The incredibly amazing power of sitting perfectly still

Did that title get your attention? Personally I don’t think it’s an exaggeration. Choosing to deliberately sit down and be still can teach us many enormous lessons.  Lets jump straight into it:

1 You can have peace anywhere

Many of us can find moments when we are engaged in a hobby, game or task, where everything else in life drops away even if it is for a few fleeting moments. When we achieve this we are no longer weighed down with our stresses, we are at peace. It’s not uncommon to find people chasing this sensation in their life either deliberately or unconsciously.

This same sensation can be found through sitting. It is tricky, and I would say that for some people finding peace through sitting still is akin to being a black belt (See this blog to find out why).

Is it not worth the pursuit though? If the act of choosing to sit down can bring us the sensation of peace (and reduce our suffering) then we can find peace at just about any moment of any day, and with no extra equipment or faff. All we have to do is find somewhere to sit and make the conscious decision to be still. The impact of being able to find peace even in stillness has the potential to reshape how we engage with every other aspect of our life.

2 Discomfort always arises

I once heard a story that comes from the book Buddhism For Busy People (An easy read or listen) and, paraphrased, it goes a little something like this: 

The author enters into a buddhist meditation centre and the meditation teacher sitting on the stage says

“Before we begin, sit down and make yourself comfy.”

Everyone finds their position and settles down in silence. After about a minute or so somebody shifts their position, maybe they stretched a leg or scratched an itch.

The teacher looks at the student and asks

“Why did you move? Did you not make yourself comfortable”

This simple story points to a fundamental truth that no matter how settled, still, peaceful or content we are, some discomfort will arise and make itself known. No matter who you are and how much physical or mental or spiritual discipline you have mastered, the body, the mind and the external world is in a constant state of flow and we will meet with comfort and discomfort like waves lapping against the shore.

How do we approach work with arising discomfort? That is a topic that goes beyond this short blog. However a good place to begin is to make yourself comfortable, sit perfectly still, and to become aware of where discomfort makes itself known, and then you can begin to observe how you react or how you respond.

3. Nothing Special 

There is no posture that guarantees a deep sense of peace. It is true that sitting upright and reasonably symmetrical helps the lungs to fill evenly and for the breath to reach into our tummy allowing us to shift our centre of balance, slow our heart rate and feel calm.

And the act of choosing a posture serves as a reminder that we are sitting for a purpose, and may also make it less easy to fall asleep. Beyond that, we don’t need to sit full lotus on a mountain top in the setting sun with the blossom falling, or arrange our hands in any particular position (they are perfectly fine resting in the lap, or one sitting on top of the other). We could sit on our suitcase at the airport or on our office chair. 

The type of posture and the location isn’t magical or special. It is the dedication and intention we bring to a continuing practice.

This is literally the first image that appeared when I searched "meditation". It is the intention and the dedication to practice that is important and not how we look on the outside or the location that we are in.

The other thing about being perfectly still, is that at times we get to realise that we are not as important as we think we are, and this can be wonderful. Unless there is an emergency, 3-5 minutes of our taking time out to be still lets us remember that life happens whether or not we intervene. Sometimes, life is even better, such as when our stillness means wild birds or other animals (squirrels and rabbits for example) feel safe to come near us.

When we stop rushing around trying to control the minutiae of our life, we realise that the world continues just perfectly, we are a part of the world.

Both extraordinarily special, and also just specially ordinary.