Shamatha Meditation

Shamatha is an important part of many meditative traditions, including Buddhist meditation schools. Although many people practice some form of shamatha, most aren’t familiar with the foundation of this important practice and how it differs from mindfulness, insight, and concentration.

What is Shamatha?

Shamatha is a form of meditation practice that builds tranquility and calmness of mind. The word itself means the slowing down or pacification of the mind, and Shamatha may be understood to mean the calming and slowing of the mind and its mental objects. It is a foundational practice in Buddhist teachings around meditation, and one that leads to mindfulness, insight, and wisdom.

If you’ve meditated before, you have experienced different levels of samadhi, or concentration. When we develop this one-pointedness of mind, we develop shamatha. As we practice shamatha meditation, the mind grows calm and patient, able to see experience more clearly. It is a prerequisite for developing insight and wisdom, and shamatha practice can help us develop everything from mindfulness and insight to compassion and equanimity.

Why Practice Shamatha?

Shamatha is an important meditation practice, especially for those beginning a new meditation practice. The purpose of this meditation practice is to develop a mind that rests in calm abiding. When we develop the ability to rest with a mind of ease, we can tune into experience with increased clarity.

Think about your own experience. When your mind is active and reactive, are you seeing clearly? In moments of anxiety, we may find the mind thinking rapidly. We don’t see clearly, and are activated. This is the opposite of what we do in shamatha practice.

With shamatha, we develop the ability to calm the mind and rest in a state of increased ease. This gives us the ability to practice mindfulness and see the experience without reacting so strongly. When thoughts and other experiences arise, we can observe them with a patient awareness and develop some insight. Shamatha is a necessary practice to develop a calm mind that can cultivate insight and wisdom.

With shamatha practice, we can develop deeper wisdom and insight. It also can be beneficial to us in daily life. We are able to ground ourselves during our days, rest in a state of ease, and decrease our levels of anxiety and stress. Shamatha practice over time can lead us to a state of increased calmness.

Shamatha Meditations

There are different ways we can practice shamatha. The most common way is through the development of samadhi, or concentration. Concentrative meditation is most often done with the practice of observing the breath, but may also be done with the practice of metta meditation.

Through the development of samadhi, we are able to focus the mind on one object. This may be any number of mind-objects, but we most often use the breath in Buddhist practices. Cultivating samadhi means we are able to rest with one object in our experience with ease and one-pointedness of mind. As samadhi develops, the mind grows in ease. As such, shamatha practices include mindfulness of the breath (anapanasati).

Shamatha and Vipassana

Shamatha is a practice that can help us with our vipassana, or insight practices. When we practice shamatha and calm the mind, we are able to see experience more clearly. Vipassana practice without a calm mind can be difficult and possibly not even useful. By developing a calm mind, we allow ourselves the opportunity to develop insight and wisdom.

As you build the ability to concentrate on one object and quiet the mind, you can then take that quality of mind and bring it to an open awareness practice. If you are struggling in your mindfulness and insight practices to see clearly, I recommend starting with shamatha practice and cultivating a mind that is more at ease and able to focus on your experience!

Self Reflection

This is a post from Rebecca's blog Minimalism Made Simple (https://www.minimalismmadesimple.com) Its not Buddhist but its good.

You go through life day by day, just trying to get by an)d achieve your goals. Sometimes it feels like you are never going anywhere. Have you ever considered trying self-reflection? Self-reflection is the act of looking back on your life's work, whether that be good or bad. It's a good way to see just how much you have accomplished or what you need to work on.

The Importance of Self-Reflection

Self-reflection is an important part of growing as a person.It is always important to both be in the present moment, as well as look to the future. However, if we take a brief moment, whether that be at the end of the day, month or year to reflect on our actions, we can take note and be better for the future. Many people just go blindly throughout life, not thinking about what they are doing.This is a recipe for bad habits and failure. These people may put out negativity and not realize it.

They wonder why all these bad things happen to them, and it may be in fact, because of their actions.

On the flip side, you may be doing something right and reap the rewards, but never realize what it was that you did, so you never repeat it ever again.

Practicing self reflection will allow you to get a good idea of your progress and actions in life and to essentially fine-tune how you do things.

