About Meditation

If you're wondering about the how, the when, the where and the why of meditation then Estelle's talk will light the way. Her easy gentle style and combination of facts, insights, practical exercises and descriptive imagery will open you to the wonderful world of meditation. This talk is especially beneficial for beginners.

Transcript

Welcome to this talk about meditation.

Let's start with why.

Why meditate?

Have you ever shaken a snow dome and watched the tiny white flakes swirl around,

Obliterate the scene,

And then gently settle back into stillness on the base,

Revealing everything again in clear detail?

This always makes me think of the story about the beautiful young princess sitting at the edge of a clear,

Ornate pool in her palace grounds.

As she leans over to gaze at her reflection,

Her priceless crown tumbles from her head and into the water with a loud splash.

At the sound of her all-is-lost scream,

Royal attendants rush to her from all sides.

They frantically jump one after the other into the pool,

Thrashing about in search of the precious object,

Churning the water and swirling up a lot of mud and rotten debris from the bottom of the pool.

The water grows murky.

The crown disappears from view.

The princess and her attendants panic.

Now who should come along upon this chaotic scene but her grandfather,

An old man with twinkling eyes?

With one glance,

He takes in the chaos.

Rather than join the maelstrom,

He sits calmly down at the princess's side and immediately launches into a riveting tale of times gone by.

His sonorous voice weaves such a fascinating tapestry of love and adventure that the aides climb out of the pool to sit down nearby and listen.

And the princess herself stops shrieking,

Forgetting all about the lost crown.

By the time her grandfather comes to the end of his elaborate,

Embellished tale,

Everyone and everything,

Even the mud in the pool,

Has settled down.

And so he reaches into the pool,

Now once again still and clear,

And easily plucks out the now plainly visible crown.

Both of these examples are rather like the thoughts in our heads,

Thousands of them each day,

Especially when we're stressed.

If we can settle them down,

We can see things more clearly.

Let's look at stress.

Stress has been dubbed the health epidemic of the 21st century by the World Health Organization.

The effects of stress on our emotional and physical health can be devastating.

Numerous studies show that job stress,

Teenage stress,

Age stress,

Etc.

,

Has escalated progressively over the past few decades to be associated with increased rates of heart attack,

Hypertension,

Obesity,

Addiction,

Anxiety,

Depression and other disorders.

The current state of the world,

Especially with the emergence of COVID,

Has intensified stress levels even further.

We are constantly under attack.

Mobile phones and the internet allow no personal space.

News,

Especially bad news,

Is relayed instantly and repeatedly.

Stress is a personalized phenomenon that varies between people,

Depending on individual vulnerability and resilience and between different types of tasks.

Our stress stems from our thoughts and emotions and our reactions.

We become what we think and feel.

Our thoughts and emotions affect our body instantly.

Our sympathetic nervous system,

That's our fight and flight response,

Is overworked.

It's in action most of the time.

We're on edge.

Our parasympathetic nervous system,

That's our rest and digest system,

No longer has the energy nor the time to rejuvenate our bodies.

We're out of balance and in danger of falling apart.

So what can we do?

We have choices.

Let's consider two of them.

You can't see them,

But in front of me are two bottles.

The first bottle has a label on it that says,

Wonder pills.

They're smallish,

Round and a beautiful green color and apparently they can slow your heart rate and breathing.

That is calm you down,

Normalize your blood pressure,

Help use oxygen more efficiently,

Improve your immune function,

Help you sweat less,

Help your adrenal glands produce less cortisol,

Aid your mind at a slower rate,

Clear your mind and increase your creativity,

Improve concentration and benefit cardiovascular and immune health.

Sounds wonderful.

And the instructions?

Just take one a day.

Hmm.

They are rather expensive.

Each pill costs one hundred dollars.

And on the back of the bottle in small print is a warning.

May cause side effects.

Please read.

And there's a website here.

It's an ultra fine print and there's actually too many to read here now.

And some of them are pretty scary.

Let's look at the other bottle.

It looks empty,

But there's actually a piece of paper inside it.

It's label reads meditation and it can slow your heart rate and breathing.

