Wellness

Before taking the first step, you should have a goal. Your goal should not change until you have achieved your objective. You should not practice meditation in order to become a better meditator. The goal is not to master the techniques of meditation. Meditation is not an Olympic event. The goal is inner peace.

Is there a right way to learn how to walk? When you took your first step, did you have a coach? There was only your way. Meditation is in that same category. There is no right way to practice meditation; there is no wrong way either. There is only your way. And like walking, meditation requires practice to feel natural. In a little while, meditation will become graceful.

Awareness is the first step on the path to inner peace. Awareness is a state of consciousness that is always present. Meditation is the process of recognizing awareness. Awareness fosters integration. Integration occurs when you appreciate that body, mind, emotion and spirit are words.

There are many activities that by their nature foster integration. Some have no immediate correlation to meditation. For example, rock climbing fosters integration. A person becomes very focused on every move he makes, when his life is at risk with every move that he makes as he climbs the mountain. The mountain climber remains integrated in the present. Body, mind, emotions and spirit integrate into one powerful being. Distractions from internal conflict could cause injury and death. Meditation can foster the same level of integration achieved by the mountain climber without the immediate risk of life and limb.

Meditation can enable you to recognize when the inner fighting has come to an end. You realize inner peace. Meditation trains our capacity to remain aware so that we notice when inner peace begins to slip into inner conflict. The choice to encourage inner peace or to reignite an inner war is always just a breath away.

That is the first step. In fact, fostering awareness is the only step that can be taught. You can’t teach integration because you don’t become integrated. You don’t become enlightened. Instead you become aware that you were, are and always will be an integrated enlightened being.

I am sharing the methods I use to focus my attention to begin the process of becoming aware. I am handing you a blank canvas. My aim is to help you to appreciate the process of meditation. This is a creative process. In the spirit of creativity, whatever you try, however you apply, whenever you do it, it’s good. I hope that these techniques will inform your meditation practice in a way that will illuminate your path.

In whatever position you are in, and in whatever place you are in, and whatever time it is right now, feel comfortable and relax.

For the next few minutes, don’t think about how you got here. Don’t wonder where you’re going to go.

Right now there is nothing that you need to know or understand. Focus on sensation without trying to identify or understand the feeling.

For the next few minutes, I want you to feel your feelings. Generally physical sensations are much easier to navigate. Bringing up emotions and mingling with the spirit, would be counter-productive at this point.

Focus your attention by noticing your breath. Your breath is a magical occurrence. Each breath is unique. Each breath occurs in the present. The cycle of life begins with each inhale. The cycle of life completes with each exhale.

So without changing anything about your magnificent breathing, watch the breath enter and leave your body. Without identifying your nose, feel where the air passes on the way in and on the way out. Without identifying your chest, feel how your body moves as you breathe.

Now use your breath to slide the focus of your attention to your hands. Breath by breath, focus your attention to your hands. Be aware that the sensations that you are experiencing in your hands are being experienced in the present. Each breath that you breathe is happening as you inhale and exhale. Observe as the sensations in your hands change. For the next few minutes, do not evaluate what you feel. Do not attempt to identify the sensation.

Now, feel your feet. Again, use your breath to turn the focus of your attention to your feet. Breath by breath focus your attention to your feet. Be aware that these sensations are happening in the present.

Now, I want you to use your imagination. I want you to imagine that your breathing has created a rainbow of energy that is glowing from your hands to connect with your feet.

Breath by breath, feel the energy flow from your hands to your feet. Repeat until the connection between hands and feet is made. If that connection is not happening, then just watch your breathing. It is not an Olympic event. You won’t lose points.

As you breathe out, feel the energy flow down your arms, out of your finger tips to magnetically connect with your feet. As you breathe in feel the energy pass into the soles of your feet. Your breath lifts the energy through your body to the top of your head.

Repeat the paragraph above, until you are ready to explore. That is the first lesson to help you to become aware and take possession of the present moment so that you can do your life’s work with every breath of your life.

Why are there so many seekers but so few finders? Why is inner peace so difficult to find? IF we should happen to feel at peace, is it impossible to maintain that sense of self as life unfolds before you? Does meditation help us to find and sustain inner peace? Carl Jung is credited with saying that wisdom was stating the obvious. Perhaps, what you find when you meditate does not measure up to your expectations. Zen states the reality of finding illumination best, first enlightenment and then the laundry. Even when you are the grand mystic high exalted one, who will do your chores for you? If you dig for diamonds, would you discard all the gold and silver that you find as you mine?

The basic misdirection a seeker encounters on their quest to find inner peace – revolves around developing the awareness to appreciate the arrival of inner peace. Also, to remain aware to notice when inner peace begins to slip away. Typically, when we choose to practice meditation, we seek a quiet place where we can draw our attention inward and away from the confusion of the world around us.

It is not healthy to separate from the world. Perhaps it would be better to see what we call distractions as a series of lessons on maintaining awareness. Meditation strengthens your connection to the world. The process of meditation supplies the quiet space within that you need in order for you to recognize how your choices create your life. Each of us is an important co-creator of the world. Each of us has the responsibility to create the world by the application of free will. The world is neither confusing nor comprehensible. It is just a place where things happen. You can’t change what is happening. You can only be aware of your response to what is happening all around you. Awareness gives you the space to be present as life unfolds and to respond to situations as you choose to respond. Meditation gives you the opportunity to appreciate how your choices influence your life. Meditation trains us to be aware.

Our culture trains us to understand what is happening so that we can make the right choice. We live in the age of science and have developed a cultural bias toward thinking and understanding. We are taught that one should know what they are doing before they attempt to do it. I am not saying that thinking is bad. Actually thinking and understanding is only one way to respond to what is happening in your life.

What is happening in our life may be beyond our capacity to understand. The meaning of physical sensations, emotional responses and spiritual communication can only be felt. The body, your emotions and your spirit all communicate. However, the communication does not happen with words and ideas. Only the mind communicates with words and ideas. Body, emotions and spirit communicate with feelings. Why do you love one person and not another? You feel love physically, emotionally and spiritually but no one understands why you feel that way toward the object of your affection. You certainly can’t convince someone to love you or not to love you. All emotions are unreasonable and non-debatable.

Meditation is the process by which we can get in touch with our feelings and come to trust feelings. Meditation enables us to balance knowledge with feelings. In that way, a fully integrated being will inform our response to our life as we are living.

Now I have mentioned body, mind, emotions and spirit. In reality those concepts are only a representation of who you are at any given time. How can your body be different than your mind? How can your mind be different than your emotions? How can your emotions be different than your spirit? In reality there is just you, an integrated being. The words are representations that enable us to express our ideas. Unfortunately the words can also shatter our sense of integration so that we feel empty and scattered.

The words are powerful enough to convince you that what you feel is not important. Meditation will help you to feel your feelings, express how you feel as you are feeling those feelings and then move on. What could complicate the search more than confusing words and concepts with the real world?

Through meditation we seek inner peace. With inner peace, we foster world peace. Yet the news reports remind us that there is a war going on somewhere in the world. Inside of each of us there is a war zone as well. Even the act of meditation will stir conflict. When, where, why, how should I meditate? When we fight with ourselves who wins? The problem is neither simple nor difficult. It is a value judgment. How much do you value inner peace? Everyone wants to be successful, the question is, and how hard are you willing to work to achieve your goal?

When you practice meditation you begin the process of integration. Body, emotion and spirit will be given a voice and mind will determine what to do with that communication. Meditation is done with awareness. Developing awareness is the purpose of meditation.

So how do you start the communication between your passions and your intellect? Where do you begin building the bridges?

Next, so how do I meditate?