meditation

Jun 15 2011

Silence is Golden: Meditation 101

Peace, joy and health can only be obtained by entering into one’s Silent self. However, while trying to get to a state of Silence, we often we have to face issues that are unresolved, problems we are struggling with and feelings we do not want to feel.

This stops many a person from meditating, being in Silence or lying in shavasana ( corpse pose) on a yoga mat. The key here is to stay with the Silence while releasing all connection you have with the issues entering and swirling around your mind. One way to think of this is to allow the ideas, thoughts and issues that show up to pass across your “mind screen” and out of your focus. A mantra, a point of vision like a candle or attention to breath can help to bring our focus back to Silence. A mantra might be,” I am One with All That Is”, or “I am God’s Beloved Child”. With enough detachment from our mind’s issues, thoughts, problems, and people, one can move past the monkey mind to a place of no thought while in stillness. This however does not come quickly to some.

When I first began to try to meditate sitting up, I would sit with my back next to an old black walnut tree.

At the Feet of an Ancient Master by Premasagar

One day when I was wrapped in a sarape, covered with a hat and gloves and determined to “have my own time”, I thought, is this really what I am doing? By then, the snow was coming down rather steadily but that tree and I had bonded so I sat until I was completely snow covered. I felt a certain peace in doing that because, I so desperately needed time for Silence, even if it was snowing. When I could get to that tree, I felt welcomed because of having put all else aside to go into Silence. I did not really know what I was doing but I knew I had to show up and be still and let the Silence guide me into greater Peace. Bit by bit, step by step I was led into the Silence until that state increasingly stayed with me through the day, through my work, through my creating and through my pain.

Here is what I have learned along the way. We can’t be in stillness and Silence if we don’t show up. The first step in meditating is to show up with the intention for Silence and stillness. Another step is to select a place dedicated to enter into Silence. It may be in a corner of a room or it may be a favorite chair or a special tree or garden. The place has to be a haven for the time you intend to meditate. The major challenge though is to continue to come to Silence, even when your last experience was of the mind churning with thoughts.

One can think of this process as training the mind, like one would train a dog to obey. For most non-meditators, the mind runs willy-nilly all over the place, most of the time. As you begin to sit in the quiet, with the intention to connect to the Greater Whole, the Oneness, you have to let the thoughts pass through without picking any of them up and without giving any of them attention. In the beginning this may be all you do for months. Then one day, you will come out of mediation and realize that you have “lost time” when you were not conscious of sitting in the Silence. This is the golden feeling of peace and balance. As we begin to have a glimpse of this, there is nothing in the entire universe that can touch us this way. We have created the time and space for peace in our lives.

Meditating in a group is easier for most people than meditating alone. This is because as we gather in a group, there is more energy focused on meditation making it easier to enter into that energy flow. However, you can simulate this by setting the intention to meditate with those of the Highest Light around the globe who are meditating at the same time you are. You will be connected energetically with those meditators and it is often easier to get into the flow than trying to meditate alone.

In our lives we get very attached to what is going on with our friends, family, job and affairs. We have opinions, ideas, concerns, conflicts, solutions running around in our heads constantly. Meditation is a time to check out of the dailyness of our lives and seek Peace for a few moments while remaining conscious of being awake. It is like taking an energy nap to renew yourself. However, unlike sleep, meditation trains the mind to be still in the midst of chaos, and this expands into the very fabric of our lives. Over time, as we begin to be able to detach from our mind’s daily drama while in meditation, we increasingly do detach from the drama in our daily lives as well. When our mind gets used through Silence and stillness to our letting thoughts and feelings pass us by, we learn to increasingly remain non-attached to all outcomes in our lives as well. This enables us to increasingly hold the space for the Highest Benevolent Outcome for everything we are involved in all areas of our lives.

