What Style of Meditation is Right For You?

What Style of Meditation is Right For You?

Finding the right style of meditation for your needs is important. While meditation may be simple, the practice of meditation is difficult. This is mostly because in our phone-addicted and over-stimulating world, the act of concentration and/or quieting the mind is getting harder and harder to achieve. I’ve been a student of meditation for over 28 years and have been teaching meditation for about 15 years. So, to say that I am a huge fan would not be overstating it.  While there are many physical benefits of meditation, I think the most important outcomes come from the spiritual side of the practice. Finding the type of meditation that will achieve your desired outcomes will help you be consistent so you can reap the benefits of this life-changing practice. 

Styles of Meditation

Before we talk about the benefits, let’s talk about some of the different types or styles of meditation. Each technique and style has its unique focus and approach. Most styles fall into one of two categories. Either it is directive, meaning that you are focusing on a single point, idea or mantra, etc.. Or non-directive, meaning the individual opens up their awareness and just allows things to move in and out of their field of consciousness.  It is important to understand your goals, and what you hope to get out of your meditation practice so you can choose a style that meets your needs.  Try a few and find the one that most resonates with you.

Here are some of the different types of meditation:

  1. Mindfulness Meditation: This style involves paying non-judgmental attention to the present moment, and observing thoughts, sensations, and emotions without getting attached to them.
  2. Loving-Kindness Meditation: Also known as Metta meditation, it involves generating feelings of love, compassion, and goodwill towards oneself and others. It typically involves repeating positive affirmations or phrases.
  3. Transcendental Meditation (TM): This technique involves the use of a mantra, a word or sound repeated silently, to focus the mind and achieve a state of deep relaxation and awareness.
  4. Vipassana Meditation: Vipassana means “insight” or “clear-seeing.” It involves developing a deep awareness of the body, sensations, thoughts, and emotions. This technique aims to cultivate insight and wisdom.
  5. Zen Meditation: Zen, originating from Zen Buddhism, focuses on seated meditation (zazen) and emphasizes direct experience and self-discovery. It often involves observing the breath or engaging in contemplation.
  6. Guided Meditation: In this style, a meditation teacher or an audio recording guides the practitioner through a meditation session, providing instructions, visualizations, or prompts to enhance relaxation and focus.
  7. Kundalini Meditation: Kundalini is a form of yoga-based meditation that incorporates breathwork, chanting, repetitive movements, and visualization to awaken and channel the energy within the body.
  8. Walking Meditation: As the name suggests, this style involves meditating while walking. It emphasizes paying attention to the movement of the body, the sensations in the feet, and the surrounding environment.
  9. Body Scan Meditation: This technique involves systematically focusing attention on different parts of the body, usually starting from the toes and moving upward, to develop body awareness and release tension.

Check out this Loving Kindness Meditation

 

Spiritual Benefits of Meditation

There are so many mental and physical benefits to meditation like stress reduction, increased concentration, and decreased reactivity to situations. But for me, the spiritual benefits are why I have been a student for so long. Meditation is an integral part of my intuitive readings and has provided me with the level of concentration and awareness needed to glean insight into my energy work too.

While the specific experiences and benefits can vary from person to person, here are some of the more common spiritual benefits of meditation:

    • Enhanced self-awareness: Through regular meditation practice, individuals can develop a deeper understanding of themselves, their thoughts, emotions, and patterns of behavior. This self-awareness can lead to personal growth, self-discovery, and a greater sense of authenticity.

    • Inner peace and calm: Meditation cultivates a state of inner stillness and calmness, allowing individuals to experience a sense of peace and tranquility. It helps to quiet the mind, reduce mental chatter, and find a refuge from the stresses and demands of everyday life.

    • Connection with the present moment: Meditation encourages individuals to focus on the present moment, to fully experience and appreciate the here and now. This can lead to a deeper sense of presence, mindfulness, and an increased ability to fully engage in life’s experiences. It is in the present moment that insights and intuitions arise.

    • Spiritual growth and insight: Meditation can facilitate spiritual growth by providing a space for introspection, contemplation, and the exploration of deeper existential questions. It can lead to insights, intuitions, and realizations about the nature of reality, the self, and one’s place in the world.

