Why we gotta train our brains…through stillness
Contrary to what many of us believe, the objective of meditation is NOT, not to think…that is an almost impossible ask especially for those of us raised in a ‘doing’ society. The aim is also NOT to achieve this almost unattainable sense of inner peace (Please do yourselves a favour and go see Kung Fu Panda 2 for further explanation). The aim is to get in touch with the very parts of ourselves we try to run away from in a gentle, non intrusive and compassionate manner. The aim of our meditation is firstly to become aware that we are thinking. It does not mean we follow those thoughts (often our thoughts are not true and seek to take us off on tangents) but rather we just become aware of how busy our minds may be at any point in time. The mind resembles a child and is always off to find something new and interesting. It does not help to scold the mind and force it to pay attention but rather to ‘entice’ it through the breath. It’s a matter of training the mind to rest in a particular place. We then slowly train the mind to come back to the breath and the body. The second aim of the breath practice is to connect back to the body. Many of us are afraid of our bodies and emotions. We’ve grown up in a society that discourages expression of emotion so we’ve been programmed into not feeling what we feel. The aim of the meditation practice is to become aware of what we may be feeling, without judgment. The greatest courage comes from learning to be okay with ourselves even when we don’t feel okay – this is the Buddhist practice of compassion. (The Western idea that we always need to feel okay is not practical nor is it attainable and only encourages feelings of failure) The greatest compassion we can develop is compassion towards ourselves. As we begin to become aware, without judgment, we find it much easier to deal with uncomfortable feelings. Usually we suppress these uncomfortable feelings in life which result in a stream of self destructive behavior or neurosis. Depression occurs when we continuously suppress what we feel or think that we’re meant to be different from how we are. (I have attached an article that explains why allowing ourselves to be WITH pain or uncomfortableness ultimately releases it) In my meditation practice I have combined the use of breath work with the use of creative imagery. The guided meditation makes use of creative imagery. The mind is unable to differentiate between a ‘real’ reality and a ‘imagined’ reality and because we learn / heal / progress through experience this provides the perfect avenue. We each hold beliefs about ourselves and the world very deeply within; on a cellular level. Using the mind in this manner stimulates the body to let go of beliefs that do not serve us or develop new beliefs. The brain is a highly efficient system that is connected to every cell in your body by billions of connections. It is divided into two sides ñ the left, logical side (words, logic, rational thought) and the right creative side (imagination and intuition). Day to day circumstances usually are met in a logical, left brain mode; however by yielding to the right, creative side of the brain we actually restore balance in the brain. This allows access to the mind-body connection to achieve what you want. The right side of the brain automatically steers you to your goal. It totally accepts what you want to accomplish without giving an opinion and acts upon it without judgement. That is why visualization targets the right, creative side of the brain and not the left, logical side. Most (in fact a very scary 90%) of our thoughts are dedicated to the past or future. In truth we only ever create the future with attention on ‘now’. As such most of us are only ever devoting 10% to the now which means we have limited energy with which to move forward. Meditation is the ultimate practice of brining ourselves back to the present. After all the aim of meditation is not just the 20 minutes of relaxation we experience but eventually to be able to take the experience into our lives by being more compassionate with ourselves, learning to take a moment to respond to situations and to evolve our ability to look at situations laterally and with the ability to solve challenges creatively.
