Meditation

My prelude into meditation started with a guided meditation by Deepak Chopra. I would listen and try to follow along, but mostly, I just fell asleep. My greatest obstacle to meditation – other than falling asleep – was when I was asked to go inside myself and feel something. There was nothing there to feel. Or if there was something there, I certainly couldn’t feel it. But I was determined to meditate, and I was determined to feel something. I turned a bedroom into a meditation room so I could have a quite space and after much effort, finally started to see some progress.

My first sensation during meditation was similar to a game we used to play as kids. You would have someone close their eyes and you’d tap them on top of the head with a knuckle, then you would gently spread out from that spot with your fingers and if you did it correctly, it would feel like someone cracked an egg on your head and the egg yolk was very slowly running down your head. That’s what it felt like. Or, you could say it was also like a tarantula spider slowly crawling around on the top of my head. (Sometimes I would feel convinced that something was up there, and I’d have to stop meditating and feel my head.) The physical sensation didn’t carry any emotion with it, but at least I could feel something.

Eventually, the emotions came, and I was ill-prepared to handle them. I would have appreciated a “heads up” from one of my books, maybe like the warning label on a pack of cigarettes…

Meditating has ramifications which you can’t currently conceive are possible and can lead to the exposure of painful lower energies that reside inside you – inadvertently creating more pain than your original pain – which made you think you needed to learn to meditate in the first place.

For me, some form of meditation and prayer was absolutely necessary to move out of my mind and into a state of consciousness where I was able to shut out earth and allow in heaven. I knew no other way. I felt better and opened up, but only during the meditation and prayer process. Once that was over, I was often left feeling raw, irritable and awkward, which I didn’t know was caused by meditating, so I meditated harder. It was my only moment of relief in order to offset the emotional pain I was feeling - but it was a vicious circle.

This is why it's so important to understand the process. Better knowledge of how meditation works eases the pain that almost inevitably shows up when you start digging around in all those emotions that you didn't even know you had.

How to meditate

I’ve been reluctant to share “how to meditate” because of the various pitfalls associated with bringing too much change into your life too soon. So, my advice is to start slowly and if possible find a support group. It helps so much to know you're not alone.

Everyone is different. There are people who were born light, and there are people who were born heavy. If you’re one of those “light people”, you may only need to meditate in order to enter that peaceful state – just a tweak off where you already live – to keep yourself grounded or to keep in touch with your higher self. If you’re one of those “heavies” – and I know whereof I speak – you’re very likely entering a space where too-much-too-soon could bring a lot of emotional pain into your life.

Then there’s the third situation… you’re here searching for answers because of what has been thrusted upon you – seemingly without your consent. You’ve already inadvertently begun to feel differently; you can’t do what you used to do, say what you used to say, feel how you used to feel, eat what you used to eat, drink what you used to drink, see who you used to see, work where you used to work, or live how you used to live. If this is your situation, then you have no choice but to cope to the best of your ability. You will not be able to stop the process, but you can learn some very necessary coping mechanisms.

I believe this is the situation for most of us on this earth. I believe the energy of the earth is evolving and we have no choice. I believe that just a tiny bit more than half of us have tipped the scales and that everyone else is being dragged along – or about to be dragged along – the new path. What is being manifested on this earth right now is exactly what needs to happen in order to see our own darkness and heal it. So if you think your life is a mess, and this world is a mess, then it’s because – exactly as with meditation – every hidden darkness within will be exposed and seen in all its glory and will be dealt with by light and love… and that ain’t easy.

There are three levels of energy to notice during meditation; thoughts, emotions, and physicality. The lightest energy is thought. Thoughts come and go easily and carry the least strength of the three. Emotions are next in line, and they carry a great deal of power. We aren’t always aware of it, but our emotions drive our thoughts. Our physicality is the strongest of the three and is the exterior manifestation of our every thought and feeling.

