One Day Meditation Introduction Course Hand Out -1 What is meditation? Meditation is the practice of turning the mind inwardly rather than externally. We spend our lives seeking external stimulus, movies, TV, magazines, newspapers, IPods’', IPads', computers. These all provide a distraction and prevent us from looking inwardly. In its extreme sense we seek to change our mental state through alcohol, drugs, sex and other forms of activity. We are often actually quite terrified to look at our minds in case we do not like what we see. All of our fears, paranoia and anxieties come from the mind and to avoid feelings of discontentment or discomfort, we fill our minds with anything that will serve as a distraction. Therefore our minds are filled with thoughts and it never switches off, even in sleep we dream, this is just another aspect of our mind. Meditation has been practiced for thousands of years. Initially originating in India amongst ascetics the practice was developed through the introduction of Buddhism 2500 years ago. However meditation practices do not have to be linked wit any religion in particular and there is evidence that early Christianity developed contemplative practices. Therefore meditation can be simply defined as Mind Training. Our minds are always busy thoughts come and go, sometimes we follow story-lines and create fantasies, sometimes we concentrate single-pointedly for example playing a musical instrument or even developing a business plan. Most of the time however our minds are subject to external factors. Our senses deliver stimuli to our body such as tastes, smells, sights, sounds or touch, but it is our mind that interprets these stimuli into pleasant or unpleasant. From these feelings of good or bad we then fantasise about the various qualities of good or bad. Good becomes amazing, fantastic and bad becomes horrible, awful. We also know from experience that our minds can also change tack, things we thought of as good can become bad or indifferent and things that we once perceived as bad become pleasant. Friends become enemies, enemies become friends, lovers become strangers and strangers become lovers. Nothing is fixed and everything changes yet our mind does not like change, we behave as though everything is permanent and we then become upset when things change. Everything we experience comes from the mind and yet we very rarely sit and watch the mind. It is only through allowing the thoughts to calm down and create more space that we can start to relax. Meditation provides a way to develop a training program. Much as we exercise the body through fitness and diet, so we must train the mind through meditation. Through training our mind becomes more open, flexible and accommodating. We begin to see the world as it really exists and not just how we think it should exist.
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Meditation allows us to cultivate awareness and become a more relaxed and tolerant person. Meditation creates a pause in the internal dialogue and allows us to be present in the moment of awareness rather than in the past or future, which is where we spend most of our time. There is no guarantee that sitting meditation will work and we can practice for years without experiencing any benefit. This can happen because we do not understand why we are meditating. So why do we need to meditate? Firstly it is important to understand that meditation is not just about feeling good. To think this is why we meditate will set us up to fail. Even the most experienced meditators will experience both psychological and physical pain. Meditation takes us just as we are, wit our confusion and our sanity. Trying to “fix” ourselves is not helpful it implies struggle and denigration. Therefore honouring ourselves as the source of our wisdom and compassion. It is only by relaxing with ourselves as we are that change can come about. When we relate with ourselves without judgment, deception or moralizing we can finally let go of harmful patterns. Motivation It is imperative to establish the correct motivation before starting a meditation session. This is because it establishes a base from which to work. Meditation is after all mind-training and as such we need to know why we are meditating. We meditate to train our mind to develop positive and beneficial thoughts that will result in equally beneficial action. We also learn to recognise and abandon those thought processes that are harmful to ourselves and others. Therefore before a meditation session sit for a few minutes and think why you are meditating. You are meditating to be able to have a more calm and stable mind. Through the development of calmness and stability you can begin the process of identifying those causes and conditions that give rise to an unhappy state of mind and those causes and conditions that have a beneficial effect. Beneficial practices include the development of patience; kindness, compassion, ethical discipline, generosity and perseverance in meditation all provide a beneficial foundation for a healthy and happy state of mind. The Objective of meditation The point of meditating is to create a more expansive mind. Our mind is usually filled with so many different thoughts that it is overwhelming. Through the practice of meditation we can slow down the thinking process. By slowing down the thoughts we can learn how to “act” rather than “react”. Our habits drive our emotional response and through repetitive behaviour we reinforce the habits that cause us to become dissatisfied, stressed, uncomfortable and frustrated. Meditation is a journey rather than a destination. To take any journey we must first identify the correct path and then take the first steps. The correct path is to develop a more happy state of mind; this will be beneficial to ourselves and to others. A doctor can prescribe the correct
