Season of Fall, Day 42, 513 AV
Later that evening...
Meditation, as it turned out, was mostly a mental thing. Well, of course it was, it was meditation, but Jorin had always assumed that it was more than what the book he'd purchased had described. The first two chapters were anything but useful; they were the usual platitudes of not giving up, of guarantees that the first few sessions would probably be utter failures but to keep trying.
For once, Rinya was the one coming home late, and Jorin the one who had a few bells to himself in the home they shared. Jorin was not sure if the presence of his mate would help or hinder his progress. On the one hand, no one could calm him quite like Rinya could, but on the flip side, no one could excite him quite like her either. In the end, she might prove too much of a distraction, as much as he loved her. He would want to concentrate on her, and not on his meditation.
Settling himself down on the bed, Jorin tried to remember the techniques the book had recommended for a beginner at the art. It suggested he begin with taking a few deep breaths, so he did, drawing air in through the nose, out through the mouth. If nothing else, the very act was quite relaxing, although he could still feel thoughts bouncing around in his head. Thoughts about his day, thoughts about Rinya, just thoughts in general. His head was a virtual cacophony at all times; and furthermore every time his thoughts turned to his mate Jorin found himself losing concentration. Focus!
So the ultimate goal of meditation, apparently, was emptying the mind. That was looking to be impossible, the way things were going. There were simply too many things going on in his head and Jorin was wondering how exactly he was supposed to quiet them down, but he continued the breathing exercise nonetheless. The next step, apparently, was to try to focus on something to the exclusion of everything else. Any of the five senses would work in this case; from a sound to a sensation to a smell, even a taste. Sight was usually discouraged, but could be used if there was a fixed point that could be focused on.
So Jorin decided to focus on sound. Sound was easy, wasn't it? It was one of the more obvious of the senses and the hardest to ignore, so he could definitely focus on some sound in the environment and push out all other sensations and thoughts that threatened to creep up into his mind. Jorin closed his eyes, settling into a cross-legged position as recommended by the book and focused on the sound of the breeze outside the window. It was soft and soothing and quite relaxing, but the purpose was not to sleep.
But it was difficult keeping thoughts out of his head. He kept finding himself thinking about things and forcing those thoughts away when he realized what he was doing. Not to mention the realization that he was thinking was in and of itself also a thought, which led to a vicious cycle. The idea was to make the sound the only thing in the mind, using it as an anchor point to push out all other things, but thus far it didn't seem to be working.
Jorin sighed and opened his eyes again, pursing his lips and staring at the opposing wall with a thoughtful expression. He didn't expect to succeed on his first try; he'd missed the mark entirely on his first attempt at archery with Rinya, after all, and his first steps onto a stage was nothing short of disaster. Meditation, though, was entirely mental. Which mean that it wasn't like archery and acting, which had a physical component as well; this was all about training his mind.
Jorin wasn't even thinking about magic by this point. If he couldn't get this down there was no chance in hai he'd ever be able to "find his Djed" as the book at the Library had said. Jorin closed his eyes, and tried again.
