Yoga Beyond Belief: Insights to Awaken and Deepen Your Practice

internal programming and learn to deprogram ourselves. Meditation is not programming the mind with thoughts and beliefs or the patterned, repetitious behavior of practices. Rather, it is
seeing;
it is the opening of insight, perception, and understanding. This insight into meditation permeates oneself, inside and out, in all arenas of living.It opens the possibility of seeing and being touched by the sacred, miraculous intelligence that is life, that is the universe.

Useful Meditation Practices
    In the context of this broader understanding and vision we have been exploring, meditation techniques take their proper place as tools we may choose to use when we are served by them. Several useful meditation tools are offered here.
Sitting Meditation—“Don’t Just Do Something, Sit There”
    Sitting is the most commonly practiced mode of formal meditation technique. Our daily lives tend to be filled with activity, even the passive activity of entertainment, television, and reading. Having a formal sitting practice acknowledges the importance and balance of silence and recognizes that some inner domains and inner states of awareness are accessible only by silent entry, when one is very still and inwardly attentive. A Zen master was once asked, “What is meditation?” He replied, “Just sit.” That was the extent of the instruction. Sitting is its own reward. In sitting meditation we learn about stillness, and the nature of the mind and thought. We learn to watch and learn from inner processes, and there are many deeper, even unconscious benefits. Sitting helps balance our constant activity and validates the inner journey. A good deal of current scientific research has shown tangible physical and psychological benefits of sitting meditation. After even a short period of sitting, we usually emerge less irritable, more relaxed, and more peaceful. We often find answers to problems or questions, without having consciously thought about them. Sitting meditation seems to bring an ordering of mind. Our culture has an excess of doing and a poverty of being. We could do with a lot more self-reflection, but to the conditioned Western mind the concept of inactivity is seen as wasteful. “Don’t just sit there, do something!” is all too familiar.Sitting meditation teaches us the other side of the coin: “Don’t just do something, sit there.”
    We need not use complicated techniques, nor do we need expensive initiations to access sitting meditation. A practice can simply involve sitting and watching the breath, gazing at a candle flame, or watching the inner landscape. Or it can be as simple as slowing down and taking notice of a moment in the journey. The simplest practices are often the most effective. Find a comfortable sitting position for the body. Most meditators prefer a cross-legged position on a mat on the floor with a pillow or folded blanket under the hips to elevate them four to eight inches. Elevating the hips makes sitting easier and helps to keep the spine straight. If you are not able to sit comfortably on the floor, use the edge of a chair. It is better not to support the back by leaning on a wall or chair back because, when leaning back or reclining, the tendency to fall asleep is greater. Similarly, it is preferable not to lie down for meditation—you will fall asleep more easily. Sitting with a straight back aids awareness and attention and is good for the spine. After getting comfortable, relax the body, take a few deep breaths, and allow a feeling of stillness to arise as you move into your period of sitting. I am reminded of a quick story pertinent to this point in the instruction: After sitting several minutes, a young student leaned over to an old master sitting next to him, and asked, “Okay, now what?” The old man replied, “Nothing, this is it!”
    From this point, sitting practice can take several directions. Your only task is to keep attention inward and begin what is called
witness
consciousness—simply witness or watch whatever is happening inside, without trying to change or control it. Watch thoughts and feelings arise and subside. The thoughts will try to grab you and get you involved. Sometimes, until you notice it, you will have boarded a thought train and ridden it to another destination. However, as soon as you see that, come back to your center and the practice of just sitting, just watching.Try not to control yourself or your mind beyond sitting quietly and watching. You are