Meditation 1 min read
Meditation, Starting with Five Minutes
Meditation is not about emptying the mind. Sit on a chair, choose where to place your attention, and return when it wanders — a small guide for first-timers.
The word meditation often brings to mind a state of thinking nothing. Yet in many traditions, meditation is the repeated act of choosing where to place attention, and returning when it wanders.
1. Settle the posture
Floor or chair, either is fine. Let the spine be upright, the shoulders soft, the hands resting on the knees. Close the eyes, or lower the gaze to the floor about a metre ahead.
2. Choose an anchor
The breath is the most common anchor — at the tip of the nose, or the rise of the belly. Choose one.
3. When you drift, return
When a thought appears, the moment you notice it is already meditation. Without judgement, return to the breath. It does not matter if you return dozens of times in five minutes.
Connections to tradition
This practice of returning echoes dhāraṇā (concentration) in the eight limbs, and Japanese zazen.