The following is another lesson on meditation, written by Angel Stork, 29 Gifts Educator. We share the belief that creating a spiritually grounded foundation to your daily life can only lead to a more stable and peaceful existance. We are debuting some wonderful meditation teleclasses designed to share the wisdom of meditation, and the principles behind it that will allow you to feel more fulfilled and centered.
Thought-form: Every incoming breath is incoming life; every outgoing breath removes what is no longer life giving.
A calling requires a response. About thirty years ago I was called to learn to meditate, and after a two-year search, found a school that taught a visualization-based form of meditation intended to wake up one's intuitive ability. At the time I had no idea how answering this urge would change my life. Looking back, I am eternally grateful for having had the opportunity to learn about myself through the nearly two years of study, followed by nearly twenty years teaching meditation and healing in that method.
Growing in, continuing exploration and experience have deepened and broadened my sense of self and rightness of being. What I offer you here has its roots in this school of east-meets-west metaphysics, but is my own blend of diverse teachings, recent and ancient wisdom and life skills for generating joy while standing in your own place and time and being.
I'd like to share some of what I have learned from meditation and energy work.
1. You already know this: You already know how to “get grounded” and to direct your own energy. I teach a method whereby you remind yourself, and make real, those abilities you already possess. This is true for most, if not all techniques of energy work and healing.
2. Meditation is a method, not the method--but a method for self-discovery. Meditation is a tool for awakening to this universe and your place in it. Trusting the process enables you to understand the principles that guide this universe.
3. "Every principle that wakes up in you has the power to change your life." Actively seek out the principles or laws by which the universe functions. Make them yours. By personalizing those principles, you empower yourself. Therefore...
4. Don't practice meditation to become a great meditator--meditate to awaken yourself to who you are and how you are. When you awaken to that knowledge, you can be free. The purpose of meditation is freedom.
One of my mentors told me the only difference between student and teacher is this: The teacher is the one with the greater intent. I teach because I am an avid learner.
A calling requires a response. As I am called to move on to my next level, I feel grateful to be able to help you reach for your next level of being. It is the work of changing lives. I am honored to guide you on this journey.
Where to begin? Begin here, with me. Find 5-10 minutes in your day, morning or evening (or both!) to sit comfortably, close your eyes and breathe deeply and slowly. Attend only to breathing in, breathing out. Let your “muscle of attention” rest only upon the breath, or the rising and falling of your chest, as if riding a great wave.
What to notice: you will begin to soften and relax; you will literally “calm down” sinking down into your body; the activity of the mind will begin to quiet. Your mind may grab you away from your body and pull you out along some thought path. It’s okay, just take a deeper breath and come back to riding the wave of breathing in, breathing out.
What’s Happening: You are beginning to meditate! Meditation is simply learning to focus attention. Meditation is a state of relaxed focus.
What else? The first step in meditation is training your attention to do what you are doing, not what it wants to do. Attention in an active mind can feel like a new puppy: straining at the leash of focus or running here and there and dragging you (your energy) every which way. Too many puppies running amok and we feel scattered.
Be kind to your self! No scolding. The best way to train your attention is to offer a specific assignment. Here, Attention, be with my breathing! When you have practiced breathing and resting attention, you can ask Attention to hold a thought while breathing: Every incoming breath is incoming life; every outgoing breath removes what is no longer life-giving.
As you meditate, begin to sense your body’s energy system. Like your spine, your internal energy system supports the health and vitality of your body. It is aligned with your spine. Compared to your spinal cord, your internal energy system is a kind of subtle nervous system, with seven centers of activity focused in strategic “centers” or matrices of physical activity.
