we too, can become similarly convince of the reality of things we have created in our minds, when they only ghost of our attachment, guilt and desires..

This practice, commencing with a concentration on the elements earth, water, fire and air is a staple practice within the Sufi tradition. Parallels to this practice can be found in spiritual traditions throughout the world. The version described here is thought to have its roots in the Greek mystery schools, and has thus been passed down from Sufi teacher to student for thousands of years. For many the practice will have an uncanny familiarity. It leaves you with a sense of renewed energy and is an excellent daily ritual: perhaps the most balanced practice you could use. The purification with the elements begins as concentration and gradually deepens into a practice of contemplation. It is an excellent preparation for meditation. The practice is well suited to the early morning, and wonderful to do standing barefoot or sitting in contact with the earth. If doing the practice inside, stand or sit near an open window if possible.
Close the eyes. At first you will need five to ten minutes to focus on each of the four elements. After you have learned the practice, you may shorten the concentrations to five breaths for each element.
Start with some deep exhalations, pushing gently, slowly and as fully as possible, first out of the chest and then out of the abdomen. Exhale further and further, and then let your inhalation be completely natural, using no effort. A natural inhalation is very important, so that you do not strain your lungs or the muscles in your chest. Hold the breath for a moment after the inhalation. After a few rounds of exhalations and inhalations, begin with the breath of the earth element.

The Earth Element

The early Christian hermits, living alone years in the desert, used a concentration on the earth’s magnetism as a way of restoring their vitality during long vigils. Native American elders have said that the loss of a sense of relationship and communion with the earth is the main cause of psychological imbalance and physical illness.
Standing or sitting, feel yourself like a tree with roots extending firmly and deeply into the earth. Feel the great strength and magnetism of the earth. Breathe in through the nose and out through the nose, not forcing the breath in any way. Imagine drawing magnetism and healing power through the soles of your feet (if standing) or the bottom of your spine (if sitting). Commune with the earth, and consciously channel the earth’s magnetism to the parts of your body that are depleted.
Feel the healing power of the earth. You may have felt this in your feet while walking barefoot outdoors or in your hands when working in a garden.
Try to sense a subtle reality, a crystalline lattice-like structure, behind the denser aspects of the physical plane. Sense that at this subtle level, the earth is not only a singular organism but is also connected to the solar system and part of a galaxy. In your connection to the earth, you are also connected to the moon, neighboring planets, the sun and distant stars.
On the inhalation, sense yourself as part of life, your body made of the substance of the earth and thus subject to the harmony and order of the natural world. As you exhale, release toxins or pollution back into the earth. Breath out your tiredness, disharmony and agitation.
Now concentrate on the magnetic field of your body. The body has a force field around it, similar to that of a magnet, as does the earth as a whole. Feel as though you are aligning your own magnetic field to the magnetic field of the earth, the way that iron filings align around a magnet. When magnetic power is weak, the iron filings are in disarray. When the power is strong, the filings align in symmetric, harmonic patterns. On each in-breath, feel the filings coming into order. On the exhalation, sense that your body gives forth a natural magnetism and harmonizes the atmosphere around you.

The Water Element

The breath of the water element brings a sense of flow, of vitality and purity, and helps unleash creativity. It is also useful in breaking free from habitual thinking patterns, encouraging feelings of moving forward through life and flowing around obstacles rather than hitting them head on.
Breathe in through the nose and out through the mouth. You can imagine exhaling a fine stream of water through the mouth. You might imagine yourself immersed in a mountain stream. Feel the drops of water penetrating your cells, dripping off of your fingertips. Feel water reaching your chest and heart, helping to loosen any tightness and obstruction there. Feel energized and renewed, again focusing on those parts of the body that are in need of healing, and those that lack life energy and vibrancy.
Concentrate on the purity of a crystal clear lake or stream, high up in the mountains. Let yourself become the water, and let the qualities of purity, life energy and power flow into your immediate environment.

