Calm Abiding (Shamatha) Meditation Instructions for Beginners:
As a result of my daily meditations I've received a few requests from people who want to start meditating to post some instructions or give some advice to those who are just starting to sit regularly. So instead of posting a daily meditation today I've taken the time to type up a few of what I consider the basic guidelines to beginning a regular meditation practice along with some useful suggestions.
If you have questions, would like clarification on anything or would wish to discuss meditation further please feel free to like me on Facebook.com/Kobysattva, instagram @kobysattva or email me at [email protected].
Instructions for Sitting:
- Pick out a time. Ideally you should pick two times to sit each day. When first starting out it is usually easiest to make these times in the morning, first thing when you wake up, and in the evening, right before you go to bed. This helps us start each day fresh, with a clear mind and end each day by shedding all the mental baggage that builds up so we don’t carry it over into the next. These are also two times when we often have the least to do and thus it is easiest to clear out space. Its hard to say I don’t have time to meditate first thing in the morning or I don’t have 5 minutes to sit before I fall asleep. In fact, sitting can make it easier to start and end the day because it provides a mental and physical transition period between the states of sleep and awake.
- Pick out a spot. While we certainly don’t need to meditate in the same exact spot each time, especially when starting out this helps us further integrate the practice into our daily lives. It allows us to get comfortable in the area we will be spending more and more time in, helps us create a safe place and helps to create a meditative energy source that will accumulate over time. This space will help you to be instantly set at ease in the future when you return to it on your most stressful and frustrating days. The area should be relatively free of clutter, traffic (both human and otherwise), noise and distracting light. Overtime these distractions will become less and less an issue but as you begin in the practice of clearing your mind and getting comfortable looking inward this will prove enough of a challenge without adding more stimulus to the mix. - Sit properly. In real terms there is not really any wrong way to sit, aside from not sitting. There are positions though, perhaps more beneficial than others. Depending on your comfort level, flexibility and weight it may be easier to begin your practice from a chair. For others sitting on the floor, on a block or on a meditation cushion will be suitable right away. It is your practice so do whatever works best for you, but here are some general guidelines.
-If seated in a chair sit towards the front of the chair with both feet planted firmly and with feet and knees hips-width distance apart. Your knees should be at a 90 degree angle or shallower and your back should not touch the back of the chair. Keep your back straight while maintaining the natural curve of your lower spine with your shoulders rolled back and shoulder blades pointed to your rear. This should be a relaxed but erect posture that does not invite slouching. Your gaze should be slightly down and in front of you as if looking 2-3 feet in front of your toes.
-If seated on a block or meditation cushion the most important thing is to make sure that your hips are higher than your knees. This will ensure that you will be able to sit comfortably longer before your legs and feet fall asleep. When starting out this may mean sitting on something that raises your pelvis 5-6 inches from the ground. Your legs should be bent with your thighs extending out from your torso at a 45 degree angle and knees facing opposite directions. Your shins and feet should point towards each other returning to the centerline of your body. Do not cross your feet or ankles. Instead, place one in front of the other. Whichever is most comfortable to have in front is the one that should be there. If you knees do not touch the ground at first find something soft to place under them. Balled up socks or pillows work well and should not hold the knees up but instead allow the knees gently rest on top. Over time and sits you will gain flexibility in your hips and the height of your supports will decrease. As with sitting in a chair, keep your back straight while maintaining the natural curve of your lower spine with your shoulders rolled back and shoulder blades pointed to your rear. This should be a relaxed but erect posture that does not invite slouching. Your gaze should be down and slightly in front of you as if looking two feet in front of your toes.
-What to do with your hands. There are several different mudras, or hand gestures, commonly practiced across meditation traditions. While in some traditions the mudra used depends on the purpose, type or focus of the meditation for the purposes of starting a personal practice honestly it doesn’t matter too much what you do. Whatever you choose should be comfortable and sustainable. Here are a few options I’d suggest:
-Simply rest the back of your hands on the top of the corresponding thigh with your palms open.
-Rest the back of your hands on the top of the corresponding thigh with the tip of your thumb and first finger touching to form a circle or “O”. Allow your other three fingers to rest naturally.
- Place the back of your right hand in the palm of your left at your navel or just below with the tips of your thumbs touching forming a circle or oval. This may be made more comfortable by placing a balled up sock on your lap and allowing your mudra to rest on top of it.
