Danis Bois introduced the meditation by explaining the nature of a ‘standard meditation’ as being a meditation intended for everyone, that is based on a protocole designed to improve the fundamental skills required in meditation: listening, observing, sensing/feeling towards enriching a different form of thought.
This meditation begins a series of meditations to the end of the term, that will be focused on “Meditating for ourselves and with ourselves”: “.
With time, I realised that the person I needed most was myself. And that is why I have to take care of myself, always, as it is with me that I am going to spend my whole life.
Giorgia Stella.
And so, we have to learn to meditate with ourself, with ourself, with our emotions, our thoughts, our attitudes, in short with who we are, if indeed we know ourself a little. In the meditation per say, Danis Bois then used a protocole based on the main supports of the meditation.
Meditation
Post-meditation
Danis Bois used a detailed protocole based on each of the essential supports of the meditation, in order to develop meditators’ abilities to become more present to themselves by:
Listening (through the auditory sense)
Listening to the sound atmosphere surrounding us
Setting aside disruptive sounds to turn towards more pleasant sounds such as birdsongs
Turning our attention towards the silence in the room
Connecting with the silence generated by our attitude and the moment when when our attention to the silence becomes a quality of presence
Turning our attention towards the silence in our head,
The silence between my words
And the silence of the group
“ We have listened to the various types silences around us, and listening with this attention enables to become more present to ourselves through the silence”
Oberving, (through the visual sense)
Becoming aware what occurs in our visual field through our closed eyelids
Is there a coloured atmosphere: is it rather light or dark ? colours ? or not ? and what is the prevalent colour, blue or another colour
Observing the nature of this atmosphere and where is it located : something outside showing through, or a more intimate, internal quality , or both outside and inside.
Distinguishing variations in hues or shapes in this visual amosphere, or acknowledging its perfectly stillness
If there is a sense of motion of the visual field, observing its speed and direction
Moving our eyeballs to the right, than the left, up and down and becoming aware that there is another movement that is broader than the movement of the eyeballs,
That enables us to turn our gaze inwards to different parts of the body to become present to the interiority of the body
Sensing, feeling (through the proprioceptive sense)
Holding your attention on the motionlessness of the body
Becoming aware that though motionless in our posture, there may be for some motion inside
Becoming aware that your mind is calm, and you feel stable
He concluded the meditation with these words:
“Let’s ensure that our meditation is not for nothing, that it serves us becoming present to others and to ourselves, in all our actions’.
Danis Bois emphasized that this type of meditation has no particular objective other than being aware that there is, or not, the presence of the inner movement and that the mind is agitated, or calm.
Danis Bois, Doctor of Educational Sciences, has been meditating for more than 40 years and is co-author of the book “Meditation full presence, the 7 ways of access to human warmth” published by Eyrolles. Danis Bois hosts a weekly meditation open to all those interested in meditation, and whose general theme, this quarter, is “Learning to meditate together” “Meditate online live with Danis Bois”
