Meditation is about relaxing the sympathetic mind’s control and allowing the parasympathetic mind to take over. I find this highly beneficial - the parasympathetic mind is where our creativity lies, creativity being a function of our sub-conscious. As a side benefit you become more relaxed and rested.

I’ve been practicing meditation for a long time and there are pitfalls. I think it comes down to the fact that our sympathetic mind is always finding ways, sometimes quite subtly, of exerting control. (In fact I think that’s the function of the sympathetic mind itself). So more advanced practices can be often subverted by the thing we’re trying to relax itself - our controlling mind.

I think it’s best to keep things simple. Something you may have heard of - beginner’s mind.

Sit up straight in a chair so that you’re not leaning back. Set a timer - I like the Insight Timer app. The method is simple - just pay attention to your outbreath. If you find yourself thinking, gently return your attention to the outbreath. If you’re really off in fantasy, when you catch it gently say to yourself “thinking” and return to the outbreath. Keep your eyes slightly open looking a few feet ahead on the ground, although if they close that’s fine. That’s it. Do that for 5 or 10 minutes to start.

A key to me is that Beginner’s Mind. If you find yourself making it too complicated, return to the state of mind before you began trying to improve. After all, this practice is the simplest possible activity you can do!

As you relax your sympathetic mind your parasympathetic mind will start to take over. Often times a bunch of creative thought will come up. Usually that’s quite pleasant but sometimes we create nightmares for ourselves too. In any case our controlling mind often tends to want to make use of that creativity, (which is kinda counter to the pure creativity itself imo.) Keep coming back to relaxing that; keep coming simply back to the outbreath.

That’s the practice. The most simple meditation is also the most advanced if you ask me. And perhaps the most ultimate version of this happens after the final bell goes off - you just return to the state of mind you had before you ever began meditating.

GOING FOR A WALK is a simple + natural way to calm the sympathetic mind. I go for alot of short walks. If I’m wound up I’ll go for a short walk especially before meditating!

Beginner’s Mind pt. 2

Of course Beginner’s Mind often ain’t so simple. Emotions are often sticky. There’s information in them. Emotional suppression driven by sympathetic controlling mind is a thing, and even has its usefulness. But a key aspect of Beginner’s Mind seems to be just allowing yourself to feel whatever you want + need to feel.

The deeper practice is to harness our natural curiosity and be curious about all our feelings + emotions + situation in general — is it really an intractable problem? If the answer is No and we know it, it brings us back to a wise simplicity, an advanced Beginner’s Mind you might say.

The simple Beginner’s Mind is good training to get a feel for it.1 But when the shit hits the fan — and it will — let yourself feel it and be naturally curious about it.

Beginner’s Mind pt. 3

I dunno, it made the most sense in the moment. 4am, up and a lil annoyed at the national day fireworks, annoyed that I’m gonna have to deal w/ it again tonight. Then I just decided to do my best to soften + be compassionate. And explored what that really means. Cuz it’s not necessarily something you can force + make happen. OTOH it is possible. And how does it fit together w/ Beginner’s Mind? That’s what’s on my mind this AM. So of the biggest mofo questions. And it def feels healing.

Beginner’s Mind, because compassionate mind comes before all the neurosis and improvement. But that’s just like, an academic understanding bro. But not necessarily?? It def fits together w/ advanced Beginner’s Mind, getting closer to neurosis & and frustration, exploring them; are they really a problem? When that’s an apparent “no” it brings you back to simplicity, but a wise simplicity this time.

So ya, what I’m getting at here is Beginner’s Mind Pt 3. Hah.

But it’s true though — meditation -> simply bringing your attention back to the breath, brings you back to a primordial state of mind that’s very shifting & dynamic, and the compassion, the softness allows you to touch into that dynamic, not bowl it over with what you thought that static state of mind was or bounce off back to the familiar neurosis. Comforting neurosis.

Beginner’s Mind - Finale

Finding meaning in the meaningless. I guess that’s what it’s all about. Come into it with an innocent open Beginner’s Mind, face your neurosis by feeling + investigating it, seeing if it’s a real problem. Add in a dash or a bucket of compassion, then let it all dissolve into pure openness, god willing.

It can seem endless, and maybe in some sense it is. It can seem meaningless, and maybe in some sense it is at the time. But the path itself creates meaning out of all of it. The fact that there is a path. I spose it’s something that needs to be experienced.

The finale is about letting go. When you’ve honestly made friends with your neurosis this becomes possible. But you can’t hold on to it. When you’re practiced it has more of a fluttering quality - sympathetic controlling mind takes over, you catch it and come back to the parasympathetic mind. Sit with this in meditation and it can all settle down nicely. Maybe you can even catch a glimpse of how that pure openness is the background for it all, tying this whole thing together.

Good luck.

  1. To remember that state of mind before improvement. ↩