Enriching your life in Christ through profound Christian Meditation
Tantric Christianity
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Buddhist Techniques for
Christian Meditation
Christian Meditation
Meditation, the practice placing your attention upon a single point of focus, does not
have to be a complicated exercise. True, there are contemplative modes which can
be quite involved, requiring a strong capacity for focus in the meditator, but when we
are working with calming and centering meditation simpler is better. For the most
part, you simply need to develop two skills if you are going to feel like you are
making progress with your efforts:
1 - The ability to bring your attention to an object or idea of your choosing. For
instance, if you’ve chosen to focus on a repeated word (as with mantra meditation),
that word is what you are primarily aware of. This isn’t really hard, is it? You can do it
right now: just close your eyes and think of your own first name. Repeat it to yourself
two or three times, focusing your attention on just that word. That’s all there is to that
skill; some objects of attention are more demanding than others, and you can
continually become better at directing your attention, but there is little complexity to
this task.
2 - The ability to monitor what your mind is doing. Sometimes called ‘mindfulness’,
proficiency in this skill is just as critical as with the first. Through mindfulness, the
meditator catches on quickly when thoughts or impressions other than the chosen
object of focus steal the attention. If you’ve ever read a book for more than a few
minutes, or if you’ve focused on a task at work or in school, you’ve demonstrated this
capacity. For purposes of meditation, you’ll need to make this even stronger, but it’s
important to recognize you don’t have to invent a whole new ability to make
meditation available to yourself.
Without developing these two skills, any effort at meditation is likely to be mere
daydreaming and reverie. Pleasant and relaxing, sure, but not it’s not meditation.
The following steps are very simple, but they are the heart of calming and centering
meditation. They’ve been the backbone of just about every interior practice of every
spiritual tradition in human history, and work directly to develop the skills of focus and
mindfulness:
1 - Find a time and place where you will have few outside interruptions.
2 - Establish your object of focus. It can be a word or sound, an image, or a physical
sensation (the feeling of your breath moving in and out of your nose, the beating of
your heart, etc.).
3 - Spend a few moments taking stock of your current perspective – feel how you are
sitting, see the room in front of you, and hear any background noise. After you’ve
established this grounding in ‘now’, allow your eyelids to gently lower. Some people
and traditions prefer completely closed eyes, others prefer the lids only half closed;
try both for yourself and see what kind of impact each has on your concentration.
4 - Turning your consideration inward, place your attention upon your object of focus.
For this exercise, there is no need to think about that object, or analyze it. Simply
watch it, hear it, or feel it. Just experience it.
5 - When thoughts other than the simple experience of your object arise – and these
could either be thinking about your object or about something else altogether –
simply recognize them and return your attention without a lot of fuss or drama to your
chosen point of focus. Do this repeatedly throughout the time you’ve allotted for this
session.
6 - When your time is up, allow your attention to spread from your object of focus to
all of your physical senses. In step number 3 you used the sensations of the current
moment to help guide you to a more interior perspective. Now use those same
sensations to guide back to a more exterior point of view. Keep this gentle and
relaxed.
7 - Begin moving your extremities, shrug your shoulders, shift your back – nothing
abrupt, but wake up your body and return completely to the world.
And that, in a nutshell, is how you practice centering meditation. Here are some
additional tips which you might find helpful:
* Once you are done with the session, do your best to maintain that sense of alert
relaxation as you move through your day. After all, the ultimate goal here really is to
impact your entire life; any insights or personal growth that is limited strictly to the
meditation session provides very little value.
* Especially in the beginning stages of your practice, choose an object of focus
which highlights one particular sensory channel: kinesthetic (bodily feeling), auditory
or visual. Involving more than one sense gives your mind license to jump around,
which short circuits your efforts to develop the strength of your concentration. There
are more involved practices where you will employ each of your senses, but give
yourself the chance to develop one pointed concentration first.
* In a related note, experiment with each of the three primary senses; as you try each
of them you might find one which is most helpful in promoting single pointed
concentration (note: it might not be the sense you would initially guess, so be sure to
give each one a shot). Take advantage of that finding, making that particular sense
the foundation of your early training work.
* Use your brain’s desire for pattern to help you by creating a schedule and sticking
with it. If you practice concentrating your attention at the same time every day, your
brain will begin to expect the exercise, welcoming it.
There is a whole lot more which can be covered: other modes of meditation and
what to do when you are NOT meditating, to name just a couple. None of that matters
much without this foundation, though, so spend some time becoming familiar with
this flavor of interior practice and make it something you can feel very comfortable
doing.
If you have any questions around this mode of meditation (or the other two primary
modes of analytic and generative meditation) please feel free to email me at
cjb@tantricchristianity.
com; I will be happy to assist you.
