As you progress through your Meditation journey, something happens.
At a certain points, as you practice meditation you will come to find the importance of subtle changes. Whether to your breath, your thoughts, how you play the witness, small changes can improve the quality of your meditation.
When I first started meditating I was laser focused on breathing. After some months of this I started seeing how little adjustments affected the quality of my meditation.
By Solely focusing on breathing (not breath), you may find you are still missing something.
You must get breathing right. You must practice diaphragmatic breathing so it becomes your natural breath.
At the same time focusing on one aspect of meditation can cause a lack the focus in other areas, with practice you will realize are as important as breath.
The Answer – Stillness!
During meditation, I spend the first 2 minutes stretching. After that I spend 3-5 minutes focused on breath, then I move to stillness.
Stillness is very powerful. If you have not tried, just sitting, don’t move. It may be difficult at first, your mind will want your body to move!
You may not be in control of your thoughts, but surely you are in control of your movement?
You are a Statue!
Picture a statue. Any statue. Now put your face on the statue. Imagine you are the statue, you can not move, you’re frozen in time.
Statues don’t swallowing, or move any party. If you find movement, it should only come from involuntary (twitch, sensations).
Can you sit for 30 minutes without moving like a statue?
Move nothing, not your head, not your neck, not your arms, not your fingers, not your legs, not your eyelids. Swallowing was difficult at first, it felt like I HAD to.
After some practice even this sensation, even the desire to swallow will fade away.
Practice Stillness in Your Meditation
Once you start practicing stillness you will want to stay in the state. If you remain completely still after around 20-30 minutes the sensation, your body feels almost numb and starts fading away as if it’s not there.
If you aren’t already practicing stillness in meditation, try it out, you will be delighted by the sensation of nothingness on the physical level!
By not moving you’re in control of your physical. It is completely at the control of you mind. All those little (I need to swallow, I need to do this or that)suggestions your mind makes, disappear with practice.
By taking control over your mind, by being the observer, the witness you can achieve a higher level of meditation.
Have you tried it? If not, please do and reap the rewards of your actions (or non-actions!!)!