    • Expanded consciousness: Through meditation, individuals may have transcendent or mystical experiences that expand their consciousness beyond ordinary perceptions. These experiences can provide a profound sense of interconnectedness, unity, and a glimpse into higher states of consciousness.

    • Cultivation of compassion and kindness: Many forms of meditation, such as loving-kindness meditation, focus on developing qualities of compassion, kindness, and empathy towards oneself and others. This can foster a deeper sense of connection with others and a more compassionate approach to life.

    • Spiritual discipline and discipline of the mind: Regular meditation practice requires discipline and commitment. It can help individuals develop a stronger sense of willpower, focus, and mental discipline, which can be applied not only in meditation but also in other aspects of life and spiritual practices.

So think about what you would like to achieve with your meditation practice. Then choose a style that is best suited to your needs. Then practice, practice, practice. Some days it will be easier than others, but with all of these benefits, it is a worthy pursuit that has the potential to bring deeper awareness and balance to all aspects of your physical, mental, emotional, and spiritual bodies.

Check out my library of free guided meditations

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Messages From Our Animal Guides

Messages From Our Animal Guides

We have many allies along our spiritual path, both seen and unseen, but among my favorites are our animal guides. It could be a giant blue heron that swoops overhead or a mouse that lies in plain sight and does not move until acknowledged. These animal guides or spirit animals are our guides in animal form. Some of them have walked with us since birth and some of them show up at the perfect time to bring a much-needed message. Learning to pay attention and decipher the message can be a magical and life-changing experience.

Message From My Animal Guide

I have had some powerful encounters with animal guides in my life. Some show up in deep meditative states or in journeys. And some showing up in real life. Mouse has been a good ally over the years appearing at just the perfect time. You might be thinking that a mouse is a pretty common animal, how could you know it was there to convey an important message? It isn’t just the appearance of any animal, it is its presence in an unexpected and/or meaningful way.

In one instance, Mouse was sitting wide open in the middle of our deck construction. It sat there unmoved until I made the connection of its presence and its message. Another time, Mouse had made its way up to the top right-hand corner of my patio door between the sliding glass and the screen. In both cases, once I took a moment and re-read the Mouse message in my animal medicine cards, the mouse disappeared. Mouse shows up for me anytime I am missing the details of something. She asks me to pay close attention and scrutinize carefully.

How do Spirit Animals Work?

When these beautiful spirit animals show up for us, it isn’t the consciousness of the single animal that is guided to help you. If you think about Plato’s theory of forms, he said that two realities exist. The material realm in which we live our day to lives and the non-material realm where the essence of all things exist in their perfect form. For example, there is the essence of Deer, a blueprint from which all deer are made. And an individual deer that has its own unique features, expression, and consciousness.

It is in the non-material realm that Mouse or the essence of Mouse exists. Some teachers like to call this the Oversoul. This oversoul then works with the consciousness of a single animal residing in the material plane to pass on the message that you need to hear. These messages if heeded can be an important piece of our conscious evolution.

Noticing the Animal Guide

Sometimes an animal guide will show up once in a meaningful way like in the example above. Sometimes they will show up over and over, in real life or in meditative states. And other times they will come to you in your dream time. Recently, as I was working on a project, Mountain Lion showed up in my dream. She didn’t just show up, she was stalking me. She pounced on the hood of my car at one point and in another instance was surrounding the house. Mountain Lion is about leadership. She could sense my reluctance and was calling on me to step up and lead. Dreams that are meaningful have a different feel than those that are just the unwinding of our daytime consciousness. They will stick with us even after waking.

So pay attention when an animal shows up in an unusual way. If you always see crows by your house so it is usual for them to be there, that is probably not an animal guide. Now if you were on a hike and a crow follows you from tree to tree cawing loudly along the way, there is probably a message for you there.

Messages Through Metaphor

If you think that an animal is trying to send you a message, take a moment, and consider the characteristics of the animal. For example, if a lion is showing up repeatedly in your healing work, think about what a lion means to you. They are expert energy managers. They won’t chase after something unless they know it is going to nourish them. They protect their pride etc. So after thinking about a lion as a metaphor, feel into the information and see what comes up for you. Does it apply to the circumstances in your life? Are you being called to manage your energy more wisely?

