Clearing Personal Space

Another important piece of the conscious sanity puzzle is keeping your personal energy clear. And no, this is not a topic we'll exhaust in a single day's post!

A lot of things come into play to muck up our personal energies. That matters for any number of reasons, but on a purely practical level it translates into this: unclear personal energy gets in our way. It hampers our focus, our willingness to take risks in relationships, and often it hampers our understanding of just where our path lies.

Although a lot of things can mess with the energy, two major aspects control a majority of the flow (whether clear or muddy): personal karma and the people/energies we come into contact with every single day. I can pretty much guarantee you that no matter how you spend your time, you are ending your day with a fair amount of energy (call it psychic, if you like) debris clinging to you. Daily meditation practice helps, as does a practice of visually clearing the energy (we'll discuss other ways some other time--I, of course, am late for work!).

I've probably discussed this before, but it's such a great exercise, it won't hurt to bring it up again. Pagan author Silver Ravenwolf calls this the "Liquid Light" exercise, and frankly I can't think of a better name, although my version of this practice has changed a bit over the years and I expect yours will, too.

Bring yourself to a meditative trance state--as calm as you can. Visualize (or sense, if your inner eye is out of focus) the energy field that surrounds you. For this exercise, you want to focus on the white light part of the spectrum. So see yourself surrounded by white light. Observe for a moment the characteristics--how far out it extends, whether it's clear, etc. Then you want to spend a few moments clearing the light field. (Note: the white light field carries no negative energies of itself, but if you've gone a long time without clearing, you may perceive some bits and pieces, hence the desire to clear the light field.) Next, begin to bring the light into your body--just visualize or feel it extending into and through your body. This may take some practice, but the more you do it, it gets easier and clearer, and will stay clearer longer (practice strengthens it). Then you'll spend some time visualizing the light in your body--notice blockages, cloudy areas where it comes into contact with injuries, other people's junk that's gotten "under your skin" and so forth. Visualize the light clearing it. When you feel clear, you can visualize the light moving back out of your body and back into its usual place surrounding you. And of course don't forget to breathe through the exercise!

Meditation, and something my mom doesn't know about me

My mother reads pretty much anything I write for public consumption, so it will probably surprise her to see this. Don't worry, mom, it's good.

When I was a kid, maybe six or seven years old, we lived in a house on a busy highway--or as busy as a highway can be in rural Missouri. And we had early bedtimes. So it wasn't unheard of to be hitting the sack while there was still a busy world outside--and light, too, at least in summer.

It was here that I first learned to meditate. Unlike early bedtimes, meditation was unheard of, but that didn't stop me. Not that I knew that was what I was doing--I was just trying to fall asleep. In the process, I created a technique I use to this day to center myself, slow my mind, and focus, even when I don't "have time" to meditate.

Notice how quiet it is where you are. No, the computer humming doesn't count. Move closer. There is a zone of stillness reaching out from your skin. It might be only a couple of inches, but it's there--not just silence, but stillness. Now, make it bigger, maybe three inches. Now, six.

In the midst of a hectic day, you can recognize the zone of stillness that is around you at all times, and use that focus to quiet the chatter, the better to listen to what's really important.

Meditation cycles

Last night, someone raised an interesting question about the thoughts that come up during meditation. In essence, he wanted to know what thoughts are worth pursuing, or do we dismiss them all as chatter.

Meditation is a cycle. We breathe, clearing the mind, so that the parts of ourselves we've been hiding can surface. Insight meditation (vipassana) is where/how we explore those hidden parts...clearing them, and then we return to a clear center.

This meditation thing

Random moment: it's raining, with thunder. It's a beautiful sound. Kind of makes up for the 100-degree-plus heat index we've been enjoying this week. And yes, it's October.

Which brings me to my point. Sitting in meditation tonight, I would just begin to relax into the moment, appreciating the music, slowing my breath and my thoughts, and...boom. No, not the thunder. The mental chatter. Random thoughts with less than no meaning. Even though I know this is what it's about, it ticks me off. Years of meditation practice, and I can't sit through a 45-minute meditation with a quiet mind. Never mind that most of the time, I do. Most of the time, I use the time to explore what needs exploring, without covering it up. I breathe, or I delve--whatever is needed. Tonight, my anxiety level is higher than it should be--backlash from the good space I've been standing in while everything is shifting.

I'm not perfect. I guess I needed the reminder.

Coincidentally, our pre-meditation circle question from Karen was--how do you deal with the monkey mind? I breathe, I said. Or I focus on how quiet it is in the space around my body. And that's what I did tonight. Kept coming back to it, to the conscious breath, to the quiet, away from the "what if" and "what's next" flooding my mind. In a sense, this was monkey mind at its finest--not so much random (like the "did I turn off the stove" questions) as it was a parade of things that I'm anxious about. There's a lot going on, and I've been spending enough time worrying in waking life that you'd think I could give it up for an hour.

And I'm reminded again of Pema Chodron's remark that we do not meditate in order to be good at meditating. We meditate to become more aware in our lives.

“There’s nowhere to go on this path. There’s nothing to accomplish. The moment you move into your heart of compassion, you are there. And you don’t have to be a perfect person to do that. You can simply be present to whatever you are, moment by moment by moment. You don’t have to understand, you don’t have to be bright or clever, you don’t have to know a single thing about Buddhism. Whatever happens, embrace it in compassion, and let go of everything else.” Cheri Huber, in Sara Jenkins' "This Side of Nirvana."

This is the 'greater vehicle' of Buddhist tradition--the realization that meditation, daily life....it's all one thing. We don't have to move into a monastery to meditate. It's right in front of us--everything in life is better for being brought up into the meditation room, even the worries. Even the chatter.

Sometimes, it's good to get a reminder of that.