AUSTRALIAN COLLEGE OF CLASSICAL YOGA

MEDITATION

Its methods, purpose and

problems

Focusing on Traditional, Medical, and

Mindfulness models

Swami Shantananda

3rd Edition 2017

Swami Shantananda
Reflections: www.swamishantananda.com.au
E: swami@swamishantananda.com.au

Australian College of Classical Yoga

1/6 The Highway Mt Waverley 3149

www.classicalyoga.com.au
E: info@classicalyoga.com.au
Ph: +613 9833 4050

Blackburn Meditation and Mindfulness

6A Main St Blackburn 3130www.blackburnmeditation.com.au
E: meditate@blackburnmeditation.com.au
Ph: +613 9878 8302
 CONTENTS

INTRODUCING MYSELF i

INTRODUCTION

ORIGINS AND PURPOSE 1

MEDITATION METHODS and PURPOSE

TRADITIONAL MEDITATION 5

MEDICAL MODEL 11

MINDFULNESS 15

MEDITATION RESEARCHED BENEFITS AND PROBLEMS 19

TWO PARADIGMS

TWO PARADIGMS OF MEDITATION; TWO PARADIGMS OF

25
HEALTH

SUMMING UP 27

APPENDIX

TIPS TO ESTABLISH PRACTICE I

 ABOUT SWAMI SHANTANANDA

LET ME INTRODUCE MYSELF

I have been meditating for a very long time!

My first introduction to still-mind meditation was in 1982 at a Yoga

foundation. I did not really know what meditation was, but I had observed
that meditators looked happy and I wanted some of that, too. At first my
mind gave me weird experiences, like seeing Fear walking towards me on the
street, and some other not very pleasant events. I didnt like it! And it wasnt
meditation, it was mind activity. I returned to the Yoga foundation, and found
that meditation actually required letting go of the mind that sought it. What a conundrum.

From there, I have never looked back. No more weird experiences, only peace and little
by little a profound shift in my outlook on life, culminating more recently in a decidedly
different experience of self. For the first year, I meditated for an hour twice a day, and
after that, an hour every day.

Prior to Meditation
I think our prior life has something to do with how we approach meditation. I was
reared Catholic, and I took my spiritual life very seriously, not so much in a dogmatic
way, but in a sense of feeling a presence. That was with me from my earliest memories. I
cant remember a time when I did not have a strong sense of inner life. My Catholic
schooling directed it towards a religious form, undoubtedly, but also reinforced
something beyond dogma - an experience of life within being, and that it is as important
as our ordinary tendency to externalise experience.

Eventually, the dogmatic aspects of the guidelines offered by the Church dominated my
experience. Disillusionment with the prescriptive role of religion is probably inevitable,
since a simplistic set of rules cannot address interior experience, particularly if the only
response of the teaching body condemns whatever it cannot control. For me, the title of
a feminist book in the seventies said it all: Ive Done So Well, Why Do I Feel So Bad?

And then came meditation mentored by a guru and supported by a tradition that has
been tempered over thousands of years. Aha, home! I felt reconnected with the inner- self
I had known from childhood.

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 ABOUT SWAMI SHANTANANDA

Meditation and more

After many years of meditating, contemplating self and the functioning of my own mental
behaviours, a strange thing happened: an experiential discovery that the ego, the ME-
MYSELF is a bundle of tensions and strategies, and has no substantial existence. Instead
its fluid. And now my experience of self is quite different from what it used to be: There
are processes rather than tensions and strategies. Even if you see me as a person, with
attributes and edges, and using the language of personal reference, my experience is that
the personal self is a fluid responsiveness. Old neuronal patterns sometimes fire off, and
the consequences are confined to momentary exigencies, not to my experience of being.
An outcome of this change is that it is very easy to see through the personalities of those
around me. Oddly, I find them more lovable than I used to. The experience is a loss and a
gain losing investment in personhood brings much less judgment of others than there
was in my former experience.

People Ive met

Over my many years, I have seen and tasted quite a few of the ways people go about
finding their preferred path. Ive met

The guru who showed me what lay beyond the thinking mind
Yogis who dont meditate but live a deeply contemplative life
Yogis and non-yogis who mistake escapist visualisations for meditation
Leaders who guide visualisations to subtly manipulate the groups responses
New age spiritualists looking for extraordinary experiences
Zen Buddhists, whose meditation practice seems similar to mine
Mainstream and Tibetan Buddhists, who teach Mindfulness
Ian Gawler, and kept his company for a good while, taking his meditation teacher
training, and also becoming the founding Secretary of the Gawler Foundation.
From Ian I first came across the medical model of meditation and heard about
Herbert Benson

Some academic experience, too

In my youth I studied a lot of philosophy at Melbourne University a major, submajor
and later, preliminary bridging work towards an MA (which I abandoned in favour of
the dubious profession of corporate marketing, and acquired a Graduate Diploma of
Marketing)

When I began teaching meditation, I went back to study. Initially, I took a degree-
equivalent Graduate Diploma in psychology from a rural campus that became Monash,
followed by a Postgraduate Diploma of Health Psychology from La Trobe. Amongst

ii
 ABOUT SWAMI SHANTANANDA

other things there, I became re-acquainted with the work of Herbert Benson, and found
that the Medical Model is now an academic discipline in itself.

Now Id like to consider Meditation, from three perspectives: Traditional, Medical, and
Mindfulness.

iii
 INTRODUCTION

WHAT IS MEDITATION
ORIGINS
PURPOSE

Focusing on Traditional, Medical and

Mindfulness models
 MEDITATION ORIGIN TRADITIONS AND PURPOSE

ORIGINS AND PURPOSE

China?
There are many notions of the origins of meditation. Some would ascribe it to China, the
Taoism from which evolved Tai Chi, the more modern Falun Gong, and meditative
warrior traditions like Shaolin, better known in the West as Kung Fu. From the Chinese
traditions also arose the Japanese, such as Zen, and Japanese warrior traditions, too,
such as Karate and Aikido. Undoubtedly, there would have been an exchange between
the two countries; and an influence arriving along the Silk Road from India cannot be
underestimated native mystical traditions soon blended with Buddhism.

In fact, the word Zen is a corruption of the Chinese word, chan, meaning meditation
and chan itself is a corruption of the Sanskrit word, dhyna, meaning meditation!
Zen meditation really means meditation-meditation.

Christianity?
Some might ascribe the origins of meditation to Christianity, noting in particular the
Rhineland Mystics of the 14th Century, especially the great Meister Eckhart, though there
must also have been a flourishing practice in England, if the anonymous Cloud of
Unknowing is any indication. And surely the 40 days and 40 nights that Jesus spent in
the desert would have been an extended sojourn into meditation? Then, we would have
to consider a pre-existing meditation tradition from Judaism, and the Essenes have
certainly long been a contender. But what accounted for their practice?