The Fire Element

The breath of the fire element is quickening. It sparks inspiration and is very useful when you feel drowsy and dull after a period of intense practice. Breath in through the mouth, hold the breath momentarily and then breathe out through the nose. On the inhalation, imagine fanning a fire in the solar plexus, the area in the center of your rib cage, with a bellows. Purse your lips and draw in a thin stream of air. As you draw in, visualize the embers of the fire glowing. Then hold the breath momentarily, and bring your attention up to the center of the heart chakra, a sensitive point found a few inches above the solar plexus. Exhale through the heart chakra, imagining that you are radiating golden sunlight.
On the inhalation, come in touch with your soul’s desire; your aspirations for spiritual awareness and understanding; your desire to be authentic; to make your life meaningful and worthwhile; to stand up for what you believe in. On the exhalation, radiate light as if from a miniature sun in your heart. Feel the light to be intense and golden.
Use the fire breath as a place of offering up the parts of yourself you would like to transform. Subject your self-doubt, cynicism, addictive patterns or resentments to the fire. Avoid making pledges you won’t keep. Simply clarify your intention and open yourself to the purification process.
Instead of using will power to change, the concentration on the fire element represents the action of life as a teacher, who activates and burns up what needs to be burned, a natural force of change and growth, by which your deeper nature emerges.

The Air Element

Breathe in through the mouth and out through the mouth. The breath of the air element relates to freedom, ecstasy and transcendence. Imagine yourself to be like a great eagle perched high on a mountain. Feel the wind ruffling your feathers, blowing through all your pores. Feel the coolness and freshness of the air. Soar upwards on the currents of air. On the inhalation, feel yourself buoyant and free, like a zephyr crossing a lake and lifting upwards. On the exhalation, allow yourself to reach out beyond the boundaries of the body. Let your being disperse with the wind, and let your consciousness reach out into the cosmos. Enjoy a sense of vastness and, if it helps, visualize vast landscapes, such as a mountain, canyon, or the starry night sky.
After you have completed the purification breaths, reflect upon the effect of all the elements taken together. While separately each of the breaths emphasizes different forces and qualities in one’s being, together the breaths bring about a sense of wholeness. Each element complements and moderates each other. According to your own makeup, you may feel the need to place more emphasis on one or another in order to attain greater balance.

2. Cross-legged sitting. Both legs are bent and the right foot is placed underneath the left thigh. The left foot is placed on the right thigh. This is the half-lotus posture. The full-lotus used by monks is even better. Another posture is the simple-seat, with legs crossed and feet under knees, in general, choose the most comfortable.

3. Hand Position. The two hands, hanging naturally, are placed with the palms up on top of the legs. The palms are placed on top of each other with the tips of the thumbs touching and the "tiger’s mouth" facing forward as if holding an object. The hands rest lightly in front of the stomach on top of the calves without pressure and naturally relaxed.

4. Reclining. Lying with the face up (too soft an inner spring mattress is not suitable), the back should be level and straight. The feet are extended level, with the toes pointing upward and naturally relaxed. The palms should face inward, lightly touching the sides of the thighs. The height of the pillow can be adjusted for comfort. All the muscles of the body should be relaxed. The eyes gaze in the direction of the abdomen.

12. When finished meditating, open the mouth and expel three to five breaths to dissipate the heat of the body. Slowly rouse the body, gently stretching out the arms and legs. Rub the hands together to produce heat and massage the face, neck, shoulders, arms and legs while slowly standing up. Beginners, when they feel their legs becoming numb, should massage them until comfortable again. Under no circumstances stand up abruptly.

The preceding points are an elementary presentation of the fundamental methods and postures. More advanced practices will not be described at this time.

]]> http://odam.wordpress.com/2009/02/18/notes-on-meditation-and-health/feed/ 0 odam http://odam.wordpress.com/2009/02/18/meditation-mindfulness-and-misconceptions/ http://odam.wordpress.com/2009/02/18/meditation-mindfulness-and-misconceptions/#comments Tue, 17 Feb 2009 18:06:41 +0000 odam http://odam.wordpress.com/?p=33 ]]> From Unfettered Mind

When a new real estate broker asked an experienced agent what the three most important things to keep in mind were, the agent replied, "Location, location, and location." If we consider the same question in meditation, the answer might well be, "Mindfulness, mindfulness, and mindfulness."