Vigilate!
Chris B
have to be a complicated exercise. True, there are contemplative modes which can
be quite involved, requiring a strong capacity for focus in the meditator, but when we
are working with calming and centering meditation simpler is better. For the most
part, you simply need to develop two skills if you are going to feel like you are
making progress with your efforts:
1 - The ability to bring your attention to an object or idea of your choosing. For
instance, if you’ve chosen to focus on a repeated word (as with mantra meditation),
that word is what you are primarily aware of. This isn’t really hard, is it? You can do it
right now: just close your eyes and think of your own first name. Repeat it to yourself
two or three times, focusing your attention on just that word. That’s all there is to that
skill; some objects of attention are more demanding than others, and you can
continually become better at directing your attention, but there is little complexity to
this task.
2 - The ability to monitor what your mind is doing. Sometimes called ‘mindfulness’,
proficiency in this skill is just as critical as with the first. Through mindfulness, the
meditator catches on quickly when thoughts or impressions other than the chosen
object of focus steal the attention. If you’ve ever read a book for more than a few
minutes, or if you’ve focused on a task at work or in school, you’ve demonstrated this
capacity. For purposes of meditation, you’ll need to make this even stronger, but it’s
important to recognize you don’t have to invent a whole new ability to make
meditation available to yourself.
Without developing these two skills, any effort at meditation is likely to be mere
daydreaming and reverie. Pleasant and relaxing, sure, but not it’s not meditation.
The following steps are very simple, but they are the heart of calming and centering
meditation. They’ve been the backbone of just about every interior practice of every
spiritual tradition in human history, and work directly to develop the skills of focus and
mindfulness:
1 - Find a time and place where you will have few outside interruptions.
2 - Establish your object of focus. It can be a word or sound, an image, or a physical
sensation (the feeling of your breath moving in and out of your nose, the beating of
your heart, etc.).
3 - Spend a few moments taking stock of your current perspective – feel how you are
sitting, see the room in front of you, and hear any background noise. After you’ve
established this grounding in ‘now’, allow your eyelids to gently lower. Some people
and traditions prefer completely closed eyes, others prefer the lids only half closed;
try both for yourself and see what kind of impact each has on your concentration.
4 - Turning your consideration inward, place your attention upon your object of focus.
For this exercise, there is no need to think about that object, or analyze it. Simply
watch it, hear it, or feel it. Just experience it.
5 - When thoughts other than the simple experience of your object arise – and these
could either be thinking about your object or about something else altogether –
simply recognize them and return your attention without a lot of fuss or drama to your
chosen point of focus. Do this repeatedly throughout the time you’ve allotted for this
session.
6 - When your time is up, allow your attention to spread from your object of focus to
all of your physical senses. In step number 3 you used the sensations of the current
moment to help guide you to a more interior perspective. Now use those same
sensations to guide back to a more exterior point of view. Keep this gentle and
relaxed.
7 - Begin moving your extremities, shrug your shoulders, shift your back – nothing
abrupt, but wake up your body and return completely to the world.
And that, in a nutshell, is how you practice centering meditation. Here are some
additional tips which you might find helpful:
* Once you are done with the session, do your best to maintain that sense of alert
relaxation as you move through your day. After all, the ultimate goal here really is to
impact your entire life; any insights or personal growth that is limited strictly to the
meditation session provides very little value.
* Especially in the beginning stages of your practice, choose an object of focus
which highlights one particular sensory channel: kinesthetic (bodily feeling), auditory
or visual. Involving more than one sense gives your mind license to jump around,
which short circuits your efforts to develop the strength of your concentration. There
are more involved practices where you will employ each of your senses, but give
yourself the chance to develop one pointed concentration first.
* In a related note, experiment with each of the three primary senses; as you try each
of them you might find one which is most helpful in promoting single pointed
concentration (note: it might not be the sense you would initially guess, so be sure to
give each one a shot). Take advantage of that finding, making that particular sense
the foundation of your early training work.
* Use your brain’s desire for pattern to help you by creating a schedule and sticking
with it. If you practice concentrating your attention at the same time every day, your
brain will begin to expect the exercise, welcoming it.
There is a whole lot more which can be covered: other modes of meditation and
what to do when you are NOT meditating, to name just a couple. None of that matters
much without this foundation, though, so spend some time becoming familiar with
this flavor of interior practice and make it something you can feel very comfortable
doing.
If you have any questions around this mode of meditation (or the other two primary
modes of analytic and generative meditation) please feel free to email me at
cjb@tantricchristianity.
com; I will be happy to assist you.
Vigilate!
Chris B
| How to Meditate |