B Dean – How to Meditate

Zen Shikantaza – Breath Counting Meditation (Seated Meditation)

—An Interview with Grace Schireson, Part One—

In this three part meditation interview, Zen Instructor Grace Schireson speaks on the types of meditation she both teaches her students and practices herself, primarly Zen Shikantaza (seated meditation) and Breath Counting. She goes on to compare letting go to turning toward the light, and concludes with an encouraging approach towards Habit Mind.

Meditation How: What form of meditation do you practice?

Grace: My home base for meditation practice is 45 years of experience in Soto Zen shikantaza, or the school of silent illumination. Many times throughout the day I will find my breath for a minute or two of practice. I meditate every day (20-30 minutes) with this method, once or twice a day. I also lead regularly scheduled meditation retreats, classes and workshops where I teach this practice and point out the way it changes your life from the inside out.

I have determined that this specific practice is most reliable for me and my students and does not require close supervision from a teacher. While I believe it is essential for meditation students to have a teacher for guidance, some practices are more risky in my view—that is they can create energetic imbalances and require closer supervision. For example, koan practice from the Chinese, Korean and Japanese traditions may require a kind of forceful effort that may leave a student off balance or depleted.

I have studied this method with my own teacher in Kyoto, Fukushima Keido Roshi of Tofukuji monastery, but I only teach it to students who are committed to working closely with me, and who are of a steady and mature temperament. I have also studied Tibetan practices and visualizations, but I believe that these more elaborate trainings require closer supervision and ongoing and extensive trainings.

Meditation How: Thank you. I am excited to hear more. I am a bit confused. You mention that you “find your breath” for a minute or two, and then you write that you meditate for a 20-30 minute period once or twice a day. Are these separate practices, and what do they entail exactly. Perhaps you can describe the process of each.

Grace: Finding the breath is informal meditation wherever you may be, sitting for 20-30 minutes is formal meditation. One needs to practice both ways.

Meditation How: Can you describe to me how “finding the breath” works?

Grace: My teacher always said that a good Zen student always knows where her breath is. So even though we breathe automatically, we can become conscious of the subtle qualities of the breath—where it is in the body, is it long or short, tight or loose— and work to develop a softer, more refined and healing breath. We can notice where our bodies are tight, breathe into the tension and let go.

Seated meditation involves taking a meditation posture, as is customary in a particular tradition, and focusing on the breath, especially counting the exhale at the beginning. One counts from one to ten, exhales only and returns to one again. The attention is focused on the breath, and the mind is like a big sky, where thoughts cross, but are not engaged as a thinking activity. As concentration deepens subtle signs appear—peacefulness, bliss and a quality of engaged and tangible presence.

Meditation How: Is it your personal experience that these practices of breath counting meditation and sitting meditation carry over something of their quality into those moments when you are not in meditation?

Continue with Part Two:
Toward the Light – Let Go (Being Present, Breath, Exhalation)

Music for Meditation – mp3, Meditative States, Blissful Sounds

—An Interview with Mike Hardin, Part Two—
>>> Part One: Meditation Soundtracks, Practicing Meditation – Deeper Space

Meditation How: Is all of your music for meditation just the music alone or is it sometimes coupled with suggestions or guided meditation elements? I am also curious as to whether the music has a sense of progression (i.e. from energetic to more peaceful) or more consistent and steady with less of a beginning or end.

Mike: I’ve considered producing music that includes guided imagery and/or suggestions. I have not done so as of yet. That type of product would be more akin to hypnosis than meditation. The music I produce for Blissfulsounds.com is definitely consistent in nature. It’s quite a challenge to produce music that is beautiful without drawing attention to itself.

Meditation How: Do you use your music for your own meditation practice? Also, do you find yourself in a meditative state when creating the music?

Mike: It’s easy to enter a meditative state when composing music for meditation. In fact, it’s almost impossible to avoid. (Not that I try to avoid it.) The state I enter is overwhelmingly tranquil yet focused. I lose all sense of time passing. I find myself firmly in the present moment… Although I have a definite idea of the general parameters of the production before-hand, the music is recorded as it comes to me.

