What Style of Meditation do you Teach?
I am often asked what type of meditation I teach. I usually answer by explaining that in many approaches to meditation (for beginners), there is a common thread that runs between them – they each give our attention something specific to focus on.
Some common focal points are the breath, body sensation, a mantra, an external object, or simply being absorbed in something you love.
For most people the attention is usually absorbed in thought and emotion. So giving a neutral focal point helps to regain a panoramic view of one’s inner landscape, rather than being zoomed in on the turbulence of the mind and emotions.
This allows the mind to slow down and the nervous system to settle. The thoughts and feelings are no longer being fuelled by our constant unconscious attention.
The focal point I guide everyone’s attention to in my Meditation 1 classes is the body sensation. This not only acts as a focal point for the attention but helps to bring awareness fully into the body.
As the practice develops in the Meditation 2 and Meditation 3 classes and there is less inner turbulence, the need for a focal point gradually falls away. We can begin to rest more directly and easily in Being.
The Key to Meditation
What I call the Key to Meditation is the other main theme that runs through all of my classes and gives another insight into how I teach. Below I have copied a description of this from my article “How Does Meditation Work?”:
“The key to settling into a meditative state is to start with where you are at. This means to become fully aware of any thoughts, tensions or disturbances that are active in the mind and psyche and to let them be as they are, to fully allow and accept them, without trying to change them.
This is the opposite to what most beginners do when they sit down to meditate. The habit to push away, distract from or suppress thoughts and emotions in order to meditate seems to be universal. I have observed that often people do not even know they are doing it.
When we meet the thoughts/emotions with our attention, seeing them exactly as they are and fully allowing them, the tension and conflict in relation to them relaxes. In the absence of this conflict, peace is naturally present and one is able to drop into a meditative state, even when the thoughts/emotions are still active and uncomfortable.”