“Anger is not the problem. The problem is that you think you should not have
anger. Anger is a healthy
emotion. The only thing is you
should handle the anger and not let the anger handle you. This counts for any emotion.” Swami Tattvarupananda.
We have spoken a bit about anger and the emotions
before in February 6th’s post on how to handle anger, fear and
anxiety, by resting in Childs pose and punching it out in vajrasana. But what Swami Tattvarupananda has said
here was like a little light in my mind, that it is ok to have these emotions,
in fact we shouldn’t be without them; they are natural and human. But it is how we handle them that makes
all the difference, being able to disattach from them and not let them consume
us is the key. It is through the practice of meditation that we can learn to
keep calm and gentle through our daily lives. Many people are put off from the practice of meditation as
they try it once, their mind is jumping all over the place and they think they
can’t do it and give up. This is
the case for all of us; the mind is a wild tiger that needs to be trained,
which takes time, patience and dedication to the practice. One of the main obstacles to the
practice of meditation is the lack of concentration, which living in the modern
world with stimulants from sounds, colours, lights and noise flying around us
constantly, is no surprise. When
we see people meditating, are they really meditating and have found that state
where everything stops, stillness, contentment and peace are all that is
there? Or are they too sitting
desperately trying to concentrate as thoughts of all kinds of nature pop in and
out of the mind? Probably the
latter. The benefits of the
practice of meditation are boundless, no matter how bad you think you are at
it, the benefits are still coming, you will find you suddenly deal with a
situation better than you might have, things don’t bother you so much any more
and the list goes on, so don’t give up and get frustrated. There is nothing wrong with being a bad
meditator, in fact we are all probably that, due to our minds not being trained
that way, its just a question of re-training and with patience it gets
better. Here is a lesson in
concentration to help you build on that quality and help you with your other
meditation practices.
Sit in a comfortable position that you can maintain
for some time, in a place where you wont be disturbed, making sure that the
spine is held straight. Close your
eyes and just breath effortlessly for a while let go of your day and just be
with yourself. Then start to count
with the breath, beginning with the exhalation – 1, inhalation – 1, exhalation
-2, inhalation – 2, exhalation – 3, inhalation – 3, etc until you reach the
number of 21. The thing is though
as soon as another thought pops into your mind begin again at 1. Practice this for about 5 minutes, have
a short break then try again.
There is no relevance to the number 21 it is just a target, and as your
concentration begins to increase with practice, you can increase the length of
time and the target number. Be
honest in the practice and always come back to 1 as soon as a thought distracts
you, which is the tricky part, as you want to continue and then wonder what was
a thought, and what was not, it is a very interesting practice and I’m sure you
will learn something about yourself from it.
Enjoy and looking forward to seeing all you
meditating YOGIS soon!
Om Lokah Somastah Sukinho Bhavantu
May all beings find harmony, balance and peace.
Om shanti
Mangala – nicky.
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