How to Start a Mindfulness Practice with Dr. Andrew Hill
DR. ANDREW HILL - A SIMPLE MEDITATION PRACTICE
Why meditation is worth doing - A Mindfulness Practice:Beginning with a single point (samatha) meditation can stabilize and strengthen attention. Moving into a present-time awareness (vipassana), can bring flexibility to attention, and help develop a sense of equanimity. Together they can result in insightful awareness, arising from a place of calm, stable attention.
Before we start - A Mindfulness Practice?
1. This is a practice; effects emerge gradually. 2. Try to release judgement of your progress. 3. Observe what happens with a sense of curiosity.Okay, how to meditate:
A Mindfulness Practice means Meditation works best as a day-starter, done with regularity. Try it for ten days. Get a timer app for your mobile device – there are many available for meditation (I prefer this one). Set your timer for 20 minutes, and play “bells” or chimes. Three chimes at the beginning, one at five minutes, and three at the end. Sit upright, comfortably, and balanced. Sit in a posture you can maintain without strain. Ideally, sit without resting your back on any surface. Use the bells to shift your attention. When they begin to sound, place your attention on the sound, and allow your eyes to close. Hold your attention through the duration of each sound. Notice it and whatever aspects of it there are to perceive (rising and falling volume, for instance). Try to notice the very last moment of each tone… …the small moment that transitions from sound to silence. [caption id="attachment_2253" align="aligncenter" width="1024"]
A Mindfulness Practice[/caption]
After the first 3 bells, do a Single Point Awareness practice (5 min):
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- 1. Place your attention on the sensation of breath crossing the upper lip as you breathe in and out- just that one spot and sensation.
- 2. When the single bell sounds, shift your attention to it. Notice the sound rising, falling…and its last moment.
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- 1. Place your attention on the sensation of breath, rising and falling in the belly and body.
- 2. Consider the classic instruction:
- When you are breathing in, know you are breathing in.
- When you are breathing out, know you are breathing out.
For both single-point and present-time awareness, the goal is not to have a “blank mind”, but instead to hold an object of attention within the type of focus you have chosen to maintain. The object of this focus is often “the breath” but can be a spot of color, a concept, a tone or sound, or even a single element among many (try following a single instrument or voice in orchestral music). For any type of meditation object and focus, begin by attending to that object or sensation. Since you have a mind, it will drift. When you notice that you are no longer attending to the object and inevitably find yourself remembering, dreaming, fantasizing, thinking, planning, fretting, taking mental notes… redirect your attention back to the object of the meditation.