FAQ

What am I suppose to do, feel or think during a meditation practice?

Nothing! Just sit relax and enjoy… See what happens… Enjoy the moment and peace that you may found for few seconds or minutes. If and when you start thinking, any kind of thinking about work, bills, what she said or even what we consider exited staff, going for holidays, change a job, having a date and so on, just stop. Pause for a second, acknowledge the thought and just simply let it go… easy thing to say but how can you let go thoughts. Simple, the same way as you learn to read, to write, by practice; by your own practice. A thought comes, let it come, notice it, acknowledge it and without any judgment return back to your practice, the mind in to the present moment. If is coming back again, and again and again, and other thoughts are coming
 … Relax, that’s the beginning, it’s ok, it’s normal, congratulations, you have a mind that thinks!! But the point is to train it up to the point of no, not to have enlightment or any other state of mind, but just to find peace … peace… peace. By reaching that point of inner peace you might want to explore some other avenues that you may find or even guided by your teacher to incorporate with your practice; exercises with your breath, object concentration, use of mantras, visualisation… And after, some more, and more… As I mention before, meditation is a life-long practise.

When and how can I practice mindfulness meditation?

… If you want, it can be in every single day, during the whole day, yes! How is it possible? It is an informal way of the known, usually formal postured way which I will explain in a few moments. But how is it possible? Just by being there, being there body and mind. When you work, when you clean the house; just be aware of your body, be aware of your surrounding, be aware of your mind and any thoughts that coming at that time.
Mindfulness Meditation  The most important thing in the whole world right now for example, is to clean the floor in the kitchen. Any other thought that I might have has nothing to do with me cleaning my kitchen’s floor. “I don’t have time to clean it all”, “ I don’t like it”, “I have more important things to do”, “ I ‘ve done it last time, so my partner has to do it”, and so on. Concentrate on that task and only that. Judgment, or any other analysis or any other thoughts that might come along and disturb your work by being there are not necessary and of course will not help you of doing it. So, instead of doing something half hearted, and morn about it, why don’t you try to make the most of it? By being there, by giving you whole attention, body and mind. To do it with effort, attention… and love! … And why not to apply that kind of attitude to everything that you do in your life? Ok, if we were on a retreat for the rest of our lives that can be possible but how to implement something that takes so much time in to our busy life time? Simple, start by doing one thing a day. Say that I will clean the whole house in a 2-3 hours, but I will do the dishes mindfully. I will take all the time of the world to wash one by one, slowly by not thinking anything else part from washing the dishes and by bringing my attention back to my breath. Just take your time and notice how it feels. Once, a Vietnamese monk said: “There are two ways to wash the dishes. The first is to wash the dishes in order to have clean dishes and the second is to wash the dishes in order to wash the dishes.” So, take your time and not think your next task, or even when you finish you’ll have a nice cup of tea; By thinking what to do next we are start doing things in a hurry, start getting stressed, getting angry, getting disappointed, and the list goes on.
That is why! … one thing at a time, when you can. Another day when you are cleaning the house, practice mindfulness by cleaning the bathroom…. and so on. Even when you are at work, on a tea break. Take few moments of making the tea, or coffee. Do so, by being there; notice first of all how you are, by taking few seconds, by breathing, by connecting your mind and body at that moment; it takes only three breaths! Take the kettle and pure some fresh water in, slowly. Actually to feel let’s say, that you are in a slow motion… Put the kettle to boil and do nothing…Maybe you might want to concentrate in an object, or close your eyes for a moment, and again if you have any thoughts… it’s not the time! When the time comes to think of how to deal with your partner, or what to buy on your way back home and so on, you will deal with, but now and for the rest of those 3 minutes, it’s your time, your moment of relaxation and peace, just those few moments.…
It will make wonders if you can be mindful 3 minutes of every hour in your whole day! Just 3 minutes! It will only take a week or two and you will realise that you will want to practice mindfulness more often. Actually it will not be a practice any more, … it’s living!