Greece?
Perhaps Greece is a contender certainly Socrates seems to have had a meditative
understanding of living and being. Socrates was the teacher of Plato. Plato left us nothing
about Socrates except for reconstructed dialogues which showed his social and
philosophical insights. Those insights themselves were so out of kilter with the norms of
his community that he was condemned and executed for them. His unusual insight must
have arisen in a mind that was able to see beyond his social norms and, as we shall see
later in this notebook, the stillness of meditation is a potent tool in allowing one to move
beyond the constraints and conventions that shape the mind into accepting social norms
as though they are reality itself.

And then there is Platos allegory of The Cave, which declares that, normally, we live in
illusion. It is possible to become free of it. Plato goes on - if you free yourself then go back
and try to tell your friends, you endanger yourself; they will be very angry with you
and, rather than be grateful, they will denigrate and harm you. It is curious how most
prefer their illusions. Perhaps that is because the pain of looking at the illusions we
hold dear is so great, that the challenge of sitting comfortably with reality is too hard to
bear. As TS Eliot said, Human kind cannot bear very much reality. (Four Quartets)
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 MEDITATION ORIGIN TRADITIONS AND PURPOSE

There were many schools of philosophy in ancient Greece that had meditation as their
core practice. Some went across to Rome. The Contemplations of Marcus Aurelius,
emperor and general of Rome, are touching and profound insights into a man in a brutal
situation, teaching himself the art of compassion and dispassion. He was a Stoic, and the
word stoical has come down to us with the meaning of indifferent to hardship. A
meditator, however, easily recognises that one will practise dispassion in order to teach
the mind not to mistake its likes and dislikes for what truth is, and it is not and never
was about enduring hardship per se. Aurelius was surely a great meditator.

So: China-Japan, Christianity, Greece, Rome perhaps a connection through Rome to

Judaic schools? What about Sufism, the mystical and meditative aspect of Islam? And what
about India? Truly speaking, it maybe that any historical account of the development of
meditation is largely speculative. Perhaps since the dawn of man, some individuals have
found their way to the quiet waters of a contemplative mental state. For the topics in this
discussion of meditation, though traditional still-mind, mindfulness, and the medical
model - the origin is definitely India.

India
Many people have heard of the Rg Veda, even if they dont know quite what it is. And
most have heard of the Upaniads. Rarely, though, do Westerners know the word,
Aranyaka. For our purposes, lets just take it that Indian society of up to 6000 years ago
was hieratic, that is, that it conducted itself on religious principles administered by
priests. The Vedas, four texts on these principles and rules for living, were written down
from a prior oral tradition about 4000 years ago. The well-known Upaniads again were
oral at first but came into written form about 3000 years ago. The Upaniads were
profoundly contemplative rather than rule-bound. One example of their contemplations
is on how an apple once taken into the mouth soon becomes the body of the human eating
it. The point of the contemplation is to consider, can duality subside into oneness? The
apple is only a metaphor for deep existential enquiry.

The interesting middle step is the Aranyakas. The name literally means forest stories.
They are much older than the Upaniads, and almost inaccessible to Westerners, not
even translated. But they were the bridge between the formulaic notions of the Vedic
priests and the non-rule bound contemplations of the Upaniads.

It may be simplistic and speculative, but it seems that some individuals of the Vedic
period began to suspect that the restrictions, prescriptions and proscriptions of the
priesthood somehow prevented the individual from discovering Brahman, the ineffable
Being that even in the most ancient times was considered the ground of all consciousness.
And so they wandered off into the forest, to meditate and contemplate without the
constraints of religious imposition. They began to discover something in their own
experience and in their own consciousness that removed those constraints altogether.
And as that began to filter back to mainstream Vedic society, people began to seek out
these forest dwellers and listen to what they had discovered and learn from them. The
root meaning of the word upaniad is to sit and listen. One might see the prototype of
people seeking out a meditation teacher to this day.

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 MEDITATION ORIGIN TRADITIONS AND PURPOSE

What has Indian meditation history got to do with Traditional Still-mind, Medical and
MIndfulness approaches to meditation? Everything.

Traditional Still-mind Meditation

For myself, practice was taught to me in a tradition that reaches right back to those
courageous forest dwelling explorers of the existential, who sensed that there was more
to life, being and reality than their Vedic priesthood had dreamt of. I am a yogi. While
Yoga has become diminished in the West, and reduced often to flexibility exercises, the
core practice of traditional Yoga is still-mind meditation, and the purpose of that is to
become aware of the conditioning of the mind, to recognise that convention and
conditioning are not synonymous with reality.

The further purpose is to experience reality itself without the intervention of a

conditioned idea of self. This is called Self-Realisation, or Freedom, or Enlightenment. The
intermediate step is to relinquish patterns of thinking which keep us unhappily in a cycle
of predictable ego reactions, where other is always a subtle threat to I.

But heres a thing: if thinking stops altogether, or if self and other" is recognised as
fundamentally a thought-construct, perhaps there is no self/other duality, only a oneness
of being, experienced in billions of ways.

The Medical Model

The Medical Model of meditation extracts meditation exercises from their philosophical
context and applies them to specific health issues, such as anxiety, and to aid healing in
physiological illnesses, with remarkable results. It owes its inception to the work of
Herbert Benson. Benson himself learnt what he knew about meditation from the school
of Transcendental Meditation, as he immersed himself in research on their methods
and outcomes. The founder of TM was one Maharishi Yogi. TM is not of the same
lineage, or line of teachers, as mine, but it is of the same yogic tradition, stretching back
to the Vedas. Benson decided to research the biological concomitants of the meditative
state, and so, with that focus, meditation as a health adjunct was born.

Mindfulness
The origin of the practice of mindfulness is usually attributed to Buddhism. But surprise,
surprise the Buddha, when he first left home on his quest for enlightenment, studied
with Yogis. He would have been thought of initially as a yogi, and his first students would
have been yogis. He attained his great state by extended still-mind meditation, an
essential of traditional Yoga. And although the Buddha developed a body of teaching
outside the literature that evolved from the Vedic/ Upaniadic line, many of the terms in
Buddhism are Pali corruptions of Sanskrit words pre-existing in Yogic teachings. For
instance, metta, compassion in Buddhism, is a corruption of the Sanskrit maitri
compassion, and dhamma, a corruption of the Sanskrit dharma, natural law, proper
conduct, both long pre-existing the Buddha.
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 MEDITATION ORIGIN TRADITIONS AND PURPOSE

Whatever the origin of Mindfulness, its purpose is to develop full conscious awareness
of everyday activity. The further point of this is to relinquish patterns of thinking and
reacting that keep us in dysfunction and unhappiness. This is achieved by focusing fully
on what is in front of us, instead of on the melodramas and injustices of our lives.

Now lets look at these three approaches, considering their methods, purpose, their
benefits or outcomes, and any problematic issues with them.

Same origins, same effects, at beginner level

Something to note before we go on is that both the Medical Model and Mindfulness model
are extracted from Traditional meditation methods. Traditional meditation thus has the
same capacity for delivering emotional and biological health benefits as the other
models, as they start the same way. Traditionally, however, the meditator moves on,
into a profound existential and spiritual journey.