Beginning meditation – focusing on thought;

Find a quiet, comfortable place where you can sit or lay in relative silence. Put on a very light, calming music or sound that will continue seamlessly for around 30 minutes. Get the light in the room set at a comfortable tone. Put yourself in a physical position that will be comfortable, but not so comfortable that you immediately fall asleep and take a 30-minute nap. (Not that a nap is not beneficial, but it may be discouraging if you just keep falling asleep.) Close your eyes and breathe. Just breathe comfortably. In and out slowly but not intentionally slow. Breathe deeply but not intentionally deep. Be comfortable with your breath and then start listening to your breath. Eventually, you’ll start thinking. Treat every thought like it’s passing through, then go back to hearing each breath. Do this over and over again until thoughts come and go without much… thought, and you notice more breathing than thinking. Then as the final instruction for beginning meditation, feel how your breath affects your body. Feel your chest expand and contract. Do this over and over until you feel comfortable with the flow of thoughts and are calm and relaxed. Continue this process until you notice your thoughts coming and going without attaching to what or why those thoughts are there. Breathe them away as they appear without judgment or questioning. You are now free to move around the cabin. You can think happy thoughts and visualize fields of flowers and rainbows. You can do visualizations like your roots going down into earth for grounding or your arms reaching to heaven. Just be present and enjoy the freedom of letting your thoughts come and go without judgment.

If this level of meditation quiets your mind and leaves you feeling better, then go no further. This may be as deep as you want or need to go. Enjoy the relaxation and benefits that meditation brings and come back to it when you feel the need.

Intermediate meditation – focusing on emotions;

Do all-of-the-above. Get completely comfortable with your thoughts coming and going as before, but add this to your process; in order to gently analyze the energy of a thought - examine your thoughts. When a thought appears, notice it, embrace it, feel how it makes you feel. Is it happy or sad? Is it peaceful or frustrating? Whatever it peaks in your emotions, let it peak. Let it build. Give it your attention. Ride your feelings like a wave. If you’re sad, be sad. If you’re happy be happy. If you’re angry, be angry. Do not filter how these thoughts make you feel. Own them as who you are, how you feel. In this moment, your full attention is on the feeling before you. Until finally – and this might be weeks or months or years – you grow comfortable with how you feel in any given moment… and it’s okay. You examined your thoughts in order to reach a place where you felt your feelings without judgment. Continue this process until you notice your feelings coming and going without attaching to what or why those feelings are there. Breathe them away as they appear without judgment or questioning. You are now free to move around the cabin. You can feel happy feelings and focus on higher feelings. You can feel how it would feel to be in a field of flowers and rainbows. You can feel how it would feel to have roots going down into earth for grounding or your arms reaching to touch heaven. Just be present and enjoy the freedom of letting your feelings come and go without judgment.

Advanced meditation – focusing on physicality;

Do all-of-the-above. Get completely comfortable with your feelings coming and going as before, but add this to your process; in order to gently analyze the energy of a feeling - examine your feelings. When a feeling arises, completely embrace the feeling. In your recent regiment of meditation, you could not have breathed out your feelings without judgment unless you developed an ability to detach from the feeling. Now it’s time for you to attach. Feel how it makes you feel. If it’s a feeling of light and love, just stay with it. If it’s a feeling of pain and suffering, then talk to it. Ask it why it feels that way. Ask it what you can do to help. Ask it when it started feeling this way. Eventually, you’ll feel its home within you. You’ll feel the flutter, or the discomfort, or the pain. Follow it home. Go to that place of origin. Speak healing words into that space. Words like love, abundance, ease, tolerance, compassion, peace and joy, and see what happens and how that feels. Does the place of origin flair up? Does the feeling intensify? If so, then you know where in your body that you carry this particular feeling, and this is beneficial. Keep your attention on that space, wherever that may be. Place your hands with your palms up and feel the air around your hands. See if energy comes into your hands. See if energy comes into your body at the origin of this feeling. Continue this process until you feel energy flowing through your hands and through your body. This will take weeks or months or years, but this is the way to find the source of negative energies within your body and clear them. Blocked energy creates sickness. Flowing energy heals.

Chakra meditation - feeling and clearing chakras;

Coming soon...

Healing meditation - releasing and healing;

Coming soon...