The Way of Tranquility,Exploring Restful States

Meditation that cultivates restfulness and tranquility has the obvious benefits for quieting, calming and soothing. There are many times in our hectic and anxious lives when the need is felt quite keenly. Practicing a restful focused technique also creates a pleasant feedback loop that encourages one to keep meditating.

For this meditation I have chosen to focus on two restful states: one using restful sight, and one using somatic rest or rest in the body.

The Technique : "See Rest"

1.    With closed eyes bring your attention to that area where you see darkness, lightness, or combination. Just what you see when you close your eyes. Many find this to be a quite restful experience.

2.    You will say to yourself "see rest" either silently or aloud (as a means to help with focus ) every few seconds and really try to soak or relax into the restful quality.

3.    Should your mind wander or become distracted just gently return your attention when you become aware of it.    


The Technique : "Feel Rest"

1.  Bring your attention to your body and do a kind of scan to see if you detect any restfulness there. It can be just a small area (example: my little finger on my right hand.) or large (the whole body ferestful). Place your awareness there and say to yourself "feel rest" every few seconds or so. Really soak into the relaxed and restful feeling.

2.  You can even create restfulness by consciously relaxing certain muscle groups , dropping the             shoulders, smoothing the face, dropping the jaw slightly etc. It is possible to find some relaxing or      restful quality even if at first it feels difficult to find.

     

Use one or the other technique, or free float between the two. Do whichever feels right and natural to you. Remember to be easy and gentle with yourself. If distractions or unrestful things come up , just try and let them be in the background for right now and bring your attention back to what you are selectively focusing on, which is one or both of these restful states. Enjoy .