There are also some great animal medicine cards that can assist you and some pretty good websites too. My favorite is Medicine Cards: The Discovery of Power Through the Ways of Animals. You might also just sit in meditation with the intention of receiving the message they are trying to convey.

Developing a Relationship With Animal Guides

As with all relationships, it is important to respect and honor their presence in our lives. You can do this by having an animal totem, i.e a figurine that you keep on your altar. You can donate money to charities that support the well-being of a particular species. You can call them into your rituals and ceremonies and develop a working relationship with them. Remembering to always be grateful and reverent for their service. These animals are connected to the Oversoul and as you honor them, you also honor the essence of all of them. Sitting in meditation with your messenger and connecting with them on a regular basis is another way to nurture collaboration.

Animal guides are magical messengers. Learning to work with them can enrich your life and assist you in your conscious evolution. As humans, we sometimes forget that we are part of the natural world. We too, are animals. As we learn to tune into the subtleties of nature there are many beautiful energies to explore that can expand your idea of what is possible. So pay attention to the animals that show up and then learn to listen to the guidance they have for you. Then take action, it may just change your life.

Here is a guided meditation to assist you in meeting an animal guide.

(c) Can Stock Photo / Donvanstaden

 

 

Time as Space

Time as Space

Being idle can do crazy things to a person. I don’t think humans are meant to be inactive for too long. We have a certain level of potential energy that’s begging to be transformed. Being in Japan and not working, I was expecting to be alone when we took this gig, but what was unexpected was a deeper understanding of time and my relationship to it. Most days here, I can fill with anything or with nothing, but idleness has shown me it isn’t time that moves, or expands and contracts, it is us.

We talk about time as passing, flying, or being spent. Time can permit; it can be killed or saved or freed. We have many idioms that we use, but common in most, is that it moves or flows, and we are inevitably swept up in its movement. When we talk about having free time, we are really talking about moments that aren’t bound by our expectation or obligation. So, I’m starting to think of time more as a container or a womb of empty space that is waiting to be filled than something that passes.

Time that is unbound is a tricky thing. And more often than not, it is never really unbound. Even when we are idle, it is being burdened by expectation, broken thoughts, and emotions that we bind with our identity. We focus on future concerns or past indiscretions. We say yes to things when we want to say no. We spend our time doing the dishes when we really want to be playing with our kids. We make small things into big things and ignore the big things in pursuit of the mundane.

For me initially, there was a certain paralysis that set in with an ample amount of unbound time. The same way that you get the worst service in a restaurant on a slow day. There is a sort of inertia that needs overcoming as you wait in anticipation for something to start. After all, if time flows, something is bound to be swept up in its current and make its way to you. Once you are moving though, it is easy to keep moving, but if there is no external push, that inertia can be insurmountable. Especially if you are waiting for it to happen to you instead of you leaving your imprint on it.

“Life gives you plenty of time to do whatever you want to do if you stay in the present moment”.
~ Deepak Chopra

In my old understanding, there were days that I lived ‘better’ than others. I’ve run daily for weeks only to be followed by a day of day drinking and three days of watching Netflix. I’d spent hours in meditation, written a book I’ve yet to publish, started a screenplay, two blogs, and a fledgling podcast. Some of which I still work on, and some I quit as the novelty wore off. I’ve played guitar, made lotion, joined a book club, and dabbled in Japanese. And I’ve spent more time on Twitter than I care to admit. Some of these things made me feel productive while others made me feel guilty because there was nothing tangible to show for it. So I was left with the question – What makes a moment worth living?

I’ve done some interesting things, but I’ve also been envious when I look at some people around me who have accomplished careers and material success. I thought about how they decided to fill their containers.  They have been consistently (consciously or unconsciously) filling the space with the same things over and over without getting distracted or bored. Maybe they were both and decided to push through anyway, deciding to bind their time in specific ways to meet specific ends.