The Benefits of Self Reflection

Aside from getting a good idea of what you achieved and how you act as a person, there are several self reflection benefits.

Better Relationships

Any time you are faced with a new relationship or even a conflict, self-reflection can help. You can spend some time looking inwards to asses your situation and make an educated decision based on how you feel about the relationship, and not necessarily in the heat of the moment. This can apply to a love interest, toxic relationships with friends or family members, or building a relationship with an acquaintance or family member.

Greater Sense of Self

Practicing self-reflection or introspection allows you to sit alone with yourself, which many people rarely get the chance to do. It can get quite uncomfortable at times, but this is required for growth. In this reflecting time, you get to silence the outside noise and listen to what YOU want. What your energy levels are, your health status, your passions, everything. Truly knowing one's self gives you a lot of power and a sense of calmness when tackling everyday life.

Stronger Decision Making Skills

Adding on to knowing one's self better through self-reflection, you will find that your ability to make decisions will simplify, as well. When you have a strong sense of self, and truly know your values, you shouldn't hesitate when going to make a decision. The answer should be clear to you. This relieves a lot of questioning and stress for yourself.

15 Ways to Practice Self-Reflection

1. Identify the Important Questions

Think of some questions that you want to ask yourself routinely (daily, weekly, monthly) to use as an assessment for your self-reflection.

Some examples are:

What habits did I achieve this week?

What could I better improve on?

How did I feel overall today?

(Remember that if you have feelings of depression or anxiety, it’s always best to speak with someone. Online Therapy offers helpful tools and resources.)

2. Meditate

You don't have to be perfect with this, it will be uncomfortable at first.But just sit in silence for as long as you can and see how your mind wanders. What are you thinking about? Take note of that and try to focus on your breathing.

3. Journal

Writing in a journal like a diary is a great way to get your thoughts and feelings out.

It is also a great tool to look back on to see any patterns in your habits and thoughts.

4. Do A Writing Exercise

Does your mind feel jumbled with thoughts and decisions?

Simply set a timer for 5-10 minutes and write everything that comes to mind.

Notice any patterns? What thoughts are important and which are fleeting?

Writing exercises are great to get your thoughts out on paper (or computer) to organize them better.

5. Take a Walk In Nature

Being out in nature is shown to improve mood. Get some fresh air and clear your head.

6. Talk to Yourself Out Loud

Sometimes hearing yourself talk out loud can be a great way to have realizations.

Having a conversation with yourself allows you to get your thoughts out and self-reflect.

7. Perform Breathing Exercises

From simple to complex, breathing exercises allow you to steady your heart rate and calm down.

This brings your mind to a calmer place to think more clearly.

8. Read

You don't have to read self-improvement books alone.

Some of my best self-actualizations have come from reading fiction novels. You get a realization of what you enjoy and what you don't.

Reading is truly a form of meditation.

9. Analyze a Past Event

Pick an event that you have certain feelings about. Take a few moments to analyze that particular event.

Why do you feel the way you do about that event?

What did you do well in this particular event? What could you improve upon in the future?

10. Assess What You Are Grateful For

Taking the time at the end of the day to think about what you are grateful for can improve your mood and way of thinking.

Try to think of just three things that you are grateful for at the end of each day.

11. Try a Yoga Class

Being in a calm and relaxing environment like you are when you are in yoga has many benefits.

Some benefits include improved flexibility and better breathing.

In this time, you may find yourself meditating and sifting through your thoughts. The perfect time for some self-reflection.

12. Track Your Feelings

Grab a journal or an app and track your feelings each day.

Do you notice any trends in your moods?

Often seeing why you react to certain stigma brings a sense of peace a realization for why you do what you do.

13. Perform a Self-Check Up

You don't have to visit the doctor's office for this one!

Simply sit down with yourself and assess different areas of your life.

Career, Love-Life, Education, Hobbies, Family, Fitness, etc.

How happy are you with your efforts in each area? What can you start improving on?

(I personally love this Healthy Meal Planner bundle to improve my simple eating goals.)

14. Set Specific Goals

After performing the self-reflection actions above, setting specific goals to achieve can greatly improve your progress.

Where do you want to be mentally and physically in the next 6 months? 3 years? 5 years?

Visualizing these goals helps to make them a reality.

