The wisdom of the body

One of the aspects to meditation that I was immediately struck by was that of how body and mind are connected. My experience in meditation was not just a mental experience, I was not just in my head when I sat to meditate.
It was not just that my body made itself aware to me through all the various aches and pains that seemed to arise when I sat, but that my body seemed to experience or embody the state of mind through the practise.
At first it was more about me noticing my body as the other or secondary experience, but as I practised I was more and more aware that I could, as it were, start from the body, my body and listen to the awareness there before moving to my thoughts. Just by becoming aware of our breath we can gain precious understanding about how we are feeling, the breath tells us how relaxed or stressed we are for example. there is wisdom in the body and if we can sit with a growing awareness of our body, breath and mind we will be developing a holistic meditation practise.

Finding Inspiration for meditation

One of the important things in keeping a meditation practice alive is to find inspiration in our lives in general. In fact one of the simple but profound truths that we learn in meditation is that whatever and however we are in our life in general will that be there with us in meditation.

In order then for our meditation sessions, however long or short they are to be alive and vital for us, it is really helpful for us to seek out and encourage inspiration in our lives.

We may find that simply being in nature, our gardens, parks or allotments gives us this sense of wonder, joy and creativity that is characteristic of being in an inspired state of mind. We may be inspired by art, spending time reading or looking at art in it's many forms. Examples of people's lives may provide us with inspiration, as may many spiritual teachings.

If I start a meditation with something that has inspired me, I find that I am mentally more alert and more interested in my meditation. I have a real sense of uplift that carries me past unhelpful states of mind more easily and leads me into a deeper sense of practice.

What is meditation?

One of the things I'd like to do on this blog is share some of my thoughts and experiences of meditation and spiritual practice in general.

This question, what is meditation? is one I reflect on quite a lot. The general definition I tend to refer myself to when I ask this question, is meditation as the continuous production of positive mental states. However this is only the start of an investigation into the nature of meditation, but what I take from it is that meditation is not something that you just do on the cushions, or chair, but is something that is part of everyday life.

If we think of positive mental states, we probably think of things like happiness, kindness, sympathy, compassion, delight, and so on. Being able to remain in positive mental states all the time is quite something, and one of the dangers of this definition is that of suddenly deciding that most of our mental states, not being positive, are somehow wrong and to be disowned.

However, meditation is also about being in the present moment, with whatever it is we are experiencing. In practice we start to see the patterns to our thoughts, feelings and emotions as they arise and pass away again. If we can begin to see that when we put our focus and mental energy into our thoughts they stay with us and increase, and if we just allow our thoughts to pass through our minds like clouds in the sky, they disappear over the horizon of our awareness, we are laying the ground for a sense of equanimity and positivity.