John led us in a great meditation practice recently at Evolution. I’m fairly new to meditation, so any meditation practice is great to me. I was initially fearful that my mind would take over or I would not be able to sit still for the requisite time period or even worse, that others in the class might see me as a “poser”. But nope. I’m the real thing and I found my Anãpãna Spot and the pulsation of the Universe.
The Anãpãna Spot is the place just below your nostrils where you feel the in-breath and the out-breath. It can be illusive and it can change, but if you close your eyes and breathe for a moment, you’ll find it again.
According to Stephen Snyder in Practicing the Jhanas, The Anãpãna Spot is the “specific spot can be anywhere from the upper lip to the entrance of the nostrils, but not inside the nostrils. The entire sequence of inhalation, pause, exhalation, pause is what is referred to as the “whole breath body.” As a meditator, you know the entire breath body only at the anapãna spot and should not follow the breath into or away from the body. Sometimes the most noticeable spot moves slightly from one day to another, which is fine. However, it is best for the spot to be consistent for an entire meditation period rather than varying it within one sitting. For many people, as sensitivity increases, their particular ãnäpäna spot becomes a consistent, reliable, and even comforting anchor that can then be used to focus awareness on the breath.”
I love the notion of the Anãpãna Spot as a constant companion. Anãpãna Sati, or the meditation on in-and-out breathing, is the first meditation the Buddha taught. He called it the true gateway to enlightenment and recommended that we practice this meditation in the forest, the foot of a tree, or an isolated empty place.
Anybody who practices yoga in Burlington will tell you that Evolution Yoga is not an isolated empty place. Which works out perfectly, as it turns out. The meditation practice John lead embraced the noises all around us.
Check it out:
- Find a comfortable seat, get grounded and heavy. Close your eyes. Bring your focus to your breath.
- As you deepen your focus on your breath (through repetition and gradually letting go of the stresses of the day), bring attention to the place on your upper lip across which you feel the breath gently move.
- Keep your focus on this spot for several minutes, you might feel it tingle (which is really cool).
- Then gradually release that focus and open your ears. Listen to sounds close to you, then listen to the sounds furthest away from you (this far-away listening made me think of the magic Extendable Ear in the Harry Potter books). Let in all the sounds around without judgment.
- Then bring your attention back to the Anãpãna Spot.
- Then focus on the Anãpãna Spot and the most distant sound simultaneously.
This last bit really got me. I could feel a pulsation between my Anãpãna Spot and the most distant sound. It was an incredible sensation of being part of the universe. Maybe this meditation should be called “Experience the Spanda of the Universe in Six Easy Steps”? (The Sanskrit ‘Spanda’ is often translated as the creative pulsation of the universe; the sacred vibration that exists within us.)
I was pretty psyched to have such a great experience in meditation. The Anãpãna Spot probably won’t put Nectar’s out of business. But who knew you could have so much fun sitting still?
image credits: guardian.co.uk and bwzone.wordpress.com