- Meditation is practiced in many varied forms yet it seems all meditation is done with the common idea of reaching an inner stillness. What arises in the stillness may differ with each method. The hoped for state within meditation is one where the incessant voice of the mind is somehow quieted while we remain in a place of alert and peaceful awareness. The focus of such awareness can be anything that shifts us away from our normal mental dialog and thus offers great variety in how meditation is done. Most commonly meditation is seen as coming to rest in a place of no thought, or more typically releasing any thoughts that arise. But it can also mean the opposite, an activity akin to ‘contemplation’. That is, entering into a state of inner stillness with the deliberate desire to hear the whisper of one’s inner voice. Mediation in this form is closer to a surrender into intuition and a loss of the dualistic mindset. Its focus is the gentle looking at of something from all angles to discover its ‘unseen before’ aspects or to ‘allow in’ what had been resisted in unconscious judgments. When done with sincerity, contemplation can unravel paradoxes or provide guidance and wise counsel. Whether to escape from attachment to recurring thoughts or to dissolve resistance to an unanswerable concern, both types of meditation have their separate beauty. They share in common the experience of ‘deep’ time … a space in which any sense of the passing of time is absent and we are peacefully and deeply plunged into the present moment.
- Meditation is a space that exists in the human psyche that transcends the experience of duality that the eyes portray. In this space, it is possible to connect beyond physical space, beyond separation, and dissolves the illusion that I am over here and everything else is over there. In this space, everything exists. This space is accessed through mediation. Meditation is a doorway from illusion to pure being.
- Meditation is like a gym for the soul. It is the process of learning to hear the inner voice and developing the “muscle” that allows us to shift states of consciousness in our daily lives. Unfortunately it is not often seen this way. Rather it is viewed as a period when we removed ourselves from the world to retreat into the quiet space of our soul. While this is an important and valuable practice it is only half the journey.
- Quieting the mind of all the self-talk and chatter that endlessly fills us and when one is successful at doing so a “real self” can begin to emerge, but not sustained, once we go back to that everyday chatter. I feel it helps us get to that place where our intuition is stored and truth lies. Meditation is soothing to the soul and gets us closer to it.
- Meditation is the act of receiving the Self. There are many techniques that range from breathing and focusing on the inhale and exhale to very sophisticated pranayamas and paradoxical breathing routines. One of the best forms of meditation is listening. If one truly listen to another deeply they become ONE with the other and it is an act of pure mediation. Meditation is the act of receiving the Source and the Self. The stillness…the peace that goes beyond understanding is there.
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