Hugging Meditation?

I just finished read an article from Brain Pickings about the Great Zen Buddhist Teacher Thich Nhat Hanh on how to do 'hugging meditation'. It is really interesting one. It is beautiful to know that we can have some kind 'meditation' together with our beloved one.

Yes, only with hugging to each other.

Well, just a bit intermezzo. Some things that I know, meditation is a good and healthy way to keep your mind and heart stay positive and to develop compassion, love, patience and forgiveness. Even if we have a bad or good day, we still can spend our time to meditate from all of our routiness. It is good to make your mind clear just a bit from every things that interrupting your whole day.

At first, I was thinking that meditation have similar meaning with doing Yoga. Well, I am totally wrong. Yoga which coming from Sanskrit words, basically means 'union'. It means the connection between soul (the individual) and spirit (God or universe). Patanjali, an ancient sage, is credited with formulating what is known as the Eight Limbs of Yoga. Without getting into too much detail they are as follows:

1. Yama (Do’s)

2. Niyama (Don’ts)

3. Asanas (Positions)

4. Pranayama (Control of breath or Life Force)

5. Pratyahara (Sense Withdrawal)

6. Dharana (Concentration)

7.Dhyana (Meditation) and

8. Samadhi (Spiritual Ecstasy).

That's the basic meaning of Yoga. Now let's we move to the meditation! Meditation comes from the word “Dhyana” (the 7th limb of yoga) and is essentially a state of awareness or consciousness. This, in the beginning, is a spiritual state where the practicing yogi has successfully turned his or her attention inward, shutting off the senses and outer distractions and transcends the restless mind. What is important to note is that meditation is not a verb or an act. It is technically a misnomer to say that you are “meditating.” One cannot truly meditate; they can only do certain things and practice to bring about the state of meditation or dhyana.

- (Source by: Lateef Warnick)

An English for meditation iteself is derived from Latin meditatio, from a verb meditari, meaning "to think, contemplate, devise and ponder."

- (Source by: An universal etymological English dictionary 1773, London, by Nathan Bailey)

There are just a bit introduction about 'meditation' and 'yoga'. Well, let's go back to the article that I read in Brain Pickings today. I will put some quotes that I found really important for us to know what is the 'hugging meditation' itself? What's the meaning and the purpose? And, why we should try to do that meditation?

To surmount this cultural barrier of communication, Nhat Hanh devised a fusion of East and West furnishing a universal human language for what everybody needs — a practice he called “hugging meditation,” which, in requiring that we disarm all of our chronic cynicisms, appears at first intolerably awkward but blossoms into deeply rewarding:

"According to the practice, you have to really hug the person you are holding. You have to make him or her very real in your arms, not just for the sake of appearances, patting him on the back to pretend you are there, but breathing consciously and hugging with all your body, spirit, and heart. Hugging meditation is a practice of mindfulness. “Breathing in, I know my dear one is in my arms, alive. Breathing out, she is so precious to me.” If you breathe deeply like that, holding the person you love, the energy of your care and appreciation will penetrate into that person and she will be nourished and bloom like a flower."

At the heart of hugging meditation, Nhat Hanh points out, are the core Zen principles of interconnectedness and “interbeing,” with each other as well as with the universe. With the great simplicity and sincerity of Zen writings, he considers both the interpersonal and the intrapersonal rewards of the practice:

"When we hug, our hearts connect and we know that we are not separate beings. Hugging with mindfulness and concentration can bring reconciliation, healing, understanding, and much happiness. The practice of mindful hugging has helped so many people to reconcile with each other — fathers and sons, mothers and daughters, friends and friends, and so many others."

Nhat Hanh outlines both the philosophical foundations and practical steps to mastering this delicate art of holding one another’s wholeness while fully inhabiting that blink of existence:

"Hugging is a deep practice; you need to be totally present to do it correctly. When I drink a glass of water, I invest one hundred percent of myself in drinking it. You can train yourself to live every moment of your daily life like that.

Before hugging, stand facing each other as you follow your breathing and establish your true presence. Then open your arms and hug your loved one. During the first in-breath and out-breath, become aware that you and your beloved are both alive; with the second in-breath and out-breath, think of where you will both be three hundred years from now; and with the third in-breath and out-breath, be aware of how precious it is that you are both still alive.

When you hug this way, the other person becomes real and alive. You don’t need to wait until one of you is ready to depart for a trip; you may hug right now and receive the warmth and stability of your friend in the present moment."