If relaxation is our doorway, then deep concentration is the door itself. Lacking a doorway, a door simply hides a blank wall – an impassable barrier. Add a doorway, and suddenly the door leads somewhere. In a similar manner, relaxation opens a space for deeper and relatively effortless concentration.
This metaphor points to an important fact about relaxation versus concentration, namely that they are not one and the same thing. That may seem obvious, but some teachers make it seem as if meditation, relaxation and concentration are interchangeable. What’s important to remember is that meditation is at root a relaxation practice which can, if the practitioner so wishes it, set the stage for varying levels of deep concentration as well as other practices.
Continue reading “An Overview of Concentration”