More and more material on mindfulness is becoming available. Book catalogues, tapes libraries and book stores are full of titles that include this word. More and more applications of mindfulness are being explored, in pain management, stress management, as an adjunct to psychotherapy, as a training tool for counselors of all persuasions, and, through such methods as Bohm’s dialogue, in business circles.

Recently, a solid little book has appeared that provides solid and accessible information about mindfulness, what it is and how to cultivate it. The book is called Mindfulness in Plain English, by Ven. Gunaratana. While based on the perspectives of the Vipassana tradition (i.e., of Buddhism as it is practiced in South East Asia) the discussion is applicable to all traditions of meditation in Buddhism.

In the first chapter, he goes to great lengths to dispel some of the many common misconceptions about meditation. Here are the ones he notes along with some brief observations of my own.

Misconception 1: Meditation is just a relaxation technique.

The author points out the relaxation is a component of meditation, both as a way to approach it and as one of the results. But Buddhist meditation goes further, seeking to cultivate awareness as well. This awareness is what differentiates a meditation practice or a mindfulness practice from a relaxation technique or stress management methods.

Misconception 2: Meditation means going into a trance.

Trance is usually associated with some kind of mental blankness or deadness. This is quite contrary to the alive, awake, and clear quality that we seek to cultivate. There is often confusion about states of clear, present attention and states in which there is little or no thinking but also little awareness or wakefulness. In our practice, we seek to be present with our experience without distraction, not oblivious to what is going on.

Misconception 3: Meditation cannot be understood.

Well, yes and no! It can’t be understood simply in words, in intellectual terms, but it most definitely can be understood experientially. We are used to understanding things only through words, only through concepts. This form of understanding is limited both in its effectiveness and power. The knowing that comes through meditation is direct and doesn’t depend on thought or concept.

Misconception 4: The purpose is to become a psychic superbeing.

Again, the purpose is to uncover awareness, not to levitate or read minds. Our trying to cultivate special powers only reinforces a sense of self-image of being different in some way. Through meditation we come to know ourselves intimately and understand directly the processes of thought and feeling. We share these processes with all other human beings. This intimate knowledge becomes the basis for a quite extraordinary capacity for empathy.

Misconception 5: Meditation is dangerous and should be avoided.

Well, it can be dangerous, but so can driving a car, walking across a street, skiing or surfing. However, we do all of these things safely when we know how to do them properly. Anything worthwhile has its dangers and learning about those dangers is an essential part of our training. Then we can avoid them, just as we learn to drive safely. It is important to work with a good teacher and to use our own common sense.

Misconception 6: Meditation is for saints, not for regular people.

This is like saying that singing is for opera stars or rock stars, or basketball is for NBA players. People with strong spiritual inclinations usually practice some form of meditation, true. But almost anyone who does practice meditation consistently is going to find themselves becoming more aware, more empathetic, less reactive and more in touch with themselves.

Misconception 7: Meditation is running away from reality.

Ah, if only this were true! Meditation is more like running into reality, the reality of the confusion and turmoil of our thought and feelings. As we face this confusion head on, we find a different kind of awareness developing, one which offers insight, clarity and stability. This helps us to face reality at a deeper level.

Misconception 8: Meditation is a great way to get high.

While meditation practice produces blissful and enjoyable experiences for some people some of the time, there is no guarantee. Nor is this the point. Most people eventually find meditation meaningful and not unpleasant, not because they "get high" but more because they appreciate the clarity and presence that matures in them through meditation.

Misconception 9: Meditation is selfish.

Appearances are deceiving. The person who meditates withdraws and spends, say, half an hour by themselves. Totally unproductive? Totally self-centered? Perhaps, but more than one child has been heard to encourage their parents to meditate since they appreciate the greater clarity, responsiveness and connection they feel from their parents when they do practice.

Misconception 10: When you meditate, you think lofty thoughts.

This misconception probably derives from Western notions of contemplation. Buddhist meditation is a constant returning of attention to the breath, stepping out of the thinking process over and over again. Lofty thoughts, base thoughts, brilliant thoughts, stupid thoughts, kind thoughts, mean thoughts, they’re all thoughts. Back to the breath!

Misconception 11: A couple of weeks of meditation and all my problems will go away.

