Holding onto Happiness - 4

4 - As the waves settle

Imagine the interface at the surface of a turbulent ocean, where the air meets the sea. Both move in a turmoil of water and air, the movement is interactive and interdependent.

There exists a similar relationship, that between the breath and the mind. Our experience tells us that if our breath is shallow and rapid, our mind tends to be agitated and erratic, and by the same token, if our breathing is deep and slow, our mind is calm.

There is a common experience that we sub-consciously engage in whilst we try to concentrate and focus - we tend to still or even hold our breath. Just consider how you hold your breath as you try and thread a needle.. We still our breath, to still our mind.

We can use this experience in a practical manner as we engage or practice our breathing meditation - we begin to align our breath with the mind, and we begin to align our mind with our breath, and as we do this the movement within the mind begins to still, and our breathing begins to slow and deepen.

As a result, the turbulent interface between the breath and the mind begins to settle..

Recalling the analogy of the ocean's surface, visualise the water settling and calming, as the wind begins to subside and still. And, as the ocean stills, the disturbance within the water subsides, and the water becomes clearer, and clearer, as the suspended particles begin to settle.

As the waves subside, the water clears, and as the breath slows and deepens, the mind clears.

This beautiful process, of the mind clearing, enables a lucidity and clarity, and a profoundly aware stillness.

Within the stillness, small movements become apparent, and it becomes easier and easier to notice thoughts as they arise, and upon noticing movement, from a point of stillness, we can choose to remain in the stillness that exists between the thoughts, choosing to remain with inner peace.

Choose to remain with inner peace.. Found through meditation.. Click here.. BREATHING & RELAXATION MEDITATION