As an introduction and following the many reactions to the use of the term movement without a name, Danis Bois referred to the difficulty of giving a name to a movement that is not in a specific place (neither inside nor outside), is at the same time in motion and motionless, and has neither beginning nor end or origin.
The objective of the meditation this week was to look at the dynamics of the movement without a name that is “at the same time in motion and motionless”, so that we are in effect “on a journey without moving”, a notion that Danis Bois borrow from Fernando Pessoa who used it in a different context.
Entering into the meditative state
Après avoir établi les 3 conditions de base de la méditation : fermer les paupières, garder le silence et s’installer dans une posture immobile. Danis Bois a accordé une attention particulière à cette dernière condition cette semaine afin de guider les méditants à atteindre une immobilité complète qui, pour l’œil extérieur, peut donner l’impression que les méditants ne font rien.
Il a souligné que l’on peut apprendre beaucoup de choses de cette qualité particulière de calme et, pour illustrer ses propos, il a utilisé l’analogie de l’herbe ou de l’arbre qui pousse, et pourtant nous ne le voyons pas grandir, bien qu’il le fasse, inexorablement.
Step-by-step process
In this meditation Danis Bois guided the meditators towards experiencing :
- How can we move whilst we remain motionless – settling into the motionlessness, of every part of the body and the body as a whole, and ackowledging the effects of that complete stillness on our ability to listen to the silence, find stability and apease the mind, before embarking on the search for another reality that is moving and changing.
- The eloquence of silence: When silence is stronger than words, it conveys a maximum of presence – by an attentive attention to silence, moving from stillness to presence and a sense of being, and then silence transforms into a substance on motion, and what was motionless is set in motion, giving the feeling that we are travelling
- Being on a motionless journey – though we are in a state of calm and stability, and perfectly motionless, we gradually become aware of an energy in motion, that we are in a process where something, somewhere within us, changes, continuously. Life in motion touching us and awakening psychological as well as bodily states.
- The present moment travels within us – This continuous motion is an expression of perception as it changes every instant, taking us to become present to time as it unravels – the now moment embodied. Our awareness of this ensures that we remain rooted in the here and now, present to ourselves and we can then experience this present moment as it, taking us on a journey to what is greater than we are.
Platon use to say that time is the moving image of the stillness of eternity.
I am not sure that eternity stands still. However, it is by being completely still that we journey the furthest.
Danis Bois
How to participate
Danis Bois, Doctor of Educational Sciences, has been meditating for more than 40 years and is co-author of the book “Full-Presence Meditation: The Seven Ways to Access Human Warmth” published in France by Eyrolles. Danis Bois hosts a weekly meditation open to people interested in meditation, who already have some prior experience of meditation. The general theme of the current series of meditation is: “Learning to meditate together” “Meditate online live with Danis Bois”
