The Art of Meditation as Bravery Acquisition
Part 1 by Nicolas Saikalariu.
It is my great pleasure to welcome you to a
meditation course which has been designed to bring its participants to
see for themselves the connection between being single-minded and having a
courageous attitude.
In this first session,
Meditation is described in three
steps.
Posture,
Breathing and muscular positioning between the eyebrows.
I will
guide each of these steps in that sequence and I will conclude with how to
prepare oneself for entering a meditative state.
To log your efforts
throughout this series,
I recommend writing down your impressions prior and
after sequencing.
For example,
You can ask yourself,
What courageous attitude
did I show recently?
Was I feeling while behaving courageously that I did not
have another choice?
There is neither a connection between body alignment and
the ability to attain a meditative state,
Nor does breathing affect the benefits
of seeing single-mindedly.
I have spoken elsewhere about the biochemical
characteristics of meditation,
Thus this correspondence will be about how to
approach it from a methodological standpoint.
You can sit back on a chair
or relax on your couch.
The most important thing is that you do not feel
distracted by an aching part of your body.
If your eyes are sensitive to light,
Finding a location or closing them feels restful.
You can try out a few times
before beginning by testing which screen,
Visible to someone as they close
their eyes,
Has the most soothing effect.
The screen you see is a rectangular
shape that delineates itself from the sides of your gaze,
The same way a
theatrical scene stands out from the walls of a theater.
Such rectangular
lines are soft,
A shade darker from what they contain,
Whereas the upper
horizontal line is seen first,
To be followed by the two vertical and lower
horizontal ones.
The shape I'm referring to may not be detected at first,
Which is
the result of the optic nerves being used to absorb higher-frequency light.
To
lower that frequency,
You could draw the curtains if it is daytime,
Or turn off
the light if you're meditating at night.
The sign the optic nerves leading to the
ocular bulbs are receiving stimulus from the light passing through their
eyelids is a glowing effect.
Keeping the eyelids closed for some time has,
Depending on your concentration between the eyebrows,
Due to the accentuation of
the stimulus,
This rectangular shape drawn at your internal gaze.
Vocadry is the result of stabilizing a specific wavelength induced from that
concentration.
Other light formations,
Known as phosphenes,
May be induced as
well,
Including circles,
Dots,
Lines,
And flashes.
You are either seated
comfortably or lying on your bed or sofa.
Your eyes are closed and you are
experiencing light sensations,
Which are known as phosphenes.
I invite you to take
a deep breath through your nose,
Followed by a slow exhalation.
Such
breathing is soothing for the spine because the oxygen moving through it,
Due
to passing less rapidly,
Does not tense one's vertebral lymphatic network.
Upon
feeling your spine more relaxed,
I encourage you to commence breathing
without being conscious of it.
Begin,
If you have not done so yet,
Sealing your
lips as you would normally,
Effortlessly.
Then try positioning your chin slightly
towards your chest,
Which,
Apart from resting your neck during longer
meditation sessions,
Releases the shoulders by bringing less weight to
them.
This positioning,
If you are seated,
Can be adjusted from time to time.
If you
are lying on your bed or couch,
It is not applicable.
Having relaxed the body
through a combination of posture and breathing,
You proceed with the third
component of entering a meditative state,
Which is directing the muscles above the
nose upward,
While maintaining gaze to the screen that is viewed when the eyes
close.
Two prompts are to be remembered.
First,
You can visualize the letter V
taking shape from the corner of each eye.
Lifting the muscles places the angle of
that V on the base of the nose.
Second,
The lift is not an exaggerated one.
Rather,
Initiated from tissue below,
Does not produce frowning,
Although the meditator
can feel,
By placing a finger on either eyebrow,
A minimal rise.
In preparation for entering the three steps,
Posture,
Breathing,
And
concentration between the eyebrows,
I suggest choosing a time of the day that
you either have finished a physically demanding activity,
Or you have just
woken up.
The reason being,
The mind is less full during such conditions.
Also,
The body is more relaxed,
Making therefore each step easier to come about.
The first part of introducing meditation as bravery acquisition has come to an
end,
Following as a short expression of seeing single-mindedly.
I will give you
the key to interpret prior to expressing.
Sensational means through the body,
A
conduit of emotions.
The eye circumscribes sensational independence.
Only there is two ways to see this.
This may seem independent of you,
Or you may
stare at this as if it were a picture of you alone,
That is,
Admired by closing
the eyes.
