LIFE WITHOUT STRESS: MEDITATION
The key to our management of stress lies in those moments when our brain runs quietly in a way that restores harmony of function. This occurs naturally in our moments of repose and day-dreaming, in moments of stillness as we ponder some aspect of nature, and in the quiet that comes to our mind in the togetherness of man and woman. We can also discipline our mind to produce the same effect in meditation.
There are quite different forms of meditation in which the brain functions in quite different ways. I have abundant evidence to show that the form of meditation which I am about to describe is much more effective than other forms in restoring the harmonious brain function that relieves stress.
In classical meditation as in yoga, in Zen Buddhist meditation, and in the meditation as practiced by the early Christian mystics, the thought processes of the mind are helped by will power concentrating on some object or spiritual concept. The mind is active, striving to attain and maintain this ideal. In the meditation that I would advise you to practice there is no striving, no activity of brain function, just quietness, a stillness of effortless tranquility.
This is not the tranquility of drowsy somnolence. The mind is clear but still. At first, until the meditator has learned the art of letting his mind run in this way, there will be moments of stillness, but these are soon interrupted by the intrusion of thoughts. Do not try to dispel the thoughts by actively driving them from the mind. Just let them be, and they will fizzle out, cease, and stillness will come again. Then thoughts will recur. And again, if they are let alone, stillness will supervene. And gradually the space between the thoughts, the stillness that we want, will become longer and longer.
At the start this process will come and go, very much like the natural rhythms that are all about us, night and day, the tides, our very heartbeat. There may be a tendency for the beginner to get cross with himself with the recurring thoughts. This, of course, brings the meditative process to a halt.
Another error, which may befall the beginner, is a tendency to examine the situation. ‘How am I going? Am I doing it properly?’ Of course, any enquiry of this nature involves activity of the mind, which is exactly what we are trying to avoid. At the start it is best just to let ourselves experience a sense of being. Just being. Not even being in the room. Not even being alive. Just being. This state of mental activity, or rather inactivity, is a step towards the real stillness of mind experienced in full meditation.
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