In Ray’s efforts to learn to meditate he kept coming up against his feelings about work which were not positive. This would throw him out of a peaceful state, again and again. He became very frustrated with his efforts to meditate. When this happens, we are being led to attend to the negative feelings that are coming up. It is not that we are “failing” in our efforts to meditate, it is that we need to attend to these negative feelings. Here are some ways to do this:

1. Out loud, say “I release all these negative thoughts and feelings I am carrying about work, totally and completely”.
2. In a journal, write out all the negative thoughts and feelings you have about work and the costs and benefits to you of holding onto these. Decide which thoughts and feelings you are going to keep, which ones you are going to let go of and what further actions you are going to take.
3. While you are coming out of your state of Silence and stillness, call forth you sacred inner flame and command it out loud to consume all your blocked emotional, mental, thermal( self-protective) and spiritual energy from their originating sources which are manifesting as these thoughts and feeling about work in the present. All that can leave you energy field today will go.

There is nothing in the world like Silence for healing and for guiding us to balance. Our thoughts and feelings create the imbalances and the balances in our lives. The more we are in Silence and stillness, and attend to the imbalances surfacing there, the more balance we will manifest in our lives. Silence trumps everything we think we are for a glimpse of the peace and stillness within, which is who we truly are.

Mar 04 2010

Silence for the Dubious

When people say, “you need to be in Silence”, there is usually a vision of sitting, perhaps cross-legged with eyes closed and breathing deeply for 30 minutes or so, while being left alone by the world. The thought of this for many people is simply a non-starter and blocks our energy before one can even fully consider it. Sometimes in our lives, such time is non-existent no matter how much we would love to have that experience.

Still, the place to spend time with All That Is/Divine Presence/God is in Silence. When we show up for this time together, we are the ones who are greatly blessed because we are loved, supported and calmed energetically in ways that generally don’t happen in the world. Silence with God is spending time with God without your own agenda.

The main ingredient we need to be successful in making time with God’s Energy is intention. Here are some examples of how to do that. One can dedicate 10 minutes of a walk with the dog to being with Divine Presence.

Another option is to dedicate time while working in the garden or the yard to connecting with God. Open a sacred space by calling in Divine Beings or Divine Light and call God into your time regardless of what you may be doing. Another place I used to have time with God was in the bathroom. That was at a time that I could reasonably count on having a few minutes to myself there. I would seek that time and space at all times of the day and usually that was honored!

We can listen to uplifting music and intentionally invite Divine Presence into our space. This is not Silence per se but it may get us into Silence with grace and ease. The more we intentionally connect with Divine Energy, the more we notice a shift in the vibration of energy around us. This is the Holy Spirit showing up to be with us because we asked. One could read a spiritual book while asking God to enter into this space and time with you, as well. If you are reading poetry or prose, take a section, read the piece three time out loud and then sit in the Silence of that energy. You will be ministered to through Sacred Presence. Usually there is a great calm that comes over us even if we only have 15 minutes.

Any sacred time can be carved out and dedicated to God. You can be watching children playing a sport and while sitting apart for the crowd, take 15 minutes to dedicate special time with God. You can arrive early for an appointment and sit in the car listening to classical music or simply recline with eyes closed and ask God to connect with you. The ways are infinite.

The challenge is to regularly invite God into your life. Don’t talk about it and despair or simply close the door on it as being an impossibility. We are in great need of the Presence of God. That energy is incredibly calming, supportive and filled with Divine Love which is totally different from human support and love here. However, we need to knock on the door with GREAT determination, seek without giving up and keep asking for connection and communion with God by showing up every day in one way or another. We are the only ones who can gift ourselves with Divine Grace. It is all around us but we have to say YES and show up. So, do what works.

For those of you who are finding time in Silence, there is another step which can be taken to expand your conscious knowing of God. After you have intentionally connected with God, you may come out of that time and realize you have something you want to pray about, ask forgiveness for, call Divine Presence into or clear some blocked energy you have become aware of. This is not Silence. This is working with God to call forth this energy for a specific person, situation or purpose. This is unifying prayer. Each of these experiences is still being with God but the focus changes to your own thoughts, questions, needs, etc. This is a natural outgrowth of being in Silence with God.

