thanks for looking in.

Rex.