15. Try Counseling

Seeing a counselor or therapist can be a great way to talk about yourself in a professional, non-judgmental setting.

Your counselor will help you dig deeper into who you are and bring on some strong self-reflection.

Examples of Self-Reflection

To put the tips above to good use, I am going to share a few self-reflection examples that you can practice in your everyday life:

• Taking a 30-minute walk in nature once a week.

• Listen to your thoughts and feelings.

• Wake up 30 minutes earlier. Sit down with a cup of coffee and read a book that you are excited about.

• Try sitting in a dark room in silence with your thoughts for just 5 minutes every day. Try to add on time as you go.

• You are feeling a little stressed today. Your mind is jumbled. Set a timer for 5 minutes and write out all of your thoughts.

  Visualizing your to-do list and what you were thinking about made you realize you don't need to stress so much.

• Take the time to assess a particular past event that you keep having dreams about.

  You can find out why that event was stressing you out.

• Think about a particular habit. You are now more aware of this habit in your everyday life and will be improving yourself immediately.

As you can see, self-reflection can be a great way to improve your overall life. By taking some time out of your day to reflect on past events, you will have a better sense of self. This sense of self will allow for things like better relationships and improved decision-making in your everyday life.

Stress will be cut-down and the cluttered thoughts, no more. Pick one or two ways to practice self-reflection and start implementing them into your everyday routine.

Self Reflection

"Know Thyself" 

Self-reflection is crucial for humans to flourish–both on the mundane and on the spiritual path.  Phakchok Rinpoche teaches here in an excerpt from a recent visit to Gomde Austria, making the point that regular reflection is really the deep meaning of mindfulness. Rinpoche asks a question: Do we begin every meditation session by reflecting on our actions and our character? Do we know our own ground?

We’re busy people and have lots of responsibilities and activities, so often we may forget to engage in self-reflection.  But, we may want to look carefully at what we prioritize.  If we don’t make time for self-reflection, we don’t need to apologize–but we should remind ourselves how important this is.  And we should begin our meditation sessions with a few minutes of reflection–don’t leave it to the last thing we do. If we form the habit of checking ourselves, we are actually taking steps toward becoming a bodhisattva, a buddha.

However, if we don’t spend time in self-reflection, we continue making mistakes.  And that means we continue as sentient beings rather than transforming into buddhas.  Sentient beings don’t improve because they keep repeating mistakes.  But self-reflections helps us to avoid that pitfall.

That’s not new information for many of us–we’ve heard this message before.  Indeed, self-reflection is not unique to Buddhist thought. As the mosaic pictured here reminds us, the ancient Greeks and Romans advised seekers to “Know Thyself”. But we we need to check–are we making self-reflection a top priority?

Meditation Becomes Mainstream   

Rinpoche jokes that these days many doctors and those in the medical profession even remind us to relax, let go,  practice meditation, watch our breath–to keep ourselves physically healthy. Now, mindfulness and meditation is becoming more mainstream–and this is a good thing.  But, we can’t leave meditation at watching the breath.

On top of that, we need to also practice reflection.  And we have to remember all our different roles and responsibilities–are we upholding all our responsibilities and treating people kindly? Moreover, we honestly look at our behavior–our thoughts, words and actions. And if we see that we made mistakes, we remind ourselves–this is what being mindful really means.  If we’re not mindful, we may not watch our speech–and we say things we later regret, or things that cause others pain. Without self-reflection, we won’t notice these small slip-ups.

Self-reflection On Crucial Points of Practice

This reflection time also gives us an opportunity to recall key points of teaching.  We can remind ourselves of our motivation–taking time to generate, and really feel bodhicitta, for example.  And we take the time to notice that we were lazy, or distracted, or agitated–and we then reset our intention. This is the way to practice spiritual self-reflection. As we familiarize ourselves with this process, we can go deeper in our reflection.

Self-reflection on Our Own Negative Emotions

We start by looking at our own negative emotions–which emotion causes us most problems? Really take some time to check each one of the negative emotions.  In Buddhist teachings, we speak of five negative or destructive emotions: anger, pride, jealousy, attachment and ignorance.   We watch our own behavior and examine in a detailed way–where do we repeatedly make mistakes? Ignorance, Rinpoche remarks, comes down to not seeing our own mistakes. When we are ignorant, we don’t want to admit our mistakes and we don’t have any motivation to improve. When we have a method to improve, and we understand that but don’t apply the method–that is ignorance.

