Is meditation like taming a wild animal ?

[Phil2]

Of course there is no absolute definition of meditation, but through my own daily practice I see meditation more and more as a "taming" process ... hence also a healing process ...

Why is it so ?

During meditation all kinds of thoughts and emotions come to the surface of consciousness, and in this 'process' you cannot escape, you have to face those emotions, which can often be painful, generating stress and tensions in the body ... there can be no 'distraction' from those emotions, so we have to face them fully and then dissolve those tensions in the body ...

Generally, during normal daily activities, people tend to avoid painful experiences, but in meditation there is no avoidance, no escape ... so living those emotions fully, this is how the past hurts and wounds can he healed ... and this frees the wild wounded animal within ourselves ...

This is indeed like taming of a wild fearful animal ... and a very cunning one ...

[Onceler]

Does the stress and painful emotions decrease thru meditation, or just keep coming, newly arising each day?

[randomguy]

I can follow the analogy of the wild animal. A wild animal can be a scary thing to encounter just like exploring the patterns of thought and emotion and long held defenses. When you say meditation I think of meditation of a surrendered nature like Adyashanti's "let everthing be as it is" or "rest as awareness". In my experience it is just a matter of time before attention falls upon some conditioned tension or long held emotional body/mind pattern. Here in this spirit of meditation the 'taming' could be said to be doing nothing. It is like taming with the open space that is already there. Like the wild animal is in the vastness of space with its paws touching nothing going nowhere biting nothing. The threat is felt, the fear is felt, but there is no power to it and no real teeth. Just as with the thoughts about the one meditating, just unfolding on through awareness, no substance to it.

[Phil2]

Does the stress and painful emotions decrease thru meditation, or just keep coming, newly arising each day?

What is certain is that your level of stress decreases in the meditation process, at the end of a meditation session you feel quite relaxed and fresh ...

Now your question might refer to the 'long-term' effect of meditation ... from my experience meditation seems to heal and solve definitively past wounds and emotional situations which have been 'relived' consciously during meditation ... but then other situations arise (and it could be said that your 'defense system' allows those emotions to arise, like you would allow to come nearer to a wild dangerous animal which can hurt you), and those new emotions in turn need to be healed too ... until (I guess here) all becomes 'clear' and solved ... but I'm not there yet ... and I build no expectations, I just allow it to happen (which means I 'drop' my defenses as much as I can, I don't resist) ... and I also enjoy the experience of meditation in the present moment ... it is a nice experience ... the best moment in my day in fact ...

[Enlightened2B]

Phil, you should check out 'Taming the Tiger' by Akong Rinpoche. One of the first books on meditation/mindfulness that I read. It goes directly along with what you are referring to here in the sense that the 'mind is like an animal' that needs to be tamed.

I'm actually working through a book right now called the 'presence process' by Michael Brown. It's a 10 week course which goes directly along with Eckhart's teachings on dealing with past emotions and emotional healing.

[Onceler]

Thanks, Phil2. I don't mediate anymore, at least formally, but it's good to know how it affects others.

[Phil2]

Phil, you should check out 'Taming the Tiger' by Akong Rinpoche. One of the first books on meditation/mindfulness that I read. It goes directly along with what you are referring to here in the sense that the 'mind is like an animal' that needs to be tamed.

Thanks, never heard of that book, I will check that with much interest ...



... and I discover just now on amazon that there is another similar title "Taming the Tiger within" by Thich Nhat Hanh ... good ...

[dijmart]

Generally, during normal daily activities, people tend to avoid painful experiences, but in meditation there is no avoidance, no escape ... so living those emotions fully, this is how the past hurts and wounds can he healed ... and this frees the wild wounded animal within ourselves ...

I've never been a meditator per se, self inquiry is about as close to meditation as I've done, which was very powerful in showing me my true nature. Actually, for me, some of the greatest insights and burning of the ego have come during normal daily activities or writing on this forum, then reflecting on them or right there in the moment having ah ha moments. One of my last big ego trips, that knocked me over the head when I realized it, was actually with you Phil, on this forum! I grew so much from that, I don't think meditation would have brought that to the surface. For me, it's others that reflect my ego back to me that works, it brings past hurts to the surface to be recognized and to get burned up, but to each their own!

