The first book or audio in the "Myth of Life" series is "Start Meditating Now". This is a fitting start for the series, and it's refreshing to find a purely practical teaching at the start, which sets some foundation for actually experiencing the points and philosophy that Barry Long puts forth throughout the rest of the parts in the series, and indeed future talks. Contrast this to a lot of teachers that give a heap of philosophy and theory up front, then at some point find the need or call to deliver a practical means of experiencing that to their audience. Both theory and practice should be one whole.
Start Meditating Now
The basic meditation itself is similar to a body scan / vipassana scanning routine, though it is purely around the inner subtle sensations within parts of the body, rather than gross sensations.
There are 5 points in this lecture that goes for around 1.5 hours.
(A) The actual meditation process and instructions
- The what and why
- Posture, set up, initial breathing yoga (similar to HA breathing, or tan tien breathing)
- Attention within the body, directed to between the eyebrows (a classic point of focus)
- Attention to the subtle energy sensations in the hands, face, lower body, upper body parts
- Entering into stillness once the body scan has been done, or returning for a repeated cycle
- Returning to inner feeling, body anchoring as much as possible outside meditation
(B) Releasing tension in the body and in attending to sights and sounds
(C) Dropping inner bodily tension and emotional tension into the lower abdomen
(D) Resting in stillness
(E) General tips and advice outside formal sitting sessions
- Habit of mind curiosity
- How the mind becomes distracted by hooks
- Ceasing unnecessary and nervous related bodily activity
- Ceasing thinking automatically about past and future events, memories etc.
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Overall, it's a nice routine and a complete set of instructions and guidelines around establishing a meditation habit. A couple of points could probably be developed more, such as coming out of the meditation session (for some reason this seems to have been omitted), and also a little more on integrating the formal meditative experience into times outside of formal sitting. Otherwise, done repeatedly, this lecture would yield good results over the long term.
Some quotes:
“Unless you intend to act, there’s no excuse whatsoever for thinking, and certainly not brooding.”
"Meditation is discovering what you are now. Not what you have been or what you think you are, but what you are now."
"Meditation is a process of self-unfoldment and can't be rushed."
"Why do you need to meditate? To know yourself. Why do you need to know yourself? Because what you are at present, what you think you are, is not yourself."
"Meditation is the art of entering your own unconscious.. where your true self lies is inside your body. It is a place of extraordinary stillness and creativity."
"When you're sitting doing nothing, your mind tends to wander all over the place.. the mind has gotten into the wandering habit and you've probably never thought to stop it.. stopping thinking is a gradual process and not an easy one."
"Finally, you will have to master the subtle, unsconscious thinker that has been controlling your mind for so long without your realising it."
Barry Long
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