Shinay Meditation

The subject of meditation has come up a few times over last week within my circle of friends and loved ones. I believe it is the key happiness in that it connects you with what is truly “you”. That is to say that when you learn to quiet your mind, letting it wear itself out with all it’s clinging and wondering like a toddler you’re only supervising, you will find out who you actually are. In these moments, in the quiet dark you’re left with only you. If you manage to do this, regularly, you begin to solidify. That part of yourself, that deep consciousness begins to have room to move to the surface in your everyday life. I know of a few techniques to manage the only type of meditation I believe in.

First let me give you my position on Meditation. The only form of meditation I’ve been able to be honest in is Shinay (Shi’nay meaning Calm Abiding). When ever I have done guided meditation or the meditation I found along my journey, where an end is the focus of beginning, I have manipulated it. That is not to say it’s invalid because I don’t know. I wasn’t honest during my experiences with them. I became honest through Shinay, and so it’s the form I support.

Shinay means calm abiding and it is true on a fundamental level. If you’re familiar with the phrase “grounding and centering” it applies also, though more so than I had ever experienced when “grounding & centering”. I am going to explain Shinay with a support and Shinay without a support as it was explained to me, though paraphrased. My experience in this comes from my involvement with the Dharma Path program at the Kagyu Thubten Chöling monastery in New York. I studied there and attended a four day silent retreat there. During that time I practiced Shinay Meditation for more than a hour each day (2 hours on the weekends).

To begin you can sit crossed legged on the floor or in a chair if that is uncomfortable. I recommend sitting in the proper posture, but it is getting harder and harder for me to continue this way. I use a zafu & zabuton but any small pillow which supports your back is fine. 

 

Zafu & Zabuton

The point is to sit with your spine as vertical as possible, square your shoulders, drop your chin a bit and lower your eyelids about half way. Sit with your hands folded in your lap or palms down on your knees. If you search for meditative postures you can find illustrations; the point being that if your hands are in your lap don’t lace your fingers, just place them left hand first, palm up then right hand also palm up on top then fold both thumbs in and touch the tips together. This is the posture you will use every time, it will not change.

Shinay with support means with an object to focus your mind on. It can be anything; it doesn’t have to be a Buddha statue or anything sacred like that at all. I used a sphere of lapis lazuli when I used a support. The point of the support is to give your eyes and mind something to occupy them in this reality instead of going on a happy trip through your imagination. You red flag in that moment are your eyes closing; keep them open.  Now your mind is going to want to fixate and have many thoughts about the object. Let those thoughts flow like water to their end. Do not attach to those thoughts. An example of that would be you in the right posture, using a statue (just an example) and noticing all the dust on the statue and allowing your thoughts to move to how you should first wipe the dust and so forth. The dust doesn’t matter, the thought about the dust doesn’t matter, the thought doesn’t matter and you cannot stop it. Lama Jinzang (at KTC) gave me the best explanation on this for my mind. She said thought is energy and you cannot stop energy, you must simply let it pass. My mind works in metaphors of water and it was instantly changed into flowing; let the thoughts flow but realize you are the witness, not the flow of thoughts.

Breathing is importing, obviously, right? It is helpful to breathe in and out through the nose. You may say “But, I have allergies” and I would say “so do I, it actually helps”. So try it: use deep regular breaths in and out nice and slow. The object is to calm yourself, and your mind.

Trust me that the thoughts will slow. You may not reach Shinay on your first attempt. We’re not wired right for that here in America. We’ve been taught growing up to pay attention, to think, to analyze everything. This is the practice of letting be. When you have mastered Shinay you will be aware of your surroundings instead of witnessing yourself be aware of your surroundings. There is a subtle but powerful change in your perception. You will know when you can remove the support and simple sit and meditate Shinay. Wanting to remove the support because it means you’ve advanced is wrong; wanting, for that matter, is often wrong. Wanting, like wanting new clothes for your Barbie, like wanting the vehicle for your GI Joe guy, wanting is an attachment which drapes your “self” in identification.  In this instance wanting to remove the support means advancement in meditation. It is then a symbol that means you’ve advanced. It is a symbol you use to identify yourself, which means witnessing not being and so is wrong. When it’s time it is time and you’ll know. 

When you remove your support focus your eyes in the middle of the room. This will be the completion of this practice; being without attaching to anything physical. You’ve let all the thoughts about the support go and then it was time to remove it. You now sit in a deep peace and breathe.

Start out in fifteen minute intervals. I searched meditation chimes in wav files to burn to a CD to use and then realized it would be much simpler to send it to my phone and use an alarm or something similar for the desired time period.

In the height of my meditation (two hour intervals) I preferred to make some tea in the middle. I wouldn’t speak or interact with my family or housemates during that time. Luckily I had a house full of respectful and understanding people. Though I have experienced what I referred to my “guerrilla meditation” days which occurred as everyone in the intentional community was going their separate ways. As with any group of people packing and moving it was tense and personal conflicts arose. Yet I was able to meditate quite successfully during these times and I was able to stay unattached to the cycles of energy. This means it kept my mind stable and I didn’t react to anyone having a bad day and attempting to draw someone in as a distraction from their own issues. After we had moved and the distractions were less present I continued to use this meditation along with other meditative techniques while on retreat to sleep only three to four hours per day yet feel no ill effects.

I will post another blog on the other techniques I am aware of and have used to further your meditation if there is an interest.

Namaste