The nature sounds are usually included in the final stages of production. (During which, I am not “in state” and making calculated production choices.) The music for meditation on Blissfulsounds.com is only available via download. Fortunately, the servers for my website are pretty fast so downloads go more quickly than you might expect for large files like these.

Meditation How: I have two more questions, however feel free to add anything here that you feel we haven’t touched on and that might benefit readers. First, would you share a bit about the meditative state that you find yourself in when creating your music for meditation? Secondly, can you tell me how the music itself is packaged, as in by album or song, downloadable or not, how much and how one can pay for it, etc.?

Mike: Right now, WhaleSongs.mp3, OceanBliss.mp3 and Planets.mp3 are available separately for $10.95 each or all three are included in BlissfulBundle.mp3 for $21.90. Each mp3 plays for around 75 minutes. (BlissfulBundle.mp3 runs over 3 and a half hours.) I’d like to say that it has been an honor doing this interview with you Benjamin and I love your website. Be well my friend.

Meditation How: Thank you so much for participating. It’s great to hear that you enjoyed the process. I enjoyed it very much as well, and learned a great deal.

Music for Meditation - mp3, Meditative States, Blissful Sounds

About Mike: Mike was fluent on a toy xylophone before he was two years old and was speaking near perfect English around the same time. His parents soon bought him a piano. For most of his early childhood, Mike couldn’t accept that everyone wasn’t able to play piano. He came to understand that he was born “different” than other children. Mike became a professional touring musician at age 17 and got a degree in Music Composition at age 29. He still works in lounges, showrooms and studios in the Las Vegas area. Mike has worked with Charo, Jay Leno and many other show business legends as well as many lesser known artists. Mike has been meditating for over twenty years and is the owner and web master of Blissfulsounds.com where you can find his music for meditation.

Meditation Soundtracks, Practicing Meditation – Deeper Space

—An Interview with Mike Hardin, Part One—
This two part meditation testimonial and interview features Mike Hardin who speaks on Meditation Practice, Creating Meditation Soundtracks, and his Music for Meditation.

Meditation How: Do you meditate?

Mike: Yes I do. I haven’t been as faithful to my meditation practice in the last couple of weeks and as a result, my sleep has been light and restless. I’ve had a guest from out of town who just left this morning.I will be doing about an hour after this portion of the interview. OOOHHHMMM!

Meditation How: Sounds great. What form or method of meditation do you practice, and how did you first get involved on meditation?

Mike: I clear my mind and focus on a purple pastel color that I see behind my eyelids. (Painting the inside of my eyelids purple sucks up most of my meditation time…) But seriously, focusing away from distraction occupied more time when I first started. I actually created the Planets.mp3 track to help keep me “in state”. It worked so well that I made other meditation soundtracks which I alternate between days/sessions. I put the best stuff on Blissfulsounds.com.

I guess the closest category would have to be Zen meditation but what I practice is a form I kinda came up with on my own. I started meditating regularly around 1992 while in Honolulu. I was working at night in a club near Pearl Harbor playing rock music. I would use the local bus system to get back and fourth from work and also to see the sights during the day. Between stops, I started practicing meditation. I guess the spiritual vibe in Hawaii was my catalyst.

Meditation Soundtracks, Practicing Meditation - Deeper Space

Meditation How: You painted a vivid picture of your practicing meditation. Thank you. When you refer to “in state” it sounds to me like you have found a deeper space beyond distractions where you needn’t struggle to maintain the clarity of a purer awareness. It does sound vet much like the no-mind of zen, and the single point of focus on this color was how you in essence “starved” the ego of it’s otherwise mental pre-occupation and found this deeper space. Am I reading too much into this, or is this a semblance of what happened for you? Also, how does the music in particular play into this?

Mike: The key to producing the “music” for meditation is to avoid any sort of rhythmic pulse or spike in volume… nothing that fights with your mantra or creates distraction. The meditation soundtracks on Blissfulsounds.com are engineered to be a sort of random wash of sound… a man-made environment that draws on sounds and inspiration from nature and the universe.

Meditation How: Can you explain more about how specific choices musically would be disruptive to meditation, and also how know what these are?

