In any kind of stillness-based meditation, we begin by settling into one place, connecting to the earth in the place where we are, feeling our bodies, whatever supports are under us, and the shift in the energy in the body when we stop moving. Whether sitting, standing, or lying down, meditating in stillness asks us to fully inhabit the exact spot we find ourselves, to claim a place on the earth, even for just a few minutes, as a good place for coming to rest. This is sometimes called, in the Buddhist traditions, “Taking the One Seat”.
As we learn to we take our seat fully, without apology or doubt, a remarkable power and grace begins to arise. But the path to this stillness and confidence brings us into contact with everything that prevents stillness: the symptoms of old traumas, unprocessed anger and grief, all the traces left in our bodies from generations of harm and danger. We experience what Gotama is said in the myths to have experienced as he took his seat under the Bodhi Tree: armies attacking him with the weapons of hatred and fear, beautiful bodies dancing and calling him into lust and craving, and most dangerous of all, the voice of self-doubt that says “What right do you have to be here?”
Gotama’s practice, and ours, is to meet the forces of hatred and lust with wisdom and equanimity, and the forces of doubt with certainty. In silence, he reached down his hand to touch the Earth, calling on the Goddess to testify to his many lifetimes of sincere practice. In taking his seat, and in calling on the Goddess of the Earth as witness, Gotama dispelled the force of doubt for the last time. We can do this as well. In this meditation we practice setting aside everything that gets in the way of arriving fully and confidently right where we are. In doing so, we build a foundation for both meditative concentration, emotional healing, and liberating insight.
The meditation begins with an open eyes practice called “orientation” from the Organic Intelligence system. It is a nervous system reset that can help encourage deactivation and embodiment. Then we move slowly toward stillness and concentration using the felt sense of the whole body in its posture as the primary meditative anchor.