11.10.2023 Meditation Made Simple   It’s easy to convince ourselves that meditation is hard. Don’t get me wrong: it’s not unusual to find meditation difficult, but the practice itself can be easier than rolling off a log. All you have to do is stay there, so to speak. But first you have to get there. Lion’s Roar’s new special publication, Meditation Made Simple, helps you do just that. With inspiration and easy-to-follow-guidance from the experts, you’ll learn how to develop your meditation habit — and make it stick. It’s a perfect guidebook for people learning to meditate, or for those who want some helpful support and inspiration. In this Weekend Reader, you’ll find three meditation practices you can try out (or try again) right now to experience meditation afresh. May these three practices awaken your beginner’s mind. (And: there’s lots more where these came from!) —Rod Meade Sperry, Editor, Buddhadharma: The Practitioner’s Guide + Lion’s Roar Special Editions How to Practice Shamatha Meditation Shamatha meditation—mindfulness or concentration—is the foundation of Buddhist practice. Lama Rod Owens teaches us a version from the Vajrayana tradition. The purpose of shamatha meditation is to stabilize the mind by cultivating a steady awareness of the object of meditation. The traditional practice of shamatha uses different kinds of supports or anchors for our practice. Eventually, this leads to practicing without supports and meditating on emptiness itself in an open awareness. For this particular practice, the instructions will be for shamatha meditation using the breath as the focus of our practice. Shamatha meditation allows us to experience our mind as it is. When we practice shamatha, we are able to see that our mind is full of thoughts, some conducive to our happiness and further realization, and others not. It is not extraordinary that our minds are full of thoughts, and it is important to understand that it is natural to have so much happening in the mind.   ADVERTISEMENT How to Practice Walking Meditation   Leslie Booker offers step-by-step instruction.   In this practice, you place your full attention on the process of walking—from the shifting of the weight in your body to the mechanics of placing your foot. Walking meditation is an integral part of retreat life in many traditions and is used to offset and shift the energy of sitting practice. It is a bridge to integrate practice into daily life and can be more accessible than a sitting practice for many people. Find an unobstructed space where you can walk in a straight line for about ten feet. This short walking distance is the instruction given in the Theravada tradition. Others prefer to walk for greater distances. Bring your attention down to your feet and slowly shift your weight from side to side and front to back. Being in bare feet can bring more awareness to what needs to happen in the body to create balance.   How to Practice Zazen Jules Shuzen Harris teaches Zazen, the meditation practice at the heart of Zen Buddhism.   There are many forms of meditation that offer you the opportunity to cultivate stillness and open up space in your life. One such form, zazen, has both outward and inward instructions in how to engage your awareness in the immediate, uninterpreted experience of the present moment. Zazen is being awake but letting go, experiencing your present moment awareness without thought or story. As a central form of meditation in Zen Buddhism, zazen is usually coupled with study and teaching to help develop greater clarity in our practice. Zazen often includes a specific practice, such as counting your breaths, to focus your attention and develop your powers of concentration.   LION’S ROAR PROMOTION