Mike: Basically, any sounds, notes or sonic elements that “jump out” of the track. For instance, a sound that could potentially startle the listener because it is too loud. Tones that are dissonant are also undesirable. The track has to be calming and should not draw attention to itself. For some people, the type of music I do is used prior to but not during meditation. The meditation soundtracks I create are also beneficial to the meditation process when used in this way. They help calm the individual by creating a “winding down” period prior to a meditation session in a silent environment.

>>> Part Two: Music for Meditation – mp3, Meditative States, Blissful Sounds

Meditation Teachers – Are They Essential for Practice?

—Regarding Meditation Teachers, Part Two—
>>> Part One: Meditation Teachers – Do I Need One to Learn How to Meditate?

Do I Need a Meditation Teacher? (Information Age)
"There is a groundswell of spiritual interest and awakening occurring at this point in history, and much (if not most) of it is happening outside of traditional lineages and institutions. So it’s time for all this information to be available- people need it. As for the more general question of where to turn, although it may sound cliché, I do believe in the adage that ‘when the student is ready the teacher will appear’…"

—Lisa Erickson

Are Meditation Teachers Essential for Practice?
From a meditation interview with Lisa Erickson
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>>> Go to Part One of this Interview.

Do I Need a Meditation Teacher? (Using Books)
"About teachers, I think people learn in different ways. Those who’ve become teachers probably studied with teachers. I feel like I learned enough to get started from Zen Mind, Beginner’s Mind and later from other books. I’ve met a few teachers, and I’m sure they’ve added to my practice, but none gave me the feeling that I needed to go back and see them regularly. I got to know one fairly well established teacher a bit on a personal level, and he basically said it was a job."

—Peter Ford

Teachers of Meditation
From a Meditation Interview with Peter Ford
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>>> Go to Part One of this Interview.

Do I Need a Meditation Teacher? (Sitting Instruction)
"Most people who order meditation cushions have their own teachers who instruct them how to meditate, and there are endless books published with photos and instructions about postures. My personal feeling is when you give people less explanations and instructions they are able to find out more by themselves for themselves."

—Urszula Sapeta

From a Meditation Interview with Urszula Sapeta
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>>> Go to Part One of this Interview.

Ways of Starting Meditation – Stories of Beginnings

—Beginning Meditation – How Others Began, Part Four—
>>> Part One: Beginning Meditation, Starting Out – Read Testimonials on How

Starting Meditation – “Wanted to Clear Up the Confusion”
"When I first started meditating, some twenty two or so years ago I basically wanted to clear up the confusion- the confusion that sets in as soon as we leave the womb and start breathing air, and that is further stirred up as the people around us explain to us what life is and what it isn’t. I am a son of the South, born and raised in the Bible belt and subjected to all the philosophy that entails. But I’m curious and an individualist. I question everything. So meditation was a tool to help understand the spiritual side of life and to break through conditioning and see the world differently. After a while I met with unexpected success."

—Rodney Owen

From an Interview with Rodney Owen
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>>> Go to Part One of this Interview.

Starting Meditation – “Found a Book on Buddhism”
"My first real taste of meditation happened when I was 14 years old, a couple of months into my time at an old-world Anglican (USA= Episcopalian) style boarding school in South Africa. I found a book on Buddhism, possibly by Suzuki, in the boarding house library. Intellectually, it appealed to my agnostic/atheistic inclinations. I attempted Zsa Zen sitting during the mandatory quiet time after lunch. It did not go well. It seemed to disturb the other fellows and got things thrown at me."

—Rahasya

From an Interview with Rahasya
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>>> Go to Part One of this Interview.

Starting Meditation – “Direct Insight into the Nature of Reality”
"From my freshman English professor at Pierce Community College I learned that there was another way besides science to explore the universe, and that was through direct insight into the nature of reality, and that this “true” insight is what inspired and informed all artists, sages, and scientists. I wanted some of that, so sought out these two individuals when I got to UCLA. They taught me to just sit, just breath, and just listen. I was taken with it, from the first sit."

—Genjo Marinello Osho

From a meditation interview with Genjo Marinello Osho
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>>> Go to Part One of this Interview.

