martial arts, as in ancient times it was used by samurai swordsmen. In martial arts, face to face with the enemy, you must constantly be vigilant, resolute, ready for action. It is enough to relax your attention even for a moment, and you will immediately be amazed.
7

Most schools of meditation use both strategies (“concentrative” and “receptive”), as well as their combination, when the meditator’s attention switches from certain objects or processes (object, breath, etc.) to a sensitive, nothing limited perception of everything that happens, then returns to the object again, etc.
Meditation in daily life
In addition to the special meditation exercises that belong to the two groups mentioned above, meditation in everyday life is also an important and useful form of meditation.
To the question "How much time do you spend on meditation?" some masters answer: “Thirty minutes in the morning for the exercises and ten or twelve hours the rest of the day. Meditation in daily life заключается во внandмательном отношенandand ко всему, чем вы занandмаетесь, будь то работа, свободное время, общенandе. You must be fully aware of what you are doing at any given moment. In other words, you must live in the present tense. This does not mean that you should completely neglect the past or the future. They should be thought of in their connection with the present moment, with the present reality, when such a connection exists. But often people, doing something, in their thoughts are somewhere far from the “here” and “now”, think about their various problems and worries, think about the future. Thus, they do not live in the present tense, and, therefore, they cannot live life to the fullest, receive satisfaction from it, and do the work they do well. It is clear that they cannot fully concentrate on what they are doing. The result is not activity, but the appearance of activity.
In Zen, it is believed that there is no such occupation that a person could not use to influence his consciousness. You just have to pay full attention to what you are doing. An old book says: “A street sweeper should consider his cleaning job as the starting point of meditation. Each activity is equally good as a basis for meditation.”
In the course of meditation, you will learn to focus your attention on one subject or process for a certain time, while avoiding a critical or evaluative attitude. This is important for improving self-organization, increasing concentration. Your ability to set goals and achieve them increases. As the habit of focusing on one thing spreads to other areas of your life, you will find that you become able to recognize those habitual patterns of perception, thought and feeling that previously had a huge impact on your life, while remaining the same. eight

time is beyond the reach of your consciousness. Meditation can also help in solving various problems. The state of relaxation that occurs during meditation will contribute to the regulation of various physiological processes in the body and the achievement of mental balance. At the same time, you will be able to feel more fully your connection with nature, with other people. Each of us is familiar with special light states of the soul, whether caused by pine forest in the sunset rays, whether by the smile of a child taking its first steps, or by love that has suddenly come. Similar states arise during meditation. They help us to realize the connection between the small and the great, the fleeting with the eternal, ourselves with something immeasurably greater. It is only necessary to learn how to systematically and effectively use a simple and natural process available to everyone.
Special topics are meditation on music, forest, field, meadow, flower. They do not fit into the framework of the book, but I will still quote the words of M. M. Prishvin: “I one. I can hear my pulse beating. I see how I quietly swing from his blows. I hear the breath of a purple bell. I love him. He is connected to me. And through my love for the flower, I am connected with the whole great world.
Religious people pray before eating, thank God for food. But it would be nice for an atheist to think for a minute or two before starting to chew and swallow
- about the sun, rain and earth, which are in his food,
- about the people who raised and prepared her,
- about how and with what he earned and deserved this food,
- about the fact that with this food life will enter him,
- about the fact that this food gives him the strength to go along the chosen
way.
Having taken the child from the kindergarten in the evening, tired and hungry, you rush home. You are annoyed by the slowness of the child. “Faster, faster,” you pull his hand. There is still so much to do. And in a hurry, you do not notice the real miracle: a small warm hand in your hand. Think about what connects you. Life passes quickly, our immortality is only in our children. Think about it and you will suddenly feel Eternity in your hand.
The experience gained in meditation helps to better understand other people. Communicating with a person, we often see not him, but one or another category of people that he is. in our opinion, represents: "fat man", "woman", "bureaucrat", "non-Russian". The dispassionate position of the observer, the relaxed approach that meditation teaches, is necessary to free yourself from clichés and see a person as he is: unique, inimitable. Refuse to try to analyze it, look for some hidden motives. See him as just a person. In conversation, and this is the best way of knowing, let the internal position of the interlocutors be the same as in meditation: relaxation, rejection
9

