The point at which your meditation practice will begin to impact your life in significant ways is once the mind becomes stable.
Many of life’s problems come from confusion.
A stable mind developed through deep meditation gifts you so much more than just “being calm.”
Deep meditation is a gift to yourself that also benefits others, indeed, everyone you ever meet, because confusion is a thing of the past.
In yesterday’s lesson, we learned the method to deeply relax without losing conscious awareness.
As you continue to do the daily practice and go even deeper into consciousness, you will find your definition of “relax” shifting.
This is exciting to watch and the benefits this brings to your daily life.
In today’s lesson, we move on to the next phase of the three-tiered model, stability.
Phase 2 – Stability
In phase 2 of the three-tier meditation model of relaxation, stability, and clarity, we move the subject of our attention from the breath to the contents of the mind.
And we shift our attention to our thoughts, feelings, emotions, and visual content in a very particular manner.
This style of meditation is perfect at this stage of our progress, as we now have a good understanding of what relaxation without losing clarity is actually like.
This foundation of relaxation is a great platform from which (under the right circumstances) stability will naturally arise. That is to say, the following meditation will allow the natural stability of consciousness to shine through.
We refine our attention further with this meditation style by introducing an object of attention that is more subtle than the previous one—the breath.
It is called settling meditation because the primary goal of this meditation is to allow the mind to settle into its own natural state.
This requires a thorough letting go of any effort to “hold” any object, and yet at the same time, not fall off into dullness or bounce off into mental activity.
The main objective, therefore, is to stabilize the mind without losing relaxation.
But we are not doing the stabilizing.
We are not really doing anything other than remaining attentive to the phenomena of the mind in a manner that does not allow for the cognitive fusion to draw us into dullness or off into distraction.
That may sound confusing and/or complicated at first but over time it won’t.
Trust the process and yourself to work it out for yourself as you go deeper into the practice.
Now onto the meditation.
Meditation 3 – Settling Meditation
Start by sitting in your favorite meditation posture.
This can be sitting in a chair, on a meditation cushion, or lying flat on your back.
The important thing is to have a straight spine as this will help the energies of the nervous system settle and balance themselves out.
Then, focus your attention on the natural rising and falling of the breath throughout your entire body for a few moments.
Release any tension in your body and mind with each out-breath.
It is important with this meditation to release any tension before starting, otherwise, there is a possibility of bringing too much energy to your settling meditation, the effect of which is that no settling will take place.
So begin by meditating on the breath until you notice an opening up of consciousness – a feeling as if your awareness is becoming larger and more open.
This is subtle so if you do not notice this at first do not worry. Just move on to the next part of the meditation.
Once you feel you are relaxed and consciousness is beginning to feel smooth, turn your attention to the mind itself.
Become aware of any and all mental activity. Thoughts, feelings, and images allow these to come and go without becoming fused to them.
Simply watch your mind and it will settle into its natural state or “clear knowing” without you having to do anything other than let go.
At first, this may seem an impossible task. Thoughts will whisk you away into past memories, or shoot you off into projections of the future.
If you become distracted, however, simply let go of whatever has got your attention, and return to being the passive observer of your own mind.
The trick, if there is any, is to practice letting go of everything other than being a passive observer of your own mind.
Do this for at least 20 minutes per session, and at least one session per day.
Your Homework
Step 1 – Read the lesson.
Step 2 – Meditate on the topic from the lesson.
Step 3 – Complete your contemplative journaling session.
Contemplative Journaling
I will go into more detail on the how and why of contemplative journaling over the coming days but, for now simply follow these steps:
- It’s best to use a pen or pencil and notepad and have these near you during the meditation session.
- Before you begin the meditation session mark down the date and time of the session in the notepad.
- After the meditation session ends, take 5 minutes to write down what came up during meditation.
Some people have told me they don’t normally like journalling but found my approach has opened new doors to discoveries when coupled with meditation.
So, PLEASE do give it a try. You might just be surprised by how effective it is.
If you’d like to read about my process of contemplative journaling you can do so here – https://clarkescott.com/4-key-steps-to-unlock-deep-meditation/
Grasping at things – the body, self, the world, the idea of achievement – is what will keep you from going deep.
Therefore, the more you can let go of these concepts the deeper the meditation will be.
In tomorrow’s lesson, I will give you the second half of this meditation that will empower you to take this even deeper whereby stability will begin to appear of its own accord.
And as I mentioned previously, do not be tricked into thinking this is too simple to be useful.
It may well be simple but it is a highly effective method for developing self-awareness and all the benefits that come from mental and emotional acuity.
Therefore, I want to remind you not to track your progress too closely.
If you find yourself engaging in evaluative conversations such as, “I’m really bad at this…maybe I should stop!” or “This is ridiculous…my mind is a mess!”
Stop it!
Such self-talk is the short track to failure and I don’t want that for you.
I understand I don’t know you personally and therefore such empathic statements can seem disingenuous, but if you are reading this, then I know you are a human being with hopes and dreams just like me. I really do want you to succeed in your practice because you are just like me and I know this will work for you too as long as you follow the instructions and practice.!
So my advice here is to not track your progress but, to track your daily sessions, as this will give you a sense of accomplishment, and this sense of tiny daily achievement is an important emotion to foster as it will encourage and empower your practice.
And it is weirdly satisfying to cross off the daily sessions and see the chain of red crosses building over time. 🙂
Do the practice and the results will come.