the practice

Our meditation practice is essentially simple. We learn to sit still. We learn to make friends with ourselves. We learn to relate simply and honestly with the thoughts, feelings and experiences that arise as we sit. This is the essence of practice.

But mind is powerful and unruly. Just to sit is not enough. In the beginning we need methods and techniques. We also need to understand mind. Understanding is not analysis. Understanding simply refers to knowing ourselves.

We can only begin at the beginning; just as we are. Most of the time we don’t like to do that. Most of the time we find ways of avoiding what is; we focus our efforts on changing, being better, going further; being anywhere but here. In meditation we make a decision to stay as we are.

the teaching

Meditation is a journey of discovery. Like most journeys, there are revelatory experiences, boring interludes and times when we get stuck. In meditation we are taking a journey inside ourselves, and to catch a sight of our essence we have to find a way through all the clutter and well worn perceptions and opinions that we have woven around ourselves.

In this process, meditation is not something to be learned. That would simply add more clutter. Instead the process is a letting go; a falling away; a dropping off. The sages and wise ones have always said our nature is just fine as it is. But this nature is constantly obscured. Meditation is how we begin to dismantle our cleverness.

When we learn how to see behind the facade of the busy mind we find a spaciousness and assurance no amount of thinking can find. Our basic nature is good and pure and is expressed as simplicity and openness. This is the heart of the sitting practice.

the sitting

In the meditation group we work with both method, and the simplicity of just sitting. We draw from the vast canon of yoga and meditation teachings to explore the nature of mind and how we relate to it. However, our fundamental task is to cultivate compassion and understanding for ourselves. In this we first need to find a little distance from our thoughts.

Then; we can use ‘method’ to draw the mind in. We work with ‘not too tight, not too loose’. Daydreaming gets us nowhere, concentration creates tension. We therefore try to find the middle path, reigning the mind in whilst not suffocating it with an aggressive attitude.

Throughout the process we must make sure we stay embodied. As terrestrial beings we are not interested in trace states or altered states of consciousness. These are distractions. In meditation we are relating to the reality of being human. Body, breath and senses are all a part of our ‘here and now’ experience and therefore our practice.

information

The meditation group meets periodically for focussed teaching and practise, usually on a Saturday morning. In September 2008 we are also adding a free meditation sitting on a Thursday evening following the Yoga class at Jubilee Wharf in Penryn. These sittings will run from 9.20pm for 30 - 40 minutes. During these sittings we will choose an aspect of meditation, (visual, mantra, senses) and use it as the heart of the evenings practice.

These will start on Thursday 4th September 2008 for more information contact us at info@athayoga.co.uk