-Decide how long to sit. This is important to do ahead of time. If we leave the time open ended it makes it easy for us to abort our meditation prematurely especially if things become challenging, there are a lot of distractions or we become uncomfortable. Especially as one begins to develop a personal meditation practice it is important to incorporate some amount of discipline and accountability. Remember to be gentle with yourself but not soft. I believe 5 minutes is a good place to start. It is easy to incorporate into your day, leaves little room for excuses and as you begin to get more comfortable and have more sits under your belt begin to increase the time in 5 minute blocks. Once you reach 20 minutes a sit you may wish to plateau for a while. Again, there is no right or wrong here so feel free to experiment. Set some sort of alarm to let you know when you’ve exhausted the predetermined period. This allows you to continue your meditation without the interruption of continually opening your eyes to check the time and also eliminates the excuse to do so. Remember, just like any activity where you begin from square one it will take some time and practice before you get comfortable. This includes being able to physically sit in this position for periods of time. You may get a little sore or tight, your limbs may fall asleep. As time goes by these will happen less and less but first, just as with exercise, you must earn the ability to sit for those ended periods. This is why proper posture and making sure your hips are above your knees is so important.
- Establish your intention. It is also important to begin with a personal mantra, prayer, or affirmation that helps set your mentality and/or focus going into your sit. This ritual also creates a clear marker for when the meditation begins and provides an opportunity to set an intention, ensure that it is pure and remains consistent from sit to sit. Ideally this ritual will be the same before each meditation. I personally begin with:
“To the preceptors and Three Precious Jewels I pay homage and take refuge. Please bestow your blessings on me in all my lives. Bless me that my mind turns toward the Dharma, that I might move forward on the path, that errors on the path be allayed and obstacles appear to me as transcendent wisdom. Bless me that unreligious thought might not arise for even a single moment and that genuine love, compassion and the aspiration to enlightenment might arise. By your blessings may I quickly reach the state of perfect Enlightenment”
-Breathe. To begin your sit start by connecting with your breath. Breathe deeply in through your nose allowing the air to pass evenly through each nostril and down through your chest to the pit of your belly below your navel. Before exhaling pause momentarily, for a fraction of a second, and then release the air from your pelvis, up through your chest and throat and out through each nostril evenly. Ensure there is a slight opening to your mouth and that your tongue is relaxed and not pressed against the roof of your mouth. I suggest placing the tip of your tongue where your top row of front teeth meet your gums or palate. Then relax the rest. This will help maintain focus during meditation but also prevent your throat from drying out which would serve as an obvious distraction. For some beginners it is helpful to imagine the air you breath as a beam of light or string that comes in through your nose, down through your chest and belly to your pelvis, settles and then moves back up and out in the same route. Your breath should be slow and measured, taking at least 3 seconds to inhale and the same amount of time to exhale. Regardless of the meditation practice or tradition the connection with your breath is paramount. This will be what helps to calm and clear your mind, shakes you free from distractions or loss of focus and will be the genesis of any insight you gain.
-Focus your gaze. Once sufficiently at ease with your breath begin to drop your gaze. Some meditation traditions suggest keeping your eyes open and focusing your gaze not on a particular object or spot but at a distance 3-4 feet from the end of your nose. Others suggest you keep your eyes half open. For beginners it is most appropriate to practice with your eyes closed. Not squeezed shut, but shut comfortably so that all goes dark without effort. As if you were going to fall asleep. Once again your gaze should be downward from the tip of your nose and slightly in front of you as if looking two feet in front of your toes.
-Now for your mind. When beginning their practice often people’s first question is, “What should I think about? “ It’s a good and very fair query. The answer? Nothing. This is not to suggest you actively work to clear your head, especially when beginning. Eventually you will reach a state where you begin to separate from even your mind. However, to start off simply relax, connect with your breath and observe the thoughts that arise like you would fish swimming in a pond. Do not engage the thoughts. It is perfectly natural that they pop up, often from nowhere. Do not follow a train of thought. Just observe the thought arise and then as you exhale let it go. Let it fade away as quickly as it came up. For some it is helpful to imagine the thought as a word written in sand on the beach and as you exhale waves come and wash the word away. Or imagine the thought as a cloud in the sky and as you exhale it dissolves. Or imagine the thought appears on a raft on a river and as you let go of it, it goes around a bend and is no longer visible. Maybe its just easier to simply let the thought go. Whatever mechanism that resonates with and works for you is the one you should go with. The important point here is to not engage the thought. You are an observer of the thought. You are observing your mind. That is all. Over time your thoughts will slow and become less sporadic. You may begin to see patterns or connections between what comes up. Later there are strategies you can use to begin to analyze and look deeper into these thoughts and themes and pick them apart. But as a beginner it is most important to build a foundation of connecting with your breath and observing your thoughts. The stronger, more consistent and more stable a foundation you build now as a beginner the better it will serve you in any future aspect of your practice and in your life. People then often ask, “Well when can I move on to other forms of meditation, like insight or Vipassana?” The answer I was given when I began was after a year of practicing calm abiding, or Samantha, or when it becomes clear to you that you are honestly ready to move to the next step then insight, or Vipassana, meditation become appropriate. This also assumes you have someone qualified to teach you the practice. Remember, there is no reason to rush toward the next step nor any award for progressing to other practices because any other techniques will be built upon this core practice. The stronger your foundation the stronger any future practice will be and the further it will take you. Invest in this and when its time the rest will come.
