I meditate every morning, early. I sit in a half-lotus position (pictured here) on a meditation cushion called a Zafu, palms one on top of the other on my lap, facing forward, eyes closed. This is what Thanissaro Bhikkhu, a renowned Buddhist meditation teacher, calls “getting the body into position.” For beginners, sitting like this for long periods can be a bit uncomfortable, until your body gets used to it.
Even so, sitting this way is the easy part. The hard part is what comes next: getting the mind into position, keeping yourself focused on the in-and-out breath until the bell rings.
But let me take a step back for a moment, and talk about the term meditation. It’s a heavy word with a number of meanings, so it’s important for me to clarify what I mean — and what’s usually meant in Buddhist schools of thought — when thinking of meditation. In the western world, it’s often defined as “continued or extended thought; reflection; contemplation.” I frequently hear people using the term to mean “thinking hard about something.” They’ll say, “Oh, that’s a tough problem. Let me go meditate on it.”
That’s a perfectly valid use of the word, but it’s not the kind of meditation I’m talking about here. I’m using the term meditation to mean something quite different and in this case, more specific: the practice of mindfulness of breathing, a meditation practice in which one maintains attention and mindfulness on the sensations of breathing. This type of meditation, the one I practice, is called Vipassana or “Insight” meditation, which is Buddhist in origin and about 2,600 years old.
The goal of this kind of meditation is to bring an inner peace and a lasting happiness. Along the path to that goal, you get a lot of other benefits such as being more connected to your body, more aware of your feelings and emotions, and less caught by your thoughts and what’s called the “monkey mind” – a mind that won’t rest and that, over time, contributes to the kinds of anxiety and stress many of us feel each day.
As human beings, it’s normal for our minds to wander. If you want to see what I’m talking about, just try this quick experiment, even if it’s noisy or crowded or bright: Close your eyes, and focus your attention on your breathing. Don’t try to change it by breathing more or less deeply, or more or less slowly. Just pay attention to how you’re already breathing right now. Count the breaths starting with the in-breath (one) and the out-breath (two), counting up until you reach 10. Then start over. Count the breath this way 3 times (30 breaths).
How did it go? Were you able to make it all the way to 10 each time? Did your mind wander? Did you find yourself planning what you were going to do next, or wondering how much longer this exercise would take? Did you get distracted by background noises? Did you feel impatient or relaxed? Did you enjoy the experience?
It may seem hard to believe at first, but by paying attention to your breath in this way, over time, you will begin to develop an incredibly deep, rich level of understanding and insight into your own mind. It’s a fascinating process, and it has the potential to be incredibly beneficial, allowing you to more deeply connect with the jumble of processes that make up the concept of your identity. Over time, you’ll find that you’re able to touch a deeper sense of peace regardless of the circumstances that surround you. You won’t be as caught by an emotion, and you’ll be able to make a decision about how you’d like to react to a situation in a way that might have been out of reach to you before.
It does take time to see the benefits of meditation, though. Just like the development of any skill, from playing an instrument to training for a marathon, meditation is a practice that requires a daily commitment. This isn’t something you can do once a week and see real benefits from.
For many people however, the benefits can be life changing. I can say that the results of my meditation practice have affected me on more levels and more significantly than anything else I’ve undertaken in my whole life.
The concept of meditation is too big for just one post, so I’m planning on a series of articles that will break it down into smaller more manageable concepts, with a focus on integrating some simple mindfulness practices that can help improve how we approach problems in our work and life, and how we become more effective all around.
One final thing to keep in mind; you absolutely do not have to be a Buddhist to meditate in this way, and this practice won’t turn you into one, either. As Thanissaro Bhikkhu says in one of the articles I’ve linked to below:
[Meditation] is a good topic no matter what your religious background. As my teacher once said, the breath doesn’t belong to Buddhism or Christianity or anyone at all. It’s common property that anyone can meditate on.
Here are a few links that can serve as a great jumping-off point on the subject of breath meditation:
- Article: A Guided Meditation
- Article: Basic Breath Meditation Instructions
- Book: Mindfulness in Plain English
- Audio: Introduction to Meditation
I’d like to tune future posts on this subject on the aspects of meditation and mindfulness in daily life based on your feedback and requests, so please let me know what you’d like for me to write about in the comments.
Ryan Schwartz • 30 April 2009
I made it to 10 three times. I could sense my brain sharpening while doing so, and it was neat. Thanks Dan for the thoughtful article and I hope to work meditation practice into my daily schedule!
eric • 30 April 2009
Thanks for writing this. I’m still fairly new to mindfulness practice, but it’s fast becoming a time of the day I treasure. When I first started, I also found it very helpful to plan a specific time of the day and length of sit. It made it easier to incorporate it into my daily routine.
