So I'm extremely passionate about meditation, mainly because it saved my life. It gave me the ability to have a tool to be evaluating my mental state at all times. Its allowed me to be strong enough to endure a extremely hard life transition. It allowed me to stay afloat of my depression and anxiety until I completely overcame it... It allowed me to show up for my children as a strong mother, when I wasn't feeling that strong within myself.
Don't get me wrong I had days that I had no other option but to just cry it out, many days over that 2 years... but meditation allowed me to be in the space of awareness that allowed me to be understanding and compassionate with myself, to be aware enough of the depression so that I didn't allow it to take over and make me lose my will for survival... In fact it was quite the opposite it gave me glimpses into a new space of existence, it allowed me to "see" who I truly am and to experience the absolute beauty of my inner being.
In the darkness and pain, Meditation gave me the light of awareness that allowed me to see that it was all an illusion, and even though I "felt" the expression and experiences of it all.. I suddenly and definitely could be outside it all. I could observe it objectively in pure conscious awareness, no judgement or description.. just observation. It allowed me to see it for what it was.. an illusion based on my perceptions of accumulated beliefs and patterns that I had absorbed in my first 38 years of living. It enabled me to see that at the perception of the physical level everything was very real and tangible, but it was all a manifestation and also a constant manifestation of energy, of frequencies and vibrations.. and that there are layers and layers to the energy that creates reality! It is convoluted, multi-dimensional, multi-faceted in dynamics, nothing is off limits at that level... and yet its all one energy. Like one big ocean that has a million different shaped waves, and currents and eddies and even names.. and even though its outward expression may be different at different spaces, and places.. Its still all one ocean! AND at it's most primal level, it is just one consciousness, we are no-thing and yet we are everything... People are calling it God, Source, Consciousness, Awareness, Universe, the Divine... but its all one thing!
When I am in a meditative space I am simply the one who watches... the one that has no preference for what eventuates in my life.. I am the one who simply observes the experience of all that is... no judgement. It is Crestina the manifested form that is experiencing the emotion, sensation and experience... she is experiencing it based on her perceptions that have developed through previous experiences and "I" can detach and simply sit as the one who see's what happens in quiet love and acceptance.
Through the practice of meditation I have found peace and acceptance for all my experiences, I have found that even the parts of "myself" that still offer resistance, can be observed by becoming still and being with whatever is playing out internally... Though admittedly because of the depth of some of the layers, it still surprises me when another layer of emotion arises from some of the same wounds that I thought I had offered surrender and acceptance to... So when people say that they are "doing the work" on the spiritual path, this is what they mean... observing, identifying, feeling, surrendering to it and accepting it as simply something that is... no resistance, just deeper and deeper layers of surrendering to deeper and deeper layers of pain of what is ultimately not you... Because "You" is consciousness experiencing all the reflections of itself.
This is why there is no real good or bad, or right or wrong... what is good for me, might be bad for you... Who is right? Who is wrong? It's all just one thing and in this 3D reality we live within a set of Universal Laws that governs matter, and one of those laws is that for every one "thing" there is a polarity or duality. So for pure love and enlightenment to exist in this 3Dimensional plane, there simply has to be an equal value that is polarised and unfortunately that is usually manifested in something that is based in cruelty and what some perceive as evil. BUT again this is all relative to an individual and also completely based on perception, and EVERY individual has a different perception. So I re-iterate what is real? What is good? What is bad?
Its all energy, one big energy fluctuating in different ways...
I'm not going to pretend too know the secret to why we exist, but I perceive two drivers of main energy flow when I am in that space of awareness... a deep curiosity to learn (experience/evolution), and a deep desire for expansion (evolution/creation). Both are congruent and passive, and there is no judgement or preference for how that happens or manifests, regardless of how we perceive the experience.
Ultimately it is all growth! All of this co-exists within us as a fraction, which makes perfect sense because we are made in the image of god... we are creators and co-creators with it and are just like it at the deepest energetic level! And here I will highlight why I try to refrain from saying "God", we as humans have labelled that energy, that source of creation as a entity, an individual being and in doing so we have separated ourselves from the true divine energy that is within us, that is us. In doing so, humans have lost their power, they have lost their connection to the very source of creation and therefore some of us have even lost our ability to create in joy. The biggest and main first thing people learn when starting their journey back to spirit, is that we are all connected and nothing is a co-incidence.
People struggle with Meditation because they feel like they have to be a certain way or "do" it in a certain way, but meditation isn't about getting somewhere or achieving some expected state.. Meditation is for anyone, any age, anywhere, anytime!!
