This post is all about meditation, which is basically just what we humans can do to bring our mind and spirit to a sense of equilibrium. For example, if you feel worked-up, or stressed-out, or anxious, meditation is something that you can do to alleviate that feeling. Better still, if you meditate when you are feeling really good, and not just when you are feeling overwhelmed, you are better able to create a constant state of equilibrium. You’ll create a habit of being relaxed and capable of dealing with your issues.
So, how do you meditate? I’m not even going to entertain this idea that you might think that meditation has to be done sitting in the lotus position, with your index fingers touching your thumbs, eyes shut, etc. It doesn’t need to be like that, but it can be like that.
Meditation is about contemplating the void. What is the void? The void is nothingness. What happens when you think about nothingness? Maybe something different, according to different people. It might make you scared to think about nothingness. You might not like it at all. It might make you gasp. It might be boring.
The key to meditation, though, is that all these feeling that you feel when you think about nothingness are o.k. Some people would even say that they are exactly what you are meant to be feeling. For me, it is important to note that if you feel scared of nothingness in the first minute of thinking about it, that feeling will definitely be different in 10 minutes time. It might transition to boredom, or maybe fascination, for example.
This is the great thing about meditation. All feelings are welcome, and because of the nature of meditation, they will change. You might feel different aspects of one feeling. You might realize that what you thought was fear is actually great power, etc.
So, in my opinion, meditation can only be a good thing. But here is a big tip: to meditate effectively you have to actively think about something. Otherwise, if you try not to think anything, you are likely to constantly distract yourself with thinking things that only your subconscious mind has control over.
Instead, think actively about nothingness. Contemplate the void.
There is a range of ways to learn how to do this (even though as children, I think, we learn how to do this intuitively). Here are some examples of where you could practice contemplating the void:
1. Stand on the edge of a cliff into a valley and instead of focusing with your eyes upon something on the ground at the bottom of the valley, pull back your focus to a point halfway between yourself and the ground.
2. If you have a lover, or someone else you feel very comfortable with, gaze into their yoni or asshole. This might sound completely bizarre, depending on what your history is with that particular person and what your beliefs are around the human body, but this practice is very powerful. There is no need to say anything, or think anything, except perhaps to notice that this body has a void-space within it.
3. Sitting by yourself in a quiet room, open your mouth and breathe long, slow breaths in and out through it. Leaving your eyes open, imagine that your mouth is actually doing the seeing for you. Imagine that your mouth is also doing the smelling for you. All the while, feel the air pass through the inside of your cheeks and down your throat. Let yourself be still in this.
4. Lie on some grass beneath a large tree in spring or summer. Look up at the sky through the branches and leaves and, moving the direction of your gaze around at will, maintain your focus on the sky and not the leaves and branches.
As your meditation practice develops, you will notice that you can see through, with your mind’s eye, anything to see the void within it, and through it. You will see the place beyond. These channels you see through in order to see the place beyond are void spaces. We can always look to see the place beyond and find the void space in and through everything.
May this practice bring you feelings like wonder, exhilaration, liberation, abundance, and creativity.
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