Meditation and Mindfulness (Pillar #10)

Meditation is ubiquitous and timeless. Meditation practice can be found all over the globe and traced back to at last 5000 BCE.  Today, meditation is mainstream.  How can something that has been practiced by humans for thousands of years all throughout the globe become mainstream in today’s technological era?  Because it works.  Whoever you are, you can meditate.  Wherever you are, you can meditate.  However you want, you can meditate.  Whatever you are looking to improve, meditation will help.  Meditation is the powerful practice of being submerged in awareness of the mind and its movements.  The contents of the mind are constantly jumping from one thought to another like a captured dolphin swimming in a tank.  All this mind jumping goes on without conscious notice.  Meditation simply enables us to witness these turbulent thoughts. Witnessing the monkey mind is the first step to a more peaceful, more purposeful, and more vibrant life.  That is why meditation and mindfulness are the 10th pillar in the Elevate Your Vibrations series. 

Meditation

Meditation is a relationship between the person and themselves and that is why there are as many definitions of meditation as there are people in the world.  Some will say that meditation is following the breath, or chanting Aum, or that still moment between your thoughts.  Some say meditation is mindfulness while others will say it is concentration and will.  All are right.   There are equally a plethora of forms and techniques to practice meditation.  Some say sitting meditation, some say walking, some say eyes closed, and some say eyes open, some say full lotus and some say sit in a chair.  All are right.  Meditation is a very personal practice that compliments each practitioner's life differently. I have practiced meditation on and off for almost 25 years under numerous instructions.  Listening to my intuition through the evolution of my practice has molded a style that best suits me.  I will explain my practice and then provide a simple practice to ignite compassion that you can implement to your routine. But first, I would like to discuss mindfulness.  

Mindfulness 

Mindfulness is being conscious in and of the present moment.  It is being aware of feelings and thoughts, sensory input, and your total environment.  For instance, feeling the soap and water on your hands while washing your dinner plate, understanding that you are a fully alive being standing in your kitchen located on this wondrous planet called Earth.  Being mindful is when you gratefully fork a cherry tomato into your mouth knowing that with the energy first retrieved from the sun will now nourish your being. And simultaneously realizing that everything is vibrantly alive and intricately connected.  Being mindful is remembering the breath when someone just cut you off in traffic and rage brews in your stomach.  Being mindful is noticing your judgments of certain people and certain emotions. In this radical world of duality, we have love and fear, joy and sorrow, anticipation and disappointment, where each emotion and its opposite makes us whole.  Being mindful allows you to notice each emotion with acceptance, understanding, and empathy.  This leads to a more fulfilling sense of wholeness. 

My Practice

My meditation practice began in the dorm room of Central Michigan University the summer after spending two months in Santa Cruz, California.  My friends in Santa Cruz turned me onto two lifelong passions…surfing and Buddhism.  My friend gave me a Thich Nhat Hanh book on the way to the airport at the end of the summer.  So as soon as I returned to university, I began meditating.  I would shower, light candles, and sit cross legged on a pillow trying to block thoughts from entering my mind.  I forced my willpower to concentrate on nothingness.  The more I focused the slippery nothingness became.  But I kept on trying.  From the dorm rooms of university, I traveled to Thailand, where I lived for 5 years as an english teacher and where I participated in my first group meditations led by monks on a terrace in Wat Arun on the Chao Phraya River.  These 5 years directed an evolution in my meditation practice from previously willing nothingness into my mind, to noticing my thoughts and allowing them to both come and go.  Little by little the thoughts jumping around my mind calmed and quieted down.  This calmness spilled over from my meditation mat into my everyday interactions with life.  It allowed me to embrace the present and elevate my vibrations.  Today, I wake up 30 to 45 minutes before the sunrise with gratitude.  I sit facing east with legs crossed.  I start with setting my intention for the practice, some basic breathing exercises, and I repeat the words, “I Am.” I finish my practice with gratitude and then spend the rest of the day integrating my morning formal meditation practice into everyday living.  

Conclusion

Meditation is a way for you to turn your view inward.  It introduces you to yourself.  Meditation will provide new perspectives on identity, behavior, and patterns.  Stress is much easier managed with the help of meditation.  Meditation is the recipe for patience, tolerance, acceptance, and abundance.  Meditation teaches compassion for self and others.  Meditation will unfurl the interconnectedness of everything as tiny parts of the great organism of Earth.  To really elevate your vibrations to levels unfelt before, begin a formal meditation practice.       

Practice this Loving Kindness Meditation

Begin with some complete breathing exercises. Let go of any preoccupations.  Breath normally and bring awareness to the heart.  Notice your feelings.  Accept those feelings without judgment.  Smile and allow your heart to soften.  Do 5 rounds of visualizations starting with yourself.  Say these statements of something similar springing from your heart for a few minutes, all the while visualizing these statements to be absolute truth. 

“May I be filled with loving kindness

May I be safe and secure.

May I be healthy and happy in mind and body.

May I be free from suffering.”

When you have completed the first round of meditation for yourself, move onto a close friend or family member, someone that you completely love.  

“May my son be filled with loving kindness

May my son be safe and secure.

May my son be healthy and happy in mind and body.

May my son be free from suffering.”

When you have completed the second round of meditation for a loved one, move onto an associate, co worker, or someone neutral that you know.  

“May the bus driver be filled with loving kindness

May the bus driver be safe and secure.

May the bus driver be healthy and happy in mind and body.

May the bus driver be free from suffering.”

When you have completed the third round of loving kindness meditation for a neutral person, move onto a difficult person or someone that you don’t have the best feelings for.  

“May my enemy be filled with loving kindness

May my enemy be safe and secure.

May my enemy be healthy and happy in mind and body.

May my enemy be free from suffering.”

When you complete the fourth round of mediation for an enemy, move onto all sentient beings.  

“May all sentient beings be filled with loving kindness

May all sentient beings be safe and secure.

May all sentient beings be healthy and happy in mind and body.

May all sentient beings be free from suffering.”

The Loving Kindness Meditation is springboard compassion into your heart. In order to have compassion for others, you must start with yourself and this meditation is a tool that can be used to ignite your compassion for the rest of your life.