The Art of Meditation

When I was about ten years old my mother started her health-food kick. No more Wonder bread for us. I was adamantly opposed to the whole wheat bread invasion in our home; not to mention all the vitamins and supplements we now had to take including my favorite, cod liver oil. If you want to torture a kid then forcing spoonfuls of cod liver oil down their throat is the way to do it. She also began her meditation practice around the same time and wanted me to join her. At that point in my life I thought meditation was way out there and only weird hippy types practiced it. I couldn’t understand why she was interested in it. Needless to say, I drew the line with meditation and declined her offer.

Within a short time, however, I became not only accustomed to maintaining a healthy diet, I truly appreciated it. Once again Mom was right. OK, I never liked the cod liver oil and thankfully that era only lasted a short amount of time. As for meditation, I wouldn’t be interested in it for another eight years, but I did begin to watch my mom as she meditated every day in the house. If the family was on a road trip (and she wasn’t driving) she would meditate. How she was able to focus with two kids playing in the back seat, I will never understand. I still thought the whole meditation thing was weird, but interestingly I was observant of what she was doing. My mom was unknowingly planting a seed in me.

Then at 18 I had a college professor who extolled the virtues of meditation in class. Well, if he thought it was cool then it must be. I went back to my mother and asked how one meditates. She thought it was funny that I was now interested in it. She told me there are many ways to do it. She thought the easiest way to start might be in a comfortable position either sitting or lying down with my eyes closed. Meditation is not sleeping, she said. It is about focusing on something. She continued that in my mind I could count backwards from 10 to 1 and then again and again. If I counted backwards, I would not concentrate on where I was numerically; I would simply be counting. And so started my first taste of meditation.

I would meditate off and on for the next 22 years, but as I approached 40 I found a renewed interest in it. I was going through some intense changes in my life and I simply needed the meditation to relax my body and my mind. I began practicing meditation at least once a day. I no longer counted backwards from 10. Now I was focusing on a word or positive affirmation to aid in the relaxation process.

My original complaint regarding the practice was that I just couldn’t do it very well. My mind would wander and I would get frustrated and give up. But now I was going into it with a new found enthusiasm. Did this mean my mind no longer wandered? Of course not. However, when the inner dialogue would begin its chattering, I would acknowledge it; thank it for coming and tell it that I was now going back to my focus and kindly asked it to leave. I basically had a small conversation with the intruding thought. I figured that if I honored the laundry list of items that were showing up then each of them would leave more readily…and I was right.

Another thing about giving gratitude towards the chatter is that I no longer became frustrated, which was so much a part of my meditation sessions when I was younger. The frustration was gone and I truly could relax which I so desperately needed.

I so often hear how other people CAN’T meditate and I smile with the understanding of where they are coming from. I am not the only one with inner dialogue. Their mind chatters too much too. They think that they are the only ones on the planet that have this problem and I simply tell them that they are not unique when it comes to inner dialogue. I share how I contend with the chattering and if that seems of interest to them they should try it.

I had been practicing meditation daily for a year when I was told by one of my yoga instructors that I was doing it incorrectly. I was puzzled by his comment, but decided to listen to what he had to say. He told me that I had to utilize ohm or some other word from a foreign language so that I would not understand what I was saying. If I focused on an English word, he contended, that I would be focusing on the images surrounding that word. I decided to smile and went on my way. I remembered another instance some 20 years earlier when a friend commented that music should never be playing in the background during a meditation class, because it was wrong. I wondered how anyone could actually meditate incorrectly. I decided that these people were simply placing their own personal judgment on meditation as so many of us do.

Is there a single perfected art to meditation? No. There are so many ways to meditate. The Buddhist monk Thich Nhat Hanh once said, “Practicing meditation is for us to be serene and happy, understanding and loving. In that way we work for peace and happiness of our family and our society.” If being serene and happy, understanding and loving is what is important about meditation than why worry about how someone else is meditating? The simple truth is that one needs to find the best method to meditate for themselves.

I have a friend that enjoys crystals. For her, I thought it best to stare at one of the crystals for a few minutes each day, building up to 20 minutes. I have another friend that likes flowers. I suggested to her to do the same thing with flowers. I have friends that like to have walking meditations. I have friends that say, ohm. I have friends that prefer guided meditations. I have friends that visualize a sacred scene in their mind, such a garden. You can even be meditative while doing daily chores. It certainly gives a new appreciation to washing dishes. There are an endless amount of options.

What are the benefits of meditating? For one, it does help you relax, especially in the fast-paced western world we live in. A 20 minute meditation session is as good as several hours of sleep. As you meditate on a regular basis, you may begin to receive messages from the universe, not just during meditation, but in all areas of your life. You may find that you become more open to the signs that already exist around you that never registered before. Meditation helps with clarity. One begins to see areas in their life from a higher more spiritual level. Frankly, meditation feels good. It’s like taking a 20 minute vacation.

In one of the meditation classes I attended, someone asked me how I was able to find the time every day to meditate. I answered with a question, “Are you telling me that that you are announcing to the universe that you don’t deserve 20 minutes per day to meditate?” The truth is if you truly can’t cut out one section of your day giving 20 minutes all to yourself, then you can at least wake up 20 minutes earlier to meditate. The benefits meditation offers you far outweigh the challenges of trying to find the time. Find the time and the wonders of the universe will show up at your front door.

Thank you for reading and Namaste! (The Light in me recognizes the Light in you!)