[Onceler]

I agree, dijmart. I don't meditate anymore and the world and circumstance seem to meet my rising issues nicely. Self inquiry or just touching on myself briefly is powerful stuff. I tend to redirect my attention to something else, usually external, when something negative comes up. I do this purposefully sometimes and other times it just happens. Sometimes I think that I am avoiding things or repressing, on the other hand, I was miserable when I attended to every flowering neurosis in my little garden. I don't really feel a need to anymore. Time will tell.

[dijmart]

I agree, dijmart. I don't meditate anymore and the world and circumstance seem to meet my rising issues nicely. Self inquiry or just touching on myself briefly is powerful stuff. I tend to redirect my attention to something else, usually external, when something negative comes up. I do this purposefully sometimes and other times it just happens. Sometimes I think that I am avoiding things or repressing, on the other hand, I was miserable when I attended to every flowering neurosis in my little garden. I don't really feel a need to anymore. Time will tell.

My loose rule of thumb for myself is dealing with what arises naturally through experience, that obviously needs attention. My feelings and reactions guide me well, to what these issues are and when they arise I feel it's the right time for them to arise and be dealt with or they wouldn't have arose. However, I do not force something to arise if it's not currently in my experience. I do not force myself to go back to every issue I've ever had in the past and analyze it, ruminate over it until it's dead. No, if it's still an issue it "will" arise in some fashion to be dealt with. If I miss that opportunity, there will be others .

You might be avoiding or repressing? but only you know if that is what you're doing.

[Phil2]

One of my last big ego trips, that knocked me over the head when I realized it, was actually with you Phil, on this forum! I grew so much from that, I don't think meditation would have brought that to the surface. For me, it's others that reflect my ego back to me that works, it brings past hurts to the surface to be recognized and to get burned up, but to each their own!

Sure Di, I remember quite well your "ego trip"

... and I also noticed when you have let go some days later ...

Jiddu Krishnamurti used to speak of the 'mirror of relationships', it is in our interactions with others that we discover ourselves ... but of course when our ego is 'triggered' by some event, meditation can be used to observe in ourselves the exact nature of this ego, all the stress, all the tensions, all those bad feelings and emotions ... and from this observation without resistance or judgement, we can progressively make the unconscious conscious and 'tame' (and heal too) this wild animal inside ...

[dijmart]

when our ego is 'triggered' by some event, meditation can be used to observe in ourselves the exact nature of this ego, all the stress, all the tensions, all those bad feelings and emotions ... and from this observation without resistance or judgement, we can progressively make the unconscious conscious and 'tame' (and heal too) this wild animal inside ...

I do everything you mentioned, but with out "officially" meditating. When I think of meditating it's the whole eyes closed, sitting indian style on the floor, complete silence, so on and so forth.. that I don't do. I could be sitting on my couch, listening to music, looking out into my yard and do the same that you are referring too. So, my point is that if meditating isn't someone's cup of tea they can still achieve the same goal, just in a different way. Perhaps, it's a personality thang, I don't know.

[Phil2]

I do everything you mentioned, but with out "officially" meditating. When I think of meditating it's the whole eyes closed, sitting indian style on the floor, complete silence, so on and so forth.. that I don't do.

Yes, I agree Di, meditation doesn't need to be the formal 'Indian sitting position' in so-called lotus ... personally I meditate sitting in a sofa and drinking my cup of tea ... or it can even happen lying on my bed ...

The key thing is the attention centered on the body and not being carried away by thoughts (without repressing thoughts when they arise) and also of course not falling asleep ...

[dijmart]

and also of course not falling asleep ...

Yep, that would be me, if my eyes were closed!

[Onceler]

I actually think its a nice way to fall asleep!