We think that meditation is what we do with our eyes closed. In my years as a Meditation teacher, I can tell you that for some people, sleep is about the only thing they do with their eyes closed 🙂
It’s understandable. The brain and body know two states in relation to eyes – open and closed. When the eyes are open, the brain and body are set to be alert. When the eyes are closed, the brain and body are set to relax and for most of us relaxing with our eyes closed means sleeping.
Yet, meditation, and Mindfulness meditation in particular, means paying attention to anything and everything as they arise in a non-judgmental way regardless of whether your eyes are opened or closed.
And it means doing this with a relaxed yet alert composure.
Of course this means cultivating a new habit, a new way of being. And it is a new way of being that delivers so much more than we dare to believe is possible.
In fact, this is one of the juicy, sparkling, unpredictable and thrilling things about meditation – you never know quite what you’re going to ‘gain’ but you always ‘gain’ something.
That something might be, in any given practice, a more relaxed body and a more tranquil mind.
It may be a boost to the immune system, better circulation, digestion, memory, attentiveness, clarity… (things that are scientifically proven to be associated not only with regular meditation practice but also episodic practice. Of course these benefits endure with regular practice).
It may be the satisfaction of having given yourself this time and space.
It may be the reinforcing thought and feeling to devote more time and space to the practice.
It may be an insight to a question or problem you might have been pondering for a long time.
It may be the boundless experience of interconnectedness in the absence of any sense of separation.
It may be the powerfully liberating experience of allowing the most painful and threatening emotions to just arise and dissipate all on their own.
It may be the exhilarating experience of allowing yourself to experience your natural, spontaneous, joy, peace, power and limitlessness.
It may be the delightful experience of having a completely new, uplifting thought or vision.
It may be a fresh surge of energy.
it may be a realization that you’re capable of anything and that you are indeed limitless.
And so much more…
Meanwhile, cultivating a new habit is really about providing the mind, brain and body an alternative pathway to the old habitual one.
It is laying down new neural tracks and connecting different parts of the brain and body in new ways. If you want to find out more about this, read this post.
It is about activating different regions of the brain creating new associations and generating new responses to familiar triggers.
It is about giving the mind, brain and body an alternative to the story telling in your head that has been on repeat play for a long time.
All that said, I want to return to where I started with this post – that meditation is something that you can practice with your eyes open or closed.
Even as you are reading this, you could be paying some attention to what is happening in your body in a non-judgmental way. I often call it noticing.
You can notice how your mind is responding to what you’re reading.
You can notice that judgment is happening. Or that confusion is happening.
Or that some sensation is happening in your chest or your stomach. Or that sounds are happening around you. Or that you’re breathing. Or that there are sensations of tightening or pulling around your eyes or a burning in your left shoulder…
Now, I want to make one thing clear –
I am not suggesting any direct causal relationship between what you’re reading and what’s going on in your mind and body. Neither am I encouraging you to try and figure out any relationship between the two.
In Mindfulness practice, that is totally irrelevant.
Rather, I am simply suggesting that you notice what is going on as it is happening. That’s all.
That’s what Mindfulness Meditation is about.
Noticing.
Not speculating, theorizing, analyzing. Just noticing.
(And by the way, the more you practice simply noticing, the more you’ll see how wasteful and meaningless much of our thinking is! And how we can much more productively use whatever thinking we consciously choose to do 🙂 )
All this noticing keeps your mind out of story or what is known in Psychology as Narrative processing, keeping it instead in Direct Experience processing which is story-less.
The more you remain in Direct Experience, the less stress you accumulate, the more accumulated stress you allow your body to release and the more space you give to your natural joy, peace and wellbeing.
All this happens without any conscious effort on your part other than simply NOTICING.
And all of this can happen with your eyes open as well as with them closed.
Yes, it takes practice. In fact, that is meditation. It is all practice. And the wonderful thing is you ‘earn’ as you practice!
And you can practice all the time.
That’s when meditation isn’t just something you ‘do’. It’s becomes a way of life.
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