| |
MEDITATION
Meditation teachers around the world have long taught that there are many ways to attain the calm, alert, relaxed yet focused state of awareness afforded by meditation. Even such a simple act as knitting can result in profound relaxation akin to that achieved through meditation. Like many types of meditations, knitting involves a repetitive pattern of movements, and a central, repetitive pattern of movement of the needles as they wind and thrust rhythmically.
From this perspective literally hundreds of human activities could be considered forms of meditation. All of these have in common the ability to induce a kind of free-floating attention where analytical thought and verbal reasoning are bypassed.
The person in this meditative mood is completely absorbed in the particular object of meditation, removed from the world of distracting sense impressions. The mood is often invoked, for example, by the mother rocking her infant and singing in a gentle rhythm; by the artist taking in the scenery of the early morning dawn; by the sunbather lulled by the rhythmic breaking of waves along a beach; by the student listening to the gentle rain on the roof late at night; and by the child sitting high up in the tree listening to the sound of the breeze in the treetops.
Meditation, like most things is this dualistic world will bring out its opposite. At some point and on some days what will emerge will be more agitation, more sadness, more heighten anxiety, and more restlessness. The reason for these occurrences is that as we call forth more moments in this state of free attention the suppressed thoughts, moods and actions may arise. As we begin the process of being in the moment, in the “now’, we can experience all of the ways in which the mind distracts us and holds us in a stressful state of business.
If meditation fails to relax you, the difficulties you encounter may be a necessary part of your journey towards personal growth and awareness.
As more meditation is practiced, and we sit with ourselves more, then we can begin to experience more of who we are, that is often held underneath the surface. So if you go through this in your attempts of meditation, it is wise to ask for assistance or just check in with someone who teaches it to help you through this phase rather than give it up. It may be that you have hit what the Buddhists refer to as one of the “hindrances” encountered on the spiritual path.
It may be that you need help with some view points or insights to shift an old hindering pattern that you have become aware of. Just because you can’t see your patterns it doesn't mean that they do not exist and that they are not running your life. It is through these moments of meditation that you gain more personal self awareness and you may not like it.
That’s okay, and it may be uncomfortable to encounter that part of you that is an agitated, sad being. You are taking yourself to a deeper level of knowing yourself. As with any self control strategy, we want to know what to do if adverse effects come up. A certain sensitivity is required. So if we encounter, irritability and tension is it still meditation?
Patricia Carrington, a clinical psychologist, and professor at the NJ Robert Wood Johnson Medical School, says that ‘tension-release’ effects are probably the primary source of discouragement for beginners and can include a wide range of polarized feelings, alternating between such sensations as heaviness and lightness, heat and coldness, tension and lassitude.
Carrington describes the tension-release process as a natural, unwinding phenomena, like the sudden uncoiling of a tight spring, which occurs when a person releases long repressed feelings and tensions. The unwinding process is often awkward and uneven. Most of us remember a time when we went to bed after a tension filled day, and as we are dropping off to sleep we experience a sudden involuntary jerk that awakened us fully again.
In meditation, similar temporary startles or other forms of discomfort may appear. Other common tension-release effects include, for example, headaches, sore throats, tingling or stinging sensations in some parts of the body, running noses or sneezing.
Even the urge to laugh uncontrollably is a tension-release effect. Some people may see all kinds of fascinating images, while others may have the intense impression that they can smell certain scents, or taste certain flavours. Carrington says that these experiences are only adverse if the person is threatened by their unusual quality and judges them or themselves.
When people first start to meditate, anger is one of the first emotions to arise. Relaxation induced panic may also arise. If you know that you have been avoiding a certain emotion, or experience in your life and it begins to arise during meditation then it is advisable to get some assistance through counseling or therapy of some kind to deal with instead of giving up your meditation.
People who need structure in their lives find meditation can drive them up the wall as it is unstructured. Others who require assistance with meditating are those with depression, bi-polar conditions and schizophrenia because of the polarized feelings that meditation can bring up which would intensify the already polarized intense symptoms of these conditions.
So before you call yourself a failure with the practice of meditation take the time to read about it and ask about it and be guided by someone who can assist you during your moments of “hindrance”. Though some people may struggle more than others in this mind discipline, even to the point of anxiety, this may be as it should be.
Waking up is sometimes hard to do. Meditation was never intended to be an easy ride to enlightenment, and it seems likely that no such ride exists. Nevertheless, we may benefit from guidance. Often choosing a style of meditation that suits your needs is the starting point.
My meditation days are designed to give you experiences of different types of meditations and some ways in which to deal with the polarized feelings that may arise from within.
For Meditation Course information see Personal Empowerment Courses
|
|