Muriel was just coming out of a twenty minute session of Silence with God. She immediately saw the face of her sister in front of her. Her sister had passed away two years earlier.

She did not know what the image of her sister actually meant, but the experience felt uncomfortable within. She loved her sister deeply but there was an uneasiness when her face appeared to her. Muriel took two minutes more in Silence and realized she needed to ask forgiveness for the way in which she had behaved when she needed to help take care of her during her illness and when she needed to suddenly do all the extra things for their parents when her sister was sick. Right then and there she asked for forgiveness for those unkind feelings, hasty words and old anger. She felt a perceptible sense of Lightness in her chest and heart area. She knew she had actually been forgiven in that moment. She was amazed that it was so easy to release that old energy. In fact, she had not really remembered her feelings until her sister’s face appeared to her. This was the Holy Spirit working with Muriel to help her clear her soul energy from this stagnant, stuck feeling that was still with her two years after her sister had died.

This is an example of how seamlessly this Divine Energy can work with us. Muriel was in a deep communion with All That Is/God and she simply knew she needed to ask for forgiveness. Without showing up for time with God, she could have carried that draining energy for years and have it show up in all sorts of unhelpful ways.

If we begin our personal relationship with God in Silence, we will be blessed in ways we can never imagine. Show up, dedicate time to God, keep the appointment, be in the Silence, and listen. This is how we come to a place of balance and wholeness through Divine Grace. Even if you have no visual for God, no sense of what or who God is for you, even if you don’t even know if you believe in God Presence, do this anyway. There is a deep magic, that surpasses all understanding, whose doorway will open to us. When this happens all our fears become less powerful, we become more capable of gratitude, we can release that which is not serving us or others very well. If we have just even a few minutes, we will be ministered to. We are deeply loved beyond anything we as humans can comprehend. However, we have to chose to enter into the Silence before we can gather this blessing for ourselves and for others.

Sep 04 2009

Wholeness comes from the Silence

Before I learned to go, first thing, to Divine Presence when in need, I would observe an imbalance or pain in my body and immediately begin arranging whom to go see about it. I lived in doctor’s offices often going 2-3 times a week for a number of years. I was a medical junkie, literally looking for a high. I thought I was taking care of myself. I was physically. It was wearing on me completely though, looking back on that time. This was my response to chronic pain. I went to have all sorts of therapies tried on me, seeking some sort of relief. Usually the relief helped for a couple of days but in some cases, I felt the pain return driving home from the appointment. If I could have taken the practitioner home with me, perhaps that would have extended the sense of well being!

From a purely energetic point of view, the most important thing each of us can do especially when we are sick or out of balance is to go into intentional Silence in the Presence of the Divine.

What we usually do is go to the doctor, chiropractor, therapist, gym, masseuse, a movie, etc. We don’t generally go to God as our first response when faced with a physical or mental ailment. This is a curious reality. Seeking Divine Presence through Silence is much easier than making an appointment, getting dressed, finding transportation, maneuvering through traffic, sitting in the doctor’s office, all to don a paper gown for examination! Further, after getting the help, we have to get dressed again, pay the bill, usually head for the pharmacy, and then retrace all our steps home. Alternatively, sitting in Silence is our own private route to Wholeness.

When we go to a practitioner, we usually go because we hope for help, relief, medicine, reassurance, caring touch, attention and information. Why don’t we go first to Divine Presence when we are out of balance? We can get the same loving assurance, help, relief, attention, and care in the comfort of our own home with Divine Presence.

Cathy did not enter into Silence because she was afraid nothing would be there. Burton said, ” I get in there and am afraid I won’t get out or won’t want to get out.” Sharon shared, “I am afraid of what I will find out about myself. ” Amelia revealed, “I am always so concerned about what I need to do, I just get antsy sitting there getting none of it done.” Rob said, “I am afraid of all the anger I am carrying around. It might get opened up and I could not put it back in. ”

Any of these feelings familiar to you? These are strongly felt feelings, yes, but with not one ounce of lasting truth in them. The feelings seems powerful and real, because they are charged with emotion. However, there is a deeper truth in Silence which amazes everyone I have ever spoken with who intentionally enters into Silence.

