Meditation
There are many kinds of meditation. I use both silent meditations when you sit down and use different techniques to lower the mental activity (thoughts and emotions) in order to easier discover its source and more active meditations where physical movement and activity is used to let go of tensions and suppressed feelings.
Examples of silent meditations are different variations of vipassana (a buddhist meditation) which is based on being present in this moment. Breath is used as an aid and works like an anchor and a connection with the body to prevent the mind from spacing away. Here I use both dissociate techniques like watching all thoughts and feelings as something that just passes and something to let go off as soon as we become aware of that we are engaged in them. This can be combined with Ramana Maharshi's self-inquiry technique: "Who am I". Another approach is to use associated techniques where you melt together with the experiences in different ways in order to see that what is the real me is the same as the essence of the experience.
To meditate is a way of calming down and to let everything go slow. Have you seen how a thought is born, stays for a while, and then finally disappears. Can you sense how your feelings come and go? Are you aware of that you are watching all this that is happening? Is there someone or something that experiences all change? You become aware of everything that is happening in a new way. Your perspective is changed and you experience a calm and restful distance. Things happen but you remain silent.
Meditation is also a way of getting into contact with parts of ourselves that we have suppressed. Feelings that we didn't want to feel, memories that we didn't want to keep. Through this contact we can let go of the pressure. Anxiety, anger, grief, restlessness - all kinds of different feelings surface and are being felt and met in the meditation. We receive everything just as it is and welcome it. This welcoming and being present in this moment creates a healing and we become more anchored in ourselves. We become clearer for ourselves and then we are also seen in a clearer way from without by others.
I use different methods in order to get more in contact with the body. One of them is meeting feelings (the felt sense) where you meet and take care of the dominating experience of feeling in your body. Dance and movement are also good methods like my ecstatic dancing.
I also use different heart meditations. The purpose is to open the heart and to include, accept, and heal all parts of yourself.
Meditation is not a prerequisite for awakening. I can be a great help but in the end it is all about Grace. You can get lost in all the practices and being a good seeker. It is all about finding out who the meditator is. In a moment of innocence an opening is possible. If there is enough maturity this might be the turning point. |
