The thought of learning to meditate can seem boring or too distant of a concept to be of any real use, interest or value to most people. It often elicits the response, ‘why should I do it? What’s in it for me?’
The answer:
Plenty. And it’s deceptively simple. There are many different types of meditation, but the one in this article discusses the simple breathing meditation, taught in many Buddhism classes.
If One Can Breathe, One Can Meditate
Humans are born meditators. Think about any annoying situation such as being cut off while driving in traffic or having to deal with a rude co-worker. Clearly, it is possible to meditate on the faults of that driver or co-workers for a very long time. And when it comes to ones own shortcomings, it is possible to meditate on those to the point of suicide. So, the human species already has a remarkably well-honed ability to meditate.
It is probably not healthy to meditate on the above mentioned subjects (no matter how enjoyable it seems). So the question is, how can meditation make anyone truly happy?
Meditation Brings Happiness
The main purpose and benefit of a breathing meditation is to learn to be calmer, therefore happier. For example, when most people try to sleep or even just relax, it’s then they notice their mind going a mile a minute and they become aware of un-calm they are. The Buddhists call this “untrained” mind the monkey-mind because it jumps from one thought to another.
Controlling the mind shouldn’t be too hard. After all, a normal human is in control of our their own minds. They have free will. Or do they?
How To Meditate
Now, close the eyes.
Breathe through the nose and feel the feeling of the warm and cold air on the top of the upper lip during inhalation and exhalation.
Once one becomes aware of the feeling of the cold and warm air on the top lip, then do nothing else but concentrate on that specific sensation.
Tell the mind not to think of anything else but that sensation for nine breaths in and nine breaths out.
After only a few breaths, one discovers that it is not as easy as it first seemed it would be. So then who’s really in charge when it cannot even perform a simple task like stop thinking for nine breaths?
Yet, it is this self-same mind that humans trust to make their most important decisions. It’s the mind that humans count on to help make decisions that make them happy. Now it appears it cannot be trusted even for a minute.
Beneficial Results of Meditation
By practicing a simple breathing meditation as described above for 5 minutes a day, it will be possible to start noticing results almost immediately. The more familiar one is with concentrating on just the breath, the more one will begin to notice their thoughts actually arising and forming. Some arise, linger and will fade away on their own. Some thoughts will be grasped onto and followed off on a tangent until the realization occurs that that the mind has drifted away from the task at hand; feeling the sensation of the breath on the upper lip. Then it is possible to bring the concentration back to that sensation.
The thoughts one follows are like the kind that keep people awake at night or agitate their minds when all they want to do is relax. So, during meditation, when one notices a thought arise and starts to follow it one should immediately and gently return their minds to the sensation of the breath on the lip, and become aware how doing that brings a calmness to them.
Eventually, it is possible to begin to notice space between thoughts. Being present in this space is truly being present in the moment. Every moment is precious and we are always so quick to abandon living in the present by memories of the past and worries of the future.
Therefore, breathing meditations can allow anyone to calm their mind, and be in charge of their mind instead of it being in charge, and come to have a deeper appreciation of the joys of living in the present.
Reference:
Mindfullness With Breathing: A Manual for Serious Beginners by Ajahn Buddhadasa Bikkhu – Wisdom Publications
http://buddhismtaoism.suite101.com/
