Medition Oasis' "Aliveness" Meditation, and finding stillness between breaths

Last night I tried out my latest podcast download from Meditation Oasis, a guided meditation called 'Aliveness'.

I tend to find that how much I get out of the Meditation Oasis meditations depends hugely on how I am before I start them. Sometimes I find them wonderful - easy to sink into and amazingly relaxing; other times, if I'm not starting off in the right state, I just find myself drifting through them - my mind half listening to Mary's voice, half ticking away on whatever it is that it's ticking away on .

Last night, unfortunately, was one of the latter sessions. I enjoyed the concept of a meditation about aliveness and feeling alive (especially since, down here in the Southern Hemisphere, it's the height of midsummer, and everything around me is all-but glowing with life), but I didn't find myself sinking into this one at all... the words happened for me more as a lecture from which I was trying to learn something than as a meditation I was experiencing.

One thing my mind did catch on, however, that felt valuable to explore further was the concept of stillness. I think for me, a meditation feels successful (if indeed, the word 'successful' is appropriate when talking about meditation) if, at least once during it, I've felt my mind still and centre. It doesn't have to stay still the entire meditation (in fact, if I'm honest, the times it does so are few and very far between), but generally, the longer and more frequently the periods of stillness over the course of a given meditation session, the more relaxed I feel afterwards, and the more 'successful' that session feels.

I have different techniques to find those moments of stillness - some seem to work only when I start meditating in a relatively calm state at the outset, others seem to be a little more versatile. One of the 'tried and true' methods that works for me, apparently no matter what mindstate I start off in is noticing the periods between the end of one breath and the beginning
of the next.

See, my natural breathing rhythm seems to involve a brief pause between finishing an exhale and starting to inhale again. One breath doesn't doesn't just follow another - there's a moment that stretches out just as long as it needs to before my chest expands again to take in more oxygen. In those moments, everything seems to just... quiet... stop... hang... waiting patiently and timelessly for the cycle of breath to start again in its natural rhythm. And my mind is one of those things. Just in that moment between breaths, whatever thoughts were happening in the background of my mind seem to suddenly, naturally, still with no actual effort on my part.

I'm not sure when I first noticed this tendency, but I know it happens reliably enough that when my mind is disturbed or upset, I can use it to actively find stillness that I often can't access through any other technique. Simply resting my attention on the space between breaths is all it takes - I notice that I'm pausing, and the stilling seems to take care of itself

Hearing Mary talk about stillness in this meditation makes me curious to know how other people find their moments of stillness during mindfulness and meditation. How do you find yours? Do your moments just happen, or are there specific techniques you use in the same way that I use focussing on the moments between my breaths? Do you find some techniques work no matter what mindstate you start in, while others are only suitable when you're starting off calm already?

I'd love to hear your thoughts.

Blessings



Starfire