While all three are similar at the beginning, it is in the long term aims that they might
diverge considerably.

Page 4
THE METHODS

TRADITIONAL
 MEDITATION METHODS AND PURPOSE - - TRADITIONAL

METHODS: TRADITIONAL STILL-MIND MEDITATION

Deep stillness transforms your experience of self.

There are two ways that still-mind meditation can be approached. One entails
concentration on an object, and the techniques for it are numberless. The other is to go
directly for no-thought for the courageous or the advanced meditator.

Concentration Methods
Lets talk about only three concentration methods: 1. Breath Focus, 2. Mantra, 3.
Noticing Sensations, and then well briefly consider no-thought methods.

1. BREATH FOCUS
The breath is your oldest companion! Your first action was to breathe in, and your last
will be to breathe out to expire! And the breath has a constant rhythm. Focusing your
attention on the breath and its rhythm can be very soothing and help you settle into
deep peace.

PRACTICE:
Notice your breath as you breathe in. The diaphragm lowers to allow for the expansion of the lungs
as they fill. You will probably notice that there is also a feeling of lightness or emotional lift with
the in-breath.

There is a pause in the cycle at the in the cycle on completing the in-breath. For a few moments a
chemical exchange happens as oxygen is extracted from the air, and carbon monoxide is about to
be exhaled. Allow yourself to notice that pause, perhaps as though there is a moment of stillness at
the bridge of the nose.

Then notice your breath as you breathe out. The diaphragm resumes its normal dome shape,
pushing against the lungs and thus assisting the exhale. You may feel an emotional settling with
this, the sigh of the outbreath.

Notice that on the inbreath, you will detect whatever odour is in the air the scent of flowers, or
incense, or any other ambient aroma. And the in-breath will be the same temperature as the air
around you, so it may feel a little chilly, or moist and humid, or warm. The exit breath will be the
same temperature as the body and have no odour (unless you have a nasal infection,)

No need to change the rate of your breathing, for a beginners practice. Just notice the breath, in,
pause, out, in, pause, out Perhaps at some time you feel that a deep stillness is inviting you into
it just let go, let stillness happen if thoughts start up again, resume noticing the breath, in,
pause, out, in, pause, out..

2. MANTRA
Mantra is a Sanskrit word literally meaning, sacred speech. For meditation, it is a short
phrase uttered over and over, with the purpose of replacing all other thoughts. This can
bring on a thought-free state, or it can become the default thought so that the mind is
SWAMI SHANTANANDA 2015 Page 5
 MEDITATION METHODS AND PURPOSE - - TRADITIONAL

not wandering all over the place, and it is restrained from replaying its old patterns of
reaction. An example is Hamsa, a mantra of which imitates the sound of the breath,
occupying the whole breath, one syllable on the in-breath and the other on the out-
breath. It means I am.

MANTRA IS NOT THE SAME AS POSITIVE AFFIRMATION.

You can see the similarities a short word or phrase repeated over and over till it
replaces the less useful thoughts running around in your head and sabotaging your mood
and your energy. But there the similarity stops. Positive affirmation builds the ego, the
minds sense of itself, and accepts positive thoughts as bearers of truth while negative
thoughts are regarded as false. So Im worth it, I give my best to everything I start, I enjoy
my fitness routine artificially reinforcing the minds preferred view of itself without
ever exploring where the negating thoughts have come from, and never enquiring at all
into the fact that a thought is one thing and reality is another.

In the stillness of meditation, however, all thought is recognised as bearing an ego-view

of the world and self, whether negative or positive.

Mantra takes you to the still state, where there is no engagement with the minds idea of
itself. It refuses the invitation of the mind to take its artificial world view seriously. The
repetition of mantra is to encourage the mind to let go of all other thoughts but then to
let go of the mantra, too, as it is also a thought-construct.

PRACTICE
Think of a word or short phrase that you would like to try as a mantra. There are some famous
Sanskrit mantras, but I do not offer them unless a person is interested in Yogic spirituality. Anything
that takes you to non-engagement with thoughts will do. And let it be something that flows easily
with the rhythm of the breath. For instance, Calm would be a reasonable mantra, but it doesnt
flow very well. Serenity might fit more naturally with the cycle of breathing.

Anyway, here are some tips:

Say the mantra mentally no need to say it out loud

One repetition per breath. The pause between the in-breath and the out-breath is a good
place to say it. Otherwise, on the in-breath or on the out-breath
For any one meditation practice, keep the same mantra, even if you find you dont like it.
Next time you meditate, you can try another. And the time after that, until you find what
you feel an affinity with
Say the mantra until you begin to feel the invitation into deep stillness, then let go of the
mantra. As soon as thinking or daydreaming resumes, do not criticise yourself, simply
return to the mantra until there is a return to the still state.

3. Noticing the body

The body itself can be a focus of meditation. The body is concrete, not intangible like
the mind or thoughts. Sensations are direct and immediate, they dont have to be
SWAMI SHANTANANDA 2015 Page 6
 MEDITATION METHODS AND PURPOSE - - TRADITIONAL

searched for or invented. And the body itself supplies a structured plan - your own
skeletal structure with its layer of soft tissues.

Here is a strange phenomenon, though. Most of the time we do not really experience
our sensations! Rather, we comment on them and then react to the comment. We assume
that the sensation fits the comment and the reaction.

Imagine yourself sitting in an uncomfortable chair. Your mind says, Thats my bottom,
thats the chair, this is uncomfortable, I want a cushion, my back hurts. And yet, if you
simply do not allow the mind to do its commentary, you dont feel any of that. Deep focus
on sensation is different from thinking about sensation. In the deep focus, you may be
surprised to find that the edge between your bottom and the bottom of the chair
cannot be detected. You cannot detect where the skin of your face ends and the air
molecules touching it start. You may not be aware of which part of your back a sensation
is coming from. Your hands may feel dissolved and fuzzy. Perhaps the entire body feels
just like one big amorphous sensory mass.

Sensory focus is quite mindful, in fact just feel the body and nothing else. Just feel the
sensations instead of conceptualising them into a commentary on my body.

Concentration Methods are Thought Replacement Techniques

Has it become obvious that concentration methods all use an object, mostly a mental
practice, to replace other thoughts? Sometimes the object can be concrete, for instance in
gazing at a flower or a candle. Mantra is clearly a mental object. Sensory focus methods
might include simply scanning the body over and over, or taking a detailed route
through the bodys structure.

Advanced methods: No-Thought

No-thought methods are advanced, and it would be best to establish yourself in a
thought-replacement technique first, and then find a teacher to help you if you can. Not
many of the huge number of meditation teachers easily available have the experience
or the expertise to help you with anything but very simple matters.

There are two no-thought techniques that have been around for centuries, if not
millennia:
1. Finding the space between two thoughts; 2. Refusing thought.
A third, not really a method, is simply to sit, allowing thought but not engaging with the
thoughts that roll by.

