Relaxation and Concentration

An Italian friend told us a joke about two Carabinieri (a sort of Italian national police force who take the brunt of a lot of “dumb” jokes.) They got the “not too bright” reputation because, when Mussolini created this group, he was afraid they might rebel so he drew them from areas with various dialects. It turned out that they couldn’t communicate with each other. Go figure! Anyway, two Carabinieri were riding in a car and the driver, not sure if the turn signals were working, asked the passenger to roll down his window and check. The second one stuck his head out the window and reported, “Now they are, now they aren’t, now they are, now they aren’t…” It is even funnier in Italian, “Adesso si, adesso no, adesso si…”

Sometimes my ability to concentrate during meditation feels a little like that – now I am, now I’m not, now I am… Here are a few things I’ve found that can help. First, I can’t concentrate unless I relax. Physical tensions are little knots of life-force distributed throughout the body and unavailable for focused attention. So the first solution is to relax all the voluntary muscles. Go through the body from the feet to the head consciously releasing all tension. Start your meditations with a deep relaxation and then periodically make sure you are still relaxed by checking for tension in the jaw, tongue, and face.

Next we need to relax all the mental energy committed to worrying or thinking about projects. I’ve found that if I determinedly let these little problems go, when I sit to meditate they will wait for me to finish.

Finally, I can’t relax very well unless I focus my attention on something. Paramhansa Yogananda said people watching a movie are like good yogis, deeply concentrated. If the mind doesn’t have a focal point it just stays restless like those Carabinieri’s lights. The trick is to focus on something that internalizes the life force. That is why we are told to watch the breath or look into the light at the spiritual eye between the eyebrows. Controlling the life-force and concentrating it at the spiritual eye is how we will find enlightenment.

Relaxation and concentration are linked together, so if we want to meditate, we need to start by relaxing physically and mentally. We’ll also find a lot more joy that way.

With joy,
Nayaswami Jyotish