Introduction
It is become all too clear that many of my patients, in the post Covid world, really need to learn to find a way to find some embodied mind stillness and relaxation. To give the flight and fight part of there autonomic nervous system time to settle and regain some inner peace. To learn to be able to breathe easy again. The place to start is to develop a daily bodywork meditation practice and learn to engage with movement in mediation.
'Can I really believe I am worth an hour a day? Am I, who have given my life to others, selfish enough to take one hour a day to find myself?’ ― Marion Woodman The idea of a daily bodywork meditation practice is to get to know yourself from the inside. To know your body, your breathe and your mind from within. To learn to stop all the outer movement of your life and to sit and begin to explore movement in meditation. For from this simple starting point all else flows. 'Health is not for the chosen few but for the few who choose’ – Anon If we start with the simple observation that you embodied mind has two poles, like a battery, we need to address the issues of the body and the mind. Though it is best today to think of them as a body-mind continuum as they are two aspects of a single unified whole down to the cellular and atomic scale.
The Body Preparation Work In a yogic practice it would be normal to go through a series of asana or postures to open the joints, ligaments, tendons and muscles before sitting to meditate. In many way this is the very essence of yoga. For the mind can’t be still in a tight body. So if you have a yoga practice then do this before sitting to meditate, but with practice it will be as true to sit and mediate before you do a series of asana or postures as it is the other way around. Paradoxically you really need to start with both. For now I would suggest some simple flexibility work to open the hips and low back up before sitting.
This is called a Sink Squat and is a great way in to learn to squat.
You can work to open up the hips in the squat. This is a powerful squat to take it easy.
Sitting on a low block, that's right for you, is a great place to relax and a great doorway into mediation sitting.
Learning to Sit The best place to start is simply learning to sit and breathe. Ideally this is sitting on the floor rather than a chair. But if sitting on the floor is no longer possible then sit in a chair. Though it is rarely too late to learn to sit on the floor assuming you can get up. If you can’t get up that’s a great project to work on too. The reasons for choosing the floor will become apparent as you read on. There is a lot of bullshit around the Eastern practices such as meditation, yoga and Ti Chi as it is very easy for the competitive ego to bring in a kind of toxic piety to what should be childlike simplicity itself. For now the details do not matter. Just get the basics, get comfortable and learn to relax. One very well respected Indian mystic at the end of his life used to say – don't meditate just Be.
'Wisdom is one of the few things that looks bigger the further away it is.’ – Terry Pratchett (Author) The key to learning to sit is learning to be supported and comfortable so you can truly relax. As our hips are not all the same design, in terms of angles, there is no one best way to sit. The way that allows you best to relax your body, as it is today, is the best way for you. The key with sitting on the floor comfortably is to have your bottom higher than your knees and your feet & knees on a soft comfortable surface. Enjoy the stability it creates.
Hands
As you can see from the photos there is also no one best way to have you your hands. Comfort when you begin is totally personal. Try out all the ways shown here or make up your own. Comfort is personal. It is your peace and tranquility we are after here.
You can also support you knees and so your hips as you need. This allows the hips and knees to relax into the support. Remembering that in a few months your flexibility will have change and so how you are able to sit will change. So don’t get locked into any one way. You won’t always want to sit the same way as each day is a little different. Having a fresh child like approach to doing it afresh each day is good. Keep conscious of comfort and support. Some days it’s nice to have support behind you as in the picture above. Remember there’s no right or wrong here. Learn to get the SUPPORT you need.
The Mind There are many different approaches to mediation. The key, as always, is to be clear on your intention, as out of this all else flows. You are not learning to control the mind, or shut it down, for as it is, as described by Eckhart Tolle, an attack and defense system, that will not go well. Never make your mind the enemy for it is not. It is just living in a pathological modern society when it evolved to live in a rural village of some 300 people max and more hours of down time in a day then most get in a week today. The aim of meditation is to learn to come to understand the nature of the mind and realise that it is most active when we have fear and anxiety. Remembering that the modern term stress is really a modern term of fear. When there is no fear the catastrophe planning attack and defense system is quiet, or at least quieter, if you let it. Though paradoxically, some times, the quiet of meditation can become the prefect place to plan the Christmas shopping! Again the aim of meditation is not to control the mind but to understand, observe and have compassion for it. If you love it – it will evolve. The mind and the emotions and so the head and the heart come to function as one. Over time with the right intention the mind will become much quieter. I personally started meditation 40 years ago and now after 25 years of clinical practice as a cranial osteopath, cranial osteopathy happening in a meditation landscape, I can do, if I choose, a whole 35 minute treatment without a single thought or internal dialogue. It is best to think of the skill set of meditation as being like learning a musical instrument. Only regular practice over time gets you to the place you want to be. Stropping out like a small child not wanting to do your practice time will not.