All of them require an absolute commitment which is that, at least for the time you are
meditating, no thought whatsoever has any value. In the thought-replacement techniques,
a thought is held for a while but even then, the understanding is that the destination is
thought-free.

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 MEDITATION METHODS AND PURPOSE - - TRADITIONAL

More about advanced methods

When I teach advanced methods, I add exercises for becoming aware of mental processes
that seem to be instrumental in building the minds view of self. These are surprising
and difficult to catch. The busy mind that never stops cant catch them at all.

At the College, we also have Mindful Living groups, which help us explore our reactionary
patterns and become able then simply to sit with reality. It is part and parcel of the
contemplation which, with meditation, allows the penny to drop. I love hearing that clink!

In this wonderful illustration by Mudit Smyth, how clearly she shows that even a garden
of lovely thoughts is not meditation; and mantra or any attempt to replace thoughts
with another more favoured thought - only approaches meditation.

Meditation is stillness of mind!!

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 MEDITATION METHODS AND PURPOSE - - TRADITIONAL

THE PURPOSE OF TRADITIONAL STILL-MIND MEDITATION

METHODS
Traditional still-mind meditation uses its methods in order to help us recognise that
thoughts give us a conceptual view of self and the world. A concept is not a fact. The
mystery of human nature, though, is that we act as though the conceptual view is 100%
identical with factual reality.

Concentration trains the mind to hold a focus on one thing. At the beginning level, it
may be breath focus, mantra, meditation on simple daily activities. This is useful training
for a scattered mind in itself.

The more important outcome, though, is that eventually we realise that our egocentric
outlook is entirely supported and created by a bundle of thoughts and reactions. Without
them, there is just being. We begin to recognise that the world is not tailored to our
egocentric idea of it, and reality has no obligation to conform to our preferences. We get
better at being ok with people and things, more open to differences, happier in
ourselves, not holding on to resentments or self-sabotage. The decisions or choices we
make are purposeful, not driven by reaction.

IMPLICATIONS OF TRADITIONAL STILL-MIND MEDITATION

Something that beginners and non-meditators simply cannot see is that still-mind
meditation leads to a completely different experience of self and the world.

It goes like this:

First we recognise that thoughts really are only neurons firing off.
They create our idea of who we are, our identity, memories, ideas of the sort of
person we are, and our idea of what the world is like.
Thoughts are obviously not what reality is.

In letting go of the illusory, we find that reality is just what it is. Traditional still-mind
meditation has no truck with illusion.

Recognising that we are not at the centre of anything, and that our mind creates illusions
so that we can feel comfortable, is stunning. Zen might call the experience of it The Void,
and the ego self and its projections are replaced by an experience of the suchness
or is-ness of what there is, including oneself.

Shiva or Supreme Consciousness might be what Yoga the stream I am from anyway
would call the state of getting free of the minds projections. Other streams might call it
Brahman.

Buddhism might call it Ordinary Mind but the Buddhist ordinary mind has undergone
much training in awareness. Did you know that the word Buddha does not mean The
Enlightened One? No, the Buddha was the one with the fully awakened intellect. The
buddhi, from which the word Buddha is derived, refers to intellectual faculties.
SWAMI SHANTANANDA 2015 Page 9
 MEDITATION METHODS AND PURPOSE - - TRADITIONAL

In fully awakened awareness, one does lives a very ordinary life, but it is one that is
hugely different in self-recognition.

This difference of self-recognition is common to Yoga, Zen, Buddhism, and Taoism. It

sits well with Sufism, too, though their approach is poetic ecstasy.

The purpose and ultimate outcome of traditional still mind meditation is intrinsically
different from all other approaches to meditation.

SWAMI SHANTANANDA 2015 Page 10

THE MEDICAL MODEL
 MEDITATION METHODS AND PURPOSE - - MEDICAL MODEL

METHODS: THE MEDICAL MODEL

Learning relaxation methods helps you stay well

Herbert Benson
The medical or therapeutic model of meditation came into being entirely through the work
of Herbert Benson. He is the Mind/Body Medical Institute Associate Professor
of Medicine at Harvard Medical School and director emeritus of the Benson-
Henry Institute (BHI). He is the author or co-author of more than 175
scientific publications and 11 books

Benson and TM
In the early 1970s he was invited by the TM (Transcendental Meditation) group to do
research into their meditation practices, based principally on mantra.

TM may have found they made a pact that they werent particularly happy with. They rather
expected that Benson would prove that their particular form of meditation is special, and
especially therapeutic. Benson is a medical doctor and scientist. He had no first-hand
experience of meditation. When he began his research, not surprisingly he started with
biometric measures, that is, heart rate, respiration, and epidermal electrical conductivity and
neural activity, because they are accessible and indeed measurable. And so, the result was
that TM and all meditation now tended to be defined by biometrical changes in the
participants.

Herbert Benson, however, was on a roll. Being the first to research meditation undoubtedly
gave him an edge with publishers, both scientific and popular. And his eminence as a doctor
and scientist lent credibility to his research. Can you imagine the look on the faces of his TM
clients when he published data that showed that saying coca cola would have the same
effect as an ancient Sanskrit mantra? It must have been comical. And how discombobulated
they must have been when their employee went on to publish his own method from what he
had learnt at TM, and fathered an entire profession of therapeutic meditation, in which TM
played no part at all.

It may be possible that, had TM asked a practising meditator who was also a scientist to
attempt research, a qualitative approach on the inner experience of meditators may have
been the order of the day, supported by biometric data. The equation could have had two
sides. But, as Benson had never experienced the inner state of meditation, the biological
came first, and the conversation about meditation became very one-sided.

The Relaxation Response

To give Benson his due, he never called his method, meditation. He called it the relaxation
response and his famous book on how to meditate has just that title, The Relaxation

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 MEDITATION METHODS AND PURPOSE - - MEDICAL MODEL

Response. The title also gives an indication as to how meditation began to be seen as a medical
adjunct it is the obverse of the stress response.

Meditation becomes Medication

It had long been noticed that stress was associated with a range of illnesses, both
psychological and physical, from anxiety to angina. The association was never a direct one-
for-one corollary, but was, nevertheless, strong. And the biology of stress was well known.

A Note about Stress

Stress is a hormonal state in the body in response to the perception of danger. It produces a
greater flow of blood to the extremities to deal with the danger or run away from it, and also
to the brain for quicker thinking and reflexes. The heart beats faster.

If the stress is very long term, it is costly to the body. The stress response is the bodys
emergency service. The archetypal metaphor is the cave man hearing the roar of a sabre
tooth tiger fight it? Run away? Save baby? But when the danger is past, the body returns to
more restful, more normal functioning. The two states are also called the functioning of the
sympathetic nervous system and the other, that of the parasympathetic nervous system.

