Samatha practice: Increase your focus, imagination and calm your mind!

Let's start by introducing ourselves to the 10 levels of development of Samatha meditation. This is the meditation I wrote about in the previous article. It is a meditation that develops a calm mind that is able to focus continuously on a chosen object, action.

10 LEVELS OF SAMATHA MEDITATION DEVELOPMENT:

1. The practitioner is able to direct his attention to the object of meditation, but cannot keep this attention long. Distraction and loss of attention are common.

2. The practitioner can focus on the object of the meditation for about one minute before it is distracted.

3. The practitioner is able to maintain attention on the meditation object for approximately 108 breaths (20-30 minutes), and if he loses it, he is able to become aware of the loss of focus almost immediately.

4. The practitioner is able to maintain attention throughout the entire meditation session (one hour or more) without losing focus at any point. At this stage, the meditator attains a state of mindfulness. Even so, subtle forms of agitation, confusion, boredom, or over-relaxation are still present.

5. The practitioner achieves deep peace of mind, but must be careful to distinguish between calming down and accepting boredom or over-relaxation. He must distinguish the state of peace of mind from the state of being still in eternity.

6. The practitioner reaches a state of a calm mind, but is still prone to subtle emotional agitation. There are impulses of euphoria that are not constant in nature. This stage is usually reached after about a thousand hours of meditation.

7. The practitioner feels completely at ease.

8. The practitioner achieves a very high level of concentration with little effort. No emotional forms can disturb this state.

9. The practitioner attains full concentration without any effort and can maintain this concentration without interruption for about four hours.

10. The practitioner attains Samatha - the state of total concentration accompanied by peace of mind.

PRACTICE OF SAMATHA:

MINDFULNESS, CONCENTRATION, PEACE OF MIND

A. PREPARING FOR MEDITATION

1. Sit comfortably on the ground in the lotus position, or lean back slightly if the first position is too difficult or uncomfortable for you. Do not slouch.

2. Relax your body, relax the muscles from head to toe and breathe a sigh of relief. Keep your tongue touching the roof of your mouth, and your closed eyes aimed at a point just above your eyebrow. (This is very important!).

3. Close your eyes and begin a deep, conscious breathing (8/2/8/2 or 6/6). Relax. Breathe like this for a while and then return to your natural breathing. B. MEDITATION

4. Focus your attention on the CHOSEN IMAGINED OBJECT OF MEDITATION and keep that concentration throughout your meditation. Try to keep it as much as it is possible.

5. Every time your mind sends you thoughts, pictures, suggestions, calmly come back to the state of focus on the imagined object. Practice the ability to remember to return to focus. Practice the ability to reflexively return to focus. Practice mental stability. Don't get involved, don't get frustrated, don't judge the thoughts that bother you. Just go back to your meditation, accepting the obstacle that has arisen.

6. Meditate in this way for an appropriate time according to your needs. You can start with 10 minutes and gradually increase this length for better results. One day you will be able to meditate much longer. A large increase in the effectiveness of meditation and its positive impact on our physiology begins to be clearly noticeable after exceeding the minimum of 20 - 30 minutes a day.

7. Finish your meditation.

Remember that concentration is a state of being, not a state of thinking. Concentration is the state of performing a certain function stably, doing something in the full presence of doing. Focus is BEING, not thinking. Focus is not thinking, focus is directing your energy in a specific direction that has been determined as a result of your intention and decision. Concentration is a stable performance of an action based on a conscious decision.

Wish you a great meditation Universal Matty