-Ending your sit. When your designated period of ends and your alarm goes off remember there is no rush to turn it off and return to the world. Slowly begin to wiggle your toes and fingers then allow the movement to make its way up your extremities towards the core of your body. Gently flutter your eyes open before opening them completely. This will allow you to calmly, mindfully and gently return to the world as you left it. Ending your practice in this way will also ensure any insight or calm sensations generated from your sit are not immediately extinguished by your hurried rush to rejoin the rat race. Before moving on with your day or going to bed take a moment to say another personal mantra, prayer or closing incantation to formally end your sit. This helps to bring a close to the three part structure of your meditation practice that began with your opening mantra or prayer, was extended into your actual meditation and is now ended. The closing incantation I personally use is:
“By the merit I have acquired in this way may all sentient beings who have been my mother and are as infinite as space achieve the state of the enlightened ones for the benefit of themselves and others.” Congratulations! You’ve just meditated!! Way to go!!
Other useful tips:
-Guided meditation can get you started. If you are having trouble getting going on your own, are feeling a bit overwhelmed or want to mix things up a bit it can be useful to let someone else drive for a while. Guided meditations sometime help us to focus more clearly easily, connect with our breath and utilize the wisdom and experience of others to develop our own insights and rich meditative experience. For beginners I always suggest downloading the Free Daily Meditation app (this is availble in the iTuens app store and I believe Google play as well. The icon has a little guy dressed in white sitting cross-legged) onto their smartphone (if you have one). I actually used this same app when I was beginning my regular meditation practice and found it incredibly helpful. The app provides access to two 5 minute guided meditations. One for relaxation and one for connecting with your breath. These are great because no matter where you are or what you are doing you can put your headphones on and create some peace right there in 5 minutes. The app also includes an alarm feature for reminding yourself of when its time to practice. Deepak Chopra offers a number of free guided meditations on his website as does the incredible and amazing Tara Broch. I would definitely encourage you to check both of them out For what its worth I prefer Broch
-You will become distracted. It is inevitable that at some point during your meditation you will lose focus. You will begin to follow a train of thought or you will become overwhelmed by the flood of ideas coming from your monkey mind. This is perfectly normal. When this happens it is important to realize what is going on and simply return to your practice. It is called practice for a reason after all. When we lose focus in meditation often times we've also lost our connection to our breath. If you begin to notice that something isn't right or your mind has or is starting to take over simply relax, return to focusing on your breath, observing your thoughts and disconnecting with whatever arises. This is a process you may have to go through continually, especially when you are starting out. But over time as your focus and practice becomes stronger you will need to employ this strategy less and less. That said, even the most seasoned meditation masters lose focus every now and then and when they do they return just the same way you will, by revisiting their breath and returning to the present moment.
-Remember meditation is a goalless practice. While we may hope it brings us more peace and a reprieve from our stress we shouldn’t taint it with expectations or definitions of what it is and isn’t supposed to do. The goal and the practice are one in the same; progress. While we may learn a lot, become more calm and grow as individuals these are just positive side effects. Maintaining a goalless practice helps us to not become disheartened because we haven’t achieved a certain state or sensation yet or for some period of time. It also prevents us from using our practice to feed our ego or feel superior than others who don’t meditate or haven’t had the same experience as us.
-You will become physically and mentally uncomfortable. But how many times does this happen throughout a normal day anyway? Remember when this happens it presents a good opportunity to relax, surrender to the sensation and return to focusing on your breath. Often if we fight the sensation it only makes it worse, aggravating our discomfort and drawing all of our attention to it. This makes time pass by at a painfully slow pace. Physical discomfort is a continual reminder to remain fully present in each moment and to reconnect to our breath. It is a reminder to face the challenge head on rather than distracting ourselves and going somewhere else in our head. It is also an opportunity to experience the fleeting and temporary nature of things.
-Gratitude is a great motivator. Its easy to feel like you don’t want to meditate or don’t have time for it. Like all things you will plateau at some point and when this happens it may seem like a good point at which to abandon your practice. When these things happen it is useful to reflect on the conditions and events that led you to the point where you are able to meditate. You know who can’t meditate? Animals, bugs, people in coma. You know who hasn’t had the benefit of being introduced to meditation, its benefits or received instructions on how to practice it? Countless people. An innumerable number of people who could greatly benefit from the proverbial silver bullet that is meditation will live their entire existence on this planet never even knowing that it is out there. You are not one of those people and you are a person who has the ability, instruction and mental faculties to utilize this amazing tool. You’ve been given so many incredible gifts in your life and this is one of them. Don’t be foolish enough to turn your shoulder to it or send it back. Use it to its fullest potential and pass it along. This is one gift that is free, lasts forever, never goes out of style and only gets better the more you use it. What more could you ask for?