A MEDITATIVE OFFERING

A POWERFUL MEDITATION OPTION

Jack Bragen

The meditation techniques that I will offer here are a toolbox that can be used when the mind inconveniently creates emotional pain and suffering. If you are driving an automobile or operating heavy equipment, it may not be the best idea to try the techniques for the first time, at least until you have observed yourself and are familiar with the effects on you of the techniques.
But first, let me give you some background: I am an amateur meditation practitioner and I teach myself things about the mind through self-observation. I have invented or possibly reinvented several meditation techniques that help me deal with physical and emotional pain. During the last twenty-five years I have been studying my mind, my emotions and my behavior.
When I meditate with these methods for fifteen minutes to a half hour, I can obtain a relief from emotional pain and from some types of vulnerability; and this effect lasts hours. Not only does this technique address emotional pain; it addresses fear, and can make you a more brave person. The effect resembles putting on an invisible “bravery suit.”
It is as if I had created a personal “deflector shield” like the ones in several science fiction stories such as Star Trek, Star Wars, and even in the Dune series of science fiction. All three of those science fiction fables and many others used the idea of a protective shield made of energy. And yet, this was fiction. I am discussing a shield that exists in “reality” and also one that is generated biologically, and not technologically.
The meditation I perform isn’t Zen, although it is partly based on my studies of Buddhism. It came into existence for me shortly after I began to study the inner workings of my mind.
The shielding begins to grow when I visit a place of extreme calm. It is not a physical location, but is a mental location, and I might be able to show you how to go there.
The meditation I will outline will require that you look within, that you discern internal structures, observe those structures in action, and that you create and maintain new internal structures.
Looking within and the creation of maps will require practice over time. This “mapping” includes making sense of the things you see inside yourself, naming these things, and remembering. It allows you to return to a place or to a state of mind that you visited, without having to start from the beginning. Mapping will allow you to pinpoint exactly where it hurts, which is one of the steps that you will take.
The prerequisite, to use this system, is that you create the realization, intellectually, that you don’t have a real “problem.” This means that, on a conceptual basis, you are aware that there isn’t anything to worry about; it is only the stubbornness of your brain and its programming that makes you worried, upset, angry, or hurt. Part of this realization is the acknowledgment that everything is O.K., despite your consciousness portraying otherwise. If you can’t make that intellectual, thought-based leap, then there is no point in trying to proceed. If your situation in life is such that you can’t manage to believe that everything is O.K., then maybe you need to deal with life realities first, before trying meditation.
If the emotion that you are experiencing is so strong that it has command of you, it may be necessary for you to take a timeout, and to forcibly disengage your attention from its focus upon the object of the emotion, and to re-focus your attention upon the internal experience of the emotion. This is the first step toward you having power over yourself.
The second step of this method is to pinpoint exactly where it hurts. This means getting a map of where in your body the painful sensation exists, or where outside the body, perhaps. (Sometimes you may experience a more subtle, “phantom” pain; one that appears to exist in the physical space near, yet outside of the body, and yet which hurts, nevertheless.) This picture of your pain is one form of mapping the inside, which I discussed earlier.
The third part of this exercise, and maybe the hardest to learn and maintain, is the acceptance, or the shift in perception of, the pain or suffering.
Acceptance of suffering is a challenge. You are attempting to override the suffering mechanism, which, due to evolution, is a very ingrained instinct. Look at the pain, and first, tell yourself that it is tolerable, then go further and tell yourself it is acceptable. The other option is to attempt looking at the pain through a nonjudgmental filter. The idea is to remove the “bad” meaning from your experience of your pain.
When you are successful at re-categorizing your suffering into “something else,” you may very well get a physical release. This can be quite pleasant. When this process is used, the energy that was once your pain will be converted into “good energy” that surrounds and protects you. This is your personal “deflector shield.” This good energy may last the rest of the day, or may only last a few hours. At the point where your shield is losing its power, you can merely recharge it by repeating the very same methods, from start to finish, that I have described above.
The midrange of intensity of suffering is easiest to use for this process. If the suffering is too light or too subtle, it can be harder, while using the tools, to pinpoint it and get a grasp of it. It also then contributes a smaller level of power to the shield. If the suffering it too intense or too strong, it tends to spread out its influence in your consciousness and invades the part of the brain that you normally use to enact the techniques.
Once this process is begun, it can be expanded by continuing to add more pieces of pain that you find in your body, or in your consciousness. Simultaneously to adding more pain to the process, you must maintain that change in perception, which will cover the additional material.
This type of meditation can liberate you from suffering.
Do not get discouraged if your methods begin with incomplete, or imperfect results. It can require a great deal of practice to get this meditation to the point where it becomes a highly efficient, on-demand method of protecting yourself.
Sometimes, if the suffering that you experience is actually a component of exhaustion that you have been ignoring, the meditation I have described will put you to sleep. It will be a very pleasant and very restful slumber, and it may happen to you while you continue to sit upright.
This meditation can be used for both emotional pain and for physical pain. The only real difference between these two is that physical pain will not have an “issue” requiring dismissal by the intellect. If your pain is emotional, it will be helpful to identify the issue that has triggered your upset state and to decide that you don’t have to be upset about this. Identifying the exact issue responsible for pain can sometimes require exploration of your innards, especially in the case of free floating anxiety or depression. These emotions tend to be the result of a lot of stuff either getting submerged, or the issues arriving to your consciousness faster and in more quantity than you can track and deal with.
In some cases, since part of this method involves “fooling” your brain, the subconscious mind “catches up” to your attempted meditation and will block the neural route that you have been using to get relief. This just means that the system I am describing will require repeated construction of the same techniques through other, new neural routes.
In other words your subconscious mind, or perhaps your brain, will try to “unlearn” what you have taught it. And you must repeatedly “relearn” the same lessons. This could be due to the fact that you will be undermining the suffering mechanism in the brain, and the brain may not like that. This could also be due to the brain losing its position of command, and the command being handed to your conscious mind. Whomever or whatever is under your hood may resist this perceived loss of power.
The methods I have described have helped me to deal with phobias and to enjoy new and different life experiences that I would have otherwise refused to achieve. When under the influence of this meditation, I can do things that I am otherwise averse to doing, without being uncomfortable.
For example, I went to the County Fair, and while driving there beforehand, used the meditation. It was crowded, loud and hot, three environmental conditions that to me are normally difficult. The other fairgoers were a more adventurous and boisterous crowd than I am used to, and I would normally be intimidated by many of them. While driving there I had used my apprehension as emotional fuel for the shield; and my apprehension was strong enough that by the end of the meditation I had a pretty powerful shield. I was able to get through, and even enjoy my experience of the fair, and didn’t need to leave there before my wife wanted to leave. This is an accomplishment.
When this energy barrier is in place, I feel more capable of defending myself against a physical threat. This confidence is probably apparent to other people.
Unlike one famous meditation practitioner who loves to wash dishes, I usually despise the task. (Although I do like cooking a lot.) However, using this meditation allows me to perform this task without too much bother. Recently, while using the shield to make dishwashing tolerable, I began to look into the bits and pieces of why the task is normally unpleasant for me. I expect that if I continue with this introspection, I might be able to permanently rid myself of my aversion to washing dishes.
This method doesn’t necessarily address other weaknesses that are part of the human condition; it won’t eliminate a problem with substance abuse. I have tried to use this system to quit smoking cigarettes, and in the process have realized I should never have started this awful habit. This method will not eliminate physical diseases, although in limited instances it may speed up the healing process. It may not make you physically healthier, but it may make you more at ease in your body.