However, in modern society we often have long term stress, eg traffic sounds outside your
bedroom window, a demanding boss in a job you are afraid to relinquish, a dysfunctional
relationship, or even the constant marketing from the media making you feel inadequate
because you havent got enough products. We function in the sympathetic and often dont
even truly rest (parasympathetic) at night, experiencing restless interrupted sleep and
waking up still tired.

It may be that the biological load of long term stress is a contributor to many everyday
illness, as well as to anxiety, depression and other mental unease.

The term fight or flight was coined by Walter Cannon in 1932, working in physiological
science at Harvard. And now here was Dr Benson, also from Harvard, having discovered a
method that could turn off the stress response and elicit the relaxation response. And if
stress contributes to ill health, perhaps the relaxation response could be an antidote and
contribute either to cure or prevention.

Now if someone said, Well isnt that a great thing?, wouldnt you reply, Yes, indeed!. And
yet, all may not be what it seems.

Traditionalists have mixed feelings

As a long term traditional meditator, I think it is wonderful that an aspect of meditation has
found such usefulness. It is great that we can teach someone with high blood pressure to
lower it without resorting to pharmaceuticals, and that anxiety is lessened by a simple
beginners meditation technique. It is fabulous that Benson lent some respect for meditation

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 MEDITATION METHODS AND PURPOSE - - MEDICAL MODEL

to those who derided it as Eastern mumbo jumbo, and that the scientific world took notice
that meditators might have been onto something seriously good. From there, an interest in
the mind/body connection gave rise to vast numbers of research projects, and the Western
world now has some sense that we can intervene in our own processes for better functioning
of both mind and body.

At the same time, I feel a bit peeved perhaps like an Aboriginal Australian might have felt
when a certain Mr Ayers had a rock named after him when it was discovered by one
William Gosse in 1873. There is a whole lot more to Uluru than Ayers ever considered in his
rock, and it was by no means discovered in 1873, but rather thousands of years before by
other humans from a different culture.

Bensons Method
The method Benson advised is basically a quite simple one of breathing with an added focus
count one on the in-breath and one on the out-breath. He suggests starting with a
progressive muscle relaxation as you first sit to your practice.

Beyond that, he simply encourages the person not to worry about their progress and to
maintain their practice for 10 to 20 minutes once or twice a day.

Here it is in a version modified by the Australian College of Classical Yoga, but note, we call
it Relaxation. It keeps your mind occupied on all levels so that you cant put your mind to
worrying thoughts.

METHOD FOR MENTAL RELAXATION

1. TACTILE

Sit comfortably in a chair. Close your eyes.

Feel the contact that your body makes with any surface

Feel what your body is experiencing - not think about, but feel

2. KINAESTHETIC

Feel yourself breathing

Feel the breath going into the body and out

Feel the rise and fall of the chest

Feel the rhythm of the body

3. AURAL

Hear yourself say on every outbreath Letting go

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 MEDITATION METHODS AND PURPOSE - - MEDICAL MODEL

4. VISUAL

See an image -

Find an image that keeps company with the rhythm of the breath

eg the tide coming in and out or a balloon that fills and empties as you breathe

Just watch the image

Do this for 10 minutes, every day or when you begin to feel stressed.

PURPOSE OF THE MEDICAL MODEL

The purpose is to elicit the relaxation response. This brings a person out of the dominance of
the sympathetic nervous system with its flood of catecholamines lets call them stress
hormones and into the functioning of the parasympathetic nervous system. The former is
amusingly called the fight or flight mechanism, the latter the rest and digest mechanism.

It is thought that regular periods consciously eliciting the relaxation response will reduce
anxiety and contribute to well-being on many levels, alleviating the potential damage of
unremitting stress and its biological concomitants.

A vast body of research bears this out. A Google search into Herbert Benson will give you
listings of his research likewise for Jon Kabat Zinn, regarding Mindfulness

From Benson to Thich Nhat Hanh

While Benson had no background at all in meditation when he first undertook research, the
rise of Mindfulness may owe its development into medical applications partly to the
influence of Benson and his work.

However, Mindfulness was brought to the West by traditional meditators an exiled

Vietnamese Zen Buddhist monk, Thich Nhat Hanh- and a molecular biologist, Jon Kabat-Zinn,
a student of Zen and Yoga, who met Thich Nhat Hanh at a retreat and saw the possibility of
applying mindfulness techniques to therapeutic ends.

Well consider these two next.

SWAMI SHANTANANDA 2015 Page 14

MINDFULNESS
 MEDITATION METHODS AND PURPOSE - - MINDFULNESS

METHODS: MINDFULNESS
Conscious awareness moment by moment keeps us focused on the real.

Mindfulness has been a part of Buddhist practice since the time of the Buddha. It also
may have had common or prior existence in Yogic traditions. The Buddhist teaching
soon diverged in its focus, to develop a conscious awareness at every moment. The Pali
word for mindfulness sati - is a corruption of the Sanskrit word " smti, memory or
remembering. Thus mindfulness was to hold in mind. The Yogic notion of smti has
more to do with remembering the teachings, as opposed to ruti or revealed texts.

Traditional Methods
There are four parts to mindfulness in Buddhism:

Body mindfulness (Pali: kya-sati,] Skt. kya-smti)

Feelings and sensory mindfulness) (Pali vedan-sati; Skt. vedan-smti)
Mental mindfulness (of consciousness) (Pali citta-sati; Skt. citta-smti)
Moral mindfulness (Pali dhamm-sati; Skt. dharma-smti)

Purpose
The purpose of Mindfulness in Buddhism was to have the practitioner constantly aware
of the impermanence of his or her life and of all things. This was presumably an aspect
of letting go of the egocentrism of the mind and personal sense of self, and the realisation
of the oneness of self with all else.

However, the perceived purpose seems to have altered as Mindfulness came to the West.
Its purpose now seems to be more associated with stress reduction and lowering of
anxiety.

While all traditional meditation is effective in improving these aspects of living, such
improvement is regarded as a first step. Making it the full focus is problematic, because it
does not allow for progression into recognising the ego-centre itself.

Because the issue of what self is is never addressed, if mindfulness techniques are
regarded or taught as merely methods to reduce stress, they end up paradoxically
maintaining the grip of egocentrism.

You can see the effect in this snip from a web search, illustrated below. It is clear that for
some, Mindfulness is now about achieving ego aims by goal setting and motivation. It is
fine to set goals and lift motivation but the meditative purpose of Mindfulness has
been lost in translation.

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 MEDITATION METHODS AND PURPOSE - - MINDFULNESS

This might have surprised the Buddha.

MINDFULNESS COMES TO THE WEST

Thich Nhat Hanh

Thich Nhat Hanh is a Vietnamese Zen Buddhist monk. An activist in Vietnam

during the war, he spent time teaching in America and was refused re-entry
to Vietnam by the Communist government after the surrender. He took up
residence in France, and has published many books on meditation and
Buddhism. The most famous of these in English is The Miracle of
Mindfulness (originally published in 1975 by Beacon Books, but there have
been many reprinted editions and different publishers).

