Christopher invites you to choose any gateway into meditation: a mantra, the rising and falling of the breath, a picture, a prayer, a wish or the flickering flame of a candle. Whatever you choose, you bring the same easy quality of attention you use when a good book pulls you in, and you allow it to be interesting. He explains that a mantra is a tool for the mind, a way of using the mind to free the mind.
'We allow the breath to be interesting. We allow the mantra to be interesting.'
Read more
More from the course
So Hum: A Guided Mantra Meditation for Beginners
2:10
Guided Breath Awareness: Notice the Breath, or Being Breathed
2:15
Sometimes Calm Needs Fire: Bellows Breath and Box Breathing
1:13
Questions people ask
What can I focus on when I meditate?
Christopher names many gateways: a mantra, the rising and falling of the breath, a picture, a photo, a prayer, a wish or the flickering flame of a candle. Whatever your chosen access is, you use the same quality of attention. You allow the candle flame, the breath or the mantra to be interesting, rather than forcing yourself to focus on it.
What does the word mantra mean?
Christopher explains that mantra comes from the word mind and the word tool: a tool for the mind. He shares a saying he heard attributed to India, that you use a thorn to remove a thorn. A mantra uses the mind to free the mind. You choose something to lightly focus on, let it be interesting, and then set yourself free to be effortless.
Do I have to concentrate hard on my meditation object?
No. In this clip from Lesson 1, Christopher describes a light quality of attention. You give yourself into the object and allow it to be interesting, the way a good book draws you in, without straining to hold your focus. Types of Meditation looks at how this differs from other approaches.