There is Lasting Truth in Silence. It is the core of our own True Selves. There is more love and acceptance in Silence than anywhere else in the Universe. The more we experience this, the more we can bring that love and acceptance into our daily lives.

Another way to look at this is, we live in a spiritual world which we are trying to experience physically. We get as many chances as we want, to try and experience this earth dimension solely on a physical basis. Something BIG is missing though, if that is what we keep trying to do.

When I began to meditate I sat outside up against a large walnut tree which grew up through our second story deck. I remember days of just sitting and realizing I was just sitting. I felt safe and supported by that old tree. The sitting in and of itself felt like a gift to myself. Then I began to experience currents of energy I had not experienced before. I remember one early day of sitting, it began to snow. I realized I was liking the Silence. I got up to get some cover from the cold. I found my bright pink and blue serape and hat, bundled up and returned to sit. I thought, I must be meditating, why else would I be sitting here in the snow? It was a great sense of peace and calm.

Silence is a self- teaching process. If you rest into Silence, you rejuvenate. If you float in Silence, you set down your burdens and responsibilities and when you come out you can reexamine what you want to pick up again. If you enter Silence and “bad things” come up, you can name them out loud and command them out of your energy field. They are already there affecting our sense of peace and balance every day, anyway. Feelings and thoughts are not our core being. Welcome to you own true self, that part of you that is basically Silent at the core and from that Silence all else is generated. Most of us spend 95% of our time with the “stuff” that is generated and next to no time with the core of who we truly are.

The entire idea here is when we enter into Silence, we will get the help we need, in the way we need it, when we need it. The inner space is not about being alone, it is about connecting with Divine Source, Infinite Love and Boundless Possibility. Why are you not availing yourself of this space of Utterly Available Wholeness? It is the shortest way I know of to health, happiness, laughter and peace.

Check in with your “stuff” around avoiding Silence. Begin by is sitting with Divine Grace/The Oneness/Spirit of the Living God who loves us each completely, thoroughly, just exactly as we are. Take 10 minutes (by the clock) each day to begin with or join others in Stillness and Silence. We don’t have to put on our best Sabbath behavior, clothes or manners. We are already loved, we just need to show up to feel it reflected back to us. Knowing Wholeness comes from the Silence.

“There is no need to go to India or anywhere else to find peace. You will find that deep place of silence right in your room, your garden or even your bathtub.” Elisabeth Kubler-Ross

Jun 10 2009

Loving Self

Loving Self is the fastest way to create a stronger connection with Spirit. However, most of us are not proficient in doing this. We may think we know all about Loving Self but it is the last area we master, as spiritually developing beings, in body. This can take several lifetimes to fully master. However, we are given all the chances we need to make decisions for ourselves which are loving and in integrity with our spiritual, True Selves.

1. One step to Loving Self is embracing that God and I Are One. We are not separate from God/Spirit. We may feel disconnected but in truth we cannot be separate no mater what we do, feel, don’t do, think or imagine. We are One with All That Is and that’s the Truth. Most of us do not know this however because we give our power to human fears, emotions and thoughts every day. This results in making us feel we are separate from Divine Presence.

Many of us do not gift ourselves with the experience of meditation and authentic prayer,

so we do not have the daily opportunity to learn from Spirit that we and God/Great Spirit are One. Even if we do meditate, we may not be actively releasing our human fears, thoughts and emotions. Therefore, we may be peaceful in Silence and then go right out and have an argument with our co-worker because we are not releasing our fears and concerns proactively, clearing our energy field and making more space for Divine Presence in our lives.

At the very least, affirm out loud and daily,

There is One Power, One Source, One Life Force.
I Am One with All That Is.
I Am an Individualized Expression of God.

This brings Divine Knowing more readily into our energy fields as we affirm these truths regularly.

