Meditation is way less than you think.
For as long as I can remember, I have been on a spiritual path. I guess you could say I was catapulted after losing my fiance the day before the wedding when I was only 18.
I have been drawn to Eastern and Western meditation and religious studies all of my adult life. It has been one long meditation practice for me.
Many people think that in order to have a proper meditation practice, one needs to practice in a white shroud, a certain type of cushion, incense a blaze upon a tall mountain miles away with no other extraneous circumstances allowed. In other words we must have complete silence and no distractions in order to find a meaningful peaceful moment.
This may be exactly what meditation practice is about or is it? Maybe it's more about learning to be with sounds and stress and distractions of everyday life and still come out relaxed even if only for a moment.
There is something to be said about removing oneself from distractions and into a place less familiar.
In August 1989, I visited a ranch in Montana where a well known healer held workshops and retreats centered on healing.
For a weekly amount of $110 you could stay in a Yurt in your sleeping bag or for a hundred more you got a cabin with a bed. People from all over the world camped out with their tents on this enormous ranch in the middle of no-where.
Many of my friends went to this ranch to have their aura read on a regular basis. Some went for a week and ended up staying for months. Then there we some who went and never returned.
After our auric field was thoroughly evaluated, we were each given individualized healing programs. Mine was to walk 3 miles a day, choose a tree on the property to meditate with for 30 minutes on Tuesdays and Thursdays and participate in 'sing-alongs' every night.
Oh yes, we were also given exactly 3 minutes in the crystal booth. This small 4x4 foot Plexiglas octagon shaped booth sat high on a ridge in the sun. It had light catching strands of crystals hanging from the ceiling. There was an egg timer inside and we were told not to stay beyond the 3 minutes.
We were all given two colors to use in a special 'light room.' The light room consisted of a small 9x9 room in the main farmhouse. There was a massage table and a closet filled with freshly cleaned and folded sheets in every color of the rainbow imaginable. You were to select your two colors, place one on the table, and cover with the other. There was a special lighting unit hanging above the table. After flipping a switch similar to a hospital call light, the bulbs would glow and you were to lie there relaxing in the healing light chosen especially for your aura.
Other types of healing which took place were re-birthing and past life regressions. Here we could come face to face with our past lives and breathe ourselves into a primal release as we remembered who we thought we used to be.
My daily walk took about an hour. I was to walk just to the cattle guard which was determined to be a 1.5 mile marker. I noticed the nothingness of being in the middle of no-where. The sun was intense yet if felt very healing.
Five types of sage grows in central Montana. With the calming properties of the sage herb literally "baking" everywhere, it felt like being in a constant state of purification. The combination of sage, wide open spaces and nothingness made for some serious silence... except maybe for one locust bug. That big buzzing bug would zoom past my ear over and over again. And I swear we were the only two living things on earth. Pretty soon I could think of nothing but the locust bug in the backdrop of all the stillness and aroma of sage. At first it was irritating because it kept going right for my eyes. It would circle around and come back for my left side forcing me to turn my head right. After the first couple of days I let go of my edginess toward the bug...
On the third day, I began to really listen to the bug. I discovered that this bug was buzzing past my face because she wanted me to look to the right, where I was to discover a clump of large old cottonwood trees. I hadn't seen them or shall I say "noticed" them earlier.
Did I say old? They were petrified. There were three of them. Two large, one small. They reminded me of a family, mother, father & young one.
Having nothing better to do for the hour long walk in one of the most desolate places in the US, I was given the opportunity to truly "feel" connected to these trees in a way I had never expected. Perhaps I had been the petrified one...
This certainly made my meditation assignment with the tree on Tuesdays and Thursdays more interesting.
I found many aspects of this trip to be "meditative" although there wasn't a zafu or zabuton cushion for miles. From taking the walks to sitting next to a tree to just listening to the bug, became my meditation. It was more than letting go of thoughts. It was processing all of the feedback I received from nature which allowed me to feel connected and at peace. How can one ever become board with meditation? There is so much going on in the moment.
But My experience with the locust was like any traditional meditation practice one may experience while sitting on a cushion. Feeling at peace or blissed out doesn't happen over night. We often go through a cycle of being almost irritated by what comes up in the process of becoming still.Whether it is your aching back or hips or the constant interruption of thoughts and to do lists, it becomes an "unraveling" of our habitual multi tasking, managing and arranging of our mental lives.
In most meditation practices, one is instructed to return to the out breath or the exhale . This allows the meditator to find a sort of peace within the waves of distractions and irritations our body and mind present by returning to just being here. With in this practice, one has the opportunity to become closer to the very rhythm of all life; thoughts, breath, understanding, conceptualizations, and nothingness or just being still. One allows the thoughts to pass by without concertizing.
The subject of meditation can be very complex. Breaking it all down is as much the "practice itself" as well as the understanding of its elements. This process can be most fascinating. Although it is layered deeply in its fundamentals, meditation is one of the most simple acts we can do and may be best understood by the actual doing.
But who needs to understand meditation? Can you just do it? Why is it so hard to be still? Or why do our minds become drawn to outside distractions.Why do we think so much? What have we done to ourselves with all of this multi-tasking?
According to Pema Chodran, Tibetan Nun; "we get a lot of comfort from our mental planning and fantasies." Given a choice, we would rather think about these amazing scenarios. Its not that we actually want to do all that we think about and we rarely do all that we think. We prefer to think because it is safer reality for most of us.
Pema Chodran talks about taking ourselves too seriously most of the time and asks the question; "what if this were the dream?" She really is sort of a new aged comedian and that is pretty amazing for a Tibetan Nun.
She speaks about Mindfulness Awareness Practice, the teachings she received directly from the late Chögyam Trungpa Rinpoche. Here are a few notes I took while listening to one of her recorded teachings "Comfortable with Uncertainty"
6 Traditional Activities for Compassionate Living
AKA the Paramitas
In Buddhism, the Paramitas refer to the "perfection" or culmination of certain virtues. In Buddhism, these virtues are cultivated as a way of purification, purifying karma and helping the aspirant to live an unobstructed life, while reaching the goal of Enlightenment.
GENEROSITY: Connecting with the wealth of wisdom so profoundly, that we are willing to give away what ever blocks it. In this process we become more intimate with our grasping.
DISCIPLINE:Not causing harm, we see our rigidity and desire to control and manage our circumstances.
PATIENCE: Abiding with the restlessness of our energy and letting things evolve at their own speed.
JOYFUL EXERTION: Letting go of perfectionism and connecting with the living quality of every moment.
MEDITATION: Training in coming back to being right here.
PRASHNA-UNCONDITIONAL WISDOM: Seeing things just as they are is the key.Cutting through the immense suffering which comes from seeking to protect our own territory and the fear of letting go. Being comfortable with uncertainty.
By Jeanne Long
