Discovering Peace Guided Meditation Podcast

The idea for our latest podcast episode, Discovering Peace, came out of a discussion with our local meditation group. People were feeling agitated about the election and felt they were losing their center. One person said "I want to be able to rise above this and find peace". Ultimately, a guided meditation much like the one we just published came out of our discussion, but first we talked about the idea of "rising above" something. Many of us are being affected now with the turmoil in the economy and a heated election going on. In the midst of all of this we long for a sense of peace. Often people envision that as arriving at a place that's not only peaceful but completely removed from the difficult feelings. That's what "rising above" sounds like to me. While we can find moments of time in which there is only peace, this isn't always possible, and, when we try to get away from the fray, that creates a conflict in and of itself. What's more realistic and achieveable is to find the peace within that's there even in the midst of conflict and struggle.

In many ways this new guided meditation is like the Beyond Pain meditation. Even though pain may not go away, we can still find a sense of peace with it. It has to do with stopping fighting what's bothering us and relaxing into the difficult feelings. Even more important it has to do with discovering that peace is always with us -- in the breath, in the silence of our own awareness.

Just yesterday I was out walking with lots on my mind. Thanks to all the years of meditation, or simply thanks to grace, I recognized a sense of peace that seemed to be there in the air around me -- in the blue sky, the sounds of birds, colors of flowers. It was even there in the sounds of the traffic. At that moment, I could see that life could seem really, really difficult if I focused solely on the challenges in my life, but much more simple and sweet if I also acknowledged that peace. Sometimes I do that, and sometimes I don't. And part of the process of growth on the spiritual path is letting that be OK too.

What about you? How do you find peace in your life?

Our new website!

It all started with the podcast. We called it Meditation Oasis, and put one of our guided meditations on iTunes. The response to the podcast was so encouraging that we made more episodes.  We created a Meditation Oasis page on our Heart of Healing website and that started to grow. Meditation Oasis got a life of its own. It drew us deeper into our roots in meditation practice and teaching.  And now, Meditation Oasis has a home of its own. If you are a return visitor, you'll see that we've added content and reorganized.  Our blog has been moved here from wordpress.com.  We're planning to develop an online course and add all sorts of new content.

One of my favorite things about our new website is that you can leave comments and ask questions on every page. 

Let us know what you'd like to see here. Meditation Oasis is a joint venture -- it gets created out of our interaction with you.  Thank you for being on this journey with us.

As always, we wish you a peaceful mind and an open heart.

Sensing energy during meditation

Recently I've received a number of emails from people asking about feeling energy in various ways while meditating. People have reported things like a feeling of energy flowing and tingling.  One person said it felt like water on the top of his head at the crown chakra with a sense of a slow circular motion under the skull while doing the chakra meditation. Sometimes people have these experiences outside of meditation as well. There are lots of reasons why people ask about this. Some people may feel uncomfortable because they don't understand these experiences. Others are simply curious about them, or interested in subtle energies. It can be helpful to understand our experiences in meditation, not only so that we can be comfortable with them but also to integrate them into our understanding of ourselves. Meditation is, among other things, an exploration of oneself. So I thought I'd explore this a little here.

If you don't have these experiences in meditation, doesn't matter. You can still enjoy the benefit of meditation on all levels. If you don't care about these experiences or even believe in them, fine.  Some people do, some don't.  This is for those of you who are curious about such things.

I like to keep things simple and not get too esoteric about these experiences.  The bottom line on all of them is that during meditation we can sense subtle energies in the body (or even in the energy field around the body). That happens because during meditation our awareness can go to deeper levels.  We can feel subtle energies that we normally don't notice.  In addition, some meditations can open up our energies so that they start to flow more freely.

Whether you are experiencing these energies as moving or still, flowing through the body or in one area, tingly or liquid, and so on isn't important.  What's important is simply to understand that this is a natural experience as these energies are enlivened and as we open up to noticing them.

Sometimes people start to focus on the energetic sensations, wanting to control them or magnify them.  My advice is to treat them like thoughts, not paying any special attention to them.  Just continue the meditation, not minding the sensations.  Let them go the way they naturally go.  In this way you are trusting the wisdom of the body as it adjusts itself and comes into more balance.  Let the natural intelligence of the body do it's work rather than trying to manipulate the energies from your side. That way things will unfold in a more balanced way.

Please feel free to share any of your experiences and ask questions about them on this blog.  I may be able to give more specific answers to specific experiences.

Note: What I say here refers to experiences while listening to our guided meditations on the podcast or our CDs.  It may or may not apply to experiences during other meditation practices.

Related Post: Body Movements in Meditation

Online Sangha

This morning I was delighted to learn (from a comment on a blog post) that our Breath in the Heart Meditation would be shared online as part of Plumline's Monday morning Sangha.  In fact, it is going on as I write.  

Although Buddhist studies have not been a part of my background, and I have had no training in mindfulness meditation, I am always struck by how much my meditations seem to resonate with those traditions.  As I've said before, the deepest truths can be arrived at and expressed through many different paths.  

I enjoyed visiting the Plumline website.  Plumline describes itself as "Building online Sangha in the tradition of Thich Nhat Hanh".  For those who don't know, "Sangha", roughly translated, means spiritual community.  A community of like-minded practitioners is felt to be essential to support on-going spiritual practice in Buddhism.    

Those interested in Buddhism may want to visit Plumline.  Thich Nhat Hanh, from whom they derive their inspiration, has written one of my all-time favorite poems - "Call Me by My True Names".  (See Thich Nhat Hanh speaking on mindfulness on YouTube.)

I've come to feel our podcasts are like a giant group meditation.  We don't see and meet each other for the most part, but we truly are meditating together -- thousands of us.  I've hoped to provide some support for that experience in this blog and on our Meditation Oasis website. Perhaps there are yet other ways that we can create community for those who are interested. I've thought of different ways -- an online course, a chat group, a conference call.  I'm not sure what will actually manifest, and would be interested in your ideas.

Flowing with Change Meditation

We've had several requests for a meditation having to do with coping with change, and here it is.  

Just looking at my own life over the past couple months reveals a staggering amount of change.  I'm sure any one of you could report the same. 

Change, of course, is in the nature of life.  It's constant.  Life is movement.  Life is one thing morphing into another.  We don't realize how many changes we are experiencing all the time. The weather changes, our moods change as our hormones fluctuate, relationships, technology and institutions are constantly changing -- it's endless. 

Change can be exciting, but it can also be challenging.   Whether it's a major life change or a myriad of other smaller changes, change is constant and change takes time and energy.  What's more is that it can be mentally and emotionally challenging.  We need to develop mental clarity, emotional stability and adaptable bodies to deal with all the change.

Meditation is one of the best ways to surf the waves of change.  The Flowing with Change Meditation can help with change in several ways.  First, it helps us relax into the reactions that we have to change so that we can be more clear mentally and have more emotional stability. The second is that the deep relaxation of meditation helps us recharge our batteries so that we have more energy for dealing with change.  And finally, the meditation helps us connect with that which doesn't change -- the unchanging nature of our own awareness which is present throughout all our experience.  That awareness is wakeful and intelligent.  It is unchanging and constant, and recognizing it helps us to feel anchored in the midst of change.