I was sorry to see Beliefnet’s other woman blog, "Chattering Mind," come to an end because 1) I learned much of my blogging techniques and tricks from Amy Cunningham (when Beliefnet launched Beyond Blue, my very smart editor told me to study "Chattering Mind" as my model), and 2) "Chattering Mind" provided the peaceful take on life that balanced out my sometimes-chaotic and- frenzied posts.
So I called up Amy, and said this: "Shoot, you’re going away. How can Beyond Blue embrace the calmness that you sent out to cyberspace?"
During our conversation I asked her, flat out: "Do you transcend?" (which I felt embarassed asking, as if I was asking her if/how often she orgasmed).
She laughed. "No."
And then she said something that was beyond comforting for a person like me with an attention span of an ADHD seven-year-old who forgot to take his Ritalin:
"Meditation is a practice, so anyone sitting down to do it should not expect much and certainly not assume it will make them happier. In fact, meditation teachers say that if you expect too much from meditation, meditation will quickly cause you to become disillusioned and quite unhappy."
As I implied above, my problem is that I approach meditation like it’s sex and because I never orgasm (or transcend) I assume I’m doing it wrong.
"All you have to do is sit down, focus on the inhales and the exhales of your breathing, and realize that your body is doing all kinds of things without you having to orchestrate every action," Amy told me. "Let thoughts rise up, smile softly at them, and then send them off in a helium balloon above your personal ocean."
That was the same advice one of my other friends who’s way into meditation told me.
"Imagine any distracting thought like a bird," he explained. "He may land on your head. That’s okay. Just don’t let him nest."
I wish he hadn’t used that analogy because now whenever I try to meditate I immediately picture myself as Ellen (Debra Winger) in the 1995 flick, "Forget Paris" (with Billy Crystal), with a bird nest stuck to my hair, totally freaking out.
"I am not the total pro, but I have learned that sitting is just sitting, nothing more," Amy explained. "Some days it is nice, some days I'm restless, some days it is nothing, just boring."
She later quoted Lama Surya Das, one of the foremost American Lamas in the Buddhist tradition, who said, "The mind is a terrible thing to watch."
And then Swami Chetananda, (do all swamis have long last names?) who said this:
"When you are with someone you love very much, you can talk and it is pleasant, but the reality is not in the conversation. It is in simply being together. Meditation is the highest form of prayer. In it you are so close to God that you don't need to say a thing--it is just great to be together."
We will certainly miss you, Amy! Please come back when you’re ready.
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Meditation, yes is a practice but it is a strategy as well. I have had many accounts in life using meditation as a tool. When applied after practice of course, meditation is affective. Kind of like learning a killer cross over in basket ball, practicing it , and then appling it in the big game to help "the team win."
Namaste
I have found three excellent (I think -- doesn't mean the books actually ARE excellent! LOL) basic easy-to-read books on meditation:
The Breath by Vessantara
The Miracle of Mindfulness by Thich Nhat Hanh
Calming Your Anxious Mind by Jeffrey Brantley (a great book to begin with)
There are different types of what we call meditation. It wouldn't hurt to read a basic book or two about meditation before beginning. But there are two big basic problems with most of us who want to meditate: (1) Actually getting down to the actual 'sitting', the actual practice of meditating, because you'll find that you have a million reasons NOT to do it; and (2) there are so many slightly different methods of meditation that, if you investigate them all, that's what you'll be doing with your time -- reading instead of meditating.
I may be wrong (I don't think so -- of course!) but I've read over and over that it's not so much the method/path that we choose as much as (1) we do choose a method; and (2) -- and this is very important -- we meditate every day.
For those of us who think we can't meditate -- our minds are just too 'busy', we don't have time, etc., etc., etc., -- just start sitting and breathing every day and see what happens.
And if you stick with it, eventually will need a teacher. Choose one carefully, when the time comes.
I'm a single mom with 3 kids, and meditation has been my anchor and refuge. I just wake up an hour or two earlier than I usually do in my regular day and "commune with my God".
Throughout the day, those early moments spent in meditation keeps me centered, more aware, more alive, stronger, wiser.
I think of it as taking a spiritual bath everyday, as well as recharging my self for the day, like I recharge my cellphone.
wow-great words--right now my bible study is reading Brother Lawrence's book-the practice of the presence of God. and I belong to a comtemplative prayer group. Meditation is a way to getting closer to God and listeneing to Him. I have seen it.
God's peace be with you,
Barbara
I have tried to do meditation, it gets kind of hard to sit and concentration, could you please advise some method to concentrate
Rav
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