Meditation

So what is all the fuss about meditation these days? Aside from the fact that there is numerous scientific evidence proving the benefits of the meditation practice, I can attest to that meditation did indeed change my life. If you ever had thought about meditation, but never started or just couldn’t get into it, I would like you to reconsider starting or get going again because of the experience of the euphoria, hope, and anticipation I feel each and every day can be yours. There are no one-fits-all methods to achieve this goal, but it would perhaps provide you at least something to start with, or be inspired to add meditation to your daily routine.

Granted, I am not perfect; I have my moments of feeling blue and down just as anyone else, but they aren’t controlling my life anymore. Most of all, I am much happier, in peace with my past, and optimistic about my future. This wasn’t so when at the beginning of my meditation practice. About 6 years ago my life was in turmoil. I was desperate to gain some peace of my mind as I was not sure how to repair my relationship with my spouse at that time. On top of that, my mother living across the Pacific Ocean suddenly passed away. It was only 6 months ago that we moved back from Japan where she was. Looking back, I was absolutely at my lowest in my life, unable to do anything else other than breathing. It took a couple of years to feel normal after her transition and that itself was a journey and a story for another time. It is unfortunate that often time we had to hit the rock bottom to find the solution to the problems. However, the process of finding the solutions could be even more important than the solution themselves.

What meditation did for me and continues to do so is that it allows me to see the potential and unlimited possible future instead of the doom and gloom of situations and circumstances in front of me. My mind is much at peace with whatever going on around me and I am no longer annoyed by outside circumstances and people that I have no control over. I am usually in good moods and optimistic about things in general. My health has improved and I feel I recover much more quickly from minor injuries or illnesses if I ever have them. I no longer need to take blood pressure medicine, which I was taking for a decade.

This was a surprising byproduct of a couple of years of meditation. During my medication intake period, I had researched and consulted more than a few doctors about how to cure my high blood pressure. I watched my diet very closely and exercise faithfully. It brought some improvement in decreasing the medication dose, but I couldn’t fully become free of it. The discussion between me and doctors always concluded with their logical conclusion derived from years of their education in the medical field; it must be hereditary. During my own research about high blood pressure, I ran across epigenetics, the study of how our behaviors and environment can cause changes that affect the way our genes work. As I dug into it more and more, I became convinced that even if I was inherited the gene that carries a predisposition to high blood pressure, I could change or deactivate it. I didn’t exactly know how to, but I believe that meditation, which I incorporated into my daily routine for some other reason other than controlling my blood pressure, became instrumental to cure the ailment.

When we feel we are stuck and not making any progress in any aspects of our lives, we are so focused on doing something by using our body and mind to change the circumstance, we unknowingly cut ourselves from the resources we have in different dimensions. Many of us had forgotten that we are multidimensional beings connected to the invisible dimensions.

Have you ever wondered why children are so happy with so little? Because they haven’t lost the connection to the invisible dimensions, they know who they are without referring to outsides of themselves such as their possessions, job title, and public recognition, which aren’t necessarily our true identities. We naturally utilized them when we were little before we were educated in our school system. As we get accustomed to the way of schools, the physical reality of seeing is believing mindset, which is mostly acquiring information, existing knowledge, and practices, we forget our inner compasses and wisdom.

Our education system only uses our intellects to solve problems: Nothing else. This often makes a mountain out of a molehill, so to speak. The fact of the matter is that not all the obstacles and problems we face can be overcome with our intellectual abilities. Just as we need knives to cut and needles to sew, our tools must be the right to do a certain job. A knife cannot sew and a needle cannot cut; similarly, our intellects may not be the right and effective tool to deal with certain situations and problems. Most of us are not aware of that is what we are doing: attempting to fix everything with only one tool.

It seems to me that those of us who live in developed countries with culturally goal-oriented societies have been forgotten and brainwashed by the cultural and societal values and ideas of pursuing success and happiness. Going to school and becoming educated and knowledgeable, and continuing on putting efforts until we reach our goals is the way to gain such a fulfilling life. However, in reality, we know that life has ways to throw a curveball. There would be times when nothing we do seems to work. Nothing makes sense if we try to logically think, analyze and digest information, data, and situations at hand. In general we seem to have a very rigid view of what and how we became successful, wealthy, and happy in life.

Meditation is one of the ways to reconnect to the forgotten, ignored part of us, the available sources that we aren’t aware of in our consciousness. In becoming open to the non-physical dimensions, we can often receive new and revolutionary ideas or solutions to the problems as well as emotional and inspirational guidance. We may not have full control over what happen to us, but we always have control over how we respond. This is one of the important reasons why I feel meditation is a requirement to experience one’s life fully and happily.

If you are struggling to make meditation your routine or thinking about it or just cannot seem to stop the train of thoughts in your head, I recommend focusing on your breathing. Simply focus on your breathing to its natural rhythm and flow, the way it feels on each inhale and exhale. If you were someone like me, having many thoughts all day long, you would likely experience a feeling of defeat in a process of practicing meditation.

Be gentle and patient with yourself.

There’s no wrong or right way to be in a meditative state. You may feel more comfortable lying down instead of sitting up. You may also prefer to listen to music or nature’s sounds such as raindrops, ocean waves, or the wishers of the winds. Being in nature is a wonderful way to connect and reconnect with ourselves and nature, which is an extension of us in the dimensions we don’t physically perceive. Ideally, 15 to 20 minutes are recommended, but I found that any minutes are better than none, especially at the beginning when you are not having easy times to quiet your mind. It’s okay to have a thought popping up during meditations. That’s completely normal until meditation becomes your daily routine just as brushing your teeth in the morning. Quite often I have to laugh about having totally out of place and irrational thoughts during meditations. Don’t be discouraged or decide that it isn’t working for you because of such distractions. Just see it passing by and go back to focusing on your breathing.

I hope my experience had incited you to begin the practice of being in stillness to remember and access to information, the best guidance, ideas, and solutions available just for you.

“A journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step.” - Lao Tzu