Reflection Exercise

In the morning, before you go about your daily activities, take just a few minutes to reflect on your motivation and your intentions.  If there is a quotation from a teaching that inspires you, read that silently, or aloud.  If there is a spiritual figure who inspires you, look at a photo or representation of that being. Think about how you wish to transform. If you know that you may encounter difficult situations in your day, reflect on how you can prepare yourself to meet those with an open and kind heart.

You may want to think of a word or phrase to repeat silently to yourself during the day to keep you on track.  And if you know that you are struggling with one of the negative emotions, gently remind yourself of that–and set the intention not to give into that habit. Some people find it helpful to use a written note as a reminder.  Experiment with what works for you–you can be playful in your reflection, not harsh and self-critical. in this way, if you catch yourself under the influence of negativity, you can laugh at yourself–aha–that’s anger–and then you give yourself space to shift gears. You may find that just catching yourself in this way, and identifying the emotion, immediately deflates its power.

Again, at the end of the day, spend a few moments in self-reflection.  Think about your actions, your words and your thoughts during the day.  Were you able to maintain awareness? If you made mistakes, acknowledge those and reflect on how you might have acted differently. Don’t dwell on negativity or judge yourself harshly–instead, simply think–next time I will react differently. As you go to sleep, make the commitment to continue your transformation.

Meditation Involves the Body, the Breath, and the Mind

Foundation: The Body

Posture is important in meditation. The posture of your body has an effect on the posture of your mind. If you slouch, the mind tends to slouch. If you’re too stiff, the mind tends to get too stiff. As Pema Chodron says, “not too tight, not too loose”.

Posture Instructions: Fearless and Gentleness

• If you have a meditation cushion, take your seat in the middle of the cushion, and feel your connection to the earth.
• Cross your legs, which are almost like roots into the earth, and place your hands passively on your thighs.
• Have an attitude of dignity, even nobility, almost as if you’re taking a throne.
• As we work our way up, the back is firm, but not stiff.
• The shoulders are gently pulled back, opening the chest area, revealing the heart.
• The central instruction about posture is opening the heart, which is symbolic for also opening the mind.
• The back is strong, stable, and unwavering, representing the masculine quality of fearlessness.
• The heart center is soft, receptive, and open, representing the feminine quality of gentleness.
• The head is aligned on top of the spine, which for many people means pulling your head back.
• The eyes are open, resting about six feet or so in front of you.
• The visual field is open, receptive, unfocused.
• The lips are slightly parted, as if you were saying the word “ah.”
• The tongue is resting on the back of the upper teeth.

If Sitting on a Chair:

• Sit squarely on the chair but don’t lean against the back.
• Plant your feat on the ground and rest your hands passively on your thighs.
• The rest of the technique for the posture is the same.

The Breath

• Gently but precisely bring your awareness to the natural movement of your breath.
• Don’t imagine it, don’t visualize it, just simply feel it.
• Feel the movement of your breath as it goes in and out.
• That’s it.

Surrender to the Simplicity

• You’re just sitting and breathing. An important aspect of meditation is its uncompromising simplicity. Don’t try to outsmart the practice. Let the simplicity work on you.
• Complexity doesn’t stand a chance against simplicity. In meditation, the complex mind eventually surrenders to the simplicity of the technique.

The Mind

• Whenever anything arises in your mind that distracts you from your breath – a thought, fantasy, image, emotion, whatever – you simply but precisely label that distraction as “thinking” and then return to your breath.
• “Thinking” is not a reprimand. It’s an act of recognition, an act of lucidity.
• Within the context of lucid dreaming, you can replace the label “thinking” with “wake up.” Every time you notice you’ve been distracted, you wake up from that and come back to your breath.
• It’s very gentle, like popping a bubble with a feather. Thoughts are just the play of your mind. Thoughts are never the problem.
• Using the language of lucid dreaming, once you get hooked into the contents of your mind, you’ve gone non-lucid. To get lucid, you simply recognize the thought and come back to your body and breath.

