Meditation techniques. Part 2

Sit down. Relax. Imagine a pond of water, circular. Look at it with your mind's eye. Imagine that the pond is completely still, without a wave altering the surface. Imagine that any thought or distraction produces waves and try to keep the surface still. Every time you realize you are thinking about something else, calm the surface of the water.

Keep the pond simple, don't attribute complicated shapes to it, no fish, no water lilies: let it just reflect a clear sky.

Sit down. Relax. Visualize a calm color, like blue. Imagine that blue is reduced to a dot and then disappears, leaving your mind blank. Go completely blank. When you realize you are thinking of something, start over with the color, and let it disappear into nothingness.

Sit down. Relax. Count the breath: breath in one, breath out two, breath out three, breath out four, breath in five, and so on, for the duration of the predetermined practice time. Every time you lose count, start over. Do not try to control your breathing.

Sit down. Relax. Place a lit candle in front of you. Observe it for one minute. Then close your eyes and, for one minute, concentrate on the breathing movement in your lower abdomen. Open your eyes and look at the candle again. Continue to alternate during the practice time, one minute for the candle, one minute for the breath.

Don't go into the meaning of the candle or anything like that in your mind.

Sit down. Relax. Place a lit white candle in front of you. Look at it for a moment and close your eyes. With your eyes closed, visualize the candle. When you lose the previous image of the candle, look at it again, then return to the previous image.

Do not think about the symbolism of the candle. Try not to keep anything in your mind but the image of the candle.

Practice spending more and more time with your eyes closed until you no longer need the physical candle. The candle is, in this exercise, like the float for the beginner swimmer, and should be dispensed with as soon as possible.

Sit down. Relax. Choose a small object, such as a marble or a smooth ring, where you can fix your sight and not deflect it, which is very easy. Place it in front of you, at knee level or on the floor if you are sitting on the floor. Keep your attention on the object, without thinking about it.

After five minutes, move the object about 18 inches away. Observe it. After another five minutes, move another 18 inches away. Observe it like this for five minutes.

In each position, open your eyes just enough to see the object, that is, start with the lower eyelids, opening them and gradually increasing the field of vision, keeping your attention fixed on the object.

During meditation be aware of the movement of the breath in the lower abdomen.

Sit down. Relax. Choose a concept as a receptive focus. Concepts such as compassion, faith, devotion, trust, integrity, honesty, and many others are valid seeds for this exercise. Don't dwell on the subject, just keep it in your mind and let the thoughts come and go. Since you keep the concept in your consciousness, many thoughts that arise would be ideas about it. Don't go back to those ideas, just be aware of them.

It is best to apply the same concept several sessions, before moving on to another. It is also good, after a certain time, to revise the concept, and expand the ideas about it. Perhaps you think that, in a short time, you have all the knowledge possible about the subject, but it is more likely to be a manifestation of resistance than a fact. The more we apply a concept, the richer and more profound the ideas we come up with about it tend to be.