The Dalai Lama describes meditation practice as:
“Try to remain in the natural state. This is a bit like a river which is flowing quite strongly, in which you cannot see the bed of the river clearly. If there was some way you could put an immediate stop to the flow from the direction the water is coming from and the direction the water is flowing to, then you could keep the water still, and that would allow you to see the bed quite clearly.
Similarly, when you are able to stop your mind from chasing after sensory objects and when you can free your mind from being totally “blanked out,” then you will begin to see under this turbulence of the thought processes a kind of underlying stillness, an underlying clarity of mind.”
–from “Healing Anger: The Power of Patience from a Buddhist Perspective” by the Dalai Lama, translated by Geshe Thupten Jinpa, published by Snow Lion Publications .http://www.snowlionpub.com/search.php?isbn=HEAN
The Mind Stream
In the first paragraph, the Dalai Lama is referring to the mind stream. This is the constant flow of thoughts, feelings, and body sensations. As one shifts the focus from the mind stream to the body and the breath there is a natural slowing of the various “sensory objects”. The slowing will look like spaces between thoughts and feelings. There will be a space as one thought ends and another begins. As there is more awareness of these spaces, there is more awareness of the “underlying stillness”. At this point, the meditator can adjust their effort to elongate the spaces. This action is a balance between focus and open relaxation. If the focus on the body and the breath is too rigid it will create a tension in the body and a fight with the mind stream. If there is not enough consistent awareness of the breath then the mind remains turbulent.
Balance of Focus and Open relaxation
One way to think of this balance between focus on the breath and openness is by allowing the awareness to include a portion of the breath, maybe 20 or 30%. The rest of the open awareness is of sounds, sensations, and changes of energy and temperature in the body. In this relaxed openness, the meditator is making room for the unexpected memory, insight, or repressed feelings to arise. If the mind is turbulent in the beginning, it is necessary to apply more focus by counting the out breath 1 through 10 and starting over, or using a mantra instead of numbers. The mantra can be words that are meaningful to you, such as, “accept” on the in breath, “let go” on the out breath. As the body and mind start to relax, the numbers or mantra can be dropped off, and a return to open awareness. If the turbulence returns, then simply return to counting or the mantra. Therefore, meditation is a regulating of focus. All of this is for the purpose of perceiving the “underlying stillness”, the background of “clarity”. As the background is more in balance with the foreground of the mind stream, then there is more balance in the activities and choices of everyday life. The waves are waves and the clarity is the clarity, they are different parts of the same.