Discover how this peaceful and healing practice can improve
your life in many different ways.
We'd like to begin by saying what meditation is, for so many confuse the
techniques with the goal. Purely and simply, meditation is a method or
technique to tune up your instrument of body, mind and emotion to more
clearly perceive Reality.
Instead of thinking it's some magical, mystical mystery trip, it
might be easier, at first, for you to think of yourself as a technician
or mechanic getting to know your 'machinery', then you won't be so
likely to be distracted by the mystery.
Perceiving Reality might be variously described as expanding
consciousness, knowing your true nature or knowing God.
What method is best?
Well, it is said the Buddha taught over 84,000 methods himself. There
are also very systematized versions of meditation described by
karma yoga, bhakti yoga, raja yoga, etc. Then you have various Shamanic
traditions which have their methods, various religions have their
methods and you find you have quite a large selection to choose from.
Some meditations are active, some are passive.
Some techniques aim at purification, relaxation, increasing energy,
mindfulness, etc. Some go all the way to cosmic consciousness, Nirvana,
Samhadi ... there are as many names for the "absolute" state of
consciousness as there are people trying to "get there".
What is it to move to a new level of consciousness? Well, you might want
to be conscious during dream-state or even conscious during the death
state. Most of humankind is conscious only during ordinary waking
consciousness, and experiences a "void" even during sleep.
If that's you, the reason you experience this void is because you
haven't learned to be conscious during that state. Consciousness itself
is universal and doesn't sleep or die, but we are normally
"unaware" of its full extent without training.
Through meditation you can realize and be aware of many states of
consciousness. Many of you may be familiar with the books dealing with
"going to the light" in near death experiences.
We can assure you from personal experience you don't have to be a Monk
to have the "going to the light" experience.
We don't write about these events very often because too many people
get caught up in talking about the experience itself rather than trying
it themselves. What's important is not whether your experience was
weirder than another's, but how you have changed as a result of it.
After you've meditated for a while you'll be aware of more of Reality
simply by becoming more intimate and subtle with your physical senses.
It's not much different from how, without a
microscope we wouldn't be aware of all the bugs crawling on your skin
right now, or how without a telescope you cannot see into the further
reaches of the universe. However, you won't
need instruments to experience your new awareness.
After some of these experiences your language may change, instead of
"life after death" you might find yourself saying "consciousness in
death". Meditation is not just pondering your belly button or clearing
your mind of thoughts. Those are simply techniques. Meditation is
learning how to expand into your true nature.
A Question about Meditation
I recently received the following question about meditation:
"My husband is Buddhist and we sometimes practice meditation,
it really helps me to focus later, but my question is when you
meditate is it normal to feel like your breath has
disappeared? I also feel like my body is levitated, or
floating off of the bed, is that normal? What does that mean?
Could it possibly mean that I'm doing it wrong? Please write
me back, ever since I've had these experiences I've had a very
hard time meditating.
These aren't uncommon experiences, though they certainly may be
startling when they first occur. In my experience, these phenomena are
manifestations of a certain type of detachment, an out-of-body
experience. As far as 'doing it wrong', I don't care for that sort of
judgment in meditation practice. The meditative experience is one which
puts the individual through progressive changes.
We may evolve through meditation, experiencing different states of
consciousness and perceiving a variety of phenomena. The type of
detachment described above is a typical 'stage' of
experience in the cycle.
The solution to all the various things that can go on in meditation is
to continue to meditate. We can liken the meditative consciousness to
the layers of an onion. As we continue to meditate, our consciousness
begins to shed previously imprinted behavior patterns, attitudes, images
and systems of thought. We are aiming for the goal of simply being
there, without encumbrances.
This is a challenge, since the material world is an incredible
distraction. It appears to be based on cause and effect, action and
reaction Newtonian physics. Our continued participation in the world can
cause us to confuse our spiritual selves with the objects around us. We
come to believe that we must react to every stimulus, to be the effect
of every cause, just as objects do.
Meditation teaches us the fallacy of this belief. By training the mind
to not react to every little thing (no matter how interesting) we learn
that we can exist in a motionless state, with full consciousness. We can
be alert and aware, without being dragged around by every stray thought.
We can focus at will, or serenely allow ourselves to experience the
flow of life. Perhaps most importantly, it is vividly demonstrated
through meditation that we are not part of the physical universe, but
that it is part of us. We are not material, but spiritual.
Whatever may come up in meditation, the answer is always to continue to
meditate. There is no way you can lose by doing so.
