Basic Meditation Practice

    Basically, meditation practice is about "having the courage to stay present to whatever your mind and body throw at you, to resist the urge to turn from pain and turn it into a mental and emotional concept – suffering. ... to face your discomfort as merely data coming from the senses, and to face your emotional & intellectual discomfort the same way. The practice was designed to teach equanimity, or self-control and awareness, no matter what arose in life – pleasure, pain, boredom, jealousy, anger, lust, longing, sadness. It was designed to interrupt the habitual impulse that we all have as humans – to turn from pain and toward pleasure as fast as we can, … that in the long run leads to greater ignorance and suffering.” 
    Keith Martin-Smith. “A Heart Blown Open. The Life and Practice of Zen Master Jun Po Denis Kelly Roshi.” Devine Arts, 2011. EXCELLENT READ!

    This is precisely what we started to look at in the last blog: http://www.johnlovas.com/2025/12/practical-practice.html 

    As with other challenges, it's best to start with baby steps. When starting meditation practice, we're advised to remain still & silent (not engage in internal conversations) even when we feel some minor physical discomfort, like a tickle on our nose. We simply stay with the physical sensation of the tickle, only observing the physical sensation of the tickle, not moving, not talking to ourselves, simply observing JUST THIS physical sensation. Succeeding in this, gives us the confidence to face more difficult challenges with equanimity.

    As we steadily face whatever unpleasantness we've always avoided & run from before, remain fully-present to the physical feeling of discomfort, the degree of discomfort will progressively diminish, until it disappears, and we are suddenly rewarded. In the long run, this same issue, that we just physically processed, will either recur in progressively milder & milder manifestations, or might only recur without any negative charge at all, as only a powerless memory. This physical processing - remaining with only the physical feel of whatever we're averse to, is a powerful DIY way to disarm psychological baggage.
    If you can't do this on your own, the right mental health professional can definitely help you with this essential healing.

    There's no way to shortcut this essential process of emptying our closet full of skeletons. No matter how religious or even spiritual you become, significant remaining untreated psychological baggage will continue to sabbotage your life, resulting in needless suffering for yourself and all those around you. 
    Avoiding needed psychological / psychiatric treatment, and instead choosing religion or spirituality, is a serious error called spiritual bypassing.

 

Wayne Boucher "The Well at Heaven's Gate" www.harvestgallery.ca