That is calm you down.

Normalize your blood pressure,

Help use oxygen more efficiently,

Improve your immune function,

Help you sweat less,

Help your adrenal glands produce less cortisol,

Aid your mind at a slower rate,

Clear your mind and increase your creativity,

Improve concentration and benefit cardiovascular and immune health.

The same benefits as the wonder pill.

The instructions say practice regularly.

Let's look at the slip of paper inside the bottle.

It reads always available,

Amazingly effective in short term stress reduction and long term health.

Benefits can be felt in just one session.

No special equipment is required.

Anyone can do it.

No side effects.

Well,

No negative side effects.

And it's free.

Hang on.

There is a warning.

It takes discipline and commitment to make meditation a regular habit.

Like learning to walk,

Drive a car,

It needs to become automatic so that you can respond from a calm place rather than react.

Note an experienced teacher can be helpful or group participation.

Experienced teacher,

I think that's me.

I can't help you with details about the magic pills,

But I can offer you an insight into meditation.

Meditation is.

Meditation is the art of being relaxed.

Meditation is mind without agitation.

No matter the disturbances around you,

It allows you to relax into a space deep inside where there is stillness and calm.

We can compare it with the ocean in the depths.

There is a calmness,

A stillness space,

Whereas the surface is influenced by the tides,

Currents and weather.

Flat and calm,

Rough and agitated.

Focus is the secret.

In meditation,

The mind is clear,

Relaxed and inwardly focused.

When you meditate,

You are fully awake and alert,

But your mind is not focused on the external world taking place around you.

Meditation requires an inner state that is still and one-pointed so that the mind becomes silent.

When the mind is silent and no longer distracts you,

Meditation deepens.

Meditation is not part of any religion.

It is a science,

Which means that the process of meditation follows a particular order,

Has definite principles and produces results that can be verified.

Meditation is a practical means for calming yourself,

For letting go of your biases and seeing what is openly and clearly.

It is a way of training the mind so that you are not distracted and caught up in its endless churning.

Meditation can also teach you to systematically explore your inner dimensions.

So how do we meditate?

The basic steps for most meditations are quite simple.

1.

Relax.

2.

Choose one thing to focus on and explore.

3.

If the mind wanders,

Gently bring it back.

4.

Let everything else go.

Let's try the relaxing part.

Tighten your fingers and toes.

Really tight.

Slowly let them relax.

Tighten your arms and legs.

Really tight.

Slowly let them relax.

Tighten all of your body,

Especially the muscles in your face.

Really tight.

Very slowly let them relax.

Pretty easy,

Hey?

Now,

Let's focus on something.

We'll use our breath because it's always there.

Close your eyes.

As you take a deep breath in and a long slow breath out,

Find parts of the body where you can feel it.

Again,

Repeat.

A deep breath in and a long slow breath out.

And see if you can visualize the breath entering through your nose and traveling to your lungs and out.

There,

You've done it.

A mini meditation,

Which leads us to ask,

How long should you meditate?

There's no specific length of time required.

Meditation can be as long or as short as you want.

Sometimes meditation is easy and you drop beautifully into that relaxed place straight away.

And sometimes it isn't.

You can't relax and you can't focus.

Your mind won't settle.

It's okay.

Just go with it.

Don't try to fight it or prolong it.

End the session.

The important thing is to just do it.

Where is a good place to meditate?

You can really meditate anywhere,

But it does help to set up a regular space,

Indoors or outdoors,

Where you won't be disturbed.

Creating a special place builds up the energy and helps provide an automatic trigger for your body to start to relax.

Make yourself comfortable lying down,

Sitting or standing,

But not too comfortable.

We don't want to go to sleep.

When to meditate?

Find a time to suit you.

A regular time helps prepare your body.

The more you practice meditating,

The easier it will become.

And then in times of need,

You may be able to automatically use it to relax and be calm and see situations clearly.

What to focus on?

The stronger the focus,

The less chance there is for your thoughts and body to distract you.

The most common choices are one,

The breath and body awareness.

Counting may help your concentration as you breathe in and out.

