Meditation course: part 1

""The flowering of meditation is goodness, and the generosity of the heart is the beginning of meditation."." Krišnamurti

"Meditation cultivates emotional stability, allowing the meditator to fully experience intense emotions while simultaneously maintaining perspective on them. ." Michael J. Baime Penn Program for Mindfulness

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„As human beings we are all capable of inquiry, of discovery, and this whole process is meditation. Meditation is inquiry into the very being of the meditator. You cannot meditate without self-knowledge, without being aware of the ways of

your own mind, from the superficial responses to the most complex subtleties of thought. I am sure it is not really difficult to know, to be aware of oneself, but it is difficult for most of us because we are so afraid to inquire, to grope, to search out. Our fear is not of the unknown, but of letting go of the known. It is only when the mind allows the known to fade away that there is complete freedom from the known, and only then is it possible for the new impulse to come into being. „ Krišnamurti

“You have to find out what meditation is. It is a most extraordinary thing to know what meditation is – not how to meditate, not the system, not the practice, but the content of meditation. To be in the meditative mood and to go into that meditation requires a very generous mind, a mind that has no border, a mind that is not caught in the process of time. A mind that has not committed itself to anything, to any activity, to any thought, to any dogma, to any family, to a name – it is only such a mind that can be generous; and it is only such a mind that can begin to understand the depth, the beauty and the extraordinary loveliness of meditation." Krišnamurti, 1962 7th Public Talk, Bombay

Rolf Sovik: https://yogainternational.com/ecourse/how-to-meditate-in-5-easy-steps#module-3884-25659 Meditation is a systematic process that leads you from outside to inside—from the environment around you to the quietness of your own mind. It relaxes the nervous system, calms the senses, and focuses the mind. There are two main themes in meditation: mindfulness, or the ability to observe yourself, and concentration, the ability to rest your mind in its focus. In meditation, body, breath, and mind need to be integrated into one continuous process.

At its core, meditation is a blossoming of spirit—an individual reply to a call from within. Unlike the more familiar ways in which we normally think and act, meditation asks us to take a seat and quiet ourselves. Then it whispers to us about how to be creative in life, about what is true and not true, about how to heal and how to mourn, and about the joys that come from simply being, rather than wanting and trying. All this amounts to a welling up of spirit that permeates both heart and mind.

We may be especially drawn to meditation during times of need. These are times when life's storyline takes an unexpected turn: a health problem may have escalated; we may have made a mistake we cannot reconcile with who we are; or we may have lost something valuable that we cannot accept has been lost. At such times, the strategies we normally use to manage affairs no longer work, and we look to a deeper, more silent source of nurturance to help us redefine life.

Of course, not every inspiration to meditate is spurred on by trouble or need. Beauty also inspires meditation—the beauty of nature, art, and music. When we are moved by the desire to trace beauty to its source, that is the call of meditation.

Meditation sometimes begins as a way to bring order to inner life, a method of disciplining the mind. It may also arise from a sense of gratitude or from simple curiosity. Most often of all, it is a response to a spiritual yearning—a belief that a direct knowledge of higher consciousness is, in some way, the purpose of life.

Each of the many reasons for meditating serves as an invitation—a gateway, opening the door to practice. Having done its work, the invitation may remain quite close to the surface, like a reminder note that must be attended to, or it may recede into the background.

If we are fortunate, whatever brought us to meditate will prompt something greater to emerge. It will blossom into a state of mind that cannot be contained in words. That bountiful fullness of consciousness is the fruit of meditation. It is the reason that our hearts persist in practice. It is the all-knowing into which we surrender our modest knowing. In its paradoxical way, when the call of meditation whispers, it does it with sounds that return us both to fullness and to silence.

[Excerpt from Moving Inward, by Rolf Sovik]

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What is meditation?

Video transcript:

First of all,hello and welcome to the meditation course. Here you will learn the basics of meditation and the way to start meditating and then also preserve the meditative practice. In this course,you will learn the basic techniques,methods and tools that will help you along the way.

