Diving Right In and Learning To Float

“Turn off your mind. Relax, and float downstream. It is not dying.” -The Beatles

Level I -- Transcendence: 1st Month, Day 1
Prelude:
As I unroll the yoga mat and prepare to assume a comfortable position, I'm feeling excited about what I am taking on for the next 6 months. The preparation and steps leading up to what I'm about to do, have taken the same amount of time as the number of weeks that will be recorded here as part of the process. Thus begins my audio brainwave entrainment for thirty minute sessions each day, for six days a week and with one day a week off, for the next thirty days.

For this first session, I'm going to be in my office, with the phone silenced, and the computer speakers turned off, so that there are no interruptions. Leslie has taken our dog Nikita for their usual morning walk around the neighborhood, and will be gone for the next hour or so.

I've got an overhead fan blowing directly down on me, and there's a few wisps of Nag Champa incense drifting towards the open window. I push the start button on the CD player, and the room starts to fill with the sound of running water.

So to begin with, I close my eyes and try to stop. Stop what? The interior monologue that starts babbling. Thoughts which do not need to be accounted for, but which may slow me down and delay me from achieving my goals. The goals I intend to reach in order to grow.

Lesson #1: I must learn about myself to grow. I must listen to myself to learn. I must learn a very difficult thing in order to listen, and that is to stop the incessant voice in my head. Stop thinking completely.

Relax, and float downstream. It is not easy...

I tried to stop doing anything. I tried to stop thinking, and I became aware that I was starting to relax. Good. Now it was time to start breathing exercises. Inhale...count to five...then hold my breath for a count of five...then exhale for five...then hold for five more. In, hold, out, hold. Repeat.

OK, now I was starting to get somewhere. The cycles of breathing were taking on a rhythm. And all of the sudden I was floating, and it was quite pleasant...

I relaxed further and completely let go, and the sounds of water continued to flow under me, around me and over me, and finally after a while...the water flowed right through me.

Abstract:
Dr. Ainslie Meares was a psychiatrist and scholar of hypnotism. He was also a prolific author of books like "Where Magic Lies", "Strange Places and Simple Truths", "My Soul and I", and "Life Without Stress: the Self Management of Stress". Meares believed that meditation is most effective when simplified to it's most essential --nothing more than simple stillness-- rather than using mantras, or as a technique involving mechanics such as focused attention on objects.

His approach was all about stillness and relaxation, and emptying the mind of all thoughts. The major difference between classic approaches to meditation and Meares' approach, was apparently based on his emphasis on mental stillness and relaxation, as opposed to only physical relaxation. He was even known for demanding that those learning his techniques would sit in uncomfortable positions, and in addition, allow the noise of the city to come in through open windows. His teaching process showed that he wanted his students' progress to be gained from internal stillness, in spite of external influences that could create stress.

For Meares, "The key to our management of stress lies in those moments when our brain runs quietly in a way that restores harmony of function..." (Life Without Stress).

Meares describes it further in Life Without Stress, "In the meditation that I would advise you to practise there is no striving, no activity of brain function, just quietness, a stillness of effortless tranquility."

His viewpoint shows that brain functions would still be engaged even when using such classical ways of focusing attention as counting, breathing, or visualization.
For him, brain function meant the brain was engaged even when using classical ways of attention to the breath, visualization or counting.

Postlude:
Based on this approach, it would seem that the most important immediate step would be to completely let go. This would mean letting go of any expectations, and letting go of any thoughts that might arise as this progressed. I could tell that the stillness would come in little bits, and then increase to longer amounts, and continue until the stillness took the place of any need to assess anything about myself or about the process. In Meares' words "just being" rather than being about the experience or otherwise engaging the mind. Instead, what was most important was to relax the brain, in order to relax the mind itself.

I had just experienced the kind of meditation that entirely stilled my mind for at least twenty minutes. By this first step I had already found a benefit from feeling rested in several areas of my body, and my mind was certainly functioning with great clarity and precision. I was impressed. This was inspiring, and I had to write down a few things right away, but I was ready to go back to the outer world. And more importantly, I was entirely free of stress and ready for great things to happen.