Meditation is not a quick cure-all. We are used to quick fixes: ten ways to better communication, the five magic steps for better relationships, the eight things every manager should know, etc. The trouble is that all of this good advice is useless if we aren’t sufficiently present to implement it. Meditation cultivates just that presence, so we could regard it as a foundational skill.

Setelah baca sana sini, browsing kemana-mana ternyata bikin blog makin menyenangkan karena makin banyak tools yang mempermudah pembuatannya, sekarang juga lagi nyoba-nyoba yah lumayan nambah pengetahuan juga…

Ya sementara begini aja dulu lah, masih kaku, masih perlu banyak polesan, biar lebih mantaf tapi yang penting sudah mulai…

Perjalanan seribu langkah dimulai dari satu langkah ~ pepatah cina

The term “meditation” as it is currently used in English covers a very wide range of activities, guided imagery, guided visualizations, and many practices in Christianity, Hinduism, Buddhism and other religious traditions. Within Buddhism itself, there is also a wide variety of methods: simple attention to the breath, contemplation of specific subjects (change, compassion, or karma, for example), complex visualizations of symbolic forms in the Tibetan tradition, koan practice in Zen, “content less” meditation, and many others. Broadly speaking, we can distinguish between meditation which is aimed at a certain state and meditation which cultivates certain potentials in us. We focus on the latter approach, specifically, the potential for attention. The kind of attention we are considering is a non-discursive activity; that is, it doesn’t involve a lot of thinking. There is an important difference between this active attention and ordinary reactive or passive attention. For instance, when we hear a friend shout, our mind-body system reacts and we say “he caught my attention.” That kind of attention isn’t deliberate in any way; it is simply a reflexive action on the part of the mind-body system. This passive attention contrasts with the active attention cultivated in meditation in which we place our attention on an object and it rests there. Let’s now take a closer look at this word “meditation.” In Tibetan there are numerous words for meditation: samten, nyam-len, drub, gompa, tingé-dzin, nyam-zhak, to name a few.

• samten, for instance, means “stable attitude” or “stable attention.” It is equivalent to the Sanskrit word “dhyana” which is the root of the word “zen”;
• nyam-len means to bring something into experience;
• gompa means to make something a habit, to become familiar with something, to cultivate it;
• drub means to construct or build something, so, in the context of practice, to create or effect a certain state, experience or understanding;
• tingé-dzin (samadhi) is a state of profound attention; and
• nyam-zhak means resting evenly, i.e., the emotional and perceptual confusion in the mind/heart has subsided completely.

All these words are often translated into English by “meditation.” Obviously, we lose a lot of meaning in the process. The most important word for us is the word gompa, to cultivate. In meditation, we cultivate attention. We can draw an analogy between the development of attention and the cultivation of a plant. To grow a plant, we don’t really have very much say about how quickly it grows or how it grows. We can’t tell a plant what to do or how to grow. We can’t make it put leaves out here and form buds there. How the plant grows is up to the plant. We simply put a seed in soil and provide moisture, nutrition, and sunlight. In other words, we simply bring together the conditions for the seed to germinate and for the shoot to grow into a plant. If we try to force the process by trying to pull up the plant to make it grow faster, we destroy it. If we give it too much food, we may burn the roots; too much sunlight and it dies from dehydration; too much moisture and the roots can’t absorb nutrition from the soil and the plant drowns. All we can do is to provide it with the best conditions for its growth and it will grow in its own way, on its own time, and eventually flower and bear fruit. From the Buddhist point of view, the mind-body system, this psycho-physical complex with which we identify, has the seed of attention within it already. We simply provide conditions for sustained active attention to develop. The practice of meditation is the practice of providing those conditions. This is how we cultivate attention, just as we would a plant or tree. Physically, the conditions for attention are established in our posture. We sit straight, balanced, grounded, neither tense nor slack. Verbally, the conditions are found in how we breath, naturally, without using the breath to speak or produce some kind of state or experience. With our mind, we observe the breath, or, to put it another way, we simply feel ourselves breathing. To cultivate attention, it is sufficient to rely on one basic principle: return again and again to what is already there. Our body knows how to sit straight. Our breath knows how to flow naturally. Our mind and our hearts already know how to rest. In this practice, we simply allow them to do that. Whenever there is a disturbance, we return to what is already there.