People often dismiss meditation as a form of health care. True, meditation does require a time commitment and certain persistent enthusiasm to realize any benefit. Meditation is not a quick fix intervention, but for those willing to make a little effort the long term rewards can be substantial. Headaches, anxiety, insomnia, bowel problems, anger, jealousy, relationship issues; I have seen meditation make a difference with these and many other health concerns.
In 1854 Henry David Thoreau, early American philosopher, in his book ‘Walden’ stated: “The mass of men lead lives of quiet desperation”. While his aphorism seems to overlook the state of women, nevertheless, it is this ennui, this sort of pervasive level of suffering he’s identified which meditation can address; alleviating mental, emotional and physical ailments profoundly.
There are as many styles of meditation to accommodate the varied cultures and personalities in this world. The method that I recommend is sometimes referred to as mind management, or ‘Taming the Mind’ as cited in Thubten Chodron’s book title regarding meditation. This style of meditation has two stages. The first, called meditative serenity, or calm abiding which leads to a clear, undisturbed state of mind. The second stage is called insight or analytic meditation in which one examines the nature of the world we live in from the vantage point of the first stage.
The benefits of a calm, stress reduced mind, and ability to function in the turbulence of our 21st century with additional grace, dignity and compassion resulting from the calm abiding meditation, are sufficient for many practitioners. For others, a more thorough understanding of the true nature of the world we live in using insight meditation has additional benefits. An excellent example of this is impermanence. Upon careful investigation the meditator will understand that there is no worldly identifiable object or event that is immune to the forces of change.
Change is built into everything which comes into existence, yet those who don’t fully understand this suffer when change happens, either on a subtle chronic level such as Mr. Thoroue points out, or overtly perhaps with emotional outbursts of frustration and anger.
The individual with an unexamined mind will typically experience change, whether positive or negative, shackled by feelings of apprehension, fear, anger, jealousy and other negative thought patterns. The individual who by careful analysis understands the impermanent nature of things will experience change with feelings of excitement, compassion, love and openness. Negative experiences such as the loss of a cherished object, job or loved one will be of shorter duration and less disturbing then with the individual who is rigidly attached to maintaining the status quo.
With meditation we learn that our thoughts come and go, and that the tighter we hold on to a particular thought, the more we engage a thought making it real, solid and permanent, the more it disturbs our peace of mind.
By understanding this with the strong certainty gained from careful meditative observation and analysis, the inevitable changes of life which occur are no longer foreign and unexpected events triggering suffering due to a false belief in permanence. In fact it is this impermanence which allows things to grow, to evolve, to adapt and allow us ever greater wisdom and understanding to act with certainty and confidence in this challenging world, and not act out an emotional habitual response to change. We become able to enjoy things, without expecting them never to change.
The method of meditation I’m describing is very simple. Find a relatively quiet location, free of external distractions, place yourself in a comfortable position with your back straight, not lying unless you are confined to bed, and for five minutes with eyes relaxed on a neutral backdrop relax. During this time, take note of your breath as it passes in and out of your nostril. Likely, a million zillion thoughts will manifest, vying for your attention and the mistaken need to follow them into the lands of distraction. As soon as you have noted the distraction, without reprimanding yourself, return to the awareness of your breath.
In time you will develop that mental muscle of identifying the distraction before it pulls you away from the present awareness and natural clarity of your mind. You will begin to allow your thoughts and all senses to arise and slip away without getting mentally lost in distraction, and discover the true nature of the world we live in thereby reducing the suffering in your life and those around you.
Examine everything, objects, moods, thoughts, relationships, your car, the weather, politics, sensations; everything is undergoing continuous change. To move with this change graciously and flexibly, it is not sufficient to have just an intellectual understanding of impermanence. An experiential certainty of the true nature of impermanence acquired through meditation is needed to gain this freedom.
Resources
Taming the Mind by Thubten Chodron
Full Catastrophy Living: Using the Wisdom of Your Body and Mind to Face Stress, Pain and Illness by Jon Kabat-Zinn
