The Noble Eightfold Path offers a set of considerations, or practices, that gently tend to human suffering—sometimes described simply as unsatisfactoriness—which the Buddha taught is an inevitable part of being human. We all experience it to some degree. These eight practices are right speech, right action, right livelihood, right thought, right understanding, right mindfulness, right concentration, and right effort. They sound simplistic, but are huge considerations worth investigating.
Bringing even one of these into your day, into your experience, into your way of life, can lead to a kind of uprightness in everyday living. Uprightness is proper asana, and “rightness”—also proper asana—are both marked by the absence of resistance, obstruction, and distortion. Proper asana allows energy to move, insight to be received, and expression to be revealed. Proper asana opens us to the soul.
As we work with asana in meditation, the fruits hang relatively low: a comfortable, alert body, receptive and flowing emotions, and an open mind. Together, these create clarity, not unlike a perfectly tuned guitar string.
In this case, you are the instrument. Consciousness is the hand that strums the guitar, and your inspiration, intuition, and creativity are the music that arises when consciousness meets a being that has practiced uprightness—rightness—with care and dedication.
Happy meditating!