為何要冥想,？一方面,，冥想是一個(gè)工具。它可以幫助我們對(duì)抗壓力,，保持機(jī)體的健康,、減輕長(zhǎng)期性的疼痛、還可以讓我們的睡眠更好,、感覺(jué)更幸福,、更寧?kù)o、讓我們關(guān)注當(dāng)下,。但在更深層次的意義上,，冥想是通向未知的途徑。它可以幫助我們?nèi)チ私庾陨淼纳衩亍?B style="BACKGROUND: none transparent scroll repeat 0% 0%" class="label bg2" jQuery1319539655453="66">

When you start meditating, you will notice how unruly the mind is. I remember being quite shocked by this! I noticed that my mind was all over the place. Profound thoughts about my past or future jostled with mundane thought clips about what groceries I needed to buy. Some time afterwards I would come too and notice that I had spend 15 minutes running a painful memory over and over. It was like sitting in a crazy cinema!

當(dāng)你開(kāi)始冥想的時(shí)候,，你將發(fā)現(xiàn)意志是那么的狂放不羈,。我記得自己被此情況所震驚！我發(fā)現(xiàn)自己的心神七零八落,，到處都是,。對(duì)過(guò)去和未來(lái)的深刻思考與諸如我需要買些什么雜貨的平凡的思想片斷交織在一起。過(guò)后的一段時(shí)間我重新來(lái)過(guò),，發(fā)現(xiàn)自己已經(jīng)一遍遍閃現(xiàn)那些痛苦的回憶長(zhǎng)達(dá)15分鐘了,。這就像坐在一個(gè)瘋狂的電影院里。

So, if you’re starting out with meditation, please don’t beat yourself up about your wild mind. It is a natural condition. In time you will learn to work kindly with the barrage of thoughts and you will some clarity and peacefulness.

所以,，如果你開(kāi)始冥想,，請(qǐng)不要被自己狂野的心神打敗。這是一個(gè)自然的情境,。最后你將學(xué)會(huì)溫和的處理思想的阻隔,，獲得清晰平和。

Here are some simple tips on how to start meditating. Maybe those of you who already practise meditation could please add your comments of what has worked for you.

以下是一些如果開(kāi)始冥想的小貼士。希望那些已經(jīng)實(shí)踐冥想的人發(fā)表自己成功的建議,。

1. Posture

1.姿勢(shì)

Whether you sit on a chair or cross-legged on the floor, make sure that your spine is upright with head up. If you are slumped your mind will drift. Mind and body are intertwined. If your body is well-balanced, your mind will also be in balance. To straighten up, imagine that your head is touching the sky.

不管你是坐在椅子上還是盤腿坐在地板上,，一定要保證抬頭挺胸。如果你倒下來(lái)了,，你的思緒就會(huì)漂移,。思緒和身體是相互交織在一起的。如果身體保持平衡,，你的思緒也將保持穩(wěn)定,。直坐，想像著頭頂觸摸著天空,。

2. Eyes

2.眼睛

Try and keep you eyes open. Open eyes allow you to be more present. Just lower your eyes and let your gaze be sort. If you close your eyes you will be more likely to drift away on thoughts and stories. However, it’s important to do what is comfortable for you. Some people find closing their eyes much more effective. It’s good to experiment and see what feels best for you.

盡量保持睜著眼睛,。睜著眼睛可以讓你更關(guān)注當(dāng)下。只要降低你的眼睛,，注視在某一點(diǎn)上,。如果閉上了眼睛,，你更可能思緒漂移,，胡思亂想,。然而，適合自己的才是最重要的,。一些人發(fā)現(xiàn)閉上眼睛更加有效,。可以先做個(gè)試驗(yàn),，看下哪種方式最適合你,。

2. Focus

2.集中注意

In ordinary consciousness we are hardly ever present. For example, sometimes we drive the car on autopilot while being preoccupied with thoughts. Suddenly we arrive at our destination and don’t remember anything about the drive!

