Ainslie Meares on Meditation by Ainslie Meares & Owen Bruhn

Author:Ainslie Meares & Owen Bruhn [Meares, Ainslie]
Language: eng
Format: mobi
Publisher: owen bruhn
Published: 2017-06-09T16:00:00+00:00

We are relaxed.

It is all through us.

Feel this.

Experience it.

It is natural.

You do not have to make yourself relax.

You do not have to do anything.

It is there

You just let it come.

It is quite effortless.

It feels good.

We enjoy it

We experience the feeling of the relaxation of our body;

we experience it in our mind.

Meares began facilitating groups by the late 1960s. Below, are prompts he used in large group sessions prior to 1971: 145

Good.

Easy.

Natural.

It's all effortless.

Utterly natural.

Just letting ourselves go.

All effortless.

Natural.

We experience the ease of our body.

It's all through us.

Natural.

Through our whole being.

Deeply.

Just letting ourselves go with it.

Letting go freely.

Ease of it all.

Relaxation of our body.

In our face, in our mind.

Before 1975 another large group session train he reported was 146 :

We are just going to let ourselves relax

very completely.

Let ourselves be at ease while the others come in.

Good.

Easy.

Effortless.

Letting ourselves go.

Ease of it all.

Ease of our body.

Ease of our mind.

Relaxation of our body.

In our face, in our mind.

One compilation 147 , citing a 1970s Meares' article, lists the following phrases: “Good Easy Natural Letting yourself go Effortless All effortless and natural All through us Deeply All through our body All through our mind That's right”

During the RWD period the trains appeared in Meares' publications and he uttered them in his group sessions. Sometimes they were written line by line in italics, sometimes as blocks of text with dashes or dots used to represent pauses. By the mid 1970s, in the Stillness Meditation period, his publications contain no trains. Instead, he wrote paragraphs of free flowing text. If you remove the italics and reformat, the train becomes free flowing text. The format is irrelevant! The words are just a vehicle to convey the simple ideas to be experienced.

By the 1980s in his group sessions when Meares spoke it was usually a word or two, here and there, letting silence fill the air for much of the time. One day in mid-1984 148 he ceased using words but continued uttering even simpler calming sounds (Mmmm etc) and using calming touch during meditation class.

In 1986 149 Meares wrote down some simple prompts for persons learning to teach Stillness Meditation. They are summarised here without the gaps and pauses that were to be used: “Good; That's right.”... “All resting; Feel the relaxation; Everything relaxed; Face relaxed; Eyes relaxed; Our whole self relaxed; In our face; In our mind; Our mind relaxed; Easy, natural, effortless; More Body relaxed; Mind relaxed; Its all through us; The calm of it; Calm in our mind; More; Good; Really good.” Today, teachers of Meares' method continue to use similar prompts at the start of class for a few minutes, then intermittently, and gradually lapse into silence. Today’s teachers use hands placed on the head and shoulders to help communicate calm.

Some people use a few prompts like these simple ones at the start of their own Stillness Meditation practice. An easy gentle slowing prelude to stillness. Other people prefer just feeling the bodily relaxation.

The prompts are like the star pointing finger or a bridge.

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