fact melts away the fear…
Coming Out of Meditation
by meditative - April 19th, 2010.Filed under: Introductory Readings.
All endings are beginnings…
Mindfulness can become lax with the anticipation of finishing a meditation practice. It’s important how you handle this transition from simply being back to doing. If you are not particularly careful and attentive toward the end of a formal practice, before you know it you will be off doing something else with no awareness of how the meditation came to an end. The transition will be a blur at best. You can bring mindfulness into this process by being in touch with the thoughts and impulses which tell you it’s time to stop.Whether you have been still for an hour or 3 minutes, a powerful feeling all of the sudden may say.. “this is enough” – or your timer goes off- or you look at your watch and it’s the time you said you would quit.
In your meditation practice, see if you can detect the very first impulse to quit, and any others that may follow growing in strength.As you recognize each impulse- breathe with it for a few moments- and ask yourself- “who has had enough?”- try looking into what is behind the impulse. Is it fatigue, boredom, pain, impatience, or is it just time to stop. Whatever the case, rather than automatically leaping up or moving on- try lingering with whatever arises out of this inquiry- breathing with it for a few moments or even longer, and allowing the moving out of your meditation posture to be as much an object of moment to moment awareness as any other moment in the meditation.
Practicing like this can increase mindfulness in many different situations that involve closing or ending something and moving on to something else. It can be as simple and brief as being in touch with closing a door, or as complicated and painful as when an era in your life comes to an end.
In your mindfulness practice, try bringing your awareness to how you end your meditations whether they are lying down, sitting, standing, or walking. Focus on who ends it? How it ends? When it ends? and Why? Don’t judge it or yourself in anyway. Just observe and stay in touch with the transition from one thing to the next.