Every morning begins with a morning primer to start the day properly.
The morning primer primes the wanderer to walk their paths to mastery in pursuit of fulfillment.
At the end of the day, the wanderer performs their nightly primer to lay down their burdens to rest effectively to wander the next day.
We recommend that the first thing a wanderer does in the morning is gather their mind. The uncontrolled mind is chaos, where the Mushin, controlled mind is a focused laser with unlimited potential.
A wanderer clears their mind every morning, no different than how a Samurai prepared for a duel, or for war.
A Samurai warrior, guided by this Buddhist precept, does not prepare for battle by rehearsing mentally, by planning, or by filling his mind with schemes and intentions. Instead, he empties his mind. His belief is that this “no-mind” knows more than his conscious ego-mind and will respond perfectly every time in the moment. This is the voice you and I are seeking as artists. The voice of no-voice. The voice of our second self.
The Artists Journey (Page 112) | Steven Pressfield
Calculating for battle happens long before the battle. Shortly before the battle, the mind is purified to the Mushin state.
The Samurai and the artist prepare for battle in the same way. They empty the mind to listen to the voice of no-voice. The Mushin state.
The Andreia morning meditation protocol
Andreia Morning Meditation protocol:
- 3-5 sets of breathwork
- 10-20+ minutes meditation
- 1 ending set of breathwork
The andreian meditation protocol begins with breathwork and ends with meditation. Start with 3-5 sets of breathwork of your choice, like the Wim Hoff Breathing method, or the breath of fire, or full breathing.
- Add the breathing methods that work for you to the breathing methods section in your code.
Once you finish your breathwork, run your meditation. This could be zen meditation, where you aim to have no thought, or mantra-meditation, where you replace your thoughts with a mantra; both achieve the same effect of settling the sediment of the mind to the bottom of the glass so the water is pure, instead of murky and chaotic.
Your meditation protocol should be roughly 10-20 minutes, or as long as it takes to settle the mind; do not let your meditation practice be an impediment to the pursuit of mastery on the path. Know that meditation is a skill, or a knife that becomes sharper and more effective the more you sharpen it through practice.
Aim to be effective with your meditation each day. Aim to improve your meditation skills each day. Do not passively meditate; pursue meditation mastery.
After your meditation, finish with one set of breathwork, and you are good to go.
Some meditation sessions you will enter the mushin mind state quickly, and other sessions will be extended and you will struggle to settle your mind, if at all. Know that we need struggle to improve, and we must continue forward no matter the difficulty presented to us on the path.
Other Considerations
You can use the same meditation routine throughout the day when your mind becomes unsettled. Sometimes your mind will not settle no matter how much you meditate; when this occurs it may be a sign you need to invest in other domains, or move forward with a muddled mind in pursuit of mastery until you sleep and start tomorrow.
In addition to the morning meditation, you should meditate whenever the mind is unsettled. Consider an afternoon meditation if you need it. If you don’t need it, forgo it to pursue more mastery.
Meditating at night before sleep is productive. An active mind at night will overflow and make the body and spirit active which is counterproductive to falling asleep.
A morning meditation exists to engage and enliven. While a mantra-based meditation may be advantageous in the morning, the night meditation you perform may not be the routine you do in the morning.
Try multiple routines and pursue what works for you.
See The Andreia Code sleep entry for an alternative nighttime meditation release.