2. Loving Self has nothing to do with personal indulgence and everything to do with living in integrity. Loving Self is going out with friends and NOT over drinking, over eating, over smoking, over spending, over gambling or over sexing with others. Anything prefaced by “over” is not living in integrity. We usually know when we have “over” done something though frequently, not at the time. Perhaps for a time it feels easier to pretend to ignore this information we have about ourselves. This pretense is costly to us. When we “over do” we are by definition, out of balance. This absolutely affects us mentally, emotionally, spiritual and physically. Living in integrity is Loving of Self and by the way, benefits not only ourselves but all whom we meet.

The energy of being with friends, can be a very self loving experience if we are able to be our authentic selves in their company and receive affirmation for our own True Selves. This looks like being able to say I’m sorry for something we have done which was unkind or unthoughtful and being forgiven. This looks like being able to say, “this was great but now I need to get some rest to function tomorrow”. This looks like being able to set good boundaries for ourselves and have our friends or partners respect this in us.

3. Other acts of integrity include saying “no” to requests of us which are not good for us, helpful for others or respectful of our own inner knowing for ourselves.

Robert (name changed) is a management consultant in his late thirties, in international management. When just setting out, he felt he had to take all work that came his way for financial reasons. He loved the bi-play around negotiating new work, agreeing on the rates, specifying deliverables and getting the contract. However, time and again, he experienced a sense of deflation when it was time to actually do the work.

Robert did notice repeatedly, that if a contract was good for him, it was almost without exception, good for the clients as well. He began to try to determine while negotiating contracts, if he would enjoy the actual work. He made some spectacularly bad choices during this time. His fear of having enough money continued to play heavily into his judgment about clients. After 3 years of working with this rather directly, he turned away a very large contract for 6 months of nearly full salary, because it felt really wrong for him.

After that time, he had appreciably fewer bad contracts show up in his life, because his learning was complete. His soul was at peace with regard to these learnings and therefore he no longer attracted these situations to himself. He had learned to live in integrity with himself and not to “prostitute himself” for the sake of prestige, money, recognition, or safety. In Loving Self enough to only accepting work situations which were good for him, Robert radically transformed his life for the good, in all areas, not just with work.

In facing these situations for yourself ask the following:

Is this a loving choice for me?
Am I being honest with myself, about whether this is good for me ?
What is making me consider working (or staying) in this setting which I know is crummy for me?

4. Loving Self requires proactive attention to our deepest needs. If we are not getting enough exercise, eating well, getting enough sleep, or spending endless hours before a computer or TV, we need to attend to this. It is a loving act to pay attention to these things. If we are deeply lonely, we need to take steps to be with others even if it feels like a big risk. If we are in a bad relationship, we need to ask for Divine Help to come forth within us, release all that is our part of the bad relationship, and bless the other person regardless of the past. If we are bored, we need to name the fear behind this and face it squarely so that we can move on from the languishing energy.

Loving Self is creating more compassion with ourselves in all areas of our lives. Love heals all things, no matter the size or complexity of what we might be facing. Clear the fear you carry connected with the situation, call in Love even though you may not know what next steps to take because such acts create a stronger connection with All That Is, which leads to Inner Peace.

Apr 02 2009

Entering Silence

There are infinite ways to enter Silence. Success with intentional Silence is accessible to all human beings, with practice. Silence is the space beyond conscious thought. It is the space beyond lists, questions, concerns and fears. It is the space of Infinite Possibility. When first exploring time in Silence, many of us think we will find some direction, get clarity on an issue or feel safe and supported. These things can and do occur in Silence but usually meditators have to overcome feelings of discomfort, insufficiency and sometimes even boredom when first entering intentional Silence. Early experiences with Silence can be filled with self-doubt, fears of what we will find in Silence, and even a sense of unworthiness about communicating with The Great I AM. Others feel afraid of the unknown or of dark spirits which may be “out there”. Additionally, because we come from a culture with a healthy focus on doing and accomplishing things in the outer world, we can feel guilty, disconnected from “real life” and antsy to have something concrete take place in the Silence. The key is to keep at it, repeat the process over and over again. It is worth any discomfort, frustration or angst you may encounter in the process.

