Bodhipaksa

More on stage one

We suggest learning this meditation practice one stage at a time. After all, there’s no hurry. Wildmind is not going to go away.

Sometimes I find people assume that learning a skill involves the same processes as learning information. Much of what we learn in school is information — facts that we memorize and recall. But that doesn’t translate when it comes to learning meditation.

We’ve all no doubt had the experience of “cramming” before an exam and forcing ourselves to read and recall (with varying degrees of success) large amounts of information. Often we forget that information as soon as the exam’s over, but it is possible to learn a large amount of information in a short period of time.

Learning a skill’s not like that. Meditation involves unlearning old habits and training the mind to work in a different way. This takes time.

So why not spend a few days just doing stage one for ten to fifteen minutes? You might even want to do it more than once a day — the more often you do it, the more effect it will have.

Listening to the RealAudio files will support you in developing a regular practice.

You can also explore some of the links in this section. They will give you valuable information about this stage of the practice. Then you can come back and learn the second stage of the practice.

Pin It

Kindle