Two,

Mantras and affirmations.

That is words,

Sounds,

Rhymes,

Something for you to really focus on.

Three,

Visualisations.

They help transport you beyond yourself and where you are,

The here and now,

Into places of peace and calm.

Four,

Sense and objects.

Nature,

Music,

A candle,

Sounds.

These are easy things to focus on.

Five,

Mindfulness.

The art of being present with what you're actually doing now in this moment.

Six,

Stories and poems.

Try them all.

Find the ones that work best for you.

Different days may require a different focus.

Let's try a quick one minute visualisation.

Now,

Drift into the darkness behind your eyes,

Safe and soft.

Picture a comfortable massage table,

A massage table with a soft edged face hole.

Using your imagination,

Transport your massage table through space to somewhere that makes you feel comfortable,

Relaxed and safe.

Step into the picture.

Lie down on your stomach on the massage table and place your face in the soft face hole.

Feel the warmth,

The calmness,

The colour of peace flowing into you.

Now,

Feel gentle strong fingers massage your head,

Smoothing,

Soothing.

The back of your scalp,

Just around the crown.

Around those ears,

Down either side of the jaw.

Beautiful,

Gentle strokes,

Calming,

Soothing.

Into the neck and shoulders,

That place where you hold a lot of your attention.

Pressing gently,

Easing away all of the tension that is in your muscles,

Your tendons and your ligaments.

Removing those knots of anxiety that have built up.

Releasing the pockets of negativity.

Continuing into your shoulder blades,

That gentle kneading,

Pressing,

Stroking,

Releasing,

Relaxing.

This beautiful,

Freeing rhythm of relaxation and release flowing through you.

As you drift into the calmness of the colour,

Drifting,

Drifting,

Your head and shoulders feel light as a feather.

Every cell so relaxed,

Free from tension.

Drifting into space.

Any thoughts lightly drifting like passing wisps of cloud.

Enjoy the feeling for a moment longer before you drift back.

Back now.

Just take a moment to realign yourself with your surroundings.

There.

I'd like to finish this talk with an amazing poem written by the Reverend Sapphire Rose.

Even though it's in the feminine,

It can apply to all of us.

Sit back and just let the words flow over you.

She let go.

She let go.

Without a thought or a word,

She let go.

She let go of the fear.

She let go of the judgments.

She let go of the confluence of opinions swarming around her head.

She let go of the committee of indecision within her.

She let go of all the right reasons.

Wholly and completely,

Without hesitation or worry.

She just let go.

She didn't ask anyone for advice.

She didn't read a book on how to let go.

She didn't search the scriptures.

She just let go.

She let go of all the memories that held her back.

She let go of all the anxiety that kept her from moving forward.

She let go of the planning and all of the calculations about how to do it just right.

She didn't promise to let go.

She didn't journal about it.

She didn't write the projected date in her day timer.

She made no public announcement and put no ad in the paper.

She didn't check the weather report or read her daily horoscope.

She just let go.

She didn't analyse whether she should let go.

She didn't call her friends to discuss the matter.

She didn't do a five-step spiritual mind treatment.

She didn't call the prayer line.

She didn't utter one word.

She just let go.

No one was around when it happened.

There was no applause or congratulations.

No one thanked her or praised her.

No one noticed a thing.

Like a leaf falling from a tree.

She just let go.

There was no effort.

There was no struggle.

It wasn't good and it wasn't bad.

It was what it was.

And it is just that.

In the space of letting go,

She let it all be.

A small smile came over her face.

A light breeze blew through her.

And the sun and the moon shone forevermore.

Thank you for being with me today.

I wish you all the best in meditation.

Namaste.

Reviews

What a wonderful gift 💜🙏Thank you Estelle beautifully presented…so gentle and positive 🦋🌟

Wow. I love this. I have been meditation for years but this is such a clear explanation of meditation and sompractical. I plan to share with my anxious friends!

Great lesson and reminder! I have often tuned in to your recorded sessions and have only experienced the positive side effects. 😉 I love your calm and soothing voice. Thank you for all you do, dearest Estelle.♥️ Namaste 🙏🏼