What Meditation Has Taught Me

 
Anthony Thompson
 

One aspect of learning to meditate is to understand and appreciate that no two meditations are ever the same. Every student begins to meditate from a different starting point, depending on their life experience and the stresses that they have been subjected to and accumulated.

Whilst taking instruction, all well taught students understand that in the early days there will be a wide variety of reactions to meditation as various stresses are released, both those from long ago which might have been forgotten about and are deeply embedded, to those which took place very recently. This wide time span of stored stress is given the opportunity of being processed in the most natural way through the easy and simple technique of Vedic Meditation.

We don't keep a record of what comes about when we are meditating. We are not interested in the “flavour”, frequency, or duration of any thoughts which arise during our meditation – because we know that these are all to do with the release of stress.

We are much more interested in what is going on in life outside of our meditation, rather than the content of our twenty minutes’ meditation time, because this is not a monastic practice. Vedic Meditation was devised for “householders” – people like you and I who are fully integrated with life, have jobs, families, circles of friends and acquaintances, and go about our lives.

The effect meditation has on us is more interesting than the content of the meditations. We are not meditating to put something into ourselves, but to give ourselves the opportunity to let what is already there come out. Think of it as blowing the dust off our inner light bulb. Twice a day, for twenty minutes, we take the opportunity to get rid of whatever has accumulated. Sometimes this “dust” is thick and encrusted, requiring consistent “blowing away”, whereas on other occasions it is light and easily removed. The newly revealed light enables us to see more clearly, and allows others to see us too.

Over time, as we regularly practice Vedic Meditation, our view of ourselves and of life in general is gently re-calibrated. We see things differently. There is more sparkle, more delight in the simple things in life, more appreciation of what is going on around us so that mindfulness becomes one of the many benefits we receive from our meditation.

People, places, incidents, and all the various input in our lives is seen more clearly, with all the various subtleties and nuances clearly revealed. This is one of the great delights of meditation, and one which gives constant pleasure.


If you'd like to find out more about Vedic Meditation and how it could benefit you, you're welcome to join us at one of our free, no obligation introductory talks in London or Brighton. Find upcoming dates and book online here.

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