Back in the 1980's when I first became interested in learning meditation I didn't really know how to get started. There were no classes in my area and very few books that were simple enough to make any sense to me. I took what information I could get completely literally, namely that in order to be able to meditate I needed to sit in an uncomfortable crossed legged position on a cushion on the floor, close my eyes and think of nothing, making all the thoughts go away so that I had a completely silent mind. However much I tried and I did try for several years, this didn't work for me and I thought that I had to be one of those people who would never be able to learn to meditate successfully.
It took me a long time to step away from this misconception of what it is to meditate and to understand what it was really all about. So years later after a very long journey of inner healing and self discovery I at last began to realise what meditation is all about and how there are many routes to finding that quiet place within. I started a weekly meditation group which I ran for several years where we explored many different styles of meditation and ways of achieving that state of calm and peace. Because it didn't come easily to me I understand that it doesn't always come easily to others, so I like to share with those who wish to learn, the many interesting routes I have discovered along the way to help each person to find their own pathway to that place within their own heart.
Nowadays there is so much information and so many courses and guided meditations available for those who want to learn, but still there are often misconceptions of what meditation actually is. Anyone can learn to meditate because it's a way of being, a way of living. You just have to find and connect to that deepest calm place within yourself and create an open pathway to it and there are many different ways in which you can do this. There are many methods to create the path to inner happiness and it's personal preference as to what works best for you.
It's not so much about silence as about stillness and there is a difference. Stillness has it's own unique vibrational energy. It contains silence wrapped in a bubble of perception which floats within a sea of expanded awareness surrounded by outside sounds and textures. Maybe that makes sense to you, or maybe not, it's very difficult to describe the indescribable. It's a tactile sensation that is simply felt and not really possible to put into words. It simply is and even if you haven't yet found that space within, it's still there, waiting for you to remember and in discovering, embrace as though finding your oldest and most precious friend who you didn't even know was missing until you found her.
As a teacher and lifetime student of of energy work I'm always learning and exploring new ways of meditating and methods of healing myself, mind, body and spirit. To me life itself is a meditation, the Tai Chi, Qigong, sitting on a rock on the beach gazing at the sea, walking in the woods feeling the connection to the trees, or simply sitting in the garden quietly with a cup of coffee. Everything you do can become a meditation. It's not what you are doing, but the state of mind you are experiencing in each moment.
Over the next few weeks I'll be sharing with you some of the ways in which you too can achieve a state of relaxation, inner calm and stillness for yourself. The next article will talk about the basics of seated meditation. For today let's try something a bit different.
Look at the photo above. Sit quietly and relax and simply gaze at the picture. I've titled it Pathway of Light. Can you see the pathway. Where do you think it goes. The figure in silhouette on the sand, is it a man or a woman and which way is the figure facing. Are they facing towards you having walked the pathway from beyond the light to the beach or are they facing away from you and about to step on to the pathway. Is the figure forming from the light or dissolving into it. Where do you think the pathway goes. Imagine if you were there on this magical beach. How does it feel. How do you feel.
This is a form of meditation, of looking without and going within and connecting with the energetic frequency of the picture.
When I take these photos I never know what I will get until I get home and look at them. I have a childlike delight in taking my first look to see the images and what they have to say. Sometimes they're just nice pictures of the beach, but more often they make visible a worldview hidden to the physical eyes. My intention is to have the camera capture the energy, to show the magical realms within nature, a view of something more than just the physical place. This process, the journey with my camera becomes a meditative experience for me and is often a part of my Tai Chi and Qigong practices on the beach.
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