In Yoga, a model of Human Being--and all or any
being great and small, for that matter--shows an eternal center. This center
goes by many names, True Self, soul, Atman, Christ-Consciousness, light, God, Brahman, but ultimately defies all
efforts to be captured in language. This center is surrounded by semi-mortal
aspects of human being: bliss and discernment. These, in turn are surrounded by
mortal aspects of human being: thinking, feeling, and physical being. This
layered model illustrates the purpose behind Yoga: ease and soothe the body,
emotions, and mind so that the semi-mortal and eternal aspects of Human Being
can be directly experienced. There are many techniques to apply to this goal, central among them meditation. Swami Rama, in his book Meditation and Its Practice, lists six skills that are necessary to cultivate for meditation:
1. relaxing the body
2. sitting in a comfortable, steady posture
3. making the breathing process serene
4. calmly witnessing the objects traveling in the train of the mind
5. inspecting the quality of thoughts and learning to promote those which are positive and helpful to your growth
6. remaining centered and undisturbed in any situation whether you judge it to be bad or good
The practice of any of these skills outside of the seated meditation practice can be called Meditation in Action. Consciously sit up straight at work? Meditation in Action. Systematically relax on the bus? Meditation in Action. Take a time-out to observe and calm your breath? Meditation in Action. Make a point to be a witness to your thoughts rather than identifying with them? (This is as simple as saying internally, "Isn't that interesting that this mind would come up with such a thought?") That too is Meditation in Action.
When we learn and practice the skill of inspecting the quality of thoughts and promoting those that are both positive and helpful to growth, we are preparing ourselves to remain centered and undisturbed in any situation. This will not happen overnight, but we can definitely make certain and steady progress toward attaining the skill of equanimity, and we can reap the benefits all along the way.
Psychology Professor Emeritus Jerald Forster has developed a practice called Articulating Strengths that is a wonderful tool for developing the skill of promoting positive thoughts. Articulating Strengths can help you in all of your relationships, whether with yourself, with others, or even with circumstances over which you seemingly have no control. Here is the practice.
Notice how you are feeling before you begin--paying attention to your physical feelings as well as your emotions and thoughts--and give it a number between 1 and 10. Now, call to mind a good experience from your life. Let it be an experience from which you derived a feeling of pride, an experience to which you brought something of value; you yourself were part of the reason it was a good experience. Let this experience float up to the surface of your mind from any time in your life, as recent as this morning, or as long ago as your early childhood. Do not be alarmed if it takes a while to think of a good experience of which you are proud. Many of us have worn deep grooves in our minds for worrisome, regretful, guilty, or otherwise uncomfortable thoughts and feelings. Others of us resist thinking proud thoughts because we associate it with arrogance and other negative qualities. You will probably notice that once you think of one good experience it is kind of like changing the channel on your mind, and other good experiences will flow more freely to mind. Once you have selected one good experience to focus on, Enjoy the memory of this good experience, sustaining the positive feelings, even relishing them.
Next, think about what it was that you yourself brought to this experience that made it a good experience. Challenge yourself to think of just the right words or phrases that describe what you brought to the experience that made it good. Were you courageous? enthusiastic? spontaneous? Think of how what you brought to this experience was both positive and personal to who you are. Only you could have brought what you brought to this experience. Enjoy the feeling of thinking about these strengths in your personality, sustaining the positive feelings, and even relishing them. Finally, in your mind, complete this sentence frame: I am _[your positive quality]_. I know it because _[the good experience during which you demonstrated this strength]__. You might think of more than one way to complete the frame. That would be great! Allow that to happen, and enjoy it. Notice again how you are feeling and rate it from 1 to 10.
The more you practice this Meditation in Action the easier it will become. You may notice that you are able to sustain positive feelings for longer and longer periods of time. You may notice that you become more alert to smaller and smaller good experiences that occur throughout the day and that you stop to enjoy them more, and experience them more deeply. You may notice a shift in how you feel about yourself and others. You may begin to see yourself and others more in terms of strengths and less in terms of conflict. Best of all, you will begin to reap the benefits of consciously choosing what kinds of thoughts you prefer to have; you will be on a journey to peace of mind.
Jennifer Rose will be leading an Articulating Strengths workshop on Sunday September 23 on Long Island. For more information call 646-831-2675.
Jerald Forster's website can be found here.
