how to start. where can i start? perhaps with right now. a feeling of balance. somehow a strength in my self awareness. a confidence that i can find the handle that opens the gate to observe my mind and being, and find the moment to change.
oh, i can also sit cross legged, in pose, relaxed, without moving for over an hour. for those that have seen me jumping around for the past 30 years, that's a bit of an achievement.
where have i been? what huge big bang has happened? not a big bang, just a journey of struggles quietening down an over active cluttered mind, surrendering to the stillness of meditation, moving on from extreme lows and highs, slowly building my awareness of mind and body, experiencing and understanding some basics truths and rhythms, and unknowingly, realising an experience to live the teachings of the Buddha.
the course was a 10 day vipassana meditation course. vipassana was the technique of meditation used by the Buddha and what he taught in teaching the dhamma (the universal law) and path to enlightenment and liberation. i knew nothing of this before going in. all I knew was that it was 10 days of meditation, it was vegetarian and that i wasn't allowed to speak for 10 days. (surprisingly not so hard)
being overzealous, i had had the intention before the course to write in detail about my day to day experiences, but now, it's meaningless. all that matters is that for each person it is totally different. i make it sound all airy fairy, but it isn't. unfortunately it's my tendency to use too many words.
it's simple. it's about what you experience and how you relate and react to it, right here, right now.
for some, life changing. for me, with practice and time we will see. i have a long long way to go.
i'll stop here. if you're intrigued... there's information about what it is, videos of experiences of other meditators and an introduction from S.N. Goenka (who brought the teaching to the western world) on the Vipassana website.
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