First Steps in Meditation

John Middleton
October 3, 2013

The "how of meditation is straightforward.
1. Sit comfortably, keeping your spine straight.
2. Become aware of God's loving presence with you.
3. Pay attention to your breath - the inbreath, the outbreath.
4. When your attention wanders from your breath, gently bring it back.
5. After 20 minutes, pray the Lord's Prayer, then resume your other activities.

There can be variations and elaborations, but this starting point works well for most people.

There are, however, a variety of images which can shape your practice, clarify your motives, and help you keep a healthy, transforming perspective. They can also help you to translate contemplative practice into contemplative living,

The images are largely derived from the work of Jean-Yves Leloup, an Orthodox theologian.

1. First, meditate like a mountain.
Meditation is embodied prayer. It requires attention to your spine, your breath, and the stability of your knees. To sit like a mountain means to feel your weight, to know another rhythm, and simply to sit without aim or purpose. Learn how to greet the seasons, to keep silent and calm like the earth. The Lord needs a rock upon  which to build your life as he needed one to build the Church.

2. Meditate like a poppy.
The poppy teaches a certain orientation: to turn toward the sun, to turn from the depths of oneself toward the light. It teaches the need to have a straight stem, "a reminder to straighten your spine. If you watch the poppy closely, it will also teach you to bend with the wind, a lesson in humility. Finally, the blossom fades. It is necessary not only to blossom but to wither.

3. Meditate like the ocean.
When meditating we "float on our backs," carried along by the breath's ebb and flow. We also learn that "though there may be waves on the surface, the ocean bed is calm." Most people perceive only the waves, forgetting that deep down the ocean is still.

4. Meditate like a bird.
In the Old Testament the word for meditation sometimes designates the cry of an animal: the roar of a lion, the chirping of swallows, the song of a dove. Let the song rise within you, return gently to your breath, sit straight and still, and you will begin to know the peace that God gives.

A  young man left a monastery and returned home, but he did not forget the teachings of the older monks. Whenever he was feeling agitated or pressed for time, he would sit like a mountain. Whenever he felt pride or conceit, he would remember the poppy, that "every flower withers." When sadness, anger or disgust overtook him, he would breathe deeply like the ocean and rediscover his own breath in the breath of God, invoking God's name and crying softly, "Lord, have mercy." He didn't try to be a saint. He simply tried to love God from moment to moment and to walk in God's Presence.