Four Pillars of Meditation
Virtually all approaches to sitting meditation incorporate four foundational elements – posture, stillness, silence, and breath. In this article I consider the optimal ways to work with each.
Poet and Editor
Johnny Cordova lives on Triveni Ashram in North Central Arizona, where he and his wife co-edit Shō Poetry Journal. His poetry has appeared or is forthcoming in Atlanta Review, New York Quarterly, Salt Hill Journal, Slipstream, and elsewhere.
Virtually all approaches to sitting meditation incorporate four foundational elements – posture, stillness, silence, and breath. In this article I consider the optimal ways to work with each.
It’s ironic that a practice touted as a tool for stress management so often produces anxiety. To understand how this can be the case, it’s necessary to understand that there are two levels of stress in the body.
As your body of attention grows, and as you gradually learn to accept your mind as it is, you will find that the mind likes to be observed, it needs to be observed, is soothed and calmed by being observed.