How To: Meditative Sky-Gazing

At first traditional meditation was very difficult for me. Sitting? Crossing my legs? Straightening my back? Easing into it? All of these things felt like an imaginary checklist I was attempting to tick off each time I tried meditation. I was focusing more on what I thought I needed to be doing to relax all the while, fully not relaxing. I eventually found my own favorite way to help me ‘zen out’.

Image courtesy of Clyde RS

Within Tibetan Buddhism there is a meditation practice called Sky Gazing. This tradition comes from an emphasizes resting in a natural state, free from conceptual elaborations. When in this natural state, it can feel entirely open and clear in your mind — very freeing. Many of us have experienced this state of ‘spontaneous awareness’ while staring at the sun without realizing it.

I can’t stop gazing…

Sky Gazing cuts through many of the challenges people have when they learn to meditate. You can’t help but relax, gaze at the sky, and explore what’s happening at that moment. This can be at day or night thankfully for us ‘gazers’. You can do this practice with the clear blue sky or at night among the stars. My preference heavily depends on where I am. Stars are better for gazing at in warmer, open sky, low light polluted areas while clouds/sky are better for me during colder months in the park or my backyard.

After the brain, our eyes are arguably the most complex organ in our bodies, containing more than 200 million working parts. Don’t believe me? Look at the perhaps familiar optical illusions that require gazing below. What do you see?

Are the circles spinning? (Image courtesy of michaelbach.de)

Is this staircase really ‘impossible’ to end? (Image courtesy of michaelbach.de)

One of the most reassuring thing for me in regards to Sky Gazing is that just as our minds are always ‘here’ with us, so is the sky. It’s…