Celebrating "Silent Day" in Bali with mindfulness meditation

The day after the fnew moon of the ninth lunar month is the Balinese New Year.  The locals call it Nyepi, but it's also known as "Silent Day" or "The Day of Silence." This is because the entire country goes silent for one day.  All external activities cease. There are no TV broadcasts, no driving and not electricity. Even the airport shuts down for the day.

The forced day of silence and peace was just what I needed and one of the reasons why I choose to go to Bali at this time.

My day of silence included two mindfulness mediations -- one at 9 am and one under the stars at 9 p.m.   The sessions were conducted by Nan, who is a former Buddhist nun.  She studied the Dharma in monasteries throughout Asia and has been meditating for nearly a decade.

The style of mediation she practices is called "mindfulness," and it's great for Type A personalities like me who have trouble staying focused and are constantly planning, thinking and doing.  In fact, even as I'm typing this I'm already thinking of what I need to do next.

Mindfulness mediation comes from the Buddhist vipassana mediation and the goal of it is not to force your mind to be quiet for an hour, but to learn to be mindful.  What this means is that as you do your meditation, whether it's 10 minutes or a few hours, that you are doing it with the intention of focusing on what's happening in the present moment.  This means turning off the multi-tasking thoughts that we have about what you need to do in the future or what has happened in the past.  You are to focus on what's happening at that time, which is nothing. You are sitting and breathing.  That's all you need to worry about.

It sounds simple, but it's harder to stay in the moment. Thankfully, mindfulness meditation accepts that people's minds move faster than the speed of light, so part of the meditation is accepting and non-judging when your focus wanders for a brief second or so.

"Your mind is like a spider that sits in the center of its web.  It sits there, but is constantly aware of what's going on. When something touches the web, it senses this, but then goes back to the center," explained Nan. "This is what mindfulness mediation is. When you hear something or feel something, acknowledge it -- but then go back to the center and refocus."

Now that I can do.