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Health & Fitness

Meditation Happens

People try to completely quiet their minds and force themselves into meditation. Meditation happens, it can't be forced. Stilling the mind does not mean that all thoughts disappear.

I have been away for two months, I just realized.  But it looks like I have at least one more blog in me.  Writing has to bubble up naturally. I can’t force it. Life
has been very interesting the last two months. Holidays over, check! Resolutions month over,  check!  Valentine’s Day over, check! All of these things that society puts pressure on us to participate in.

I’m not one for holidays and following rules. I like to do what my spirit tells me each day.  So, I meditate.  If I feel like giving someone a present, well I do. No holiday needed.  If I feel like eating healthy and exercising, well I do, no resolution needed. And when it comes to chocolate and love, I don’t need a holiday for that.  That’s an everyday thing. I haven’t felt inspired to write because like I said, I do what my spirit tells me, and it just wasn’t there. It felt like everything that needed to be said was being said by everyone else and then some.  We talk too much and listen little.  So, listening to my own soul and the wisdom of others seemed more appropriate for a while. 

Then last night I was sitting in my back porch mediating, as I often do, and I couldn’t quiet my mind. The thoughts kept on coming, one after the other.  So, I thought: " I should journal and get it all out."   I figured that would
clear my mind and I could drop into meditation. That reminded me of a poem I had just read by Rumi:

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 “This is how it always is when I finish a poem,

 A great silence overcomes me and I wonder

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why I ever thought to  use language.”

At that moment, I understood what Rumi meant,  we write because we Must. So I knew it was time for a new blog.  I needed to express myself so  I can meditate and drop into Oneness. The most joyful state of Being. 

Meditation for me comes very naturally. It is very easy for me to drop into stillness and tune into my Being. That is Meditation. It happens all the time, when I’m wiping down the kitchen counter, when I’m sitting in front of the computer, when I go for a walk, or practically anywhere. People try to completely quiet their minds and force themselves into meditation.  Meditation happens, it can’t be forced.  

Stilling the mind does not mean that all thoughts disappear.  

The object is to notice the thoughts and allow them to simply float by like passing clouds without engaging them. Over time, the thoughts are less and less or at least the volume is lower so we don’t even give them any attention. It is a beautiful practice, but it is a practice, at least at first, so sitting down to meditate regularly is part of training the mind to be quiet.  

Meditation requires us to drop from our mind (our thinking and doing center) into our heart (our feeling and Being center).  

Yoga was originally developed to prepare the body for meditation. It was developed in India about 5 thousand years ago by the Rishis.  It is said to
have been inspired by Lord Shiva.  That is why Lord Shiva is often depicted in statues and paintings sitting in  meditation.  The Eight Limbs of Yoga by Patanjali
states that “Yoga is the resolution of the agitations of the mind.”  So, the original purpose of yoga is to relax the body to allow meditation to occur.   

Meditation is our natural state of being, but this crazy modern world is designed to keep us plugged in. Most of us are walking around with thoughts racing thru the brain, stress in the body and nearly collapsing with exhaustion from lack of sleep.  Always afraid of some future event or frustrated about the past.  

The world is crazy and meditation is the cure.   Meditation brings you into the present moment and the sensations of the body, it tunes you out of the external world and opens up the internal wonder that is within each of us.  It can be a difficult practice at first, but it is a hugely rewarding practice. 

I  teach a Gentle Yoga and Meditation Class on Sunday evenings at the Lotus Pond 6 to 7:15 p.m. Come out and try it.  Let me help you get in touch with your natural state of Being.

Namaste!

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