New Meditation Center Opens In San Diego

Meditation is many times misunderstood, so I want to clarify some points for the beginner. The fact is that sometimes we take to meditation with the wrong "purpose" in mind. Actually, in meditation any purpose is the wrong purpose because there shouldn't be one.

Meditation is mindfulness; that is, our attention is focused on the present moment, on what is happening now. We don't want a purpose, which would imply a future result. In meditation we want to be...just be...awake!

To be awake simply means that our attention is here. It means that our minds are not wandering off somewhere; we collect our minds. We pay attention to what is happening and how is affecting us. We pay attention to what we see, hear and smell. Although silence is preferable when we do a sitting meditation, we don't have to be thrown off by a little noise; we can just hear it without judging it.

This is basically what meditation is: no judgements, opinions or beliefs in your mind so that you can see Reality as it is. And don't let that mindfulness stay behind when you finish your sitting meditation, for you will be absent again. Take it with you. When you are walking, just walk mindfully, paying attention; when eating, just eat mindfully, paying attention to the food while tasting and swallowing it, and so on...

Mindfulness (meditation) is a practical way to live in which we are present. It should be a playful experience, being aware of how the mind strays and bringing it back to the present. Presence has a lot of benefits including our total awakening, but it doesn't have a purpose. It is itself the purpose. Altered states of perception during meditation are just a by product of one-pointed concentration, not a goal. They can even be a hindrance.

When you are doing a sitting meditation, you may want to develop a thought. For instance, you can meditate about your unavoidable death, staying focus while following that thought to what it implies: the impermanence of all sentient beings and things. But meditation is always here with either thought or action; you want to be aware of either thought or moment, meaning the mind doesn't wander aimlessly into the past or the future. While practicing meditation what you mainly do is bring yourself to the present moment (the task at hand), as soon as you notice you are not there.

Make it play! Be awake!

“Strength does not come from physical capacity. It comes from an indomitable will.”–Mohandas Gandhi

By S (Rio) Guzman
www.rioguzman.com