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medicine but it is the patient that must take the medicine according to the instructions, simply wishing the medicine will work but not taking it cannot be of any benefit. The meditation session (7 point position) Point 1 Straight Back - Begin by sitting comfortably, you can sit cross-legged on a cushion or sit on a chair. Make sure your back is straight. Point 2 Legs – The legs should be crossed or straight (if sitting) Point 3 Hands – Make sure you hands are relaxed by placing them on your thigh just below your navel. Right hand resting on your left hand and thumbs just touching. Your hand should make a triangle. Point 4 Chin – The Chin should be tucked slightly. Point 5 Eyes – You can meditate with closed eyes, however it is better to have the eyes slightly open just enough to allow in light to enter. Point 6 Tongue – the tongue should be placed on the upper palate just in front of the teeth, this stops saliva forming. Point 7 Lips – The lips should be slightly apart; the teeth should not be clenched. Breath through the nose and not through the mouth. Allow the breath to be natural not forced or shallow, just normal breathing, the body knows how to breathe so you do not need to do anything other than sit and watch the breath as it rises and falls. Focus your attention on the in-breath and out breath. Watch as air passes over the entrance to your nose, feel the coolness as it passes through the nasal cavity and down into the lungs. Simply observe the breath, your mind will wander as thoughts arise but just relax and bring your attention gently back to the breath. Do not grab onto any thought but simply watch it as it arises and falls away again. Like a person sitting on a riverbank, just watch the river do not jump in after every bit of flotsam and jetsam that floats by. Just observe. Initially there will be many thoughts arising, it is the nature of the mind to think so do not try to stop thoughts arising this will just cause discomfort, allow thoughts to arise and fall away without following the ‘move’ of the mind. Do this for about 10 minutes initially. It is better to have several short sessions throughout the day rather than one long session. Interdependence Every action we take has a consequence. There is nothing that we think or do that does not have an effect. In fact everything in the universe is dependent. This may seem to be a logical statement yet we never behave according to this law of causation. If we did behave according to this law, then many of the things that happen in our lives that were not beneficial would not happen.
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A momentary decision can have profound effects in our lives as we all know. Yet we go through life as if there were no consequences to our actions. We only have to look at the environment to see this in action. As forests are destroyed through our greed and lack of concern millions of animals face extinction and entire cultures are wiped out. Governments act inhumanely towards their people causing untold suffering and poverty. These are all obvious situations but on an individual level we are all responsible. Our impatience and intolerance causes frustration and anger to both ourselves and others. Yet we continue to develop these habits with little thought as to the consequences to our own happiness. Our entire experience of the world around us is coloured by our perception. Therefore our own happiness is entirely dependent upon our own mind. Harmful thoughts give rise to harmful feelings and emotions and these in turn give rise to harmful actions. We very often like to blame external events for our unhappy state. The economy, our enemies, the horrible person who insults us, the lack of money and so it goes on. Yet none of these things actually have the ability to cause us suffering, it is only the way our mind reacts to them that can cause problems. Ancient philosophers saw this problem thousands of years ago. They identified that what we see and experience is not the true picture. Things do not always exist as we think they do. The things we think will make us happy inevitably do not in the long term. This is because of interdependence. If everything depends upon a cause and condition then everything is in the process of change as causes and conditions change. We as humans are born, we age and we die. This is interdependence, the causes and conditions upon which we thrive change for each of us in different way. Some of us die moments after our birth and others live to be a century old. Therefore the point is that everything is dependent upon something, we can create our happiness or we can create our own suffering, nothing is static or fixed, we have the ability to make changes to our lives, we can chose to be happy. Meditation for Stress Stress is caused by our own mind. As we encounter stress factors such as work, a relationship or illness so our minds focus on the negative aspects of the situation. We build the negative factors into a much greater problem. The expression, ‘making a mountain out of a molehill’ is very poignant. We often over react to situation through our habitual responses. Breathing meditation - is an excellent way to reduce the effects of stress. By focusing on each intake and exhalation of the breath the mind is taken away from the cycle of stressful thoughts.
