If you are like most people, you probably know that you should meditate, but don’t know how.  You might believe you can’t meditate because you think too much, or you don’t have time. Perhaps you’ve tried but it didn’t work.

Meditation is an age-old practice that to some degree is shrouded in mystery and intrigue. But it shouldn’t be. Not only is it something that everyone can do, it is easy when you know how. So what’s the secret?

Chris (Dorje) Walker teaches dozens of people a week in the art of meditation. He says the biggest mistake people make is expecting the process to be hard.

Dorje should know. As a teenager he suffered from ADD and dyslexia. “My brain wasn’t working properly,” he laughs. The struggle to deal with his mental health eventually led him to meditation and an unexpected career path as a professional meditator including five years as a Buddhist monk. Dorje has spent the past fifteen years studying varies forms of meditation including Tibetan Buddhism, ancient esoteric wisdom, Qi Qong, Taoism, Vispassana and somatic psychotherapy.

Now Dorje deals with the conundrum of how to teach busy, stressed-out people how to meditate. His approach is unique and practical, drawing on his experience in the east combined with the reality of being a Westerner.

What is meditation?

In the same way that physical exercise helps keep the body strong and healthy, meditation is training for the mind.

Put simply, it is the creation of a relaxed state of awareness of mind and body. Or as Dorje puts it, ‘a defrag for our brain.’ Under normal circumstances, we experience relaxation and awareness as separate states, not simultaneously. Our attention is most often directed to the outside world, whereas in meditation our awareness is directed inwards. Through meditation, we learn to train our mind to a point of clarity and focus instead of being driven by scattered thoughts and negativity.

Why meditate?

Harvard studies have found that we generate about 50,000 thoughts a day. We live in a world of stimulation and are caught in our senses. The same study concluded that in the average person’s day (or even in reading this newspaper from cover to cover) we process more information than we would have in a lifetime 200 years ago.

‘We are overloaded with stimulation,’ Dorje said. ‘And unfortunately, our nervous system hasn’t changed even though the demands on it have, so we are stuck in a state of stress overdrive.’

As a consequence, we have short attention spans, it is almost impossible for us to sit still and because we are in a constant state of ‘fight or flight’ response we react inappropriately to little things that shouldn’t faze us. In short we are too stressed out to be effective, let alone happy.

The good news is that meditation helps. Recent research on the benefits of meditation in reducing stress-related illness has convinced many companies worldwide to use meditation training as an integral part of their stress management programs. Hundreds of clinical studies in recent years have concluded the benefits of meditation include reduced blood pressure, improved energy and concentration levels, relief from conditions including insomnia, anxiety, depression, heart disease and chronic pain. Meditators also report that they feel calmer, more focused and happy in their daily lives.

Where to start?
Although there are many good books and audio tapes on the subject , Dorje recommends finding a good teacher to begin your meditation practice.  

There are also many different types and traditions of meditation so it is worthwhile experimenting to find a style that suits you.

Create the time and space
Establish a daily routine for meditating and put aside a particular time each day. Even ten minutes in the morning and ten minutes at the end of the day is enough to get results. 

Find a quiet place to meditate where you won’t be interrupted. You can also create a special space by filling it with objects including candles, cushions, mandalas, flowers and incense.

How to sit
Ensure that you are comfortable. Wear loose comfortable clothing and remove any jewellery that may distract you. Metabolism slows during meditation, so you may become cool. Make sure the room is warm to begin with, or have a shawl or blanket around you. 

There are traditional yoga postures for sitting in meditation, but you don’t need to twist yourself into a pretzel! Sit comfortably with a straight spine, either sitting in a chair with both feet on the floor, or cross-legged on a cushion on the floor. Whilst it is okay to lie down for your relaxation, it is best to be sitting for meditation and will help you avoid falling to sleep.

