How I meditate.

As many people have problems and I’ve meditated consistently for many years I thought I’d give some personal information.

Deep breathing calms the body, the emotions and the mind. So I sit and allow it to do it’s work. I ‘leave both doors open’ so thoughts and emotions come and go but the breathing will make them subside into stillness.

I find my natural breathing pattern by waiting to breathe in until the body does it for me in a natural way from the dantien point. During this time as I’m waiting, I separate from my body into the stillness, this is a very powerful time as I leave ‘normal life’ behind to sit in the stillness and heal. I then use the same process to breathe out but somehow for me it’s not as powerful as waiting for the inbreath.

This method brings me to a mindful state, when the separation from my body happens, it brings me into a place where insight can arise. When it feels right to do so, I practice Tai Chi to allow this process to happen inside of the form. At the moment because of the amputation I do my Tai Chi seated and have to stop when the pain interferes and continue with my seated ‘insight’ meditation until it subsides and then continue. This way of practicing Tai Chi is incredibly powerful for me and the insights gained are ‘wordless’ and sometimes I try to put them into words for teaching and sometimes it seems important to not try and form them. These insights can sometimes be passed on by direct transmission to long term students.

At the end of the Tai Chi practice I continue with the meditation until it naturally comes to an end.

I hope this helps.