YogiAdam,
That is the whole science of mindfulness, to remain a witness from moment to moment without becoming identified with whatever arises in the field of the senses. One is not to control the mind, or to restrict the activity of the mind, but to allow the mind to flow freely, working according to it’s natural tendencies, but all the while with an unceasing undercurrent of awareness. In Zen, it is known as no-mind. No-mind is not an absence of mind, a state of no-thought, or a blank consciousness - it simply means a mind which can function without attachment. A mind which is of this energy is as spontaneous and fresh as a flash of lightning, with a raw naturalness. In that raw naturalness, it is possible for the mind to reflect it’s true nature - not isolated from the world, but integrated - doing ordinary things. That is when one has truly awakened a meditative consciousness which is just like one’s own breath, or the blood flowing through one’s veins. If you understand it, then the posture of the body is irrelevant. Because whether you are sitting, standing, lying down, walking - it is irrelevant, what is relevant is that whatever you are doing, one’s action arises out of awareness. In meditation, the approach is known as vipassana. And vipassana is a scientific method to the science of awareness. Just like any scientific method, one has to start with the most basic and fundamental. Because it can be difficult in the beginning to remain a witness to the processes of the mind - the mind is far more subtle. Thoughts, emotions, perceptions, they are far more difficult to observe in the beginning because they are so subtle. But the body is very much a vivid part of your experience, you can see it, you can touch it - it is the grossest dimension of one’s being. So in the method of vipassana, one starts with the grossest - one learns first to be a witness to the body - watching it very closely as one would watch under a microscope, being sensitive to every detail in one’s experience, but all the while remaining without attachment as to whatever arises in one’s experience. And once you gain to a certain familiarity with remaining a witness to the body, now once you start dealing with the mind directly - it is going to be a far more friendly. Eventually, one is to remain a witnessing awareness as to whatever arises at the level of one’s mind, body, or emotions, anything that enters into the gates of the senses, you are just to be like a mirror reflecting. That is what is beautiful about the approach of the Buddhists towards meditation - one is not simply to remain meditative for an hour or two during sitting meditation, but one’s meditation is to become one’s very life force, integrated throughout the whole movement of life - daily living is itself the practice. And with enough practice, even the practice disappears, the method disappears into the methodless - and you can, without effort, remain in a meditative consciousness.
…I have them regularly.