Meditation Interviews
The interviews conducted for this site are done by email. Interviews with both practitioners and teachers have the benefit of offering personal insights meditation practice. Unlike dictionary-style descriptions of meditation, these testimonials reveal details that can only come from the direct experience shared by those who meditate. If you meditate, please consider sharing your story by participating in a meditation interview.

How to Start Meditating – How Others Began to Meditate

—Beginning Meditation – How Others Began, Part Three—
>>> Part One: Beginning Meditation, Starting Out – Read Testimonials on How

Starting Meditation – “I Had Many Questions about Life”
"I decided to begin meditation because it was recommended to me by my golf coach. I was a competitive golfer and he suggested that I worked on the mental aspect of the game through meditation. This was the entry point but the truth is that Zen helped me with my life much more than with my golf game. At that time I had many questions about life and had a lot of suffering. I didn’t understand myself, didn’t know what I wanted or why I wanted it."

—Carlos Montero

From an Interview with Carlos Montero
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>>> Go to Part One of this Interview.

Starting Meditation – “Meditation was at the Heart of Yoga”
"It’s been a long time, nearly 40 years since I first became interested in meditation. I remember getting a book on yoga the summer after my first year of college in 1970. The next year I joined a Hatha Yoga club at college and began practicing yoga regularly. As I remember, we always did a few minutes of meditation at the end of a session, and I think I got the idea that meditation was at the heart of yoga. About January of 1972 after dropping out of college, I remember coming across the book, Zen Mind, Beginner’s Mind. I would say that’s been the most influential book I’ve ever read (and reread many times over the years). "

—Peter Ford

From a meditation interview with Peter Ford
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>>> Go to Part One of this Interview.

Starting Meditation – “Means for Cultivating a Peaceful Presence”
"I first became interested 15 years ago as a result of stumbling across a book entitled “A Path With Heart” by Jack Kornfield. The hook was that it offered a clear approach to spiritual practice (meditation) which I could immediately employ. This was a first for me. As someone who’d been loosely associated with the Judeo-Christian tradition, I had never come across any material that instructed one on how to pray, for example. In contrast, here was a book that offered a specific, time-tested means for cultivating a peaceful presence."

—Chris Lance

From a Meditation Interview with Chris Lance
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>>> Go to Part One of this Interview.

Starting Meditation – “A Radical Turning Point in My Awakening”
"I had a very brief stint with formal meditation at age 16, via Transcendental Meditation. I never forgot “my” mantra. A few years ago (in 2004) I resurrected it…just for fun. This precipitated a radical turning point in my awakening experience…which led me to: Listening to Eckhart Tolle on CDs, on a daily basis, until relatively recently. "

—Doreen Connors

From a Meditation Interview with Doreen Connors
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>>> Go to Part One of this Interview.

>>> Part Four: Ways of Starting Meditation – Stories of Beginnings

Beginning Meditation – Why? Reasons People Meditate

—Beginning Meditation – How Others Began, Part Two—
>>> Part One: Beginning Meditation, Starting Out – Read Testimonials on How

Starting Meditation – “Following the Breath, In and Out”
"I was first introduced to meditation when I took some Hatha Yoga classes in 1989. It was basic learning about following the breath in and out, lying on my back relaxing at the end of class. I was also introduced to the concept that aspects of self-care can become ironic: rushing to get to yoga class to relax after work and getting stressed out in the process."

—John Nordell

From a meditation interview with John Nordell
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>>> Go to Part One of this Interview.

Starting Meditation – “It Felt like Something I Needed”
"I had been interested in Buddhism for a long time, but basically got into it because my partner (who had been diagnosed with a terminal illness) got involved, wanting to know more about death and dying. Zen is all about meditation, and so that’s what the first workshop was about. The question was asked at that first workshop, so are there books we should read about this? The workshop leader said there are lots of books, but the most important thing is to practice. Sit every day for a month and then talk to a teacher. I was impressed by that answer, and in fact did just that. Sat every morning for 10 minutes, whether I felt like it or not. After a month I could tell that something was different. Didn’t know what it was, but it felt like something I needed. "

—Genko Rainwater

From a Meditation Interview with Genko Rainwater
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>>> Go to Part One of this Interview.