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Relaxation meditation – starting at the top of the head place your attention on the crown of the head and slowly and gradually bring the attention down through the body, observe areas of stress and tension and relax those areas as you scan down the body to the soles of your feet. Then reverse the process starting at the soles of the feet back up to the crown of the head. Focus on an object – this type of meditation uses imagery. Sit and look at any object, like a flower or picture. Close your eyes and try to focus on a mental image of the object. If you lose the object open your eyes and look again at the image, then again close your eyes and bring up a mental image. Try to do this for 5-10 minutes. You can also use your imagination and imagine a beautiful mountain vista or your favourite beach or other location. Really imagine every detail. Meditation for Relaxation Using meditation to relax before sleeping establishes conditions to gain a good night’s sleep. If the mind is too active then sleep is difficult. Therefore do not watch any violent or high action movie just before bedtime as this over stimulates the mind. Sit or lie down with a straight back and focus on the breathing for 5-10 minutes before sleeping. Again using this relaxation meditation relaxes the entire body using the scanning method above. This will enable you to free the mind from the daily clutter and allow for a restful sleep. Meditation for healing and illness There are many specific meditation practices for healing and sickness. One in particular that can also be used for ill health is called Tonglen meditation. Tonglen Meditation, which means 'Taking & Giving' in Tibetan, is a special healing practice, with an emphasis on the breath. Tonglen Meditation enables a person to take in the 'negative' aspects or energies of life, transform this energy into a useful purpose (destroying one's selfish ego) and then give out positive healing energy and it is an effective practice to help others who are sick as well as oneself. Tonglen is a meditation done in conjunction with one's breathing, and in relation to oneself as well as others such as your parents or friends and ultimately to every living being. 1) TAKING: Begin by representing whatever you feel is negative as black smoke. Simply imagine, sense or pretend that there is a cloud of black smoke in front of you. Begin to inhale this cloud of black smoke through your nostrils. Imagine the smoke entering into your body and settling at the area of your heart chakra. Pause your breath there for a moment as you allow that energy to destroy negative health or your own self-cherishing ego! 2) GIVING: Now slowly and gently exhale pure white wisdom light through your mouth. You could if you wish imagine beautiful rays of white light
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radiating from your body. You are giving away all that is pure healthy and positive. As you exhale imagine the white light is healing all negative emotions and unhappiness even sickness. 3) REJOICING: As you're exhaling allow yourself to feel joy at practicing giving peace and happiness to others. Pause for a moment at the end of the breath and indulge in it! What does this meditation accomplish? Generally, happiness & suffering occur as a result of one's good or bad actions. If someone has done a good action, then naturally from that there will come a result of happiness. That person will receive the result of happiness that cannot be denied him or her. Likewise, suffering occurs as the result of bad actions. If someone has done a bad action then the only result that can be obtained from that is suffering, which cannot be avoided. In doing this meditation one changes the attitude of seeing oneself as more important than others. The normal attitude that people have is to think that it does not matter if other beings are not happy, it does not matter if others are suffering or sick, but it is important that oneself is happy & free from suffering. By doing this meditation you can actually relieve your own pain and certainly help others. You can also imagine the light that comes from you as blue. This blue light can be directed at your own illness. As you inhale imagine all the negative sickness entering your own heart as black smoke. Then as you exhale the blue light enters your body at the crown of your head and fills the body with a cleansing light dispelling sickness as black smoke through the pores of your skin. You can also do this meditation for others in the same way. It is very powerful and effective. Walking Meditation Walking Meditation is an excellent practice for beginners of Meditation. It is easy to practice, and enhances both physical, mental and spiritual well-being. It is especially effective for those who find it difficult to sit still for long periods of time. Some people enjoy practicing in a beautiful outdoor setting, like a park. Others prefer to practice indoors, due to poor weather, or desire for privacy. Walking Meditation should generally be practiced for between 15 minutes to 20 minutes initially but can be extended to an hour. A 10-minute walking meditation can also be used as a break between two sitting meditations. You can practice indoors by walking around the perimeter of your largest room. If you practice outdoors choose a scenic and quiet setting. Walk without a destination. Wander aimlessly without arriving, being somewhere rather than going somewhere.