The practice of meditating is simply just a cessation of everything, of becoming still... of surrendering and allowing whatever there is in this moment.. with no judgement, just be aware of it and let it be... like if you hear a car door, okay! Observe it, acknowledge it and let it go... Your dog barks, okay! Observe it, acknowledge it and let it go! You may notice that the mind has allot of thoughts, most people become frustrated with trying at this point and give it up as a bad job! I say KEEP GOING you're doing it right..!!!!
When you can see your thoughts that is a massive step towards becoming aware, because you are noticing how active the mind really is... what you will start to notice and I can only laugh sometimes is how crazy/silly the mind really is... As it is based in the 3D, it is ultimately based in duality! So I mean if you really listen to it, its a looped record of many things based on previous experience's and patterns that really have no actual basis in the present moment... E.g.
POV: You want to apply for your dream job!... The MIND: Yes, this job is awesome, I'm going to apply! OMG, why am I even bothering, there's no way anyone would hire me! There's probably hundreds, no even thousands of people applying for that role! Stop it, we can only try lets put together our resume and apply! There's no way I'll get this job, I don't have the experience... I'm not even going to try................ YOU SEE WHAT I MEAN!
This can on for hours, days, weeks even! And if we aren't in a space that can observe this, it is very destructive... and is ultimately why people get stuck in ways of life that they "feel" like they have control over, but they don't... All those thoughts are by-products of conditioning... and you can be conditioned from EVERYTHING... TV, Parents, Friends, Social Peers through childhood and adulthood, Radio etc... you get the drift!
When you become conscious of your thoughts, and practice repetitive observation and detachment... you start to build the strength that enables "you" to stop the mind from having certain thoughts and belief patterns that cause you to react automatically. You come into a space more and more that "you" are in control of how you respond to anything that is brought into your energy field. You become conscious of how certain energies affect you and then can choose what you allow into your existence and experience. You become the master of your mind, you become the master of your experienced path.
I say this and believe me when I say this is very easy to "say", it takes time, patience, love and surrender to navigate the deconditioning and reconditioning of the mind...
Okay back to meditating! Once you have come to the space of simply just being with whatever is... you don't have to do anything more, EXCEPT more of that... just watch the thoughts arise and let them go without further judgements... Eventually the thoughts get quieter.. Its like working with muscle at the gym, to get it stronger you need to exercise it, to become a master of something you need to practice it....
There are techniques that Buddhists use to help them get into that space of deep awareness, one of them is the use of Quan's..
For example "Who is the one who is breathing?, "If a tree falls in the woods and there is "no-one to hear it, what sound does it make?", Who is the one who watches, who sees the things that happen?
I personally really love the technique that Eckhart Tolle describes in his book the Power of Now... he suggests saying to the mind "what thought will arise next?" and you will notice a pause, it's in that pause that you start to experience who "you" really is... (that is not bad English). The more I practiced with that technique the bigger that pause became, the more I can rest in that space. I now can go half an hour or more without a single thought arising, simply just being, observing in quiet wonder.... AMAZING and EUPHORIC! don't even cover how that leaves you feeling....
I could talk about this for hours, but I'm probably going to wrap this up here. I hope this has been an insight into the personal benefits of Meditation and if not here are some more factual scientific benefits!
Reduces Stress - the number one cause of death world wide. In an 8-week study, a meditation style called “mindfulness meditation” reduced the inflammation response caused by stress. Furthermore, research has shown that meditation may also improve symptoms of stress-related conditions, including irritable bowel syndrome, post-traumatic stress disorder, and fibromyalgia.
Controls Anxiety - A meta-analysis including nearly 1,300 adults found that meditation may decrease anxiety. Notably, this effect was strongest in those with the highest levels of anxiety. Also, one study found that 8 weeks of mindfulness meditation helped reduce anxiety symptoms in people with generalized anxiety disorder, along with increasing positive self-statements and improving stress reactivity and coping. Another study in 47 people with chronic pain found that completing an 8-week meditation program led to noticeable improvements in depression, anxiety, and pain over 1 year.
Promotes Emotional Health - For example, one review of treatments given to more than 3,500 adults found that mindfulness meditation improved symptoms of depression. Similarly, a review of 18 studies showed that people receiving meditation therapies experienced reduced symptoms of depression, compared with those in a control group.
These are just 3 examples of how meditating regularly can not only benefit you spiritually, emotionally but also physically.
This is also why I ended up studying it, I wanted to be able to help others find these benefits and help provide the spaces and experiences that can allow a person to find deep inner peace.
If you are interested in getting meditation coaching or one of our meditation programs check out what's available here.
Otherwise, I truly wish you nothing but peace and joy on your journey of self discovery. I say that but really "you" already are peace and joy, you just have to remove everything that is not "you". Enjoy and much love xXx
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Written and Copyrighted by Crestina R Drew.
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