Starting Meditation – “This Calling would not Leave me Alone”
"It was almost 20 years ago, so the details are a little fuzzy, but as I recall, this calling would not leave me alone. I wasn’t terribly interested in consciousness or metaphysics at that time, nor healing nor shamanism. In fact, I was working at becoming an author in the science fiction genre. The whole idea of healing just began popping up in my life."“

—Michelle Wood

From a Meditation Interview with Michelle Wood
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>>> Go to Part One of this Interview.

Starting Meditation – “To Bring More Peace and Balance”
"In the beginning, what attracted me to meditation was the sense of peacefulness that seemed to be associated with it. At the time I had quit my high-paying, highly stressful job in order to bring more peace and balance into my life, qualities that I was sorely lacking in those days. I quickly found that meditative practice was indeed peaceful, but after a time I began to notice that a sense of awareness was steadily growing along with that peacefulness. The awareness grew to the point where I instinctively sought out a Buddhist teacher, and upon finding that teacher my Buddhist “career” began"

—Shih Ying-Fa

From an Interview with Shih Ying-Fa
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>>> Go to Part One of this Interview.

>>> Part Three: How to Start Meditating – How Others Began to Meditate

Beginning Meditation, Starting Out – How Others Began

—Beginning Meditation – How Others Began, Part One—

We begin to meditate when we find ourselves consciously involved in the process of self-development. In short, meditation is a practice that brings us into contact with a very real wisdom. It is a wisdom that naturally emerges as we encounter deeper levels of experience. This occurs when we slow things down and become contemplative, still and silent. In stillness we investigate our feelings and thoughts more fully. We encounter life itself and witness it for what it is.

The truth of nature is always there to be seen if we can manage to be patient and observe. Principles reveal themselves to the seeker in stillness, in silence, in simply being. We develop a greater respect for love, compassion, wholeness, etc. We begin to recover our sense of inherent wellness, innocence, wonder, beauty, bliss, clarity, peace, and joy.

Anyone can sit down and be still for a few minutes. Any amount of time helps, certainly. However, meditation can only give to you what you give to it. The saying “infinite patience produces immediate results” is apt here. Patience IS required. There is a level of commitment needed to some form or practice.

For those just starting out, I propose just sitting for a half an hour a day for several weeks- just sitting, doing nothing other than sitting. When you need more guidance, start reading about it. Perhaps return to this site and read a few of the meditation interviews (testimonials) to compare notes. I’ve gathered quotes below from meditation interviews on the subject of getting started. These are in essence answers to the question “How did you get started meditating?”

Starting Meditation – “More Mindful, Peaceful, and Patient”
"I did not really meditate before kids. Maybe I was not as stressed! I began to meditate more after my kids were born, as I could feel the pressure and stress of parenthood building within. After my second child was born, I began seeking “meaning” and was searching for something that formalized religion was not giving me. I began to meditate and was introduced to Reiki (and actually became a Reiki master). This filled a significant hole within my spirit. And now I am “committing to sitting” even for only 5 minutes (but trying for at least 20- 30 minutes a day). It really makes a difference. Now, I find that I am more mindful, peaceful and patient. "

—Caroline Manrique

From a Meditation Interview with Caroline Manrique
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>>> Go to Part One of this Interview.

Starting Meditation – “Fell in Love with the Practice”
"I was first introduced to meditation when I was 14 and started practicing yoga (I am 36 now). In my early 20’s, I fell in love with the practice of following my breath with my attention. At the same time, I also started working with a shaman. For years, I would give my attention to both formal Vipassana meditation and to shamanic journeys."

—Oldriska Balouskova

From a Meditation Interview with Oldriska Balouskova
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>>> Go to Part One of this Interview.

Starting Meditation – “To Find a Satisfying Spiritual Life”
"A couple of things colluded to set a stage that made the actual beginning meditation very easy: The destruction of my marriage intensified my desire to find a way of looking at and relating to the world that made sense to me. My chronic inability to find a satisfying spiritual life within Christianity coupled with a distaste for the church politics and the like made me ripe to look elsewhere."

