Creative Guidance-IASbaba, Inspirational & Educative Articles
How exactly to meditate?
Relaxation in meditation is all about keeping your body relaxed and your mind alert. If you try to relax your mind, you will fall asleep. The relaxation of the body and the alertness of the mind are inversely proportional to each other: The more you relax your body, the more alert your mind should be. That’s the only way you can stay awake during meditation.
Try meditating by lying down on your back. You will see how difficult it is, and how much more alert your mind must be to avoid falling into sleep. If you stop being aware for even just one moment, your body is so relaxed that you immediately fall asleep.
It is important to understand this beautiful relationship between the mind and the body. When you sit in an upright position, there is a bit of tension in the body that keeps you awake. There is a little pain and discomfort, which is also helping you to stay awake. As you continue to meditate, you slowly begin to relax. By this time, you should have become more alert; otherwise you will soon be snoring.
A similar relationship exists between focus and awareness. You should be aware, but the moment you feel that you are losing your awareness, you should become more focused. While you are watching the breath, you will notice that, over time, it becomes more and more difficult to keep your awareness on the breath. Your mind begins to interfere and disturb your awareness.
This is when you need to shift from being aware of the breath to focusing on it. Every time you relax too much and begin to drift in thoughts, you have to become more focused. If your focus is too intense and you begin to get agitated, you should relax and simply try to be aware. Meditation is a beautiful dance – The grace and beauty of this dance lies in knowing when to focus and when to be aware.
“This article is a part of the creative endeavor of Nirvana Foundation and IASBABA.”
