By Alexis Louise Reda
Perhaps what repels people from practicing meditation at all or with a degree of regularity is that they have expectations about what it should be. In other words… You think there is a precise way to do it and you don’t know how; or you fear you won’t get it or that it will be hard or take too much time to get into it; or in that case, you just don’t wanna research it because you’re afraid that even then you can never be certain that you’re getting it right. I know, I’m blabbering on… BUT THIS IS HOW OUR MINDS SOUND LIKE!
Yes. It’s normal.
And the point I want to drive home well before the end of this article is that meditation, in essence, is controlling that chatter. More specifically, it’s controlling the chatter in the way you want to control it.
You get people telling you that meditation requires or means “to quiet the mind”… “think of nothing” … “focus on your breathing” … “sit down in lotus and stay still” …… But I believe we can “break some rules” here, because meditation – although people make it a daily ritual, is not like a sport. You’re not “training” to be able to do a meditation marathon in India (…unless you want to). Meditation is a tool, fundamentally, to get you into the appropriate state of mind for the task you want to be able to do next in your life. It helps you with that “getting ready to be ready to be ready to be ready” (Abraham Hicks) type of thing; or that “Do-Be-Do-Be-Do-Be-Do” (Dr. Amit Goswami). SAME DIFFERENCE!!!
You will hear me say a lot in the Vital Sphere community that everything is perception. I stand by this even now. Whatever rocks your boat – helps you understand, delve deeper into, or fully experience a concept (like meditation) – is 100% the one you should use. And the perception/perspective that resonates with you might – actually, it likely will – shift over time. Just like the universe ebbs and flows.
Without the ebb and flow…we’d all be dead.
My human self finds this extremely hard to deal with sometimes; you’re not the only one.
There have been times in my life when I would have considered myself acting like an obnoxious asshole. So my yogi mother had oh, so considerately suggested, “Honey, you should meditate.”
“Damn it– I know.”
But deep inside I felt averted to engaging in the process because I didn’t trust myself. My subconscious told me I would likely not stick to it, for whatever reason – doesn’t matter. I thought to myself… So what does that mean? I sit quietly, like a good little girl, and take deep breaths…maybe come up with some positive affirmations and try to believe them…then try to rehearse them later…and just–try to get into it; forget your sorrows…
I tried. I felt calmer after even the first session (where I could only sit still for 2 minutes till I became as rigid as a hard-boiled egg)… Then I said okay, I’ll give it another chance… This time I tried not to try – because someone had told me that. That made me feel a little bit better after 2 minutes of, yes, still trying in a way to silence my ego’s discouragement.
I continued my efforts to practice the conventional seated-and-breathing type meditation, nonetheless, because I know nothing comes overnight; but looking back, I had begun doing something else that I believe really turned my perspective around for whatever I was mentally struggling with at the time: When I went out walking somewhere, I would smile at the trees.
Whaaat??
Yes. That is exactly what I would do.
And guess what?
It focused my mind away from its strange, habitual, negative artifacts, towards a better feeling; and that’s all that matters.
Looking back with much more study under my belt, I realize that my walking approach towards a state of clarity, focus, peace, strength, and groundedness (to list a few) hit all the marks on what meditation is supposed to achieve. Turns out, even Dr. Joe Dispenza, who is one of the teachers for my Quantum University courses, knows about “walking meditation” too! What’s more, and even Dr. Joe points out, meditation can be found or experienced anywhere. This is the beauty of it, outlined in our ability to control its implementation in our lives. And with all of us leading lives so different, with angles of distress showing itself in so many forms, why not assume the tool to help us rise above must also be multi-dimensional in terms of approach?
A practice that is inherently meant for us to access “higher dimensions” of awareness, consciousness, or Self must have multi-dimensional gateways of access as well, should it not?
I meditate when I weightlift, too. At the gym! I meditate while in asana – like in a dancer’s pose, finding ease in the effort. I meditate while trying to find the answer to a tough test question – or before I respond to a work email. I can hear myself change my breathing. I change my breathing: I am aware; I am doing it to turn by perspective to a subtler light; it makes me feel better. Therefore, I have meditated to shift the way in which I interact with my world.
This is what meditation is all about. So, I encourage you all to not believe your intimidation; not to worry; not to have expectations (especially if you’re a Type-A kind of personality like I know I am); and just do whatever you need to do to get you into the state of feeling just a little bit better.
If you have done that, you have meditated.