Welcome to our first lecture,
What is Meditation?
Now this is an important lecture because it lets us know what is the definition we're going to work towards.
Once we have that we can decide whether the activity or behavior we're doing counts as meditation.
Now I'm a big proponent of meditation and the fact that it's a very powerful tool and as a result I want to make sure that I'm doing it right and that you're doing it right.
So as you go through this lecture we're going to try to get towards that working definition of what we believe meditation to be.
Now before we go any further I would love to hear what you think it is.
So pause the video now write down on a piece of paper or using the bookmark tool what you think meditation is.
Okay great so you have your working definition of meditation.
Now I had my working definition and as I came across more different types of meditations and types of definitions I changed my definition over and over again.
So I've got to this working definition but it's a great place to start just to think about what you believe meditation is.
So we're going to work towards the meditation definition that I like right now.
Now it's one that comes from 1982 and it's by Shapiro and it goes like this.
Meditation refers to a family of techniques which have in common a conscious attempt to focus one's attention in a non-analytical way and an attempt not to dwell on discursive and ruminating thought.
Now there's a lot to unpack there but there's five major components there.
The first part is that it's a family of techniques not one in particular but a family and that is important.
For the purposes of this course we're going to be covering all sorts of techniques and there's even more after that but I just chose the five that I thought were most beneficial and maybe most approachable for someone who's starting out in meditation.
The second part is that it's a conscious attempt.
It's a real deliberate attempt to do something so it's not just something happening by accident but rather something you have to make an attempt to do.
The third part is it's a focus of attention.
Now what that focus of attention is can change from the types of meditation as you'll see as we get onto them but the important thing is that there is a focus of attention.
There's one thing that we're putting our mind's eye or focus on.
Later we'll talk about the DMN and how this of the third of all of these categories is something that will combat the use of our DMN which is known as our default mode network.
So it's important that we have this focus of attention.
The next two are really the crux of meditation.
Thinking about things in a non-analytical way.
Now what does that mean?
Simply put it means not putting a judgment call on it.
Not is it good or is it bad but rather observing things as they are.
We live in a world that is full of judgment and you only have to go into social media to see it firsthand.
So what we want to do is get away from all of that.
We're trying to see things as they are and that means not putting a judgment call on something straight away including ourselves.
So that non-analytical way is very important.
The last one is not to dwell in a ruminating way which just means not to dwell in the past.
So we're trying to keep our focus on the here and now.
Not what happened in the past and maybe how we feel about it but rather what is happening right now in a focused and conscious attempt.
So those are all the different elements to this.
Now it's a lot to get your head around at first but as we do more and more of them you can ask yourself over and over again as we're doing these different techniques do all of these things apply.
And that's the big benefit of this definition that I found.
It allows you to then really check in and go hmm is it a family of techniques that has this conscious attempt to focus their attention in the non-analytical way and not dwelling on the past.
If you're doing those good news then you're meditating.
Come back for the next lecture as we start to unpack what meditation isn't and this is where we find a lot of the myths about meditation and that I think will be a very useful lecture for anyone who's heard about it but hasn't really studied it too much.
This is a great way to learn what it is and later what it is not.
So join me on the next lecture what meditation is not.
