Perfect Meditating - Self Improvement Adventure of a Lifetime

Progress in meditation can be hard to define. The literature on developing single-pointed focus talks about ?stages of tranquil abiding? which detail the ?refinements in the process? rather than ?highlights of achievement?. From my experience, here are a few steps along the way you may notice?

1. Baby Steps

The first encounter with meditation of this sort usually finds us like the baby with whom we want to play ?catch the ball?. At first, despite using a beach ball that is almost a balloon, the baby cannot catch the ball and it just bounces off them. In a similar way, the new meditator finds they only get a glimpse of the object of meditation (eg: nostrils) and their mind flies immediately off to some memory, or starts listening to a not-so-interesting-but-suddenly-intriguing sound, etc.

2. Two Steps Forward, One?

Once we start being able to hold the ball, we get into the slippery, oily ball situation (as previously mentioned in the article: Slip Sliding, Greasy Ball). Here, we are able to catch the ball, but we cannot hold onto it for long ? seconds. So, we are able to find our object of meditation but the bubbles of stress keep dragging us away. Despite the feelings of frustration, this is wonderful, as we are releasing tons of stress! And the feelings of frustration may be part of the ?emotional stress? we are releasing.

3. Stepping up

We may notice we are holding on to the ball for longer (maybe a minute or two) and we are experiencing some of the effects of absorption from time to time. As this progresses, we need to be careful we are not trying too hard to keep a hold of the object of meditation.

TIP:
Every couple of minutes, relax slightly and check your posture, check for any tension and relax your body, then re-find your object with less force (but just as much clarity).

4. Clear Steps

Once you stop dropping the ball completely, the process becomes one of refinement. You will notice your mind is full of thoughts and busy listening out for the minutest sounds etc., even though you are able to continually observe the tactile sensations at the nostrils throughout the meditation.

This is a very advanced step and you are well on your way to attaining the Perfection of Concentration. The main efforts are now to make the object clearer and watching out for when it becomes less clear.

Slipping back can happen at any time

At any time during the above steps we may feel we have gone back to the baby steps. This may be due to a big bubble of stuff being released during a meditation session (or a few in a row!), so we are clearing a whole layer of stuff.

At any time we may get the feeling we have gone back a few steps because our mind seems to have gone wild? This could either be because we have released some deep stress which is temporarily disturbing our mind, or it may be we are becoming more aware of the subtle ways our mind continuously distracts itself! Either way, it is wonderful news.

Perfect Meditating

We can only reach the Perfection of Concentration through the process of finding, loosing, then re-finding our object of meditation, and later refinements to the process.

Whenever we sit down to meditate, no matter what step we are at, or even if we feel we have taken a step backward, as long as we are taking the effort to try to find our object of meditation (whether we find it or not) it is a perfect meditation!

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