The book was marketed as a guide to meditation, but the practices Thich Nhat Hanh
recommended are more easily recognised as mindfulness practices. This is interesting,
because it is obvious that originally, he was trying to introduce people to the benefits of
meditation yet his teachings melded into mindfulness practices.

As a Zen Buddhist, his own meditative life would have been focused on becoming free of
mental conditioning, and to experience oneness of self without the intrusion of the
separatist tendencies of the mind. In his practice for others, he seems just delightful.

He has an enormous output of suggestions for practising Mindfulness those listed below
are only a few.

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 MEDITATION METHODS AND PURPOSE - - MINDFULNESS

Thich Nhat Hanhs Mindfulness practices include

Some include: Living Together.. Bell of Mindfulness.. Breathing Waking Up Walking
Meditation Eating Together RestingThe Body as Practice... Lazy DayThe
Kitchen Hugging Meditation Tea Meditation ... (but some amongst many these can
be discovered on the Plum Village website.)

The Hugging Meditation sounds very appealing!! (first bow to your huggee, and bow
after hugging, too) What about lazy day meditation? Where you really, really do nothing.

Traditional or Modern/medical?
Thich Nhat Hanh is very prolific. You can acquire his many books easily, and The Miracle
of Mindfulness is available as an e-book. The Plum Village website offers many, many
videos and talks. He is a phenomenon, and a lovely influence for peace and love in the
world.

The problem is that often people misattribute peace and love to the ego-self - qualities
that is just hasnt got. An ego is not altruistic. The very word altruistic implies other
than me, and in so-doing, paradoxically reinforces the me.

The most reliable shift to kindness and compassion comes from dissolution of the
illusion of self-importance. Attempting instead constantly to modify its self-centredness
is like pushing water (or something of a darker colour) uphill.

Now, do you suppose the aim and outcome of Thich Nhat Hanhs mindfulness training
is paradoxically to maintain egocentrism, though now conditioned to be less selfish,
more compassionate and more forgiving? Or is it a direct experience of reality without
the conditioning of the mind? The former is more religious in tone (strive to be a
better person). The latter is a penetration of the minds veils.

You might find it interesting to browse into Suzukis Zen Mind Beginners Mind. Suzuki
brought Zen to the West, in the 50s, before the emergence of the notion that meditation
and mindfulness can be extracted from their context to become primarily tools to
relieve stress and have a better functioning ego. You might find echoes somewhere of
Thich Nhat Hanh in Suzuki, as they are both Zen Buddhist teachers but see if you can
tell what differences there might be between them.

Jon Kabat-Zinn
Mindfulness-based Stress Reduction
Jon Kabat-Zinn is an academic microbiologist who was a practising student of Zen and Yoga,
who attended one of Thich Nhat Hanhs American retreats on mindfulness, and realized that
the practices could be adapted to a medical purpose. He developed them into an eight- week
course that he called Mindfulness Based Stress Reduction. He is known in the Yoga world, too,
and his course combines hatha yoga practice and moment to moment mindfulness. Kabat-Zinn
SWAMI SHANTANANDA 2015 Page 17
 MEDITATION METHODS AND PURPOSE - - MINDFULNESS

is prolific, too, with at least 10 book titles with wonderful names like Full Catastrophe Living,
and some of his talks are accessible through online videos.

Mindfulness Part traditional, part remedial

Mindfulness as taught by Thich Nhat Hanh and is part traditional and part remediation for the
psychological and emotional, and sometimes physical, ills of our society. But what to make
of it?

Both Thich Nhat Hanh and Jon Kabat-Zinn appear themselves to have a profound personal
practice based on traditional principles.

One could scarcely begrudge the great help they give to those who are stressed or sick in body
or mind and come seeking a specific cure. Yet if that has evolved accidentally into the focus of
their teaching, perhaps they preclude the possibility of a profound practice for anyone else.

Those who, having some experience of mindfulness, go out and teach others in a shallow way,
dilute the original methods and purpose more and more, till the bizarre notions displayed in
the snip above become the general notion of what mindfulness meditation is.

It seems to me that helping people to ease their ego pain could be less than best practice unless
there is a willingness to discover its source And the source goes much deeper than such things
as childhood traumas, or things that happen to an ego; the source is the misunderstanding of the
me-myself, that is, the actual ego and its etiology.

In trying to ease ego pain but not addressing the source of it, perhaps these two great teachers,
so instrumental in making mindfulness a world-wide phenomenon, have ended up fathering an
industry that reinforces rather than remedies what they sought to address

SWAMI SHANTANANDA 2015 Page 18

BENEFITS OF MEDITATION

PROBLEMATIC ISSUES IN
MEDITATION
 MEDITATION METHODS AND PURPOSE - - BENEFITS AND PROBLEMS
]\

BENEFITS OF MEDITATION
All meditation is beneficial

From personal experience

I have experienced the following, from traditional still-mind meditation

started with a sense that I could make a difference to my inner state
gave me peaceful breaks in a stressed mind
Then
a peaceful state was the underlying sense of being, with action, even stress,
occurring on the surface but not penetrating the deep layer
Then
insight into the way, for all of us, our minds create images of our selves, images
of the world and other people, and belief systems to hold them up
a recognition of the fragile ego state that comes of such imaging and belief
systems
a realisation that beliefs never do establish what truth or reality is
awareness that even my own beliefs are as much straws in the wind as everyone
elses are. This was very freeing and sharpened insight.
Then
profound change really, really, really finding that me-myself is only a bundle of
thoughts. And even in the best of relationships, the thought-constructed me-
myself is a bundle of tensions and strategies. Not a someone at all.
real peace, just being, loving, doing, feeling, responding. Noticing old neuronal
patterns as they come up. A moment by moment sort of experience.
who/what am I then? No need of any definition. Something close to a definition
might be, Consciousness experiencing human existence.

And from personal experience, the problems?

how long it takes!
my experience with my guru was very, very trying. But perhaps that was
ultimately a benefit.

SWAMI SHANTANANDA 2015 Page 10

 MEDITATION METHODS AND PURPOSE - - BENEFITS AND PROBLEMS
]\

SCIENTIFIC LITERATURE ON BENEFITS AND

PROBLEMS
A very useful meta-study was done a few years ago. Here is its journal reference:

Perez-De-Albeniz, A. & Holmes, J. (2000). Meditation: concepts, effects and uses in

therapy. International Journal of Psychotherapy, Vol. 5 Issue 1, pp. 49-58

This article is reprinted here, and for this particular use, with the kind permission of the
Editor of the International Journal of Psychotherapy.

You might like to read it, because it does give details of research showing the real
psychological and physiological outcomes of applying meditation or mindfulness
techniques in a therapeutic setting.

Also, the set of references included with any research report a goldmine of other
treasures and worth browsing through.

Below are some extracts from the suggested reading.

