“When we cannot be who we are
Our divine senses become mute
Mute and sick from the insanity
Of judging what He made immaculate.”
-D.H. Watters
Slowly, take three of your deepest breaths before you read on...
There are endless ways to meditate. Oh, how overwhelmed I was by this once! Books, my soul, teachers and others showed me so many pathways of meditation that may lead me to the stillness, the divine connection, the supreme energy, to freedom, to love, to our hearts, to the seat of our soul, and/or to our god/goddess. I wanted to try them all! I went on a search. I wanted to find the best way – the most direct way – the supreme way of meditation. This, I now feel, does not exist outside of us.
Instead, we should follow the mediation that is nearest to our own heart, closest to our embracing soul, that which is the most natural. What feels good? Do that. What clears your mind and steadies your heart? Do that. For every person there is a different meditation. Don’t try them all. Stick to a few, or one, and continue down its path – deeper and deeper.
What is spirituality about for you? What is the question that’s in your deepest heart?
Not the question that someone tells you should be there, not what you’ve learned it should be.
But what is the question for you? If you meditate, why are you doing it?”
-Adyashanti, True Meditation
My meditations are simple. Natural. They flower from my being. The sky is my god and the earth is my goddess. I reach for them both when going inside of my being. They are both inside and outside of us. Everywhere, always, in everything. It is.
An account of personal meditation: Check out March 13, 2009 of Travels
BREATH
Breath is spirit. Spirit is breath. Don’t lose it. Don’t forget about it.
This is the most important thing to your walking, your journey on this earth. It is your wind. It is your essence.
A Simple Breath Meditation
Concentrate. Take three deep inhale/exhales to cleans your being. Pay total attention to your breath.
Do you feel the rise and fall of your abdomen? Ride this movement. Feel it.
Each moment, feel the slight rising and the fullness of your chest and then the falling of your abdomen as you breath out.
As you breath in, lift your mind (visualize and feel) and recite in your mental concentration: “Breathing in, I know I am breathing in.”
Hold this for one moment, and continue to lift your mind.
As you breathe out, recite: “Breathing out, I know I am breathing out.”
Roots Grow Deep
Follow your strongest sensation. Simple as that. Be with it. Watch it. Follow it. Don't dwell in it. It has something to teach you.
Stand with a tree. They give great hugs and some tell good stories. Either way, they can take you to the heavens.
Listen to a river. It is your own journey to the ocean.
Lay on the ground and drop/relax your spine so it rests comfortably on the earth.
Feel your connection and focus on how did your connection can go.
How deep down can you feel the earth? An inch below your spine? a foot? a meter? A mile? Keep going even is it is small.
Can you feel toxins being drawn out from your spine into the earth. (The earth is the best antioxidant available to us.)
Stand on any substance that is comforting/familiar to you while holding a piece of that physical element on your heart. Be still.
Insight Meditation
Observe your sensation, thoughts, and feelings. See and experience these in the present moment but do not get caught up in them.
Just observe. It is okay to feel what it is you are feeling. Let it go.
Notice your physical sensations and predominant feelings of emotions.
Notice your heartbeat, the energy in your hands, how it feels to be in your body.
Beneath it all, doesn’t it feel good to be Alive?
(Conversing in sensations rather than thoughts and feelings, may lead one to reveal unconscious fears or frustrations from emotional wounds.)
Zazen
Sit only to sit. Be still.
Walking Meditation
Walk slowly. Pay attention to every movement, every connection, and every impact. Count your breaths as you walk. What is comfortable? I breath in for 4 steps, hold for 2 and then breath out for 6 steps. This meditation will keep you in the present moment even when going to work, a meeting, class, or anywhere. For, you can only breath in the present here and now. Follow it and you will be present.
