The ill disciplined Meditator
I don’t always meditate when I say to myself, or anyone else, that I am going to. Today for example. I announced I would sit Vipassana for an hour and then write about it. It didn’t work out of course, I was too fidgety, and the sounds of my daughter cleaning the bathroom (we had a deal about that, no Minecraft until the bathroom scrubbed) were woefully distracting. I managed 15 minutes in total.
Here at the Beacon we practice in various traditions; Subud, Transcendental and Vipassana. Through these very strange and often stressful times I am finding my practice particularly useful when things around me feel totally overwhelming and negative. In fact it’s when things feel most terrible that I meditate, more so than on a humdrum sort of day. It’s my ultimate weapon if you will.
The Vipassana tradition says that two hours a day is optimal. I have never managed this, one hour being the most I have been able to commit to. Even this may seem like a lot of time in the day. Yet the yield of that hour can give me the sensation of having created at least another two to three hours as an outcome of that investment. A 28 hour day! But in a good way.
Not always, but sometimes, I get up from my practice and am turbo charged. I have more energy, clarity, focus, compassion and resilience, it’s an extraordinary outcome from sitting still for a while.
This has to be the time to use any mindful practice we have. More than ever the world population has an opportunity to observe an internal practice. Whether this is praying in the traditions of one of the great world religions, or meditations from other spiritual lineages, this is the time.
To be able to mentally step away from the news media, and focus our minds on our inner world, can be a balm to many troubled souls. Of which I am one. Five minutes observing the breath, an hour chanting, or even watching a bumble bee go about its business. These can be critically important actions during this time, grounding us to the present moment. For that is all we have ever had, here, today, now.
Photo by Thijs van der Weide