When
you meditate, you are exercising your spirit.
The
human being is made up of three aspects – the body; the mind; and the spirit,
also called the soul or the heart – because feelings are the language of the
soul.
When
you go to the gym, you are exercising your body. You lift weights, do pushups,
aerobics, etc.
When
you work or study, you are exercising your mind. You analyze, assess, plan,
write a critical study, etc.
When
you meditate, you exercise the spirit. That is why St. Ignatius called it the
Spiritual Exercises.
Like
a muscle, you have to exercise your spiritual abilities for them to grow
stronger. For instance, if you are new to the gym, you might find it difficult
to do even one full pushup. Maybe you have to do it with your knees on the
floor first. After a few days of practice, you might be able to do five pushups.
After some months, you can do them with ease. Eventually you can do one hand
pushups, or clapping between pushups, one foot pushups, one finger pushups,
etc.
It's
the same with the mind. Pre-school teachers know that the attention span of
little kids are short. Ten minutes of sitting and paying attention is already a
stretch for them. As school children advance in grade, attention span and
mental ability grow. By college years, you can do three-hour classes with no
problem. You tackle advanced calculus, writing a thesis, etc.
With
meditation, it's similar. Beginners can try to do five minute meditation
practices – some even just two minutes – before they have to stop because their
mind wanders, their body fidgets. But as you practice, soon, you're easily able
to do 15 minutes, 30 minutes, even an hour, daily.
In
actual practice, body, mind, and spirit are all connected, of course. But they are parsed here for better
understanding.
When,
as a member of ACLC, we would get ready for an eight day silent retreat, this
is what we would do – practice daily meditation, and extend the time from 10
minutes to 20, to 40, until we could do daily one hour meditations. In this
way, we could easily accomplish the four to six hour daily meditation that
would be done during the silent retreat.
The
equivalent to Olympic athletes, in terms
of meditation, are probably the Tibetan or Shaolin monks. They can be stripped, or be under
freezing cold water, and still maintain their meditation.
How
did the scientists, who studied them, knew that they were maintaining
meditation? If equipment were wired to their brains, you would see that their
minds would be in alpha waves.
In
ordinary thinking, your brain is in Beta waves.
In
meditation, the waves slow down – and this is called the Alpha wave.
In
sleep, the brain waves are even slower – it's in Theta waves.
In
meditation, we still the mind to go into Alpha waves.
How
to prepare for meditation
To
do your spiritual exercise, you have to put your body and mind out of the way,
or at least at rest, so you can concentrate on the exercise for the spirit.
So
for your body:
· Sit with your spine straight – to prevent backaches
· Your feet and hands comfortable – hands on your lap, feet flat on the floor or sit cross-legged
· Tongue to the roof of the mouth
· Eyes closed or half-shut
The
aim is simply to leave your body in such a position that it can maintain,
without bothering you, for about fifteen minutes, or whatever the length of
your meditation.
The
lotus position, if you've tried it, ties the legs in such a way that the body is
immobile, yet still comfortable – if you're used to it. This means the body can
be still for a long time without slipping out of the posture.
If
you are not used to doing the lotus position, you can just sit on a chair, or
cross-legged on the floor.
Lying
down on a bed is not advised as you can very easily slip into sleep.
For
the mind:
The
mind tends to wander or to chatter. Left
by itself, it will spin wildly, reminding you of your visit to your aunt next
week, replaying conversations, or playing tapes scolding you for being fat,
ugly, or whatever. It is never still.
What
you can do to put the mind out of the way is to give it something to focus on.
One
of the simplest and most effective focus is the breath. Breathe deeply. Focus
all your attention on your breath. We seldom pay attention to our breath yet it
is what keeps us alive. So now just focus on breathing deeply and feeling the
air go in and out of your nostrils. Feel
how warm the air you exhale is. In fact you can note – which is warmer, the
inhale or the exhale?
While
continuing your breathing, you can also pay attention to the sounds around you,
the pattering of rain, chirping of birds…or more distantly, the roar of
traffic. If you take your senses further out than that, you might hear the
television in other houses, or voices in conversation.
Now
you feel your body relaxing, your mind stilling. You feel the chair underneath
you, pushing up, supporting you. You feel the breeze on your skin.
And
when the mind wanders, simply return to your focus. Return your attention to
your breath. Regard it as if a dog
passed outside your window. You do not need to see where it's going. You do not
need to get up and look where it came from. Acknowledge that it passed by then
return to your meditation.
And
if your mind is particularly intrusive, giving doubtful messages like,
"aww you can't do this," etc., simply kick your mind outside the
window. Throw it out, as Fr. Bulatao would say. Then get back to your
meditation.
Now
you are still. Your breathing is deep and steady. Your brain is in Alpha wave.
Now
we can begin.
Do
the prepared meditation exercise.
Summary
Steps
to meditate:
1.
Find
a time and place where you would not be disturbed
2.
State
your intention (meditate for 15 minutes, etc.
If you will do a particular spiritual exercise, have it already prepared
before you.)
3.
Arrange
your body comfortably: spine straight, hands on lap, etc.
4.
Focus
your attention on your breathing
5.
Begin
the meditation exercise
6.
Close
the exercise
7.
Return
to your body
Possible
meditation exercises:
·
Examen
– recommended to be done daily
·
The
Spiritual Exercises compiled in the book of St. Ignatius
·
Successive
muscle relaxation
·
Healing
Light meditation
·
The
Eagle
·
The
Whale
·
The
Sanctuary
·
Dream
interpretation
·
Recalling
past lives
·
Travelling
·
Receiving
wisdom
:) Edlyn Kalman