I started this blog a few weeks back, and at that moment, it was clear that discipline and consistency were precisely what I needed. I thought that commitment to consistency was the antithesis of grandeur and novelty. It was undoubtedly the way to keep any feelings of guilt at bay for not being productive. I needed a container for my chaos, and that container was intentionally bound time.

Then, after reading Civilized to Death by Christopher Ryan, who critiques and questions our outward drive for material things and success in the name of perpetual progress. Instead, contending that what really makes a life worth living is meaning and connection, I was reminded of my usual thinking. Historically, I’ve tended to apply a more Epicurean philosophy, “Not what we have, but what we enjoy, constitutes our abundance.” So with his reminder, my pendulum started to swing back the other way.

“Of all the means to ensure happiness throughout the whole life, by far the most important is the acquisition of friends.”
~ Epicurus

I’ve always struggled between a life of ticking all the expected boxes and a general fuck-itness of the status quo. Usually acknowledging that a both/and rather than an either/or approach to things is the most meaningful. So, I like conceptualizing time in this way because it reminds me that how I fill the space is a choice. We can get so caught up in the idea that time happens to us, that we forget it is ultimately the individual that fills the container. And even when we have external obligations, it is our framing that drives the nature of the experience.

So lately, I’ve become more mindful of the quality of content that I add to the container. As it is the quality that matters, not merely the outcome. Admittedly, quality is a subjective measure where I am the arbiter, not society. That is why all the great sages and spiritual teachers talk about being in the present. It’s an awareness of the space that is and the contents held within it. The Zen master, Shunryu Suzuki, says, “Time goes from present to past.” Meaning we can talk about doing something after dinner, but that moment only occurs when it’s occurring, and then it is past. There is no other. 

Maybe that is where the word fulfillment comes from. The idea that we fill our space with something meaningful or meaningless. And this can either add or detract from our sense of connection and purpose which is derived from both the experiential and the tangible. Leaving space for consistent, goal-oriented pursuits and the occasional day drinking with friends. For what matters is our presence and the quality of the expansion or contraction of self in the container of time.

(c) Can Stock Photo / Suljo

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Is Self an Illusion?

Is Self an Illusion?

What is essential to your being? Is there a version of self that exists when everything else is stripped away? In today’s episode, we talk about self, identity, and the enduring aspects of our being.

“To understand the immeasurable, the mind must be extraordinarily quiet, still.”
― Jiddu Krishnamurti

The concept of self has been integral to our spiritual development since ancient times. Some say it is an illusion, others regard it as ego. In Western culture, the individual is at the center of all things. Where does the value in seeing ourselves as individuals end and when does it serve us to see ourselves as part of the larger whole? Are we more than our worldviews, our roles, our thoughts, and beliefs? The answers to these questions are at the core of most spiritual contemplations and are fundamental to solving our modern challenges.

Self as Illusion

Some traditions believe that the self is an illusion. That there is really is no you or me. Instead, we are a dynamic process in constant flux that moves within an impermanent reality. From this perspective, it is only when we identify as a static entity that suffering, self-importance, envy, greed, and even addictions occur. 

Neuroscientists believe that the self can be quantified to some degree, by the correlations between what they consider the contents of our consciousness and our brain activity. For example, if someone feels fear, then there will be a corresponding activation in the amygdala. Because of this, they feel the self is really more a product of neurons firing in the brain, rather than an enduring Self. While this activation is predictable and quantifiable, the experience of fear will still be subjective. So at least in part, the self belongs to the first-person viewpoint. Furthermore, they can’t pinpoint the self in the brain. It doesn’t reside in a single area but across many, as a dynamic process. 

Self As Identity

Self and identity should be seen as two separate but interrelated concepts. Our idea of self answers the questions of Who am I? and What am I? And identity is our perception of other people’s ideas of who we are. However, in a society that puts the individual at the center of everything these two concepts have become interchangeable.  So much value has been placed on outcomes, what we can produce, and the attention that we can acquire, that the question of ‘who am I?’ is often answered by the roles we play and the thoughts and emotions we have as they relate to our perceived perception from others. Similar to the concept of the egoic mind.

