mutt meditation - part two

Ok, so now you're used to setting a quiet mood and you're getting pretty bored with counting breathing. You've done it a few times and are beginning to get a little anxious for all those "good things" to start happening. "Counting? C'mon, there's got to be something more to all this meditation stuff!"

Sure there is! And now you're ready to start experimenting. For me, I *always* start a "full" meditation with a few moments of that breathing trick. It really helps to calm me down and focus, so just assume everything from here on *builds* on that, not replaces it, ok?

At this point, I add either a single candle flame, about 3 to 6 inches below eye level, about 3 feet away or I place a mandela image in about the same spot. "Whoa!" (I hear some of you say.) "What's this "mandala" thing? Is it expensive?"

According to Jung, a mandala is a symbol of the Self "seen in cross-section" and has a "clear periphery and a center." Oh, yeah, that really explains a lot! LOL In layman's terms, a mandala is usually a circle (spirit) or a square (earth) repeating balanced patterns 4 or 8 times (symbolizing wholeness.) They're images representing psychological totality, wholeness, balance, and centering.

Some are extremely intricate pictures and mazes with spiritual images or scenes woven in or around them. Others are quite simple geometric shapes. Others are more free form cloud like pictures. You can find books with really fabulous pictures and copy them, or you can sometimes find some really beautiful ones in every medium from paint to fabric - even to ceramics, in art sections of stores, especially spiritual stores. I just did a google image search for [ mandala ] found a few I liked, then printed them out. (Hey, it works! lol)

Now you're sitting comfortably, done your breathing for a few minutes, and you have a "focal point" in front of you. Next is learning to shift your focus from breathing to the flame or the mandala. If it helps, keep doing the breathing and counting while looking at the focal point. Just "observe" the focal point for now. Don't analyze it, just observe. Notice how the flame flickers, or the patterns merge. Notice the colors. Don't think about them, just notice them.

What's the big deal? I'm still breathing, I'm still doing that boring counting, and now I'm staring at some dumb "focal point." Ah, but you're learning how to focus without getting "involved." Just keep doing your counting and your breathing and whenever any thought about the focal point slips in, tell it you'll think about it later. Just like you did any other thoughts before you brought a focal point in. Eventually, just like the first time, that annoying little "Hey!" thought pops up. Guess what? You did it!! You're learning how to train your mind to observe without getting involved, the whole secret behind all those great benefits of meditation.

Remember that "just observe the blank canvas of your mind" bit? That's metaphorical for what meditation *is* - just observing. The benefits of meditation, all the relaxation, the new found insights, the better health - all of it comes from that power to detach and observe. And you just did it. =)

Now, just keep repeating the candle or mandala "observing" for a while. The more you do it, the easier it is to extend that blank observing phase out. Once you get to about 10 minutes or so, you'll understand all this stuff so much better and you can start following other suggestions in a form of meditation that works for *you*.

Currently, I'm having fun playing around with creative visualization - just holding a picture in my mind the same way as I observed the flame or mandala. For variety, I will repeat a question a few times as I settle down, then just do the basic breathing (I rarely have to count anymore) and observe the focal point until the answer pops up, or that annoying little "Hey" pops in. If the "Hey!" comes before the answer, I wait a few days before repeating the question. Eventually, either the answer pops up or I get the message that I'm just not supposed to know right now. (Grrrrrrr... lol)

That's it! Hope it helps!