Open Awareness Meditation

mindfulness

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This last Saturday was the Brain Boot Camp event, which was essentially going all day doing periods of open awareness meditation, punctuated by shorter periods of walking meditation. There were only a couple of short breaks for tea, and one longer one for lunch. Other than that, we went all day from 8:30ish to 5:00 p.m. I haven't meditated that extensively in one day in years, and it was an interesting and layered experience.

Open awareness meditation is a fairly new method for me. I've only done it a few times before with Kelley. Most of my years of meditation experience are based in Indian Buddhist methods, namely Anapana (breath awareness) meditation, and then Vipassana, sometimes called Insight Meditation. This method is supposedly the technique taught by the Buddha.

I did Vipassana meditation most every day for years, including two 10 day silent retreats, and I liked the method quite a bit. I think I was gaining a good bit if mental clarity and insight, and my mind definitely did quiet down significantly, most particularly during the intensives. I was becoming fairly good at becoming quite still, and sort of unaffected by the trials of life while I was on the cushion. One thing I did notice though was that I could only take that peaceful state with me out of the meditation hall when I was at a secluded retreat. Once I had to then return to my normal life in the modern world, the pace and ever present stimulation of the things around me was kind of shocking to my system. Every car on the road seemed to be going too fast, every radio too loud, every advertisement a minor assault on my senses. It's something I came to know and accept as an expected transition period after deep meditation. Probably the most striking thing to me about the all day open awareness meditation was that there wasn't an iota of this hypersensitivity in me at the end of the day. I felt like I had done a sizeable amount of very good meditation, but going out into the parking lot and driving on the streets in traffic with the radio on didn't require any uncomfortable adjustment at all. It was all - fine.

One of the hardest parts of my meditation practice, and something I'd been consciously working on for years, was how to get the perceived benefits of the meditation session to last outside of the meditation room. This open awareness method seems to make this 'problem' a non-issue. I find it a more difficult method initially, because it doesn't make me feel like I'm meditating, but so far, despite my fondness for the other methods I've learned, I'm really impressed with it.

Kalama Sutta (Kalama Sutra)

Do not simply believe what you hear just because you have heard it for a long time.
Do no follow tradition blindly merely because it has been practiced that way for many generations.
Do not be quick to listen to rumors.
Do not confirm anything just because it agrees with your scriptures.
Do not foolishly make assumptions.
Do not abruptly draw conclusions by what you see and hear.
Do not be fooled by outward appearances.
Do not hold on tightly to any view or idea just because you are comfortable with it.
Do not accept as fact anything that you yourself find to be illogical.
Do not be convinced of anything out of respect and deference to your spiritual teachers.

You should go beyond opinion and belief. You can rightly reject anything which when accepted, practiced and perfected leads to more aversion, more craving and more delusion. They are not beneficial and are to be avoided. Conversely, you can rightly accept anything which when accepted and practiced leads to unconditional love, contentment and wisdom. These things allow you time and space to develop a happy and peaceful mind. This should be your criteria on what is and what is not the truth; on what should be and what should not be the spiritual practice.