|
For Sat Jul 5, 2008
The closer I stay to the earth, the clearer I can hear my spirit's voice.
Areas of Site Development
Healing The Body
Spirited Science
Rejuvenation Center
Sign our guest book to receive our Newsletter and
Special Events updates.
On-Line Contribution Form
|
What Is Meditation?
Meditation is a quieting of the mind, emotions and body. It can occur as a spontaneous moment or be a planned activity. Described as connecting and communing with the Source of all things, it is a place of solitude that takes us out of our immediate situation and expands our consciousness into something larger.
Why Meditate? When we meditate, blood pressure lowers, metabolism slows, and the hemispheres of the brain balance so that one is not dominant over the other. We gain access data stored in the subconscious, and conflicting belief systems and outmoded thoughts and feelings surface and dissipate.
Meditation reduces internal discord which, in turn, reduces tension and fear. As we move deeper and deeper into the meditative state, we exchange our anxieties and limited feelings of who we are for an unlimited sense of self and well-being.
Meditation helps us to:
to relax,
to reduce stress
to improve health
to achieve a sense of well being
to bring balance to our lives
to access our potential
to become illumined.
Is Meditation Difficult?
Despite it's power and significance, there is nothing difficult about meditation; it is something we all do quite naturally
- just as we eat, sleep, and dream. It is something we need in order to maintain our physical, mental, and spiritual well-being.
Meditation can be defined and structured, or it can be as unstructured as musing during a walk in the woods. It is more an attitude than an activity, an interior posture we assume while our bodies are doing something else. It can be done intentionally while sitting in the lotus position, or occur naturally while washing the dishes, sweeping the floor, or painting a picture. In addition to periods of intentional meditation, we are also meditating when we are "wool gathering," when our minds float free of time constraints, when we lose ourselves in a reverie. Usually when we say, "I lost all track of time," we are talking about a time of meditation.
In his book, Time Shifting, Stephen Rechtschaffen shares the daily ritual of Teresa, a Kentucky woman in her seventies:
"Every morning, before anyone else is up, I get myself a cup of tea and then sit in my rocking chair on the porch and muse. I'm not doing anything. I don't think of all the things I have to do or anything in particular. If I'm worried about something, or if I'm angry with someone, I just let it come up and then it passes. Mostly I just rock and rock, look at the sunrise, and—My! How wonderful it is to be alive, to breathe, to smell the pine in the air. How lucky I am to be here! I need do nothing but rock, and I'm happy. Sometimes I miss my musing, and then I feel out of sorts all day."
Although she has had no experience with formal meditation techniques, Teresa has beautifully described her meditation practice, a practice that is every bit as valid and effective as the structured practices of Zen or Transcendental Meditation.
Some people meditate while they draw, write, garden, or otherwise create. For them, the act of creation takes them outside of time and connects them with their spirit. One poet acknowledged his meditative processes when he said:
I need to write,
and paint rocks,
and dig in the earth for
shells, and bottles, and bones.
When I don't
my head aches,
my body clogs up,
and my mind loses its moorings.
Before we bring more meditation into our lives, it is good to know what aspects of our lives are already meditative. Take a minute and think about your life.
-
Do you set aside meditation time, or does your life contain other meditative activities?
-
What is it that connects you to your spirit and replenishes your soul?
-
Are there activities during which you lose track of time but gain balance and perspective?
-
Do you meditate during your morning commute or while listening to classical music or when puttering in the garden?
-
Are there some reflective periods which, like Teresa's morning muse, are important to your feeling of well-being?
Knowing and honoring those meditative activities
and moments which our lives already contain is the first step to enhancing our meditative practices.
|