在通常的意識(shí)里，我們幾乎不關(guān)注當(dāng)下,。比方說(shuō),，有時(shí)我們自動(dòng)駕駛著車輛，一邊全神貫注地想著事情,。在不知不覺(jué)間突然到達(dá)了目的地,。

So, meditation is a wonderful way of waking up to our life. Otherwise we miss most of our experiences because we are somewhere else in our mind! Let’s take a look at what focus is. In ordinary life, we tend to equate focus with concentration. That’s like using the mind like a concentrated beam of light. But in meditation, that kind of mind isn’t helpful. It’s too sharp and edgy. To focus in meditation means to pay soft attention to whatever you place in the centre of awareness. I suggest using the breath as a focus. It’s like a natural door that connects ‘inside’ and ‘outside’. Zen Master Toni Packer says:

所以，冥想是認(rèn)識(shí)生命的一個(gè)極好的方式,。另外,，因?yàn)樵谖覀兊男哪恐形覀兛偸巧硖幩帲晕覀儠?huì)回想多數(shù)自己的經(jīng)歷,。讓我們看下什么是焦點(diǎn),。在日常生活，我們常把焦點(diǎn)等同于專心,。就像集中焦點(diǎn)的一束光那樣思考,。但冥想的時(shí)候,，這樣做并沒(méi)有多大幫助。這樣太尖銳,。冥想時(shí)的焦點(diǎn)意味著要溫和地把注意力放在意識(shí)的中央,。禪宗大師托尼·帕克說(shuō)：我建議運(yùn)用吸納來(lái)聚焦。就像在內(nèi)在世界與外在世界之間搭起一扇自然之門,。

Attention comes from nowhere. It has no cause. It belongs to no one

注意力來(lái)自于虛無(wú),。它沒(méi)有原因。它不屬于某個(gè)人,。

3. The breath

3.吸納

Paying attention to the breath is a great way to anchor yourself in the present moment.

注意吸納是一種把自己固定在當(dāng)下的很好的方法,。

Notice your breath streaming in and out. There’s no need to regulate the breath – just let it be natural.

注意你的呼吸。沒(méi)有必要調(diào)整它——只要自然就可以,。

4. Counting you breath

4.統(tǒng)計(jì)你的呼吸

If you are having difficulties settling, you can try counting the breath – which is an ancient meditation practice. On your outbreath, silently count “one”, then “two”, and up to “four”. Then return to “one”. Whenever you notice your thoughts have strayed far away or you find yourself counting “thirtythree”, simply return to “one”. In this way, “one” is like coming home to the present moment. It’s good to return without a backward glance.

如果你沒(méi)有辦法落定,，你可以試著去計(jì)數(shù)自己的呼吸——這是一種古老的冥想修行。當(dāng)你呼氣的時(shí)候,，靜靜地記為“一”，接著記為“二”,，記到“四”后,，再重新從“一”開(kāi)始。一旦你意識(shí)到自己的思緒偏離甚遠(yuǎn)或者發(fā)現(xiàn)自己已經(jīng)數(shù)到“三十”了,，那就再重新從“一”開(kāi)始來(lái)過(guò),。這樣，“一”就意味著回到當(dāng)下的原點(diǎn),。這樣就可以不用回頭看就可以重新回到最初,。

5. Thoughts

5.思想

When you notice thoughts, gently let them go by returning yous focus to the breath. Don’t try and stop thoughts; this will just make you feel agitated. Imagine that they are unwelcome visitors at your door: acknowledge their presence and politely ask them to leave. Then shine the soft light of your attention on your breath.

當(dāng)你注意到自己的想法，輕輕地回到關(guān)注自己的吸納上,，把思緒放天,。不要試著去停止思想；如果這樣,，你只會(huì)感覺(jué)更激動(dòng),。把他們想像成不受歡迎的拜訪者：承認(rèn)他們的到來(lái)并禮貌地讓他們離開(kāi)就可以了。然后再輕輕地回到自己的呼吸上來(lái),。

6. Emotions

6.情緒

It’s difficult to settle into meditation if you are struggling with strong emotions. This is because some emotions tend to breed stories in the mind. Especially anger, shame and fear create stories that repeat over and over in the mind. Anger and shame make us keep looking at past events of the past. Fear looks at the future with stories that start with, “What if…”

如果正與強(qiáng)烈的情緒抗?fàn)?，你是很難進(jìn)入冥想情境中去的。這是因?yàn)槟承┣榫w很容易在你的意識(shí)中產(chǎn)生出故事情節(jié),。特別是憤怒,、羞愧和恐懼等情感會(huì)讓情節(jié)一遍遍在腦海中閃現(xiàn)。憤怒和羞愧讓我們不停地回想過(guò)去事情的情節(jié),。而恐懼則讓我們對(duì)未來(lái)做出許多種假定的設(shè)想,。

The way to deal with strong emotions in meditation is to focus on the body feelings that accompany the emotion. For example, this could be the tight band of fear around the chest or the hot roiling of anger in the belly. Let go of the stories and refocus on your body. In this way you are honouring your emotions but not becoming entangled in stories.