Start by Focusing on the Breathe While some chose to work with a mantra, a word or phrase that is repeated to shift the mind’s focus, I chose the simple path of focusing initially on the breathe. The reason I like the breathe and have worked with it for 40 years is that it is a direct expression of our physical-metal-emotional state. When the breathe is still the mind is still and visa versa. When we start one might just feel the breathe in the nose or the belly breathing gently. Today I can feel my whole being expanding and settling down to the souls of my feet. When the mind wanders off and you recognise it just smile and like a puppy just bring it back. Don't get annoyed. It does not help. I enjoy a form of mediation today called Insight or Vipassana meditation which starts with a focus of the breathe but also shifts its focus to engage with the observation of body sensations, emotional states and the mind with experience. Being free to shift focus to which ever it most forward in our embodied perception. In the end we simple observe the whole 100 trillion cells ecosystem in quiet motion. Just the same as doing a cranial osteopathic treatment. It will take time to become fluid with the observation of breath, body sensations, emotional states and the mind. But once again remember that after playing you musical instrument for 1, 5, 10, 15 or 20 years you do not give up because it has taken so log to get here – you just enjoy where you have got to – the music. The same it true as an athlete or sports person.
Movement in Meditation Insight or Vipassana meditation classical encourages the mediator to sit still for the very good reason that being held to the mat allows for us to learn what happens when we can’t avoid the reality of ourselves. When we can’t run away. Vipassana meditation retreats classically do 10 days of sitting for 7-8 hours a day with breaks. However the embodied mediation I am describing here encourages you when the time is right to begin to explore very slow easy movement within the mediation breath space. If you evolve to the reality of a twice a day practice you might do one session of say 20 minutes just sitting and the other engaging with movement in meditation. Because we are using the doorway of embodied meditation as a way to open up the body you can begin to explore the tension in your body. The key is to evolve to a point where you can find yourself within the mediation breath space. There is a saying in the meditation world that – if you don’t have time to meditation for 20 minutes a day then you should meditate for an hour a day. There is no shortcut to getting to where you want to be. The Head / Upper Neck After having sat long enough for you to come into yourself and feel the breath pattern changing when the flight and fight has eased of and the breath softened you can begin to explore some VERY slow fluid head on neck motion. While not breaking the flow of the breathe let your head drop a few millimeters. You want to feel the motion from within to feel the tissues of the head and neck change. You can do very small flexion, extension and circles. This keeps this motion between the head and the upper neck. Then you can begin to increase the size of the motion into flexion letting the head gradually move towards you chest. FEEL the tension in the neck and breathe within it. Really feel this tension. Begin to explore the motion and the tension. Allow the tissues to lengthen slowly. This works best when you have a very solid / stable base in your sitting. It is also why sitting in a chair is more problematic as it is tipping you out of the chair. Not so good. You can hold in the flexed position with your head down to allow the spinal muscles to relax. I sometimes hold my head in the flexed position with my elbows on my knees. It is very foetal and very relaxing. Just Be. When you are able to explore you can add in very slow side bending to both sides as well. Tie the movement to the side with breathing in so you feel the side you are bending away from opening up. Breathe out as you come to the middle and again breathe in as you bend to the other side. Take your timing of the movement from the natural breathing rate and NOT the other way around. This is true for all the motion embodied movement meditation. Moving Down the Spine You can increase the flexion of your spine to travel down you back to open up the spine. As soon as it makes sense to bring you arms around to support you do so. Either with a contact on the knees or on the floor. You can put a support in front if it helps. (Pillow, cork blocks, bolster etc). The key is that you never broke the meditation and the breathe pattern. It is called movement in mediation for a reason.
As your flexibility increase you can open up the lower back until you head is heading to the floor or onto a pillow or bolster etc. The body relaxes best when supported to explore with support. You can shift into a yoga child pore too when it suits you. Just stay in the rhythm of the breath.
You can increase the engagement of the spinal muscles by adding in some slow fluid side bending. You always take you lead from what you feel. Long sitting You can also change the sitting posture, while still on your meditation cushion, to have your legs out front in what is know as . It does not matter how tight your hamstrings are just work form where you are. Even if they are by your ears! Take an easy contact from under you knees, calves, Achilles tendons or feet or toes to stabilise and allow it all to relax slowly. Work from where you are . . . Support and allow your body to relax. This is not stretching but relaxing into positional release. It is is a Yin Yoga approach.
Beyond the Basics Once you have established a foundational sitting meditation practice with slow fluid motion that does not break the meditation breath space you can begin to move more. Then next step might be to engage with what I have called a Up Squats. While it looks pretty easy it requires some condition to get the ease of motion from just letting your weight come forward until you pelvis begins to lift. To begin with just start with lifting off a couple of centimeters and then settle back down. Over time you can increase it until you can go all the way up and down in the classic full ass-to-grass squat. This is great for back, pelvis, and leg strength and integration.
This is me a year or two back doing Up Squats.
This blog is just an introduction to a way of getting more embodied, mindful and learning to live in the toxic modern world with ease. Just take it easy and slow. Learn to let your body trust you and it will relax more.
Nigel