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Start out walking a little faster than normal, and gradually slow down to a normal walking speed, and then continue to slow down until you start to feel artificial or off balance. Speed up just enough to feel comfortable, physically and psychologically. At first you may need to walk fairly fast to feel smooth in your gait, but with practice, as your balance improves, you should be able to walk more slowly. Be mindful of your breathing, without trying to control it. Allow the breath to come from the diaphragm if possible, but always make sure your breathing feels natural, not artificial. Allow the breath to become circular, and fluid. Walk with 'soft vision' allowing the eyes to relax and focus upon nothing, while aware of everything. Smile softly with your eyes and gradually allow the smile to spread from your eyes to your face and throughout your body. Let all worry and sadness fall away from you as you walk. Walk in silence, both internal and external. Be mindful of your walking, make each step a gesture, so that you move in a state of grace, and each footprint is an impression of the peace and love you feel for the universe. Walk with slow, small, deliberate, balanced, graceful footsteps. After a while, when both the breath and the walking have slipped into a regular pattern of their own accord, become aware of the number of footsteps per breath. Make no effort to change the breath, rather lengthen or shorten the rhythm of your step just enough so that you have 2, 3 or 4 steps per inhalation and 2, 3 or 4 steps per exhalation. Once you have discovered your natural rhythm, lock into it, so that the rhythm of the walking sets the rhythm for the breath like a metronome. After several weeks of regular practice you may experiment with the ratios adding a footstep to your exhalation and later to your inhalation as well. Whatever ratio of steps-to-breath that you settle on, it should feel comfortable, and you should be able to maintain it for the duration of the meditation comfortably. After several months you may find your lung capacity improving. If you are comfortable, lengthen your breath an extra step but avoid trying to slow the breath too much or you will do more harm than good. Notice the beauty of your surroundings, both externally and internally. Smile with every cell in your body. Thought Transformation and The Nature of the Mind Over thousands of years philosophers and scientists have debated the subject, “What is consciousness.� Even today scientists will still debate this issue with no firm conclusions. Neurologists will claim the mind is merely electrical activity of the brain and nothing more. Yet intuitively we all know there is something more than neurons firing away in the brain. When we experience anything that provokes a strong emotion we always pat our chest as if the mind itself resided in the
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heart. We know the difference between a simple fact and a deep, fundamental experiential knowledge of something that transcends just a thought. Ancient philosophers have spent centuries in meditative equipoise, cutting themselves off from external stimuli and sitting alone in caves high in the mountains and observing the mind. There are now research programs actively studying the scientific and philosophical aspects of consciousness. One such program is the Mind & Life Institute in the USA. The institute brings together top scientists, such as; neurobiologists, neurochemists, psychologists, particle physicists and behavioral scientists. The Dalai Lama takes a great interest in these conferences and provides philosophical and meditational input into the dialogue and research programs. All agree that the mind and body are highly interdependent; we are also interconnected with our environment and other sentient beings. In general, the mind can be defined as an entity that has the nature of mere experience, that is, "clarity and knowing." It is the knowing nature, or agency, that is called mind, and this is non-material. But within the category of mind there are also gross levels, such as our sensory perceptions, which cannot function or even come into being without depending on physical organs like our senses. And within the category of the sixth consciousness, the mental consciousness, there are various divisions, or types of mental consciousness that are heavily dependent upon the physiological