A Basic Concentration Meditation

I learned this one from teachings by Shinzen Young. He calls it 'Focus on rest'. It is very relaxing and pleasurable when done correctly.

Sit comfortably, with your back straight. In a chair is fine, but try to keep your back off the rest. Close your eyes. Examine the area of space in front of your closed eyes. It's probably black, with white blobs, maybe some coloured stuff too? It doesn't matter much. All you do, is keep your attention on this space, for as long as you can. It probably won't be very long at first.

Now try doing it with a 'label'. With labelling, what you do is, every few seconds or so, say out loud or in your head a word which you associate with what you are trying to focus on, in this case, the 'blank' space in front of your eyes. Labelling with the word 'blank' works for me, I recommend you do the same for now. The label acts like a laser sight on a gun, keeping your attention on what you want to shoot with it. Out loud labels seem to work best at first, you can drop them as and when you feel like it. Eventually you may not need labels at all.

Don't try too hard to stay attentive, but there should be some effort involved. You want a kind of relaxed, gentle effort. If you get distracted from your blank space, just gently bring the attention back. Distractions can come from outside (sounds, physical sensations, sights; if you have your eyes open) or 'inside' the mind (images, talk, emotional feeling). If we were doing 'insight' meditation, we'd want to observe and investigate these phenomena as they arise, but for now, let's stick to a single meditation object. Just return gently to keeping your awareness on 'blank'. Don't get upset, angry or agitated if you find it difficult to maintain your attention. This is normal! Humans (I assume my readership is human) see to have been designed to be as distractable as possible. Meditation is something you get better at with practice, like a physical exercise. No one expects to win Wimbledon the first time they pick up a tennis racket.

Try for a minute of unbroken concentration. Then five, and progressively more. I usually get into a nice groove after a few minutes, where the meditation becomes easier and more pleasurable. I can't promise that you will get the benefits of meditation straight away, but hopefully, with good instructions, it won't be too long.

I tend to get a nice feeling in my 'third eye' chakra when I'm into a good concentrated groove. I don't know if other people get physical indications like this. This meditation should ultimately make you feel good in some way. Relaxation and a clearing of the mind are two indications. This relaxation should be used as a foundation for another kind of meditation; Insight. We'll come to that another time.

Concentration meditation is the one I come to when my mind is scattered; when I am tired and frazzled; or generally feeling negative. I find I need less sleep when I meditate. I recommend 10 or more minutes of meditation in the morning, just to set your day off right.

I find regular meditation makes my whole life much easier. Getting good at concentration will help you in any task that benefits from concentration. Study, sports, musicianship, video gaming, listening to your friends and family, etc. So, it's not just some useless, esoteric thing, it has 'real' benefits as well as spiritual ones.

Other popular objects that can be used in this meditation are a candle, or the breath. As with everything, experiment and find out what works for you.

You can download and listen to a retreat where Shinzen reveals this technique and several others in much, much more detail here