處理強(qiáng)烈情感的方法就是把注意力放在伴隨這些情緒的身體感受上來(lái),。例如，有可能是緊緊環(huán)繞胸腔的恐懼,，也可能是腹部熱烈翻滾的憤怒,。放下那些情節(jié)，重新集中到身體上,。這樣,，你既尊重了自己的情緒，又不會(huì)陷入那些情節(jié)之中,。

7. Silence

7.寧?kù)o

Silence is healing. I know that there are is a lot of ‘meditation music’ around, but nothing beats simple silence. Otherwise the music or sounds on the tape just drown out the chatter in your mind. When we sit in silence we actually get to experience what our mind is doing. There is steadiness and calmness that comes from sitting in silence. In time outer and inner silence meet and you come to rest in the moment.

寧?kù)o是療養(yǎng),。我知道有很多的冥想音樂(lè)，但都敵不過(guò)簡(jiǎn)單地寧?kù)o,。那些聲音和音樂(lè)只是把腦中的思緒淹沒(méi)了,。當(dāng)我們靜坐下來(lái)，我們還是要經(jīng)歷腦中所想的一切,。靜坐下來(lái),，你就能體會(huì)到那種穩(wěn)定和靜謐。當(dāng)外在的平靜和內(nèi)心的安寧統(tǒng)一的時(shí)候,，你就真正棲息在了當(dāng)下,。

8. Length

8.長(zhǎng)度

Start with 10 minutes and only sit longer if you feel that that is too short. Don’t force yourself to meditate longer if you are not ready to do that. In time you might like to extend your meditation to 25 minutes. That’s a length that allows you to settle your mind without causing too much stress on your body. Most importantly, shrug off any ‘shoulds’. Some people enjoy sitting for an hour at a time. Others find that they can’t sit longer than 10 minutes. Do what feels right for you!

開(kāi)始的時(shí)候可以先靜坐10分鐘，直到你感覺(jué)對(duì)你來(lái)說(shuō)時(shí)間太短的時(shí)候再坐的久些,。如果你還沒(méi)有為些做好準(zhǔn)備,，不要強(qiáng)迫自己冥想太久。最終你可以希望把時(shí)間延長(zhǎng)到25分鐘,。這個(gè)時(shí)間長(zhǎng)度可以在不對(duì)身體造成太多壓力的情況下把心緒安定下來(lái),。最重要的是，擺脫任何可能性,。有些人喜歡一次靜坐一個(gè)小時(shí),。另外一些人發(fā)現(xiàn)靜坐10分鐘都有困難。做適合自己的就可以了,！

9. Place

9.地方

It’s lovely to create a special place to sit. You can even make a shrine or an altar that you can face when you sit in meditation. You might like to place a candle on your altar and objects that have meaning to you. It’s lovely to find objects for your altar as you walk. Maybe you find stones, or seashells, or flowers that speak to you.

創(chuàng)造一個(gè)靜坐的特別的地方是一件令人愉快的事情,。你甚至可以制作一個(gè)神龕或者祭壇，這樣當(dāng)你冥想的時(shí)候就可以面對(duì)它們而坐,。你可以在祭壇上插一支蠟燭或放些其他對(duì)你有意義的物件,。當(dāng)你漫步的時(shí)候?yàn)榧缐覍の锛橇钊擞鋹偟摹Ｒ苍S是一些石塊,，或者是貝殼,，或者與你對(duì)話的花朵。

10. Enjoyment

10.享受樂(lè)趣

Most of all it’s important to enjoy meditation. You might like to try sitting with a hint of a smile. Be kind to yourself. Start sitting just a little each day. It’s helpful to establish a daily habit.

最重要的一點(diǎn)就是要去享受冥想的樂(lè)趣,。你可能喜歡試著面帶微笑靜靜地坐著,。善待自己,。開(kāi)始每天靜坐一會(huì)兒。這樣有利于建立良好的日常習(xí)慣,。