basis, our brain, for their arising. These types of mind cannot be understood in isolation from their physiological bases. The nature of our mind is therefore to be aware, the mind is naturally open and clear, yet our everyday habitual response to situations creates negative emotions and turbulent thought processes that result in harmful actions. Our emotions are mostly uncontrolled and we are driven like a leaf in the wind to seek things that will satisfy us. So how do cognitive or thought processes occur? There are different conditions that will create the cognitive process. The basic clarity of the mind as we have already identified is “knowing’ it is clear free from thought. One source of the process would be the sensory perception: For example we see an object. The eye views the image onto the retina and send signal to the brain. At this point the eye itself does not make any judgment, it simply sees. The brain translates the image and presents it to the consciousness. At this point our mind ‘sees’ the image. Even if we were to close our eyes immediately after our senses have observed the object we can see a mental image. This now gives rise to a thought. The thought maybe good, bad or indifferent based upon experience. This thought now gives rise to a feeling; again the feeling may be experienced as pleasant, unpleasant or neutral. The feeling then gives rise to an emotional response resulting in an action. As we begin to understand the nature of the mind we can see that our responses to sensory stimuli control our emotional state. When we observe
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something pleasant we will then exaggerate its qualities. For example we see a bar of chocolate. Our experience is that chocolate tastes good and gives us a pleasant feeling. This can give rise to craving and desire for more chocolate. Especially if we don’t have access to chocolate we develop a craving, we can even taste it in our mouth. However we lose sight of the fact that the chocolate itself cannot possess the characteristic of being pleasant or unpleasant. That is only our perception. If the chocolate truly had the quality of being pleasant then the more we ate the better the experience would be. Clearly, if we ate 3 Kg of chocolate we would probably never want to taste it again. So the chocolate itself has no qualities, it is simply our own mind that creates the fictitious quality that we have labeled onto the chocolate. The point being is that we create qualities in all things. Our likes and dislikes are simply figments of our own imagination. Of course there are some things that appear stronger than others, we do not like pain and try to avoid painful experiences. But even pain is different for everyone. The big problem that this creates is that we seek constant external stimuli to fill our lives. New relationships, new cars, houses, computers, friends and jobs seem to be initially appealing, but after a while they no longer provide the excitement they once did. This constant cycle of seeking external phenomena for our happiness is never going to be satisfying and will always create eventual suffering. So what can we do about this, it is so ingrained in our psyche to constantly seek new experience? It is only by training the mind to see clearly and to understand the true nature of how things exists and how they influence our minds that we can begin to change the patterns of our habituation. To see craving, attachment, anger and hatred for what they really are can we begin to see more clearly. Thought Transformation Habits and Habituation Meditation is often referred to by definition as the process of thought transformation or thought training. Why do we need thought transformation, or train the mind? It would be very unusual for us to wake up and begin our day with the thought, “today I will be thoroughly miserable, bad tempered, angry, impatient and unpleasant to everyone I meet,” no-one would want to wish that upon themselves unless there were a serious mental imbalance. Yet as we progress through the day we will behave in at least one of these ways. We will become impatient or angry even if just for a few moments. No matter how hard we try we will always encounter suffering or problems in our life. Yet it is not these external problems or obstacles themselves that actually cause us discomfort or suffering, but the way we react to them. It is our minds that cause the sufferings that we experience.