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 MEDITATION METHODS AND PURPOSE - - BENEFITS AND PROBLEMS
]\

Psychological/ Emotional Benefits of Meditation

Meditation
helps the patient to understand that there are no quick solutions.
develops patience: to be aware of the problem before attempting to solve it.
promotes a non-judgmental attitude.
helps the patient to come to terms with 'what is', rather than to fight hopelessly for
'what might be', or 'might have been'.
helps people to be comfortable with ambiguity, ignorance and uncertainty.
Meditators learn to recognise and trust their inner nature and wisdom.
Meditation fosters the recognition of personal responsibility.
The meditator's feelings during and about meditation itself cannot be displaced or
disowned.
allows its practitioner to step out of conceptual limitations, a process which is
considered to be the hallmark of insight and creativity, and the converse of
neuroticism
The detachment from self experienced in meditation can be related to the split
described by Freud (1930) between the experiencing ego and the observing ego.
This capacity to rise above the self increases motivation, tolerance of guilt, and
enhancing a sense of unity and centredness.
On the other hand, in order to reach this deeper stability, one has to become
fundamentally destabilised, which may require preliminary strength and faith

No surprises here. Anyone who has meditated persistently for a few years knows them.
But it is nice to find it in the scientific literature that such outcomes as recognise inner
nature and responsibility and allows its practitioner to step out of conceptual limitations, a
process which is considered to be the hallmark of insight and creativity, and the converse of
neuroticism are accepted benefits. These are unlikely to come of listening to a guided
relaxation, though. And the allowance that On the other hand, in order to reach this deeper
stability, one has to become fundamentally destabilised would never be tolerated at level
where the meditator is only seeking stress relief, or who wants ego validation and
affirmation from those they seek as teachers.

Physiological effects and benefits

Physiological effects listed in the paper include:
increased cardiac output
slow heart rate
muscle relaxation
less oxygen consumption
SWAMI SHANTANANDA 2015 Page 21
 MEDITATION METHODS AND PURPOSE - - BENEFITS AND PROBLEMS
]\

increased skin galvanic resistance

decreased spontaneous electrodermal response
increased theta waves in frontal areas of the brain
increased alpha and beta coherence (your brain functions better!)
shift in hemispheral dominance with greater activation of the centres in the right
hemisphere (to which non-verbal, intuitive, spatial, holistic, non-sequential qualities
are attributed
These arent surprising, either. Meditators get to know that, as they move towards a deeper
state, their breath seems to become a little less frequent and a little more shallow, that is, a
moderate level of oxygen deprivation, which may be intrinsically related to the relaxed state
most meditators find themselves in. And perhaps it takes biomeasuring equipment to
prove it. But the real question is, how is it that the individual is able to arrive at this state,
not by an act of will, but by putting will and goals aside for a while? And what does it have
to say about consciousness and cognition, and their relationship with reality? The altered
state measured biometrically is just as much an experience of reality as a cognitive state.
And some might say, even closer to reality than the cognitive state.

Medical Benefits
Medical benefits are much harder to ascertain. While there is much literature, the
consensus seems to be that it is still to be proven. Some instances where benefit is seen
are
Irritable Bowel Syndrome
High Blood Pressure

It may be that the more easily measured biometric changes and the
psychological/emotional changes in meditation are the contributing factor wherever
there does seem to medical improvement. For example, it would be hard to discount the
therapeutic effect, in such syndromes, of lowering ones own biological level of stress
- and that would flow on to how one handled relationships and challenging situations.

Negative Reactions to Meditation: Ask some questions

before deciding!
If you confined yourself only to the abstract of the Perez-De-Albeniz and Holmes journal
report, you might be astonished and fearful to find the following:

relaxation-induced anxiety and panic; paradoxical increases in tension; less

motivation in life; boredom; pain; impaired reality testing; confusion and
disorientation; feeling 'spaced out'; depression; increased negativity; being more
judgmental; feeling addicted to meditation; uncomfortable kinaesthetic
sensations; mild dissociation; feelings of guilt; psychosis-like symptoms;
grandiosity; elation; destructive behavior; suicidal feelings; defenselessness;
fear; anger; apprehension; and despair

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 MEDITATION METHODS AND PURPOSE - - BENEFITS AND PROBLEMS
]\

Considerations of research and reports

Gosh whod want to meditate? And the paper suggests that these are found in 62% of
meditators! But hang on a minute. There is more to this than there seems. It does not
ring true what is going on?

Research focused on the medical approach

Perhaps research whose primary focus is the medical model uses subjects with pre-
existing physical or psychological problems, eg found in a therapeutic group for reducing
anxiety. Perhaps non-meditators simply earning a couple of dollars by participating in
research.

Implications for Meditation teachers

Wherever the possibility of negative reactions is not iatragenic, it would have
implications for traditional meditation teachers, as some coming to them might have
expectations related more to the focus of the medical model.

It would be useful to have a screening process in place and a referral system at hand.

Methodological Questions
A problem with research is that often the researchers are not also meditators just as Benson
was not. This can subtly bias a study. Here are some of the possibilities for bias

1. Limitations that are directive

How was the questionnaire set up? Were respondents asked an open-ended
question - or was the questionnaire in some way directive, eg by having
respondents tick a box?

2. Categorisation that rests on unstated assumptions

Even if the questionnaire was open-ended, if the researcher then puts certain
responses into assumptive categories, any category that is assumed negativie
loads negativity on to the responses.

3. Has the respondent rejected meditation?

Were respondents unhappy with meditation as a result of an experience
categorised as negative?

4. Was the teachers capability and understanding assessed?

Was there any question regarding the teacher, the teachers training, or the
context in which meditation was taught?

SWAMI SHANTANANDA 2015 Page 23

 MEDITATION METHODS AND PURPOSE - - BENEFITS AND PROBLEMS
]\

5. Was it truly a meditation experience?

Was the adverse reaction a transient phenomenon, or was it regarded by the
respondent as permanent and damaging? If transient, anyone can have almost any
of those reactions in a days living and interacting, or during meditation
without necessarily being caused by meditation. 62% is a huge figure given that
meditation is generally regarded as safe.

3. What was the prior psychological health of the subject?

A truly significant question is on the prior psychological health of the meditator.
Meditation may be contraindicated for persons with existing psychotic tendencies,
and for those with major depression, and may also be problematic for those in any
fragile ego state unless handled expertly.

Two paradigms
These vexed issues of benefits and problems bring us to a central issue, one that is
rarely talked about, and that is that meditation has two paradigms (basic
principles or understanding). Lets think about them, next

SWAMI SHANTANANDA 2015 Page 24

TWO PARADIGMS OF MEDITATION

TWO PARADIGMS OF HEALTH

 TWO PARADIGMS OF MEDITATION, TWO PARADIGMS OF HEALTH

TWO PARADIGMS
The differences between the two paradigms of meditation and mindfulness one traditional,
the other goal oriented or focused on remediation have implications for a perspective on
what healthy might mean, and what is acceptable in personal experience.