I’ll be ordering that cushion shortly. I’ve tried to make do with couch cushions, mats, pillows, anything I could find. All were distracting in their ineffectiveness.
Dan Benjamin • 30 April 2009
@Eric - Absolutely, a good cushion, especially when you’re first starting out, is absolutely essential. Maybe a good topic for the next article could be starting out, what you need (time, place, cushion, etc.)?
jake • 30 April 2009
I’m concerned this will make me lazy. It’s probably useful for those with ‘too much’ energy and motivation. But less useful for those, like me, who find motivation a problem.
isaiah • 30 April 2009
when i swim laps the focus on my fatigue and maintaining my form, and that makes my mind wander. i used to find it difficult to remember how many laps i had completed. my solution was just to repeat the lap count on each arm-stroke.
once it become second nature i found that i was reaching a similar mental state as my meditation. busying my conscious mind with the mundane task of counting was enough to let me relax.
this brought about a real revelation for me in my regular meditation routine. in times past a mental mantra or counting (my standby) was not really enough to busy my conscious mind. my swimming discovery lead me to try different counting patterns. i’ve settled on something that has always helped me pass time in boring school classes—counting doubles. i think of it as a computer geeks version of a mantra.
i start at 2 and then double to 4 and then to 8. when the next double doesn’t come readily to mind i reverse the process and come back down again. for me this has lead to a whole new level of relaxation and awareness that i had never really been able to achieved before. i think counting or chanting was simply not enough—my conscious found a way to sneak in—i needed something just a little more interesting.
perhaps if i studied at meditation more i wouldn’t need this artificial chewing gum of the mind. but for those of us that have kids and work and lives and ... well, any little personal routine to make it easier is helpful.
—
oh, and, by the way, a very nice article. i always enjoy your writing. thanks again,
isaiah
Dan Benjamin • 30 April 2009
@Jake - this kind of meditation won’t make you lazy, nor is it “relaxing” in the traditional sense, although the side-effects will create calmness. In fact, you may find that it calmly energizes you as it does for most people. They’ve measured the brainwaves and done studies on Buddhist monk’s while they were in meditation, and have discovered that their minds are more active, focused, and concentrated during meditation than any other time of day.
Marcus • 30 April 2009
I’ve practised breathing meditation on and off for about six or seven years now and have always found it to be a fantastic way to sharpen my focus on reality, on the “here and now”. Given enough time and devotion mindfulness meditation can be a great way to improve your overall mindfulness and general wellbeing.
This is a great beginner’s guide - the only thing I would add is that it does not matter if your “chattering mind” tries to get your attention with random thoughts as you meditate. Part of meditation is noticing these thoughts, noticing that you noticed them, and dismissing them. Over time, as your focus and attention span increases, you will get progressively less of these random thoughts.
Phil Dokas • 30 April 2009
I’m very much looking forward to this series, Dan!
Chris Yunker • 30 April 2009
Good post. How long until you started noticing changes?
John Lamber • 30 April 2009
Daily meditation and desire to change make me a better person. I started a few years ago and however you will see a real benefit just after a few weeks. If you decided to to meditate everyday then I suggest you buy a good set of zafu and zabuton. A friend pointed me to this company http://www.zafustore.com and I am really happy with their products.
Steve Sanderson • 30 April 2009
Nice article - inspiring.
Thomas • 30 April 2009
I practice an old scandinavian form of meditation called ‘Sjælevandring’, or in english ‘Spiritwalking’, where you through relaxation and focus detach your senses from the body.
It’s an incredibly powerful experience, but it usually takes far longer to obtain the right state of mind, which renders it somewhat useless for a quick pick-me-up.
Maybe I should do a quick write-up on it.
Mxa • 30 April 2009
Great Article. I’ve tried meditation in the past but didn’t really commit to it and did it every day. I’m going to try it again. Looking forward to your series.
Mxe • 30 April 2009
Meh. I mean “i didn’t to it every day” of course.
Jen (Modern Beet) • 30 April 2009
I disagree with your point that you must meditate often to feel any results / changes. I started doing yoga occasionally (also basically an exercise in breathing), and it changed me dramatically. At first I would do it once or twice a week, and now, admittedly, I never attend classes any more (I live in germnay now), but the mindfulness that I learned in the first classes is still there. Anyways, I find this tremendously useful useful as programmer, mostly because it helps me deal with unexpected (*whatever you want to call it *&^) from management; I just take a few deep breaths, then tell them why their idea is scheisse
imo, yoga and programming have a natural but undervalued connection