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Even in sickness when we suffer pain, it is still the mind that interprets how we shall react to the pain. If we concentrate and focus on the pain it will intensify, yet when we explore the origin of the pain and relax our mind, the pain can become less intense, in some cases the pain can diminish completely. So everything we experience is in the mind, there is absolutely no experience that we will encounter that does not come from the mind. Therefore it is crucial that we learn how our mind works and how we can train our mind. What do we train the mind to do? As we have mentioned before the nature of the mind is clarity and awareness, like clear water, yet as the river progresses from the mountain spring it gathers impurities and garbage as it flows to the sea. Our mind is like this river, its nature is clear and aware yet through our habits we develop set patterns in the way we behave and our mind becomes unclear and full of disturbing emotions. So we train our mind in calm abiding. We learn to quiet the mind and to relax. Then through continued practice we gradually become to understand the way that our habitual reaction to situations gives rise to disturbing emotions. What are disturbing emotions? Disturbing emotions are any emotional response that causes discomfort, such as impatience, anger, frustration, aversion and craving. These are the main causes of our suffering. There is also one other factor called ignorance. Ignorance in this sense does not mean stupidity or dumb. It means lack of understanding. What is ignorance? Lack of understanding of how things really do exist in the world. We view the external world through our senses and it is our mind that interprets this sensory input as neutral, pleasant or unpleasant. As a result these thoughts then give rise to feelings, physical sensations that then give rise to emotions. From the emotions we then act accordingly. SENSE PERCEPTION (IGNORANCE) INTERPRETATION GOOD, BAD INDIFFERENT FEELING EMOTIONS ACTION If our initial lack of understanding of how things exist our initial interpretation is mistaken, this gives rise to emotions based upon this misunderstanding and as a result we take actions that reinforce our repetitive habits. As an example we get angry when someone insults us. We hear the words that hurt us and then this gives rise to a feeling of discomfort, anger arises and the resulting emotion can develop into hatred, which then causes us to act. This could be in the form of angry words or even violence.
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Yet in reality when we analyse this sequence of events we will see that an insult is only words, we CHOOSE to determine how we will react to them. We fabricate how bad the insult was and how awful the person is. Through this fabrication we make things far worse than they really are, our mind churns over and over in its fantasy. Yet if we could train our mind to be calm we would not react, and even if we did, we could stop the fantasy in its tracks and just be calm, letting the insult pass us by having no effect on our well-being. This is of course hard to do, our habits have taken years to develop and will take a long time to break, but they can be broken through thought transformation. Lying Meditation If you are one of those people with serious back problems then you might well want to try lying down to meditate. You’ll need to have your head resting on something firm and yet padded. A thin cushion on a book can work well, as can a firm foam block. A book without padding will work for short meditations but over longer periods the back of your head will start to hurt. Even if you’re on a carpeted surface you might want to have a folded blanket or some other form of padding between your body and the floor. The best position for lying down to meditate is the Alexander Semi-Supine position, where your knees are bent and pointing to the ceiling. The feet should be flat on the floor and should be roughly where your knees would be if your legs were straight. If your legs tend to collapse outwards as you relax then you might want to try turning your heels outwards a little, keeping your toes in place. Using this technique you are more likely to fall asleep if you meditate lying down. This danger becomes even more likely if you keep your focus in the belly while paying attention to the breath, so pay attention to the breath in the upper chest, throat, head, or in the nostrils. Mindfulness What is mindfulness? Mindfulness is simply being aware in the moment. Very often we are never aware of what we are doing with full attention. Our mind wanders away fro what we are doing so it ends up as a “mindless” task. For example driving a car, our attention wanders off and we start to think about other things such as what we are going to eat later, or what we did yesterday. Rarely are we in the moment and actually enjoying what we are doing. Mindfulness allows us to be more aware of the moment and when situations arise we can be more thoughtful about how we deal with them rather than simply reacting with our usual habitual response.
