Positioning for Mindfulness Practice
See you in the Focus Room (link here) at 19:30 GMT every Monday, Wednesday and Friday!
Welcome back to our weekly StudyStream blog, where we discuss topics like mindfulness, health and wellbeing. Today, we will begin a new four part series called ‘How to meditate’. Let’s begin!
As we discussed in the previous posts, meditation is a fairly heterogenous term and can refer to a number of different techniques, practices and philosophies stemming from a range of traditions and disciplines. Recently, there has been an explosion of different meditation and mindfulness practices, many of which have no real evidence base. It’s important to be really clear about how to do meditation practices, what our intention is for doing them, and what to expect during the practices.
The meditation style that we are learning here at StudySteam is called mindfulness meditation, which is the type of meditation that has by far the largest evidence base for mental and physical health. It is based on the Vipassana style of Buddhist meditation but was ‘invented’ or manualised in the 1970’s in Massachusetts in the USA by Professor Jon Kabat-Zinn.
There are a few different types of practices that mindfulness includes — but they all start with where we place our attention. These practices are the body scan, mindfulness of the breath, mindfulness of sounds, mindfulness of mind, and walking practice. We will be discussing these practices here in this new series on how to meditate. Today, we will start with positioning — so let’s get started.
- Positioning
Try to make sure there are no distractions
First, it’s important to get your positioning right. You can either be sitting on a chair, on a cushion or sitting bench on the floor or mat, or lying on your back on a mat on the floor. Try to avoid doing a practice in bed if you can because it can make it too easy to fall asleep. As best as you can, try to make sure that there are no distractions — this means turning off your phone and other electronic devices, and making sure there is no one else around who is going to distract you. Of course, some mindfulness practices can be done at any time — with other people around, or on the bus for example — but when you set aside time for formal practice, it is important to reduce the amount of distractions so you can get the most out of your formal practice time.
Sit with a posture of a ‘mountain’
If you’re sitting, make sure your feet are flat on the ground, and your legs uncrossed, with your thighs equidistant with your hips. If you are on a chair, mat or bench, sit with a posture of a ‘mountain’, with your back straight, shoulders relaxed but apart and not drooping, and your head level with your shoulders and not drooping. This posture is meant to convey dignity, wisdom and presence — like an ancient mountain. We are trying to ‘embody’ the character of this type of mountain — a mountain that has ‘seen it all’ — wars, conflict, natural disasters, flourishing civilisations, sunrises and sunsets — and yet still maintains its’ sense of ‘presence’, and of wisdom. Nothing phases this type of mountain — it has seen it all, and has always made it out the other side.
Eyes either closed or resting on a spot in front of you
With your head and back straight and not drooping, your hands can be resting on your thighs, and your eyes either closed or resting on a single spot in front of you. If you are lying on a mat, your legs should be uncrossed and your hands at your side, with your eyes either closed or looking at the ceiling. The practices will then begin and also end with the ringing three times of the bells.
That’s all on positioning for now. Stay tuned for next week’s blog where we will cover the ‘body scan’ practice. And remember to join us every Monday, Wednesday and Friday at 19:30GMT in the Secondary School FocusRoom (we use this as a combined session for both rooms) for live and free mindfulness sessions. We look forward to seeing you there!
