{"product_id":"meditacio-1-het","title":"Meditation Level 1","description":"\u003cp class=\"p1\"\u003eThrough meditation, we have managed to turn something quite simple into something terribly overcomplicated. If someone says the word \"meditation,\" many people immediately picture someone floating above life, sitting cross-legged, eyes closed, in complete silence, with some incense burning in the corner, having not thought about anything for twenty minutes.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"p1\"\u003eNow, this is the point where most people give up right away, because you cannot *not* think about anything, and that isn't the point either; nor does the human brain work like a button you can press to stop all thought. If you try, after about thirty seconds you will be thinking about what you need to do tomorrow, whether someone replied to your message, whether your jerk boss will still be a jerk tomorrow, why your back hurts, or how much time has actually passed since you sat down.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"p1\"\u003eAnd this doesn't mean you are meditating incorrectly—this is the practice itself.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"p1\"\u003eAt the first level, the goal is not to clear your mind at all. You don't need to achieve any special state, you don't need to be enlightened, float, or feel like you have suddenly become one with the universe. At the first level, we learn only one thing: \u003cb\u003eto stop for a few minutes while doing nothing else.\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"p1\"\u003eThis sounds ridiculously simple at first, but if you shut out all noise around you—truly everything—it will be the longest 10 minutes of your life, provided you can keep your eyes closed that long.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"p1\"\u003eWe live in a surprisingly shitty world—I don't know if we feel that way because of the phone, or if it became that way because of the phone—but we are hit with such a volume of stimuli every single minute that if you eliminate those stimuli for just 10 minutes, those 10 minutes of silence will be louder than everything that surrounded you before.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"p1\"\u003eI have a thought that goes: if we want society to collapse, let's turn off the internet everywhere. Because often, we don't bring something down by attacking it with great force; it is much more effective to simply take something away. And right now, we are taking away the noise, and we are trying to endure the silence and everything it brings with it.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"p1\"\u003eThis is the primary task of the first level. To be able to endure the silence, which is not about becoming something, but about not wanting to go anywhere for a few minutes.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"p1\"\u003eSo, sit down in a place where you aren't expected to be disturbed for a few minutes. You don't need perfect silence, you don't need a special meditation room. You don't need a candle, incense, a Buddha statue on the sideboard, you don't need any feng shui, but what you absolutely do need is to put your phone on airplane mode.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"p1\"\u003eNow, this will be the toughest part, but even just from turning that piece of crap off, you will feel totally relaxed because in the phone, constant availability and standby mode are the worst things.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"p1\"\u003eYou can sit on a chair, a sofa, the edge of the bed, or even on the floor. The only important thing is to sit comfortably, but preferably with a straight back. Do not lie down, because the goal of this exercise is not to fall asleep.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"p1\"\u003eSet your phone for \u003cb\u003efive minutes\u003c\/b\u003e. Just that, no more; five minutes is plenty for the first level. Put the phone down so you cannot see the screen. Rest your hands loosely on your thighs or in your lap. Close your eyes, if that's comfortable. If not, look at a point in front of you, and at first, just sit there and do nothing.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"p1\"\u003eObserve that you are there, observe how your body touches the chair, where your feet touch the ground, where your hands are, what it feels like to be in your body right now. You don't need to analyze, you don't need to decide if it's good or bad. Just notice it.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"p1\"\u003eThen, bring your attention to your breathing, but it is very important that you do not try to change it. We are not doing a breathing exercise, so you don't need to breathe deeper or slower, you don't need to count the seconds, and you don't need to hold your breath either. Simply observe the breathing that is happening in you anyway, all on its own. You inhale, you exhale, then you inhale again and exhale again. That's all there is to it.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"p1\"\u003eYou can observe the air passing through your nose, notice the subtle movement of your chest, or even how your stomach rises and falls with every single breath. There is no right or wrong solution, and you don't need to look for any special feeling. Choose the one that is easiest to follow, and stay with that for a few moments.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"p1\"\u003eThen, at some point, your attention will wander. That is almost certain. It will pop into your head what you still need to do today, when you have to get up tomorrow, whether someone has replied to a message, that you should lose 3 kilos, or why you said something yesterday the way you said it. You might not even notice immediately that you haven't been watching your breath for a while; it can easily happen that you’ve been mentally somewhere else for twenty or thirty seconds before you suddenly realize that you should be meditating right now.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"p1\"\u003eWell, this exact moment is the reason we are doing all of this.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"p1\"\u003eMeditation is not when you concentrate perfectly for five minutes, no thoughts cross your mind, and you enter some special state of tranquility. One of the most important parts of meditation is precisely that moment when you realize your attention has wandered, and then you simply, without any particular drama, bring it back to where you originally directed it: your breath.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"p1\"\u003eIt’s like that. Our thoughts live their own lives; in meditation, you just notice that you think you control your thoughts, but in fact, your thoughts control you, your actions, your decisions, everything. The point when you realize this is when you will also realize that your life is not determined by you, but by your involuntary thoughts darting in different directions, and you are just running after them. And when this realization happens, that is when you will start to engage with meditation, because the essence of meditation is exactly this: Control your thoughts. Master your feelings, calm down when you need to calm yourself.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"p1\"\u003eThat is why we are here, for control, and to finally take back control over our lives.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"p1\"\u003eBringing back your attention—this is the true essence of the first level. It is not about being perfectly calm, it is not about your thoughts disappearing, and especially not about getting up after five minutes as a completely different person. The point is to start noticing something that we notice surprisingly rarely in our daily lives: where our attention is wandering, and whether we are capable of consciously redirecting it to where we want it to be.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"p1\"\u003eWhen the five minutes are up, don't jump up immediately and don't start the next task right away. Stay in the same position for a few more seconds, take a completely natural breath, then slowly open your eyes, and simply observe how you feel. You don't need to feel better, you don't need to be calmer, and you don't need to experience any special change. Just notice what is inside you at that moment.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"p1\"\u003eThat is the first level of meditation. Nothing mystical, nothing overcomplicated, nothing holistic, otherworldly, no \"realization,\" finding a path; you don't even need to find peace. You sat down for a few minutes, watched your breathing, wandered off, and brought your attention back. For now, that is exactly what we have to do.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"p1\"\u003eDo this five-minute exercise at least \u003cb\u003etwice a week\u003c\/b\u003e. It is easiest if you do it around the same time on weekdays. In the morning after waking up, before work, in the afternoon, or in the evening—it doesn't matter at all. Regularity is much more important than finding the \"perfect\" time.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"p1\"\u003eDuring the first week, don't increase the time even if it feels easy. The goal is not to break records on who can sit still the longest. First, we want these few minutes to become a natural part of your day. And if at first you feel that there were an awful lot of thoughts in your head, then I have one piece of good news and one piece of bad news.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"p1\"\u003eThe bad news is that there were probably this many all along.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"p1\"\u003eAnd the good news is that for the first time, you have started to notice them.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Tiian Digital","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":54757727568205,"sku":null,"price":0.0,"currency_code":"HUF","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0958\/2952\/4813\/files\/6deedf9a-5f63-48b1-807f-a2004ca3c071.png?v=1789826156","url":"https:\/\/tiian.com\/en\/products\/meditacio-1-het","provider":"Tiian","version":"1.0","type":"link"}