Skill Set 6

Skill Set 6:

Meditation


A useful skill to learn and one most needed when stressed out 'cause the zombies ate your pet cat.

This skill has many variants and exists in nearly every civilization. Meditation reduces stress which lowers blood pressure and is used commonly in anger management and other therapies. In this post, I will teach you the basics that I've learned throughout my experiences.

Step 1 -
Control a place to meditate. This place should almost always be somewhere quite and calm. Don't feel restricted by the "quite" part of your place. It's ok to have music playing softly and repetitively so that it wont distract you. Your preference of scenery is up to you. It can be bright, dark, candle-lit, cluttered, clean, dirty or whatever you feel the most at home. Personally, I prefer darkness in front of me, light behind me and complete silence. Even though my place may seem odd, I feel the safest when the light is near. Plus if your a cool monk, you'll realize the duality of my spot.

A perfect representation of what I mean.

Step 2 -
Control your posture and breathing. In most cases it doesn't matter how you sit for functional sake, but the one thing you must do is keep your back completely straight. Traditionally, this is done by sitting on the edge of a pillow. Your spine should be straight and balanced so you don't fall over when you relax. This could be done by laying down on a flat surface. You should always try to keep your eyes half open, so that you won't fall asleep or not notice something. Whatever method you chose, you need to control your breathing. This method of respiration can be best described as deep breathing. Breathe in through your nostrils to the bottom of your naval, then breathe out through your mouth. Take deep breathes and try not to breathe so that your shoulders move, but rather your stomach. Slow your breathing which will lower your blood rate and calm you down.

Step 3 -
Control your mind. This may seem harder than it sounds, but it gets easier the more you try. Empty your mind of everything. You can do this by focusing solely on breathing until your mind doesn't register the method of breathing anymore, or by imagining a plain white box until your mind releases that idea. There are other methods, but some are to hard to teach through words. As your mind is clear, thoughts and ideas should come across your mind at irregular periods upon which you should think of solely the morality of the issue.

http://www.burma-all.com/new%20burma-all.com/monk%20meditating%20sagaing%20burma.jpg

Stay in this state of contemplation for as long as you like until you feel as if your mind is a peace.

Protect your sanity while you can. It can and will be hectic out in the world.

-The Observer