Recovering from Divorce and DV

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Most people, as I initially did, regard meditation as a tool to calm you down.  There’s quite a bit more happening during meditation than most people realize, and after studying meditation and practicing meditation regularly,  I see that there are so many answers to what is the purpose of meditation. Western medicine has  shown us that meditation has many health benefits such as lowering blood pressure, reducing anxiety, lowering cholesterol, lifting depression, and making physical changes to the brain. 

There are also many types of meditation including passively sitting and focusing the mind, to moving meditation involving activities such as yoga, hiking, and swimming, and there are countless forms of natural meditation involving everyday activities such as cooking, washing dishes, and even brushing your teeth for some people.  Interestingly, studies have shown that when engaging in a water activity such as swimming and your head is submerged under water, your brain waves actually change from the beta waves of being awake, alert, and focused (12-30 Hz) to alpha waves (8-12 Hz) that are produced when you are awake but relaxed, such as when you are daydreaming or meditating.  Studies show that alpha activity contributes to a reduction in stress, anxiety, pain, and discomfort.  Theta waves (3-8 Hz) are produced by your brain during deep meditation and extreme relaxation.   In general, when all your senses are consciously engaged and you are completely in the moment, there is a spiritual enlightenment that comes about in the individual that serves to eliminate suffering.  

I now have my own perspective on the purpose of meditation, that is more in line with the traditional Buddhist paradigm.  The elimination of suffering comes from an understanding of unity consciousness - realizing the oneness of all things.  The traditional Buddhist intention of meditation is not to eliminate suffering by lowering  blood pressure or stress, but to eliminate suffering by shifting your perspective.  Meditation teaches you to turn your focus away from the mundane physical problems we encounter in our life experience such as debt, bills, divorce, disease, anger, frustration, and relationship problems.  Instead of giving significance to the mundane physical problems in our lives, the traditional Buddhist intention of meditation is to learn to shift our focus to a broader, more interconnected perspective in which we are one with everything.  

The energy that is within us is the same energy that exists throughout the cosmos.  The goal is to own the concept of oneness and to connect with the one collective consciousness and the notion that we are perfect, whole and complete, and that we can always be better.  The process transcends and changes our sense of self, so that our problems seem less troubling and less meaningful.  The point is not to reduce the physical cause of discomfort through improved health, but to change the importance we place on that discomfort.  Most people, especially in times of perceived crisis, hold on to their problems very tightly and allow tentacles of fear and worry around the problems such that they cannot go away.  This often results in anxiety and excessive worrying about the future.  People tend to think and feel their problems, then re-think them and re-feel them, and give their entire focus to the problems at hand.  Some of us may even glory in the martyrdom of the problems and adopt a mindset of thinking we are made virtuous from our suffering.

When we actively engage all our senses and are completely present in the moment, then no matter the activity we choose to call “meditation”, our mind is silent and does not think of the past and does not worry about the future.  It is during these moments in which we are fully present can the conscious mind connect with our core self, in other words our true authentic self - our spirit.  Our highest state of being is living in tune with our true nature, otherwise known as our highest vibrational frequency, and can be accessed by simply being present in the moment.  Happiness, beauty, joy, love, peace, hope, abundance, compassion, empathy, and self-expression are all qualities we possess and can remind ourselves of if we choose to shift our thinking.

There is a magnetism that pulls us into the present if we allow it to guide us.  Buddha states, “The secret to health for mind and body is not to mourn the past, not to anticipate future troubles, but to simply live in the present”.  What he is saying is that we should simply be here now.  To be present and in the moment is important because it is how we are in tune with our true essence. Dwelling on the past causes a blockage that resists the natural flow of energy which is to be in the present.  Similarly, projecting into the future keeps us from being right here right now.  Meditation, dedicated time free of worry and negativity, teaches us to focus our attention on what is going on in this very moment.  When you meditate, you have the opportunity to choose to allow the magnetism of now, when life is at it's very best always, to guide you.Some of you may have heard the phrases “raise your vibration” or “we’re not on the same frequency”.