“So then, the relationship of self to other is the complete realization that loving yourself is impossible without loving everything defined as other than yourself.”
~ Alan Wilson Watts

Self as Essence

Through techniques like meditation, mindfulness, or psychedelics, we can see beyond the first-person experience. We can witness the thoughts and emotions that we normally identify as self. Instead of saying ‘I am angry’, we move to the perspective that ‘this is the experience of anger’. We are able to step back and observe the contents of our consciousness rather than own and identify with them.

In some instances, we can even move into what I would call the unity consciousness. Or a connection to all that is. Some people might describe this as the oneness they feel in altered states of consciousness. Having these experiences are integral to our spiritual development because they are a reminder that we are more than just our identity or our thoughts. You can call this the spirit, soul, or essence, but there is an enduring part of us that connects the enduring part in everything. 

I often describe spirituality as the search for meaning and that meaning is connected to something bigger than the individual. This larger whole could be the universe or nature, but we understand that we are part of something that is integrative and interconnected. We understand that on many planes of our existence that we a whole human AND we are all one. 

“Let the drop of water that is you become a hundred mighty seas.
But do not think that the drop alone
becomes the Ocean— the Ocean, too, becomes the drop!

~ Rumi

Self as Collaborator

All things are collaborative. Between people, between us and the natural world. Even the body which we view as an independent and rational being, is really an ecosystem made up of billions of organisms. But we don’t perceive it that way. We dominate our natural world, we struggle for power in our relationships, we opt for conflict over cooperation. Maybe exploring the self is our entry to the whole. Not the self that produces or meets expectations, but the self that communicates with the meaningful.

There is value in viewing the self as a dynamic process, illusion, essence, or as an identity. Because each is an opportunity to see the world through different perspectives. It only becomes problematic when the first person self is always seen at the center of everything. The closer we get to our essence, the more we can live intimately with our world. We realize that all those beliefs, roles, preferences are just window dressing for our true nature – the place where my essence meets yours. 

What if we shift our framing and saw the self as the ultimate collaborator – which includes all other versions of self. This makes room for the whole human that has a unique perspective but it doesn’t make us separate rather complimentary. Our world requires us to have a deeper self-awareness at this time. Without it we move blindly through our lives and make choices that serve the individual without regard for the greater good. So spend time in community, meditation, nature, and move intimately knowing we are all connected.

If you are interested in more perspectives on the self, listen to this episode of the Chaos & Light Podcast called The Inner Self and the No Self. 

 

Resources:

Your Elusive Creative Genius by Elizabeth Gilbert

Atkins, Paul & Styles, Robert. (2015). Mindfulness, identity and work: Mindfulness training creates a more flexible sense of self. 10.1017/CBO9781107587793.008.

Sam Harris: The Self is an Illusion | Big Think 


(c) Can Stock Photo / Nejron

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Virginia Oman on the Power of Sound, Hope & Mind

Virginia Oman on the Power of Sound, Hope & Mind

 

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Why is hope so important for realizing our human potential? How does Positive Psychology differ from traditional talk therapy? How do our thoughts influence our bodies, and our bodies influence our thoughts? In this episode, Virginia Oman shares her powerful message of hope that led her to dive deep into the mind/body relationship. She also shares with us tools and techniques to shift our thinking and tap into our limitless potential. We also explore the magic of movement, transforming our cultural view of death, and the healing power of sound.

About the Guest

Virginia Oman goes by her nickname “Gin” has been described as the physical form of the mythological symbol of the Phoenix. Rising out of the ashes of death and into a life of freedom, joy and exhilaration. After the devastation of the progressive neurological disease ( MS) took her physical functioning away and robbed her of hope for having a meaningful future she seriously considered opting out of life. It was at that moment that she took matters in her own hands to bring back her body. Listening to her own intuition she developed a specific path to transform her body, mind and soul and is now happier, with more energy and love for life than ever before. She decided to dedicate her life to helping others who for whatever reason have lost hope and feel trapped in despair. Through implementing the tools she has developed, anyone can get out of a place of darkness and into the light of a life full of great health and happiness.

 

 

Links

Virginia Oman’s Website https://virginiaoman.com

chaosandlight.com

 

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