So how can one intentionally enter into Silence and have a positive experience? Begin by asking Divine Source for help in entering Silence in a way that will be good for you. Call to yourself a positive meditation experience and wait until you get a sense of how to proceed. In other words, prepare for success.

Or if that is not your style, jump right in one day and see what happens. You will learn a great deal from that experience of Silence for yourself. If you do go this route, you might first consider why you want to enter into Silence. Then let that all go as you actually begin to enter Silence. Leave all the thoughts, fears, judgments and uncertainties at the doorway to Silence. Zip off the roles, the responsibilities, the shoulds, the demands, the worries and enter as freely as you are able. “Become as a child, to enter the kingdom of God”.

There are many reasons to enter Silence. I work with those interested in seeking a deeper, personal relationship with All That Is. All That Is or Divine Presence is within our own being, so we end up coming to a deeper knowing of our own True Power, Creativity, and Knowing along the way. This is the full course menu for entering Silence. There are a number of other menus available as well. Knowing why you are seeking Silence is a really good place to begin.

Steps I take when entering Silence

1. I prepare for quiet time by turning off the phone, telling family members I am not available and retreating to a place where I will not be disturbed. I select some material to read and possibly something to listen to, in my space. I set aside a specific amount of time for being in Silence.

2. I open the space I am in to the Highest Divine Energy of the Universe. I invite my Highest Self, Ascended Masters, The Angelic Host, Divine Nature Spirits, Highest Divine Cosmic Light Beings and any other forms of Divine Light who can help me hold the space of Silence that day. Alternatively, you can call in the Holy Spirit or Spirit of the Living God.

I do this because my intention is to connect specifically with Divine Energy rather than with all the other energies in Silent space. I also like the idea of being in the presence of Evolved Spirits who know how to navigate the Silence. Their conscious knowing of All That Is helps me find my own source of Knowing within. I like the idea of inviting knowledgeable company to join me in this process.

3. I call for the Divine Presence of the Great I AM to lead me into the experience of Silence.

4. I can sometimes settle right into a place of stillness and quiet. If this is the case, I sit with my back upright, legs crossed beneath me and breathe in and out, focusing on my breath until I drift into a place beyond thinking.

5. Sometimes I can’t be still. Then I most frequently read a spiritual passage until I feel settled enough to be still. If that does not work, I may sing, chant, om, recite a psalm, listen to a beautiful piece of music or recite an affirmation to calm my mind. If that is the sum of my meditation time that day, I have simply connected with All That Is in a different way, from entering Silence. We have still connected.

6. In using affirmations, I select one and repeat it over and over again from my heart, until I drift into stillness. Some of the affirmations I use are:

I AM God’s Beloved Child.

I AM One with All That Is.

I AM lovable and capable.

Upon Me God’s favor rests.

All is well and that’s the truth.

I AM safe and at peace.

I AM God breathed.

7. When I end, I give thanks for the experience, regardless of how my judging self might be seeing the experience I have just had.

Entering Silence is like learning to play the piano. In the beginning, even the simplest learned pieces bring us pleasure. However in learning the piano pieces, we may have struggles with ourselves over setting aside time, breaking down the piece to learn it, and mastering it to our satisfaction. This can be exactly what we face with beginning to meditate. We are learning something which we do not know how to do. We are entering into unknown territory, that of Silence. So, patience and seeking is called for. However, the greatest counselor of all is the Great I AM, Infinite Knowing and Boundless Love. If you continue to seek in meditation, in the Silence, all that is needed is provided. The pathway for each person will be revealed in just perfect ways. Our part in this is to keep seeking and trying things until we have the success we envision.

If you are trying to meditate, go deeper in your meditation or have slacked off for a while and would like to start again, send along any questions you may have and the responses can be shared on-line for the reading community. If you have a personal suggestion of what is working for you, please share those as well.

meditation

Footer