Practice 15 to 20 Minutes a Day

• 
  If you can do longer, that’s great, but 15 minutes is enough. It also helps to do it first thing in the morning.
• Be a bit tight at first, and lean into establishing this good habit.
• The goal is to get to the point where it doesn’t feel quite right if you’re not meditating, just like for most of us it doesn’t feel quite right to go to bed without brushing our teeth.
• If you stick with it, you’ll get to the point where meditation almost seems to “do you.” It comes more naturally, gets easier, and builds on itself. But we have to invest in it a bit before we can reap these benefits, just like with any other noble venture.

A Method of Shamatha Meditation

Shamatha means “peaceful abiding” or “tranquility.” Also called mindfulness or concentration meditation, shamatha is an important introductory practice that leads to the practice of vipashyana, or insight meditation.

The purpose of shamatha meditation is to stabilize the mind by cultivating a steady awareness of the object of meditation. The traditional practice of shamatha uses different kinds of supports or anchors for our practice. Eventually, this leads to practicing without supports and meditating on emptiness itself in an open awareness. For this particular practice, the instructions will be for shamatha meditation using the breath as the focus of our practice.

Shamatha meditation allows us to experience our mind as it is. When we practice shamatha, we are able to see that our mind is full of thoughts, some conducive to our happiness and further realization, and others not. It is not extraordinary that our minds are full of thoughts, and it is important to understand that it is natural to have so much happening in the mind.

Over time, practicing shamatha meditation calms our thoughts and emotions. We experience tranquility of mind and calmly abide with our thoughts as they are. Eventually, this leads to a decrease in unhelpful thoughts.

When we experience stable awareness, we are then ready to practice vipashyana, in which we develop insight into what “mind” is by investigating the nature of thoughts themselves. In the Vajrayana tradition of Buddhism, the ultimate goal is to practice calm abiding and insight in union, which opens the door to realizing the true nature of mind.

Traditionally, shamatha practice is taught through instructions on the physical body and then looking at the meditation instructions themselves.

The Seven-Point Posture

The seven-point posture of Vairochana is an ancient set of posture points that are said to align the physical body with our energetic body. The posture has been practiced for thousands of years by Hindu and Buddhist yogis. The seven points are:

1. Sit cross-legged.
2. Hands in lap or on knees.
3. Have a straight back.
4. Widen the shoulders to open the heart center.
5. Lower the chin.
6. Open mouth slightly with the tongue resting on the roof of the mouth.
7. Eyes open, gazing about four finger widths past the tip of nose.

A Body-Sensitive Posture

We all have different bodies and capabilities. It is important to adjust this demanding traditional posture to meet the needs of our own bodies, and not struggle to adapt our bodies to the posture. What is most important in terms of body posture is keeping the back and spine as straight as possible and remaining comfortable. So the seven points of a more body-sensitive posture could be:

1. Sit on a cushion or a chair, stand, or lie down.
2. Arrange your hands in any way that is comfortable.
3. Hold your back as straight as possible.
4. Keep your shoulders relaxed and chest open.
5. Hold your head at whatever level is comfortable.
6. Keep your lower jaw slightly open.
7. Keep the eyes closed or open.

The Meditation

There are many kinds of breath meditations. Some have been written down, while others have only been transmitted orally from teacher to student. The following is a basic breath meditation from the Vajrayana tradition:

1. Adjust the body into a comfortable position, and start the practice by becoming aware of your breath. Notice the inhalation and exhalation.
2. As you notice the breath, continue to let go of thoughts as they arise. Each time you are distracted by clinging to a thought, return to the breath. Keep doing this over and over again.
3. Eventually, as you exhale, become aware of your breath escaping and dissolving into space. Experience the same thing with the inhalation.
4. Slowing down, begin to allow your awareness to mix into open space with the breath on both the inhale and exhale.
5. To deepen the practice, begin to hold the breath after the inhalation for a few seconds before exhaling. By doing this, you are splitting the breath into three parts: inhalation, holding, and exhalation. Keep doing this.
6. As you inhale, begin to chant om to yourself. As you hold, chant ah. As you exhale, chant hung. Chanting these sacred syllables helps to further support awareness and is believed to purify our minds.
7. As you continue with exhalation, relax more. Continue awareness practice, letting go of thoughts and returning to the breath. Do this for as long as you can.