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To practice mindfulness we are training to be happy. The confusion created by a wandering mind does not allow us to be happy, we are simply accumulating the causes and conditions for frustration and impatience. Therefore when we are involved in some activity, whatever that may be such as driving, making a cup of tea, writing a document, simply be mindful of the action. Place your full attention in the moment. Feel the steering wheel when you are driving, observe what is happening outside the vehicle, listen to the road under the tyres, taste the air in the car and smell the various scents as you drive through the country or city. Utilise every sense to stay with the experience of the moment. Do not allow the mind to get caught up in its usual behaviour of wandering. Experiencing the moment is a meditation in itself and helps relieve stress and focus concentration. In this way you will be more content and less fraught. Practice mindfulness in everything that you do. Being mindful will alleviate a chaotic mind; this reduces tension and the various disturbing emotions that ensue. As a result the mind will naturally fall into a state of calm and happiness. Remember the natural state of the mind is to be calm and happy, not stressed and angry. Kindness and Compassion Every one of us responds to kindness, even animals. A dog can be taught to behave using a stick to beat it, but it will become neurotic and stressed when told to do something. Yet the same discipline can be achieved through kindness and compassion and the dog will be calm and happy. We all like to be around calm individuals and the sense of warmth we experience when someone just holds our hand or talks to us in a loving way is remarkable. The physiological effects are also measurable, our blood pressure decreases, our face relaxes and the tension dissolves throughout our body. A kind word rather than a harsh reprimand achieves so much more. There is already so much hatred in the world already, we do not need to participate in it or contribute to it. A kind and compassionate nature naturally makes the mind more calm and at ease. The development of kindness is crucial to our own happiness. T is a form of selfish action in one way, not only does this type of mind help others it helps us even more. Tonglen meditation, which we discussed earlier, is excellent for encouraging a kind and compassionate nature. It trains our mind to be more tolerant and reduces the ego clinging that we all embrace. We all put ourselves first we are the most important people in our lives. This is a selfish viewpoint and encourages pride and an inflated ego.
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This strong attachment we all have to ourselves is misguided and does not help us to become relaxed. When we really think about it this all important, “I” is actually very elusive. Ancient philosophers actually dispute the very existence of an “I” at all. The "I" we imagine to exist is really a collection of body parts and mind. When we go to analyse where this, “I” exists we actually do not find it at all, it is not the bones or skin, or cells or organs. It is not even the mind because the mind is made up from thousands of thoughts; if the “I” were the mind then there must be thousands of "I’s" to represent each thought. So really this all-important “I” or “ego” is not actually findable at all. We simply construct this I as a label then cling to it as being our very centre of being. This makes us cling very strongly to a self-identity and when we are insulted or praised, the sense of ego is either revolted or becomes proud. Either way this gives rise to an emotional response which then determines an action. For example, someone praises us for a good job well done. Our sense of pride is inflated and our sense of ego becomes very exaggerated. We then feel superior, better than someone else. Then when we are insulted we feel very hurt, our pride is wounded and our ego damaged, we then react with hatred or jealousy. These are all very disturbing emotions and result in us acting in a way that can also be damaging. We all feel guilty after we have “lost the plot” and shout at someone. If we had a kinder nature our sense of ego is reduced and we become much more calm. By examining this “I” or “ego” in meditation we see it for what it really is. A mental construct that we cling to as being very real and concrete. Develop kindness and compassion in your life, it will reduce the sense of ego and allow a more calm nature to evolve. Conclusion I really hope that you all enjoyed this workshop. Meditation allows us to cultivate the causes of happiness and abandon the causes of suffering. Done every day it will transform your life. But like any medicine, it is not good sitting on a shelf; you have to take the medicine for it to work. Meditate every day even for a few minutes. Be aware of what you are doing and enjoy the moment. Develop a kinder more compassionate nature and at the end of every meditation session wish all living beings a happy life. This will cultivate within you a more caring nature; you are creating new habits that will embellish your life. Michael Smith michael@healthalliance.co.uk
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