Sitting quietly, doing nothing

My new friend Poul-Erik recently said he didn't have the ability to meditate yet... which made me think that maybe many of my friends out there have the same misconception. So I thought I'd try to write a bit about this today. First of all meditation doesn't take any ability. Meditation is not about doing anything at all or achieving anything - in fact it's the opposite. The most basic form of meditation is sitting quietly, doing nothing.

Now let me make it clear that I am not talking about visualization techniques (which are great) or relaxation techniques (which are great) or channeling or trance medtiations or any of the many other fascinating things we can do with our minds and consciousness. I am talking about "basic meditation". 

Basic meditation is simple - which doesn't mean that it's easy! In fact it's so simple that it's probably the most difficult thing we can try to do (at least that's my experience). Anyway, if you want to try here's what I suggest. Sit on the floor crosslegged with your back straight or sit in a chair with your feet planted firmly on the ground with your back straight. Put your hands on your knees or cup them before you with the right hand resting on top of the left - thumbs touching. Keep your eyes slightly open so that you are gazing ahead of you at a 45 degree angle. Sit facing a blank wall or sit in nature or sit looking at something quiet and not too distracting. Now focus on your breathing.  That's all you have to do. Watch your breathing. Watch the breath going in and out and do this for 10 minutes. That's all.

Now this might sound simple but it's very difficult to do because the first thing that happens is the mind goes crazy! You start thinking about this or that and suddenly you are gone! When this happens - when you discover that you are gone - thinking about dinner or your sweetheart or what you have to do tomorrow at work - just notice that it happens and return your attention to your breathing. That's all you have to do. And be gentle with yourself. This is not about beating yourself up or achieving anything! It's just about "being here now". That's it. The simpliest thing in the world and the most difficult. Why is it so difficult? Because when we try to sit quietly and do nothing - we discover how caught up and lost we are in our own thinking and how little we are present in this moment!

It's a good idea to do this every day if you can for 10 or 15 minutes to begin with... if you do... you will slowly slowly discover that you start to settle down and will begin to have brief experiences of "being in the present moment"... Enjoy!