Meditation
Stage 1: Sustained Attention on the Present Moment
- Relax body
- Relax mind
- Abandon the past - your history, relations and possessions
- Disengage - no longer be interested in experiences of the self - let go of anything that is not the present
- Abandon the future - it is not certain
- There is no bad meditation
Stage 2: Silent Awareness of the Present Moment
- Observe without commentary
- The inner speech does not know the world - it causes suffering
- Value silent awareness - take refuge in the silence
- Do not give the thoughts high value and importance
- Thinking and judging the moment - means one is not experiencing the moment
- The mind inclines to inner silence - not inner chatter
Stage 3: Silent Present Awareness Moment of the Breath
- Choosing attention on one thing - is letting go of diversity of the senses, a burden
- Breath comes up easier as past and future and inner speech has been subdued
- Am I breathing in or out? focus on the answer to that - the experience
- Do not control the breathing - be along for the ride
Stage 4: Full Sustained Attention on the Breath
- Experiencing the breathing in fullness
- All else has been let go - except for this breathing experience
- The mind has that singular focus and the doer disappears
- Get out of the way - do not interfere and go into the center of the experience
Notes:
- Sometimes the mind may follow a line of though about being guilty and one being undeserving of bliss, stillness and enjoying oneself. It is deserved. It is an effect to a cause. Attention on the present not fault finding. Be kind to oneself.
The above stages should be well developed as a good foundation before moving on
Guided Meditations
Some guided meditations from Ajahn Brahm guiding through the first few stages above. The audio has been edited to remove unnecessary parts and the ending bells to allow for one to continue without a time limit.
If you are struggling with background sounds affecting you - try using headphones and using a background noise of brown noise with warm tone from noise.online