Heruka Kadampa Meditation Centre

How to meditate

Meditating The first stage of meditation is to stop distractions and make our mind clearer and more lucid. This can be accomplished by practising a simple breathing meditation.

Sit in a comfortable position with your back straight and relaxed. Rest your hands in your lap, partially close your eyes and let all your stress and tension fall away. Turn your attention inwards and become aware of your breathing. Don’t attempt to control your breathing – just become aware of it, and follow the inhalation and exhalation of your breath. Gradually become aware of the sensation of the breath as it enters and leaves the nostrils. Focus on the sensation of the breath and try to forget about everything else. Remain focussed on the sensation of the breath. If your mind wanders away from the breath, immediately let go of the distraction and come back to the breath. Gradually your distracting thoughts will subside and you will begin to experience a sense of inner peace and relaxation. Stay with this feeling of mental calm for a while. “When the turbulence of distracting thoughts subsides and our mind becomes still, a deep happiness and contentment naturally arises from within” Geshe Kelsang Gyatso, The New Meditation Handbook

The benefits of meditation can be experienced quickly and easily by complete beginners. If we practice simple meditation – such as a breathing meditation – regularly, gradually our distracting thoughts will subside and we will experience a sense of inner peace and relaxation. Our mind will feel lucid and spacious and we will feel refreshed.

When the sea is rough, sediment is churned up and the water becomes murky, but when the wind dies down the mud gradually settles and the water becomes clear. In a similar way, when the otherwise incessant flow of our distracting thoughts is calmed through concentrating on the breath, our mind becomes unusually lucid and clear.

Even though breathing meditation is only a preliminary stage of meditation, it can be quite powerful. We can see from this practice that it is possible to experience inner peace and contentment just by controlling the mind, without having to depend at all upon external conditions.

When the turbulence of distracting thoughts subsides and our mind becomes still, a deep happiness and contentment naturally arises from within. This feeling of contentment and well-being helps us to cope with the busyness and difficulties of daily life.

So much of the stress and tension we normally experience comes from our mind, and many of the problems we experience, including ill health, are caused or aggravated by this stress. Just by doing breathing meditation for ten or fifteen minutes each day, we will be able to reduce this stress.