01:06

I have been meditating more or less regularly for about 30 years. I started through books. At the beginning, I read a lot of books by Krishnamurti, Sri Aurobindo and other sources from the East. Later, I become attracted to Zen meditation. My teacher and mentor was Genpo Marzeo Roshi. I also participated in a very interesting two-year research of meditation and meditation practices within the Sigmund Freud faculty in Ljubljana.This was, I must say, a very rich,useful experience in terms of better understanding of the concept of meditation practices and, above all, of meditative consciousness.

The group was led by Dr.Matej Črnigoj PhD and his deep visions and ideas in meditation are reflected in this course.

01:57

Why did I decide to create this course? First of all, I was inspired by meditation and meditative techniques and practice, because they can bring a lot of good in our lives,especially in terms of our attitude toward ourselves and the world around us.

In addition, meditation, and perhaps more specifically ,mindfulness, is one of the most successful methods of balancing our psyche, increasing the tolerance threshold, healing a wide varieties of mental problems, and finally, through healing our psyche and through knowing ourselves, we can also enter the path of spirituality, that is, the path of compassion ,respect, understanding, acceptance and love for ourselves and our loved ones. And in the final phase, for all living beings on the Earth.

The purpose of the course is to give you what is really essential for achieving meditative consciousness and awareness. So, you will learn quite some techniques, methods, small practices that will gradually lead you to the open, neutral ,peaceful state of mind in the final phase; a consciousness that is not tied to any ideology or any emotional state, supported by a continuous flow of life and life energy, or we can say: supported by pure love.

We will talk later about the scientific researches that supports above claims. In short, let me just mention that modern neuroscience can accurately measure how, already short 5 to 8 minutes meditation, or short, from few seconds to few minutes, of mindfulness breaks throughout the day, balance the functioning of the brain networks and thus take care of the healthy functioning of the brain. If I explain this in a more common language; meditation helps us to become masters of our lives, to feel more peaceful, balanced,not dependent on the external circumstances. And at the same time,we become more careful, sensitive to the needs and desires of people around us.

04:41

Today's introduction is aimed at understanding what is the meditation and what are meditation practices. Today you will also learn three very simple and very effective self-regulation techniques. These techniques will help you calm your body and mind and prepare for meditation practice. Of course, you can use these techniques of self-regulation whenever and wherever you need them.It is not necessary that they are related only to your meditation practice.

05:21

Let's start. Today we will talk more about the basics, especially about how to prepare for meditation. Preparation for meditation is important. It is not just to sit down and close my eyes and then I just meditate. It is not working quite this way...

Then we'll do exercises,exercises you'll do during the week. As far as meditation is concerned, we can start with five minutes.This is already enough. If we work five minutes a day, the research has shown that the five minutes already had an effect...

Participant: "One hour is too much for me."

Yes,it's not necessary. As I said before, in this part of the meditation, we will be preparing for how to achieve meditative consciousness with this Natural Presence here and now.

This Natural Presence is some kind of openness that allows us to includes all the experiences. It is a conscious, pure, neutral,open, non-judgemental consciousness,a complete openness to every experience.Of course, we can come to this natural presence here and now, or as they say in Zen meditation, authenticity, Ziran .In Zen we say that while we are not in Natural Presence here and now, we sound like a cracked pot. This authenticity is what we want to achieve through meditation. Authenticity in the sense of being fully present in oneself, that is, very embodied, and accepting all kinds of experiences, feelings, thoughts that appear in our consciousness. Of course, to get there, we need a little practice.

What is most important is the practice of mindfulness and, of course, awareness (Natural Presence). Awareness can be trained through various focuses. Sharp or broad focus. Now, given that our culture is very focused on sharp focus, we are constantly training the sharp focus on one thing, because of this anxiety and depression, are on the rise in our culture.

