Beginner’s Mind

Possibly the most important concept or teaching you could lend your attention to, is that of Beginner’s Mind. This perceptive based practice has its roots in Zen Buddhism, but similar concepts with different wording can be found in Hinduism and Taoism among others. Beginner’s Mind functions as the foundation on which your meditative practice rests upon.

A perceptive based practice is one that invites you to model a healthy perception of your experience. These practices are commonly used in spirituality in order to basically rewire the stories you tell yourself about the world, to more healthy, reality based stories. Not the stories/or programming that comes from your Conditioning (genetic predisposition, nature and nurture) There are many more perceptive based practices, too many to list here, as this post is about one in particular - Beginner’s Mind.

Through a trick we can all do that I call conscious modeling, beginner’s mind wipes the slate clean of all perceptions. All preconceived ideas about your experience. 

In order to consciously model a perception-less experience (Beginner’s Mind) you simply pretend or imagine as if you had no idea what to do with anything coming or going. In other words you are “resting in the unknown”. A thought comes and you have no idea what to do with it. A feeling bubbles up and you have no idea what to do with it. Like a beginner, you are modeling an approach to your experience that is open, fresh and non-judgmental. 

Then you may notice that when you start to know what to do with anything in your experience, there is a slight contraction or tension inwardly. That is because there is conflict between what actually is and your idea of what it should be. So by resting in the not-knowing/unknowing space inside you let go of any conflict and you allow something else to open up.When you rest in Beginner’s Mind you’ll find that meditation can happen all on its own with no effort required.

Beginner’s mind is not limited to your meditation practice, it can be used as you move throughout your day. You’d be surprised what you notice when you are looking at everything as a complete beginner.