Nov 27 2019 58 mins 9
Human beings are creatures of habit. To build a new practice such as meditation, it is necessary to do two things. We need to build a habit, and more difficult, we need to intervene in the habits we already have. Intervening in our habits is difficult because they become combined. One habit brings another and this fills our day with a subconscious process I call the Autopilot. The Autopilot consists largely of instinct and habit. Throughout most people’s days in the modern world, control of their actions is passed between these subconscious processes which is why we can have a day that we get to the end of to discover we can hardly remember any of it. It becomes like a Groundhog Day. In addition to instinct and habit, we also have awareness. When we are experiencing mindful awareness we can observe these systems operating through our actions, thoughts and emotions. The process of building a meditation practice supports itself by returning us to awareness so we can intervene in the Autopilot and make conscious choices. This is the process of meditation: We somehow find the time to repeat the basic practices. They consist of us training our subconscious to return control to our awareness. This allows us to consciously initiate further practices that reduce our stress, intervene in unhelpful thought patterns, calm the mind and allow us to relax. Robert provides insight into this in this podcast. Meditations: 15:13 - A guided meditation on sound, time, the mind and the breath. 27:35 - The Four Tens Meditation 41:17 - The 4-6 Breaths 44:45 - Tactical Breathing 49:15 - Counting the Breaths to learn more visit our site: https://2020meditation.com Support the show
