Do you want to meditate but fear it is out of your comfort zone? If so, you’ve come to the right place. I understand! As a young adult I secretly admired the people I heard about who made trips to the “mountain top” that didn’t require LSD! Always interested and curious about the spiritual world, I found actually living in one a far more challenging thing!
My years in seminary, while a source of perpetual expansion of ideas, were otherwise fraught with unease. For one, I suffered endless anxiety over my inability to find a consistent, reliable connection to that something greater than myself that was so much talked about. I remember sitting one night, alone in the darkened Princeton University Chapel. Overcome with angst I tried praying fiercely, sometimes angrily at a God I could not seem to find. I left feeling more empty, alone and unheard than when I arrived.
BACKWARDS THINKING
I now know and understand what I didn’t then. I had it completely backwards. Meditation (or prayer, as to me they are one and the same) was a far different thing than I thought it to be! It is not only much less mysterious, it is something that one can learn like we learned to walk as babies. The ability to mediate is in all of us in much the same way as any other instinct. We just have to learn as we go, to practice by taking baby steps, sometimes holding on to another’s hand until we find our footing.
“Meditation practice isn’t about trying to throw ourselves away and become something better. It’s about befriending who we are already.” – Pema Chödrön
To begin to meditate it may be helpful to let go of some of our preconceived notions. For me, it was that idea that something or someone “out there” was going to make the connection with me, or vice versa. What I found was that is is more about discovering a place inside myself, a place where thoughts and judgement fall away. In this space is deep rest and relaxation devoid of the cares of the world and problems to be solved.
TOOLS TO HELP YOU MEDITATE
There is no one way to learn to meditate, but there are tools that will help you find your way. I learned to meditate through my experience with guided imagery meditation. A mentor guided me gently to my interior world as a way of processing trauma. It was profoundly helpful to me, far and away better than years therapy. That’s another story. It was only the beginning and you need not find such a person to begin yourself.
I eventually found my way to Insight Timer and searched for guided imagery mediation. I downloaded the app onto my phone and have been using it daily ever since. There are other apps available such as Calm, though I have not tried them. Alternatively, you may find a class on mediation to be a good place to start. There are also endless books and articles on how to meditate and its benefits.
My goal here is simply to encourage you to just jump in somewhere and begin. Like learning anything, it takes time and practice to reap the most benefit. But, somewhere along the way it becomes a very natural part of life and inordinately pleasurable! You will want to meditate every day. It won’t be a chore. I promise.
YOU MIGHT ALSO ENJOY
Meditation Prayer on Love by Thich Nhat Hanh
This is the go to book on the value of meditation as shown through research.
Stress. It is everywhere around us. Even worse, it gets inside us: Sapping our energy, undermining our health, and making us more vulnerable to anxiety, depression, and disease. Now, based on Dr. Jon Kabat-Zinn’s renowned mindfulness-based stress reduction program, this groundbreaking audiobook shows you how to use natural, medically proven methods to soothe and heal your body, mind, and spirit. By using the practices described within, you can:
- Learn to manage chronic pain resulting from illness and/or stress related disorders
- Discover the roles that anger and tension play in heart disease
- Reduce anxiety and feelings of panic
- Improve overall quality of life and relationships through mindfulness meditation and mindful yoga
I learned from this post that you attended Princeton, if as you say the university chapel is where you tried to meditate. Meditation for me means reviewing scripture and counting my blessings, which are many. 😀
I went to Princeton Theological Seminary where I got a Master of Divinity. The University Chapel was more like my childhood home in the Episcopal Church where I often sought solace in the mystery and beauty. Meditative reading, mindfulness, meditation, prayer are all avenues by which we can connect to that “something” outside, apart from our concrete reality and a very individual path.