17 - Petaluma Post

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Spirit,
Mind & Body
T
The Merits of Meditation
by Pam Bell
he concept and
act of meditation
is becoming ever
more mainstream
and not just in the back alley
yoga studios of the 1960s
or Buddhist temples either.
Meditation is now showing
up in Corporate America at
an ever increasing pace. Why?
The benefits of meditation
are both powerful and many.
Known for centuries only to a
select group of highly trained
monks or Hindu Guru's who
ventured west either by force
(a.k.a. the Chinese invasion
of Tibet in the 1950s) or as a
spiritual quest to enlighten
the Western mind (a.k.a.
Paramhansa Yogananda….
author of Autobiography
of a Yogi and one of the first
to introduce meditation to
America in 1920's) meditation
has fulfilled it's many promises
of personal transformation
and enhanced well-being to
the pace of becoming "trend."
Perhaps in the West we
are skeptics, or maybe just
slow learners, but once we get
a hold of something good we
will light a fire under it like
no other. This is the current
trajectory of meditation in our
hemisphere. It is on fire and
the topic of daily conversation
in colleges, boardrooms and
even in scientific journals…..a
field that only decades ago
would never have given such
"hocus pocus" the time of day.
All these accolades are
for good reason! Meditation
has the power to transform.
Like water wearing a groove
in a granite boulder (our
mind) meditation can help
move us beyond our grand
egoic delusions and connect
us with the deeper meaning
of life….that for which we
have been questing after
since the beginning of time,
Universal Oneness or God
Consciousness, so to speak,
that remind us there is more
to life than meets the eye….
or the ear, or even the flesh
for that matter. It allows us
to move beyond this world of
materialism into a world of
non-dualism. Beyond a world
of violence into a world of love.
Beyond a place of judgement
into a place of compassion.
And beyond a world of facevalue philosophy into a world
of great imagination.
Meditation is also the
great equalizer. No matter
how rich or poor, educated
or not, anyone and everyone
is capable of learning how to
meditate and enjoying the
many benefits inherent in this
centuries old practice.
The health benefits of
meditation that most people
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are initially drawn to include:
stress reduction, increased
oxygen flow, the lowering of
blood pressure, better sleep,
greater emotional balance,
psychological flexibility, a
clear and focused mind and
increased longevity. These
are exceptional qualities to
improve upon in ones life
and ones that undeniably
lead to greater well-being and
an overall healthier lifestyle.
These reasons alone are
worth the price of admission
but there are still far greater
benefits for those who study
meditation as a spiritual
practice. Actually, now that I
think about it and after 20+
years of meditating myself,
I'm not actually convinced
one can meditate and have
it be exclusive of a spiritual
practice. Once you learn to
sit in silence, to turn your
busy mind off and access that
stillness within, it is nearly
impossible to not connect with
something deeper, larger and
more expansive than yourself.
This is the very essence of a
spiritual (not to be confused
with religious) experience!
T h e g r ow i n g u s e o f
meditation in Corporate
America is mainly about, you
guessed it, productivity and
training the brain. Training
the brain to think more
inventively, to be more precise,
and to operate more efficiently.
I know it sounds like I'm
talking about a computer here
but let's face it, our brains
"are" computers and thus, in
a corporate setting, they are
treated like one. There are
those companies that really
"do" care about the overall
well-being of their employees
howe ve r and e ve n of f e r
mediation classes as part of
the employee benefit package,
Google, Target, General Mills
and Ford to name a few.
Scientific research
s u r ro u n d i n g m e d i t a t i o n
is finding that profound
chemical changes occur in
JUNE 2015• 17
Pamela Bell has been writing for the Petaluma Post
for over 12 years. She writes
the Spirit, Mind & Body
Column along with Community Spotlights. She can
be reached at [email protected].
our brain during meditation
activity. A study recently
conducted at Harvard found
that meditation significantly
alters the regions of the
brain associated with stress,
overall well-being and fluid
intelligence." Many other
scientific studies are finding
the same results. We can
alter our health, well-being
and actually our perception
of reality, by changing the
chemistry of our brain
through meditation. This is
significant and the researchers
are just now scratching the
surface, so imagine what we'll
know about meditation and the
brain 20 years down the road!
To me, and most serious
meditators I know, this is
the juicy part. The part of
being able to alter our reality
through meditation. This is
the deeper more esoteric part
that spiritual practitioners
(and those societies practicing
meditation for thousands of
years) have come to know
and to rely on. Not just the
superficial health benefits…..
these actually pale to the real
art and skill of manifestation
through meditation…..but to
the infinite power of the mind!
And to understanding and
knowing that mind. And to
the realization of the infinite
potential of that same mind.
It is brilliant. It leaves one
speechless. It is profound.
How does this work?
How is it possible to alter
ones reality through their
perception? How does
meditation allow for this?
Truth be known, our
reality "is" our perception.
Our reality is created by our
perception. For example, if
one perceives the world to
be an unfriendly place, these
are the experiences they are
going to create. They will see
the "unfriendly" in everything
and invite the same into their
experience. If on the other
hand one perceives the world
to be abundant and limitless,
they will live from a place of
abundance and create this
for themselves. It is kind of
a simple equation or thread
really but not always so simple
to master. And this is where
meditation comes in!
Me d i t a t i o n h e l p s u s
to gain control (I hate this
word in this context but, it
is what it is) over our mind
and our thinking. If we are
having unsavory or negative
thoughts and we can learn to
catch them in time, if we can
circumvent them before they
manifest and instead turn our
thoughts to something more
virtuous, we will be all the
better because of it. In the long
run, a life of virtuous thoughts
creates a virtuous life. A life of
compassionate thoughts create
a compassionate life and a life
full of compassion! Which
of course becomes your new
reality. How cool is that?
This is a simplification
of t he process but why
complicate things when
they can be just as easily
understood in these terms?
Change your thoughts, change
your life. Meditation helps us
to identify our unproductive
thoughts, alter them before we
act on them, and choose more
productive thoughts instead.
The motivation for meditating
will vary from individual to
individual (from the selfish to
the selfless) but regardless of
the initial "why", meditation
has the unexpected results of
taking us to places we never
even knew were possible, places
that will transform not only
our minds but also our hearts.
Want to learn to meditate?
There are many, many places
to learn meditation but if
you want to join me, I teach
meditation in Healdsburg at
Dragonfly Farm on Thursday
nights, 6:30PM. Next session
begins June 11th. Go to:
DesertMoonRising.com for
more details or email me:
pambell@desertmoonrising.
com