Meditation? Do I have to wear a robe and chant?
What Meditation really is, and how it changed my life.
Growing up in this country and culture, if you are like me, you associated meditation with long hair, robes and sandals. Throw in a mantra, some incense and add sitting in a lotus position. I could do all except the long hair and the lotus position. I cannot bend that way. And, if I did, I doubt I’d be able to get out of it. But this is how meditation was portrayed. So, I saw it as something I would NOT be doing.
Since my teenage years, I was always fascinated by the “unknown” and the “mysterious”. But my fascination was always from the outside looking in. As I wrote in my previous post, I was always a logical, rational person, so I actually kept that part of me private because unexplained things were, well, unexplainable. Science does not like that and I didn’t want to be thought a cuckoo.
In the early years of my very slow, extremely subtle Spiritual growth, I started reading books. My very first was recommended to me by my life-long friend. It was called “The Ultimate Secrets of Total Self-Confidence”, by Dr. Robert Anthony. I highly recommend this book, as it clearly and easily explained how our mind works; how we think with our conscious mind, but create with our subconscious mind, which is then tied into what he called the superconscious/universal mind. Turns out he was not the only one to write about it. Apparently I was in the dark on those subjects. Oh well.
I intellectually understood everything in the book. But it took years for me to truly allow its principles to sink into my subconscious mind. And let’s face it, if the intellect were the precursor to Spiritual growth, only the smart would grow. In fact, I now see the intellect as the greatest inhibitor of Spiritual growth, because it cannot be fathomed by the intellect. I also began to notice that those with multiple degrees from the highest of Universities were mostly Ashiest. So, I began to realize how limited I was in intelligence because I actually thought that there was something greater which was responsible for the creation of the Universe. It was so great; so magnificent and inconceivable that I could never contain it in my mind. Whatever it was, it was NOT an old man sitting in a thrown with a beard. It had to be far greater than something we could imagine.
Anyway, the same friend who gave the book to me then said, “Listen, you have got to start meditating!” And I immediately saw myself in a robe sitting on the floor chanting and said, “Nah…that’s not for me.” Luckily he explained to me what he was doing. So, let me run through what it really is, how you can start doing it today and how and why it will positively change your life.
I also learned that the majority of the major corporations in the US all began to teach meditation to their employees because the data showed it improved an employees mood, productivity, quality of life and lowered blood pressure. But rather than call it meditation, they call it Mindfulness. Yes, Mindfulness. I am sure you have heard or read that somewhere. Apparently the stigma of the word meditation was just too much for HR to handle.
Don’t worry. I am getting to it. I’m kind of building up the suspense. But here’s the low-down. Meditation is basically a process of quieting down your mind, focusing on your breathing, examining the thoughts that pop into your mind, examining the feelings associated with those thoughts, and then using visualization along with emotion to visualize the type of life you would like to live. Or, you can literally sit in the quiet dark of the nothingness within and focus on your breath. Either way, both are meditation.
As you are doing this, your brain waves are slowing. Ideally, you want to get into Theta, which is around 4-8Hz per second. Forget that, it’s not important (Remember, do not try to analyze with your intellect. Save yourself from the years of torturous over-thinking that I did). Basically, this is like a daydream state, where you are awake, yet you get images or visuals. Your imagination seems to come alive. Sometimes we are in that state just before we get out of bed and have a song in our mind we never heard before. In fact, that’s how Paul McCartney wrote “Yesterday”. It’s also where Brain Wilson of the Beach Boys said all of his ideas came from.
That’s it. That’s how it works. Now, how you do this is up to you. Some people like to garden. Some paint. Some walk or ride a bike. If you have ever driven a route you drive regularly, then pull into your driveway and barely remember the ride, you were in Theta. How do I do this, you ask? I sit comfortably in a chair. No lotus position for me. I used to use Binaural Beats (I’ll get into this in another post, as it can be a blog in and of itself), I used to sometimes listen to certain classical music (Which I recommend anyway). But now, I do not use anything. I literally can slow my heart beat down, have my breath become more shallow and just be. It’s important when starting out to NOT judge yourself or the thoughts which pop up. Those are those pesky subconscious beliefs I wrote about yesterday. It is these beliefs which begin to show you how and why you think, feel and act the way you do, and which beliefs need to be removed because they are hurting your growth.
I could write more, but this is long enough and I will be discussing specific things which helped me in future posts. As for how long you should do it? They say 20 minutes is fine. I sometimes do over an hour. But I struggled with it originally. If you can only do three minutes, do three minutes. Start from where you are at and grow. And before, during and after (Here comes the really fun part), ask to be shown or led to the people, places and things which will help you grow and evolve Spiritually. Yup, that little charm works. In fact, just know that you WILL be shown things, led to things, have people show up in your life….all of it. It can become like a fun game. As time goes by, you will realize that something beautiful and loving exists that wants you to grow and it will do anything in your greatest good to help you. But, you must ask. And don’t expect to always have it easy. If we need to learn a lesson to advance, we will face said lesson.
BTW- I am planning on a Podcast on all of these topics soon. I truly believe we are in an amazing era on this planet. I absolutely believe that there is a reason the world seems to be going insane. Well, more than usual, that is. And I love sharing anything which can assist you in your own growth. I am only a reference point. Your growth will not and should not resemble mine. Mine is irrelevant to yours.
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May you rise and achieve to become the greatest version of yourself!