categorical ratings. You are interesting to me. I will be open with you, but I will not impose my opinion. Silence is an element of meditation. And in our conversation, the main thing, perhaps, is not words, but silence, the ability to listen. How often in a dialogue we listen only to ourselves! We revel in our wit and eloquence. It is important to hear not only what the interlocutor is trying to put into words, but also what remains unsaid. Sometimes this is the main thing.
Mechanisms of Meditation
How does meditation “work”, sometimes causing such dramatic changes in a person, both in his body and personality? What is their reason? AT At present, in all sciences studying complex systems, from quantum physics to neurophysiology, attempts to explain this or that phenomenon by one single cause are rejected as an anachronism. AT разлandчных странах мand-ра, в первую очередь в США, Японandand, ФРГ, ЧССР, былand прове-дены научные andсследованandя медandtations. At the same time, the most advanced equipment was used to detect electrophysnological, metabolic and biochemical changes occurring in the body. Based on the experimental results obtained, the study of the reports of meditators, interviews with their relatives and friends, as well as psychological testing, many researchers conclude that classes in meditation groups led to changes that were not noted in the control groups. These changes indicated an improvement in mental health, favorable shifts in personal characteristics, and an increase in the ability for self-realization.
Meditation can be considered to cause changes at all levels of human functioning, from psychological to molecular, and reactions that occur at one level can act as triggers for other levels.
One of the most interesting mechanisms identified by many researchers is the change in the dominance of the hemispheres during meditation. He deserves more attention.
Polarity of our psyche
Ancient Eastern teachings, and later insightful writers, philosophers and psychologists, noted the polar nature of a number of qualities of the human psyche. They saw the difference between intuition and reasoning, imagination and analysis, artistry and criticism, the subconscious and the conscious, inspiration and work.
Academician I. P. Pavlov came to the division of people into artistic and mental types: “Life clearly points to two categories of people: artists and thinkers. Between them
ten

what a difference. Some - artists of all kinds: writers, musicians, painters, etc. - capture reality as a whole, completely, completely, living reality without any fragmentation, without any separation. Others—thinkers—precisely break it up and thereby, as it were, mortify it, making some kind of temporary skeleton out of it, and then only gradually, as it were, reassemble its parts again and try to revive them in such a way that they never quite succeed.
Исследованandя головного мозга, осуществленные за последнandе два десятandлетandя, прandблandжают нас к научному понandманandю явле-нandй, на которые обратandлand внandманandе and древнandе учandтеля ATостока, and велandкandй фandзandолог. It turned out that the hemispheres of the brain are specialized: each of them has certain functions. AT веденandand левого полушарandя находятся такandе вandды дея-тельностand, как речь, чтенandе, пandсьмо, счет, решенandе задач, требую-щandх прandмененandя логandкand. The left hemisphere is responsible for rational, analytical thinking. The right hemisphere is directly related to the figurative, synthetic, "holistic" perception of reality, without its crushing.
The hemispheres of the brain are connected by the corpus callosum, a layer of nerve fibers. It makes possible communication between the hemispheres at a rate measured in thousands of pulses per minute.
With the dominance of the left hemisphere, a person has a desire for a reliable, known, proven, a desire to avoid the new, some isolation, stiffness in behavioral reactions, some rigidity and stubbornness, a flexible "I".
With the dominance of the right hemisphere, a person is more inherent in the desire for a new, unknown, openness and ease in behavior, flexibility and compliance in contacts, a changing, flexible "I".
I remember the distant school years, the lesson at which the teacher called Timosha - a