Meditation, for freedivers, for everyone…

All that we are is the result of what we have thought: it is founded on our thoughts, it is made up of our thoughts. - Dhamapada , the Buddha.

Its all in the mind

'First one must learn how to concentrate, then Meditation begins to make more sense. This is how I usually introduce my meditations.' After travelling around Asia, learning different forms and formless types of Meditation, I came back to our Islands to teach what I have learnt. Now living on the Island of Gozo, I teach Meditation to people of all backgrounds and capabilities.

“Meditation is not an extra ordinary state, it is a natural state of being, eventually all it takes is ‘remembering’ the mood. ”

Mindfulness of breath

From what I have experienced in meditation I can say that consciously following the breath is the easiest and most effective way to get into the meditative zone. Leave your mind behind, come back to the here and now in the most natural way, by focusing on something that is happening inside you. When you are living through that zone everything you do is graceful. No visualization or mantra (repeating a word or words) is necessary although they may be useful. All you need to do is breathe consciously, focus your entire awareness on the incoming and outgoing of the breath, as if it where the most important thing in all creation! It may very well be. It may be hard in the beginning for the simple fact that we have conditioned ourselves differently. However human beings are quick to adapt and form new thinking patterns, meditation will soon become your nature if you practice well and regularly.

Simple exercise to start

Being intimate with the now, deeper and deeper.

Find a pleasant space, it could easily be your own bed or outside under the shade of a tree. Sit down mindfully and sit just to sit and breathe, that’s all you have to do. Focus and concentrate only on the present, sitting and breathing. Let your thoughts disappear as you focus on your breath, just sit and follow your breath. As you inhale you become aware of nothing else but the total inhale, as you exhale your mind becomes totally absorbed in following the air as it leaves your body. During meditation thoughts will naturally enter your stream of consciousness, just simply return to the subtle awareness of breathing, by first acknowledging that you are thinking and return the task at hand. Thinking can come later. Start doing this for five to ten minutes and gradually increase the time. Eventually meditation practice will start oozing into your daily life, making you more perceptive and calm. This calm from being ok with reality as it is gradually starts to grow too. Meditation and freediving have no real destination or goal other than to become more intimate with the present, more alive.

The zone

Strange as it may seem, I have found that we are not really designed to multi-task or maybe better said, we do things better when we dont. The previous exercise works on this premise, when we focus on our natural occurring breath (something we can do anywhere at anytime) our minds become quiet. The more one focuses, the more silent the mind becomes. Thoughts tend to have larger gaps between them, during the absence of thought one become more present, deep into what is happening in this very moment. The more we focus on the breath,  the less thoughts pass through our minds. Why? Because we are accustomed to give attention to thinking and attention is limited. So when we give that same attention to our breathing and become subtly more aware of it, thoughts subside and a different kind of knowing takes hold of us. This is what I mean when I say, Meditative zone. This is also the ideal zone for freediving, an aware yet calm mind.