It is something more than closing your eyes and sitting like a rock. Meditation is a widely accepted practice among psychologists, and is often incorporated into treatment plans for patients who suffer from mental illness. There are also many healthy individuals who practice meditation, albeit usually for relaxation purposes. But in Buddhism, meditation is the primary method of achieving liberation from suffering or a state known as “Buddha” or "Awakened One." When people hear the words “Awake,” many of them find it difficult to understand why closing one's and sitting around like a rock can helps us to feel more awake. Likewise, many people are still under the misconception that meditation is something that must be done in solitude, or that it is a way of escaping from reality, or that it is somehow a mysterious or magical activity. On the contrary, meditation is simply a way of ridding the mind of its distractions. And without such distractions, the mind can reach its full potential. Free of distractions, the mind can fulfill its primary function: that of "knowing." And in this case "knowing" is much like swimming or riding a bicycle, in that it cannot be fully understood simply by putting the action into words. Those who really "know" cannot explain how they are able to know, and those who wish to understand it must first experience it themselves. Buddhist meditation has a unique idea, the "Satipatthana" which makes it different from meditation in other religions or theories. Satipatthana takes its name from "mindfulness" (sati) and the four "foundations" (patthana), which are described below: Mindfulness of Body – Mindfulness of the parts of the body that can be touched or sensed, either when in motion or when the body is in a stationary position. "Anapanasati," or mindfulness of "inhalation and exhalation," is a popular meditation exercise that falls within this domain. Other meditation practices for relaxation purposes usually fall within this category too. Mindfulness of Feelings – Mindfulness of one's feelings in the present moment, be they pleasant, unpleasant, or indifference. Mindfulness of Mind State – Mindfulness of one's mental phenomena in the present moment, such as thoughts and emotions. Mindfulness of the Nature of Things – Mindfulness of the nature of things in the present moment, especially of the three characteristics that are inherent, according to Buddhist teaching, in all things. These characteristics - impermanence, suffering, and non-self - are referred to in Buddhism as the "Three Marks of Existence." Among the four foundations, the easiest one to achieve is most likely to be mindfulness of body, because it is the most tangible. In contrast, the other three foundations are all abstractions whose mastery requires a higher skill level. That does not mean, however, that to be mindful of feelings, mind states, or nature is beyond the ability of the average person. Consider the following scenario. Suppose that you have just heard about all the great benefits of yoga, so you go and sign-up to a yoga class. On the first day, the teacher has you do the "12-Step Sun Salutation," so you stand upright, with your feet together and your hands joined together at chest level, and then you lift your arms as instructed. You slowly bend over backwards, with your arms pointing in the same direction, and you slowly inhale. Your shoulders are a little stiff, but you are still more or less comfortable. The instructor then makes you bend forward, and then down to the ground from your waist without bending your knees. You notice that other people in the class can make their heads touch their knees and their fingers touch the floor. ("Woah!" You think to yourself. "How on earth can they do that?") Meanwhile, you are only halfway there, but already your calf muscles are starting to pull. The instructor asks you, "Can you go a little further?" so you try to bend some more but the pulling in your calves is already morphing into a stinging pain. "Try a little harder," the instructor says as he watches you suffer. “Is this guy a sadist or what?” you think to yourself.
Okay, so that's what might happen if you never knew about "Satipatthana" But let's consider the same example again in light of the four foundations. You will still feel the same, no doubt. Your body will still feel stiff in various places, and you will still feel bored and annoyed from time to time. But instead of reacting to those feelings and emotions, you simply become aware of them and observe. You notice feelings of movement (body) and the pain in your calf muscles (body + feeling), and you observe that you feel angry when you are in pain. You may still be annoyed with the instructor (body + feeling + mind state), but after a few moments you notice that everything has changed. Nothing is permanent. You change your posture and you notice that the pain moves from one place to another. In the end, it all fades away. As in nature, where every object that arises in one moment can just as easily vanish in the next (body + feeling + mind state + nature of things). If you spend your time in the yoga class with your mind in the "present," as in the second example, we can safely say that you have already experienced the practice of "Satipatthana" At the very least, the second yoga class will have been much more pleasant than the first, and as the pain and boredom quickly subsides, you might even decide that the instructor isn't a sadist after all. Further Reading Source: S.T.P. Sachi, How much control do you really have over yourself?
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