In this course we will engage with widening our focus or with the expansion of our awareness. Now, the basic intent of all these skills is that through practice we approach meditation with open curiosity. So that meditation is not something I have to do, but it is something I want to do. And of course, to decide in advance that I believe, and that I trust that there, somewhere in me, this Natural Presence of here and now, is already present. And through meditation I, not exactly look for it, but I cultivate this presence...

From the collected definitions of meditation in the PDF appendix, it is clear that the word meditation can be understood in very different ways. It can refer to thinking about something, some people use the word even for imaginative journeys, while for others, it means a very specific practice of turning attention inward. However, even in this context, approaches, intentions, and goals can vary.

It is important to emphasize that meditation, as such, is not part of any religion; the meditation in this sense refers to a set of techniques and ideas that have fairly well-defined principles, methods, intentions, and goals. Meditation is therefore a broad concept that encompasses various techniques, methods, and interpretations of them. From the various definitions, we can broadly extract the main characteristics of meditation:

Concentration/full attention/focus on a chosen object, stability
Letting go/releasing/relaxation, detachment
Simply being present with what is
Transcendent consciousness of oneness, where the boundary between subject and object, the observed and the observer, between knowledge and the knower, blurs.

At first glance, these characteristics are very different and even seem contradictory: the constant effort to maintain concentration and complete focus on a given object on one hand, and letting go, relaxation, complete detachment on the other hand, for example. However, from the writings of ancient spiritual practices, it is evident that these are stages in meditation: first, through concentration and focusing, we stabilize the mind, which in this stability can then relax and begin to observe the nature of the observed object, its essence, in a detached and non-conceptual way. At some point, consciousness can expand beyond everything that exists at that moment...

Here, in this course, we are interested in meditation in this latter sense of the word: that is, the conscious calming of the mind – with consciousness being awake and mostly directed inward. In this sense meditation is generally described as a training of mental attention that awakens us beyond the conditioned mind and ordinary thinking, revealing the nature of reality. In this course, the process and fruits of meditation practice are understood as Natural Presence or Authenticity. Presence is the attentive and clear recognition of what is happening – here and now – and the openness that allows space to include all experiences. There are many supportive strategies (called "skilful means") that create a favorable atmosphere for deepening presence. The art of practice uses these strategies with curiosity, kindness, and a light touch. The wisdom of practice is to remember that Natural Presence is always accessible and already here. Loving attention to everything is our essence.

Kako vzpostaviti dnevno meditativno prakso

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Vaje za sproščanje pred meditacijo

1. Ponastavitev zavesti Pogled tava po prostoru, izberite si predmet, poimenujte barvo predmeta, opazujte barvo predmeta...

Samoregulacija skozi gibanje: pozornost v telesu in telesu prepustimo, da vodi gibanje/zibanje
Sedeče sproščanje: Lahko večkrat globoko vdihnete in z vsakim izdihom zavestno spustite, sprostite obraz, ramena, roke in predel trebuha. Morda boste morda želeli začeti s pregledom telesa: začnite pri lasišču in počasi premikajte pozornost navzdol, metodično sproščajte in mehčajte vsak del telesa. Zavestno sproščanje telesne napetosti vam bo pomagalo odpreti se vsem, kar se pojavi med meditacijo.Lahko se rahlo zibljete in sproščate predvsem vrat in ramenski obroč...

The most common challenges in meditation

Daily "small" practice for reinforcing your meditation routine

Meditate every day, or on all the days you've set aside for meditation.

Several times a day, "pause" and allow yourself to interrupt your usual consciousness and awareness, even if just for a few moments: first, bring your attention back to your body and breathe in the vitality you feel within yourself; perhaps you might even sense love for yourself and creation. With full presence, continue with whatever task you're engaged in.

Frequently remind yourself and feel the inspiration for meditation, spiritual awakening, and freedom.

Remember that on the level of suffering, we are all the same; we all desire liberation and happiness.

Find friends with whom you can meditate together.

Seek out inspiring resources.

If you ever skip your meditation practice or simply forget it for a month, just gently return to your practice.

Meditation course: ﻿part 1