The 5 Pillars of Stillness Meditation
Owen teaches the 5 pillars Stillness Meditation Touch Therapy system as the late Dr Ainslie Meares taught it to him and wrote about it in his many books. The 5 pillars are:
P1. Solo Stillness Meditation.
P2. Meditation Progression. Incremental addition of slight difficulty.
P3. Living in calm and ease.
P4. Meditation Support Factors.
P5. Stillness powered Touch Therapy.
Modified Versions
Some teachers of Stillness Meditation have modified Meares' system. Provided that the essential stillness is present in meditation these modified version work.
But, they could work better. For example, some teachers say they don't understand how Meares got such good results so quickly. If they taught 5 pillars as Meares did the question would not arise.
Generally speaking, the modified versions sit in chairs with a “talking” teacher, minor (or no) touch and learn to be calmer in daily life. Ease is not cultivated by meditation gradually adding increments of slight difficulty. This ease from meditation progression is thus lacking.
A comparison of modified versions with the 5 Pillars system is outlined below:
P1 (Stillness Meditation) may be similar assuming effortlessness rather than focus is taught. P1 is impacted by diminished or absent P2-P5.
P2 is virtually absent. No increments means no meditation progression.
P3 is diminished without ease facilitated by P2.
P4 is weak or absent. Support factors are forgotten or glossed over.
P5 is weakened. Touch is downsized or absent with much more talk.
One academic who doesn't touch claims Meares' had a second teaching method involving only talk. It is said to be in one of Meares' books. Books use the written word. Without written words, there can be no “textbooks” as in instructional and self help books. Meares wrote down his set of instructions so readers unable to see him might learn how to experience Stillness in solo meditation from reading a book. [NB Meares' readable instructions are in Ainslie Meares on Meditation.].
Meares writes:- “Touch says what words cannot say... As we let our minds go still together, the process is greatly intensified by some degree of physical contact”.
For clarity on Meares' actual teaching method refer to Ainslie Meares on Teaching Meditation and the many cited references to Meares' books and articles.
Theory is important. But, only if put into practice. Nearly anyone can learn to experience Stillness in meditation, and calm and ease in daily living. It is only experiencing that really counts. Each step down the path makes the next step easier. The 5 pillars pave the way to a better life.