Think you Can’t Meditate?
Meditation is natural.
Meditation is not elusive, in fact it is an instinctive and natural aspect of the human experience. Meditation is what happens when we take in the captivating hues of a sunset, when we notice the joy in a child’s face, or when we take a leisurely walk in the woods. These are instances of meditation in its purest form, effortlessly occurring in our lives. Meditation is natural.
If you think you can’t meditate, recall “have I ever taken a pause to relish the line in a book? Had a memory arise with the aroma of some childhood scent? Watched the clouds drift across the sky?” If so, then you have already meditated! Meditation is natural.
In his book “Meditation 24/7: Practices to Enlighten Every Moment of the Day” Lorin Roche explains that “hidden inside your most mundane moments are pathways to heightened and enlightened appreciation”. He gives the example of “Drinking your morning tea or coffee with intense pleasure, as if it were an elixir of life”. So, you can see that meditation is accessible and available to us all. We don’t have to strive to sit in an uncomfortable position for hours on end to meditate, in fact, as my teacher Justin Michael Williams often suggests prior to meditation “get netflix comfortable!”
In his book, Stay Woke, Justin shares a compelling diagram illustrating the mind’s shifting journey as we meditate.
(Photo taken from “Stay Woke” authored by Justin Michael Williams, 2020).
As you can see in the diagram, the outside box represents meditation and the inside of the box, all that is occurring during meditation. Our mind alternates between restfulness and restlessness, and both are part of the meditation.
Meditation isn’t about trying to have a blank mind or force the thoughts away, rather it is a gentle noticing of the thoughts that naturally arise (freedom meditation and instinctive meditation schools). We adopt the role of observer; as we watch the nuanced cycling of focus and awareness shift between for example, a mantra and our dinner plans or a mantra and a disagreement we had with our partner.
It is through this practice of allowing the cycling and understanding that it is a natural rhythm of life, akin to the cycling of seasons or cycles of the moon, that we can let go of force, surrender and fall into the vibrancy and inherent magic of life. And then…what happens next, we begin to have more of those moments of natural meditation, life becomes a meditation, from noticing the filtered rays of the light entering under the blinds in the morning, to the savoring of your morning coffee, to the hum of traffic, yes that too can become part of your meditation. Actually, that reminds me of a story told by Sharon Salzberg. Sharon shares that after picking up her friend at the airport, she became frustrated by the traffic, saying “what are they all doing here, why aren’t they moving?!”. Upon hearing this, her friend replied “Sharon, you are traffic too”. One of the reasons I love this story is because it reminds me that through the practice of meditation we can more easily (and naturally) shift back into the space where we can observe and respond in all moments. The cycling that happens during meditation begins to transfer into our day to day moments and flow.
In meditation, there is no destination, nowhere to be, no need to change ourselves, it is a practice of presence. It is innate and if you haven’t formally meditated before, you can begin with one minute of contemplation. Start with getting comfortable (Netflix comfortable) with your spine aligned yet relaxed, eyes closed or softly focused on a spot in front of you, and then notice your breath, as it moves in and as it moves out, the feeling of your body on the surface you sit upon, the smells in the room, the sounds around you and within you, and then back to the breath. And at this point your timer will chime and you’ve done it, completed your meditation, in the natural, instinctive way that is connected to that within you and around you. Congratulations! Let me know what you noticed!
If you would like to chat more about meditation and how it can be used as an adjunct to healing and Physiotherapy, please email me at Hello@Vibrantsol.ca or book an appointment online here: Book with Cheryl.
