Brief Introduction to meditation

It is important to know that a practice of mindfulness and meditation are essential for becoming the strongest version of yourself. Meditation is an amazing prerequisite for any pursuit. A helpful way to view meditation is to picture our mind as a wild horse, our breath as the yolk (for attaching horse to carriage), and you as the carriage. Our breath is the tool which we use to train and harness the power of the horses. Without some measure of control over these horses, we are as effective as a square wheel and potentially as volatile as a bomb. This skill is just like any other, practice makes perfect but if you don’t use it, you lose it.
Prambanan temple
Java, Indonesia

This is the basic outline of the meditation I practice.

  1. Sit in stillness, any position that allows your body to be comfortable
  2. Give your mind a one pointed focus, train concentration
    1. Breath, concepts, mantras, etc.
  3. When your mind strays away from this focus, take a mindful breath, and return
    1. This practice increases our awareness of our thoughts
    2. Practice non-judgement. Completely stopping judgement is near impossible, recognizing judgement and choosing to move past is quite manageable
  4. After you have some experience with concentration, begin to track how your mind drifted from one pointed focus
    1. When we track the drifting, we familiarize ourselves with our thought patterns
    2. When we recognize our thought patterns, we can consciously work to change them
  5. This practice is just like lifting weights. The oscillation between focus, drift, focus is the same as lift, put down, lift.

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