Medical Model and Mindfulness

The Medical Model, and much of the modern notion of Mindfulness, appears to be aimed at
helping a person to become more comfortable in body and mind. We might think of it as fixing
up the ego - helping the person feel more in control, more self-validating, less self-denigrating,
more attuned to the consensus reality or societal norms.

Some of the perceived negatives of meditation demonstrate this. Therapeutic approaches

accept ego-functions such a s motivation, drive to succeed, or goal-setting as normal and
healthy, and, therefore, anyone not espousing these ego norms is, by definition, unhealthy.

Traditional Model
The Traditional approach has a totally different paradigm. It is absolutely reality-centred, not
social norm-centred.

It takes it that the consensus reality isnt very consensual after all, (ask people how they see a
political figure, or whether immigrants take jobs or make jobs). It suggests even that the
concrete reality of the world around us is not as solid or as real as you take it to be (ask any
physicist), and that your sense of order in the world is just a projection; and even the objects
you take for real a flower, a pen only have as much object reality as you assign to them. In
themselves, they are not the product of your thinking or naming. And as with a flower or a pen,
so also with your ego self. It has as much object reality as you assign to it, but in itself, it is
only a function of neural activity, not what you prefer to think it is (ask any neurophysicist).
Your personhood is a mental construct, not an independent entity (ask any neuropsychologist,
or perhaps any deep-thinking cognitive psychologist).

Undoubtedly, a meditation practice that is fiercely realistic will eventually see the individual
lose interest in many of the conventional norms and their notions of psychological health.
Living in a cave or living a life of full engagement will be seen to be a choice of practice, not one
of health. Feeling guilt as a transition -- from unawareness of the effects of our behaviour on
others, till eventually a fully aware compassion arises - might be seen as perfectly
understandable. Feeling defenceless, if supported by a loving meditation community, could be
found to be a courageous move toward a resilience that comes from being open to life
rather than having to put up barriers around our hearts and minds.

SWAMI SHANTANANDA 2015 Page 25

 TWO PARADIGMS OF MEDITATION, TWO PARADIGMS OF HEALTH

Two Paradigms, Big Dilemma

What works for one method would sabotage the other
So there is a dilemma when we talk about meditation. We have to sort out what we
mean by it. Where the medical model and most mindfulness models take a fix up the
ego approach, the profound journey of the traditional model is towards relinquishing
ego. A fear of offending the ego which might form one approach would constrain the
other.

From the other perspective, the willingness of the traditional approach to allow and
support considerable levels of ego discomfort could play havoc in the client-provider
relationship of the medical model.

And yet all are similar in their initial phase

Another confusing area is that, in its early stages, the traditional approach does often
operate at the basic level of the other two it reduces stress, helps people handle anxiety.
They become more tolerant and generally easier to live with. It may bring down blood
pressure and often leads people to healthier lifestyles that may delay the onset or
ameliorate the symptoms of physical illness.

It is just that the traditional model doesnt stay at that stage the traditional meditator
is intrigued by something both more mysterious and ultimately more real.

SWAMI SHANTANANDA 2015 Page 26

 TWO PARADIGMS OF MEDITATION, TWO PARADIGMS OF HEALTH

SUMMING UP

Putting some perspective into it, you might like to consider this quote from the National
Center for Complementary and Alternative Medicine, a body that is governed by the U.S.
Department of Health & Human Services:

Side Effects and Risks

http://nccam.nih.gov/health/meditation/overview.htm

Meditation is considered to be safe for healthy people. There have been

rare reports that meditation could cause or worsen symptoms in
people who have certain psychiatric problems, but this question has
not been fully researched. People with physical limitations may not be
able to participate in certain meditative practices involving physical
movement. Individuals with existing mental or physical health
conditions should speak with their health care providers prior to
starting a meditative practice and make their meditation instructor
aware of their condition.

And this also, from the NCCAM

In contrast Buddhist) psychology (and therefore Traditional meditation) states

that the deepest psychopathological problem is the protagonist of a self, the
'clinging to personal existence'. But one has to be somebody before one can
be nobody. Meditation may be most helpful to people who have achieved
an adequate level of personality organisation. Meditation can help both with
getting in touch with oneself, and with letting go of the self, where there is
excessive investment in the self.

Well put!

Long term or situational?

The point is that there are indeed two paradigms, and two approaches to health. One,
the traditionalist view, is long term.

The medical or therapeutic approach is to help people with a specific health issue and is
situational and short term.

The traditionalist view is that an intrinsic part of ill-health dis-ease is attributable

to a real misunderstanding of what the personal self, or ego, is. In this, at least, the
traditional understanding, that the personal self and its notions of the world are fanciful,
is supported by neuroscience and physics, even if its philosophical implications may not
be.

There remains a dilemma only if one approach is intolerant of the other.

SWAMI SHANTANANDA 2015 Page 27

APPENDIX: Tips for Practice
Whether you are trying to establish a practice, or whether you are a teacher trying to help
others to establish a practice, here are some simple ways to enhance your effectiveness:

1. Timetable your practice

Do it at the same time every day, just as you have lunch, or watch your favourite tv program.
There may be days when you just must alter your timetable, but be very clear that the
meditation time is a priority.

2. Tell people that you practice meditation

This is extremely helpful, for two reasons. One is that, if you put it around that you practice
meditation, you are going to feel like a real git if you do not.

Secondly, people will make allowance for you if they know. So, for instance on a weekend, if
you have visitors, you can easily say, time for my meditation now, Ill see you in an hour (half
an hour, 20 mins depending on your practice). However, if you just spring it on them, you and
they will feel uncomfortable, as though you have just been unfriendly. They wouldnt want to
stop you from having your lunch, or going to the dentist. You have to put your meditation in
the same priority. No one else will accord it that priority unless you do.

3. Set your alarm

Whatever length of time you meditate for, set an alarm and dont get up until it goes off. Your
mind or body will complain, Oh this is no good, I might as well get up. No, just stay there.
Thinking that you will gradually work up to your preferred time doesnt work. Just stay there.
Gradually, the time will be accomplished easily.

Sitting for the exact planned time stops your mind taking over your meditation. It is not an
indulgence for the mind.

4. Dont mistake the method for the meditation; dont mistake

the posture for the meditation
It is ok to sit on a chair, or with your back supported. A quadriplegic can meditate, but might
have a problem sitting cross-legged. And the method, be it mantra, or breath-noticing or
anything else, is only the means to an end. The end is a peaceful quiet state free of thoughts
and projections. The method belongs to the cognitive world and is only a transport towards
another state.

5. Keep at it for years and years and years!!

The fruit falls when the practice ripens it.
I
Swami Shantananda
Reflections: www.swamishantananda.com.au
E: swami@swamishantananda.com.au

Australian College of Classical Yoga

1/6 The Highway Mt Waverley 3149

www.classicalyoga.com.au
E: info@classicalyoga.com.au
Ph: +613 9833 4050

Blackburn Meditation and Mindfulness

6A Main St Blackburn 3130www.blackburnmeditation.com.au
E: meditate@blackburnmeditation.com.au
Ph: +613 9878 8302