Learn to relax
“Unless you can relax, you can’t meditate”, says Dorje and according to him this is one of the biggest obstacles for people learning meditation. Dorje uses the following easy relaxation technique to guide his clients into a relaxed state. 

1. Sit in a comfortable position.
2. Close your eyes.
3. Draw your awareness closer and closer to your body. Become aware of the sensations on the skin. Feel the breath flowing in and out of your body.
4. Imagine as you breath out, black smoke is leaving the body. This can represent tension, rigidity, stress, worry, anything you don’t want.
5. Keep breathing out in this way and letting go. Continue until your breath becomes lighter, your breath becomes clear, smooth and comfortable.
6. Enjoy a few moments of peace and relaxation. 

Focus
A major stumbling block for many people trying to meditate is that they find it impossible to empty their minds. According to Dorje, this is the second most common mistake people make. 

“You need an object of focus for your meditation. The point is to develop a trained mind, not an empty one”, he says.

Some of the most common focus techniques include:

• Focusing on the breath.  In meditation observing the breath teaches that when we regulate our breathing we can control our body, focus our mind and control our emotions. Try to breathe slowly, even a little more deeply than you would normally, and focus on making the exhalation longer than the inhalation.
• Focusing on an object. Place an object – such as a burning candle, a flower, mandala or painting – in front of you and allow your eyes to rest on it as a point of focus. Or you can focus on a specific part of your body channelling your mental energy there.
• Chanting a mantra such as an “om” sound repeatedly is believed restore wellbeing through the vibrational healing of sound. It is recommended that a good teacher advise you on your personal mantra.
• Contemplation. Meditation encourages us to focus on the great questions of life such as, “who am I?” or “what is my purpose?” These questions have no simple answers, but by asking them opens us up to new possibilities.

There are many other techniques such as guided visualisations, whirling, walking meditations, Zen Koans, chakra meditations and prayer. It is worthwhile exploring different techniques until you find a style that suits you.

Getting started – tips

• Don’t judge yourself. Meditation is an adventure and like all adventures there may be pitfalls or times when your progress seems frustratingly slow.
• Be patient. Start small and gradually build up the time. A few minutes a day is enough to begin with. It is not the amount of time you spend in meditation that counts, but your understanding during that time. If you try for too long initially it won’t be something you look forward to. Remember that consistency is more important than the length of time for each session.
• “Am I doing it properly?” There’s no right or wrong way. However, if meditation isn’t helping you in some way, there may be something you need to change.
• Don’t worry if your mind starts to wonder. Imagine your thoughts are clouds drifting in the sky. Observe them, then let them go and gently refocus your attention.
• Meditation can produce strong emotions. Try to observe them rather than react to them.
• Remember, meditation is a personal journey, so your experience may be different to others. Also, what may be effective for one person might not work for another. Bear this is mind experiment to find out what works best for you.

 Meditation traditions
There are many different schools of meditation, some religious others not. Some of the more common schools include: 

Vipassana – a non-denominational teaching based on the teachings of S.N. Vipassana runs 10-60 day silent meditation courses throughout the world.
Transcendental Meditation (TM) – as taught by Maharishi Mahesh is a personalised mantra style technique.
Buddhism – meditation is an integral part of Buddhist philosophy and contemplation of the teachings of Buddha.
Yoga – meditation is one of the eight integral limbs of yoga.

 Resources:
www.dhamma.org (Vipassana Meditation Centres)
www.adyar.com.au (Adyar Bookshop)
Buddhist libraries
Your Yoga teacher
“Meditation: exercises and inspirations for well-being”, Bill Anderton (Duncan Baird Publishers UK, 2002)
“Full Catastrophe Living”, Jon Kabat-Zinn Ph.D
“The Power of Now”, Eckhart Tolle

 Chris (Dorje) Walker was a Tibetan Buddhist monk for five years. He now teaches public, private and corporate workshops in meditation and Qi Qong. For more information visit centreofawareness.com

This article first appeared in body+soul (News Limited Australia) 2003.