The fun-damentals of Meditation
This is going to be fun and may bring you severe peace.
So sit back, take a sip or even a toke of your favourite pastime, put on some dope music and enjoy the ride.
Blog Post
Part I
The truth is I never really thought about meditation outside of its esoteric context. If you asked me to think about it, my mind would race to a figure in the far-east, sitting legs crossed, palms facing up and probably wearing the colour orange. Classic. This programming stuff they do on us works. I mean, they wouldn't do it if it didn't? Who knows.
It wasn't until I started my meditation teacher training that things clicked. I had to learn philosophy, differing styles of practices and how to do them. It is a fascinating subject. When you go through the works of ancient scriptures, you feel overwhelmed - namely because you realise how little we know about ourselves. It makes you ask questions about the fundamental reality of our existence. Yep.
Our five sense reality is but a mere glimpse of all that there is to experience. Our limitations of what we can see are exposed when we take a look at the electromagnetic spectrum. What is available to view is just a tiny portion of what exists in totality. There is quite literally another realm of existence all around you now, which leads us to the real question here - are you open enough to tune into the cosmos?
We have a natural desire to want to know who we are and our place in the stars. It's deep-rooted in all of us. Think about this for a second. As you read these words, you are floating about somewhere in the vacuum of space. And it's as simple as that. It's mad, right?! To put it another way, whilst Karen is busy being Karen, Karen exists in the physical world as we know it, hurtling through the vastness of space.
Next time you look up at the sky, have a moment to contemplate where you are - take a deep breath and be aware of everything you observe. Just watch it. And there, you have your first lesson in meditation. You are now on the road to becoming a Jedi master of your mind. Coincidentally, isn't that where everything exists?
Part II
After countless hours of research and practice, if there is just one fundamental thing that I had to tell you about meditation, it's this:
Get comfortable.
There is no right or wrong way to meditate from a physical standpoint. Traditionally a seated pose is used. However, from what I've found growing up in western culture, sitting with my legs crossed is the opposite of comfortable. After a while, the discomfort will creep in and sabotage my meditation practice.
There have been moments where I have been on the cusp of entering into a different realm, only to be stopped by intense pins and needles racing throughout my legs, followed by a high-pitched yelp. What can I say?
Eventually, I had learned to sit with my legs crossed, but I still advocate just sitting in a comfortable position with your spine straight. Make it a goal of yours to alleviate any pain or discomfort you might experience. If you have lower back pain, you can sit on a raised pillow. Should you find your shoulders seem heavy and tense whilst you sit, place a cushion or pillow on your lap, allowing your hands to rest. Alternatively, if you sit up against a wall with your legs straight, put a pillow under your knees and Bob's your uncle. I guess my point here is, try things until you are comfortable enough to sit there - but not to the point where you may doze off!
Meditating in a place of silence is powerful, so ideally, you want to find a place that removes distractions and neutralises noise. Go out of your way to find a spot. Honestly, your experience will be so much more blissful. Whether it's a room in your house or a tree in nature somewhere, find that place where you can be you and let go.
You're spending time with yourself and learning how to cultivate your awareness of awareness. Just as we go to the gym and train our physical bodies, we must seek the same level of development for our minds. We're taught from a young age that physical movement is essential. It's healthy. And they are right. But they have also miraculously left out mental-health training all together within our education systems.
We teach our children how to obey, using fear-based practices rather than allowing the expression of individual creativity. No one person is more or less important than another.
The irony is what really happens with children, but we'll touch on that a litter later. I have strayed a little, so I am saying that we've got to approach training our minds with the same aptitude we use to develop in any area of our life.
Once those two things are in place, you are ready to start exploring the wonder of you. In the previous blog post, I mentioned that the essence of meditation is the breath. The adventure that now follows is all about breathwork - meaning how to use your breath to create inner peace. I'll go into breathwork in a lot more detail in future blog posts to provide practical guidance.
For now, let's consider our breath and its essential components. I remember when my teacher asked me this question: "how many parts of the breath are there?".
Before I answered, I had to think about it, as I would say two parts, the inhale and exhale. Even then, I was wrong. The breath has four parts to it:
Inhale
Intersection
Exhale
Outersection
I hadn't really thought about this, but when you observe your breath (you can take a breath now), you will become aware that a small, subtle moment occurs when you change over from inhaling to exhaling and exhaling to inhaling. We do not continuously inhale and then continuously exhale. There is a small section in between both the inhale and exhale. Mind blown? Mine was ha.
As we take each breath, we create an internal rhythm and pattern that brings the mind and body into a state of flow. Our breath is the thing that connects the mental and physical parts of us. Once we learn how to use it, we become one step closer to mastering our body and mind—that Jedi lifestyle.
Breathwork is very powerful. It's almost comical that the most influential tool we possess is free. Have you seen the lengths these billionaires have to go to to keep us in a state of ignorance? If anything, it shows how much of reality we can bend when we finally understand our breath and purpose. The duality of existence tells us that we can have so much more than the current pantomime offered throughout mainstream broadcasts.
And there you have it. The fun-damentals of training to become a master of yourself. All you need to do is find a way to sit comfortably, seek out some silence and understand that your breath is going to be your weapon of choice. The stuff that comes next is just doing it.
That is it for now my fellow truth seeker. Remember, going within will serve you in the best way(s) possible. Your own guidance and intuition can be sharpened through meditation, which is free.
Give it a go!
NiKKO