—Will Collum

From a Meditation Interview with Will Collum
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>>> Go to Part One of this Interview.

>>> Part Two: Beginning Meditation – Why? Reasons People Meditate

Meditation Teachers – Do I Need One to Learn How to Meditate?

—Regarding Meditation Teachers, Part One—

Do I Need a Meditation Teacher? It Depends.
How important is it to have a teacher when it comes to meditation? Some feel it is essential while others feel it is unnecessary. Below are some quotes from interviews dealing with the subject of meditation teachers and their importance.

Do I Need a Meditation Teacher? (What Feels Right)
"A teacher is only essential if the student believes he/she needs one. A lot of people use the phrase, “The teacher will come when the student is ready,” which leads some people to believe they aren’t “ready” since no teacher has come into their lives. I think that idea makes a lot of people put their progress on hold when they should just be going ahead with what feels good and feels right."

—Michelle Wood

From a meditation interview with Michelle Wood
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>>> Go to Part One of this Interview.

Do I Need a Meditation Teacher? (Depends on the Practice)
"While I believe it is essential for meditation students to have a teacher for guidance, some practices are more risky in my view-that is they can create energetic imbalances and require closer supervision. For example, koan practice from the Chinese, Korean and Japanese traditions may require a kind of forceful effort that may leave a student off balance or depleted."

—Grace Schireson

From a Meditation Interview with Grace Schireson
>>> Go to the Page with this Quote.
>>> Go to Part One of this Interview.

Do I Need a Meditation Teacher? (Matters of Trust)
"In regard to meditation teachers- my experience has been that a teacher is essential. I can’t speak for others. It does seem to me that it is too easy to go astray, because habit energy is so strong and coping mechanisms so ingrained, without someone observing from the outside who has experience with this stuff. In my case, I also really have needed someone human whom I could learn to trust, who wouldn’t accept my bullshit or give me any more, who would care for, trust, and encourage me, give me hints as to how to proceed, monitor to make sure I was able to continue with what I was doing, etc."

—Genko Rainwater

From a Meditation Interview with Genko Rainwater
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>>> Go to Part One of this Interview.

>>> Part Two: Meditation Teachers – Are They Essential for Practice?

Life as Meditation – Interviews, Testimonials, Experiences

—Interviews reflecting on Life as Meditation—

Life as Meditation – Doreen Connors
"This is nearly impossible to describe, the “how” of the way one’s awakening unfolds. I have heard that many people are spiritual seekers. I cannot characterize what happened “to me” as a result of a ‘search’ -most definitely not the case for me. I know of folks who considered themselves “seekers” and then stopped seeking, and discovered who they are."“

—Doreen Connors

From a Meditation Interview with Doreen Connors
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>>> Go to Part One of this Interview.

Life as Meditation – Oldriska Balouskova
"When I first started meditating on a regular basis, I put too much effort into it. I tried to get somewhere. Eventually I realized that meditation is another name for simply being aware of what is- that I am already “home”- that there is nowhere to go- that the only thing “to do” is to allow myself to sink deeper into this moment now."“

—Oldriska Balouskova

From a Meditation Interview with Oldriska Balouskova
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>>> Go to Part One of this Interview.

Life as Meditation – Genjo Marinello Osho
" Slowly but surely all of life becomes the continuous mindfulness practice of being fully present to whatever activity one is engaged in. As I understand it, this is the point of more structured meditation such as zazen to be the foundation of a life of mindfulness and being present to the presence in all that we do.

Being “present to the presence” is being aware of the “absolute” or “emptiness” or “inconceivable” in everything and in all that we do. I see a progression of practice from chanting, to silence (zazen), to simple motion (kinhin) such as walking, running, Tai Chi…, to simple work (samu) such as sweeping, weeding, chopping vegetables…, to more complex behavior such as one’s work place, relationships and even politics."“

—Genjo Marinello Osho

From a Meditation Interview with Genjo Marinello Osho
>>> Go to the Page with this Quote.
>>> Go to Part One of this Interview.

***

If you view life as meditation, please consider sharing your story by participating in a meditation interview.

>>> What is meant by life as meditation?
~~Read articles that consider life as meditation.~~