Chapter 2: Lesson One – Beginning Your Practice

This is the third installment of my meditation book: Sit. Stay. Heal. In this short talk learn the first step in starting a practice: thinking about starting.

Transcript

Chapter 2 Lesson 1 The Calling Before you even begin a meditation practice,

You get called to meditate.

By called,

I don't necessarily mean some spiritual beckoning.

In fact,

Let's get something out of the way up front.

Later on,

I will explain more about my spiritual beliefs or,

More accurately,

My lack of beliefs.

For now,

Know that I am neither here to peddle religion or rant against it.

I only mean to describe how I came to meditation and what that meditation has done for me,

In the hopes that you will give it a shot and experience similar results.

I am confident enough now in the transformative power of meditation to make promises about the life-changing properties of having a daily practice.

I won't promise enlightenment.

I am not a guru,

Nor do I follow one.

In fact,

I am adamantly opposed to the whole guru system.

Or,

More precisely,

I am opposed to singling out specific gurus and much more into the notion that gurus abound in our everyday lives.

Dogs are gurus.

Little children are gurus.

Coworkers and clients who piss us off are gurus.

You don't need to go looking for gurus because the old saying is true.

When the student is ready,

The teacher appears.

I also won't promise that wealth,

Fame,

True love,

And constant inner peace will become your steady companions.

But I will promise that if you feel like crap more often than you'd like,

You will stop feeling like crap so often if you meditate.

And if you feel anxiety is your constant low-level background soundtrack,

I will also promise that if you meditate,

You will figure out at long last where the volume control is so that even if you never fully mute the damning anxiety,

You will be able to turn the noise level way down.

I could trot out some of the growing number of scientific studies demonstrating how meditation actually changes your neural pathways and promotes quantifiable brain improvement.

But I'm not going to do that either,

Beyond telling you that I have been very amused to see how,

Yet again,

The West has started scientifically calculating the benefits of a practice that the East has simply demonstrated by doing for millennia.

Every year,

Without fail,

A few best-selling books come along that guarantee readers some true solution to fill in the blank.

Permanent weight loss,

Finding a soulmate,

Getting rich,

Eternal happiness.

On one level,

These books are often bullshit crammed tomes designed to lighten your wallet and feed your anxiety.

On another level,

Nearly all contain at least some truths,

None of which are new and none of which seem too tricky to follow on the page.

Pretty much all of the insights are based on the same basic advice,

Which is this.

Pay attention.

Pay attention to what you eat and you'll lose weight.

Pay attention to red flag qualities and potential partners and heartache will be less frequent.

Pay attention to how much money you are throwing away on stuff you don't need and you'll save money.

Pay attention to what's making you miserable and you might just become less miserable.

But trying to apply this seemingly simple wisdom often proves more difficult once you set down the book.

There's a pile of donuts begging to be devoured,

An attractive loser responding to your online dating profile,

An expensive vacation waiting to be taken,

Or an old unhappy pattern demanding to be resumed.

Paying attention,

It turns out,

Might be the hardest thing of all,

Which is where the meditation comes in.

When you learn to sit and be quiet and dismiss the 80 billion thoughts that come flooding in to try to fill the silence,

You eventually start to truly pay attention.

Because paying attention means seeing things you are trying to not see,

You will squirm at first.

And you will likely think,

I cannot do this.

I cannot sit still.

I am not cut out for meditation.

My mind never shuts up.

I hear from people all the time who tell me they want to meditate and they are trying to meditate,

But that they suck at meditating.

I reassure them and I congratulate them.

Because even if they are wallowing in a sea of self-judgment and seemingly unbearable thoughts,

Also known as monkey mind,

The good news is they've heard the calling.

They know there is something they want and need to pay attention to in their lives if they want to alleviate suffering great and small.

The idea has come to them that meditation will help.

This is a great start.

I can't even remember how many years I thought about meditating before I actually began to practice.

I mean there were many meditations I did as part of my martial arts training and then later as part of my yoga training.

I'll detail those more in a bit.

But I wanted more than those little sessions.

I wanted to sit my butt down and close my eyes and breathe for long stretches.

Because somewhere along the way I had picked up the notion that to do so,

To learn to meditate,

Would bring something to my life that was missing.

When I decided finally to stop just thinking about a practice and actually meditate,

There was not a come to Buddha moment.

I was not seeking religion.

I did not,

As I had with so many other undertakings in my life,

Wish to explore something because some guy I had a crush on was doing it.

In truth,

I can't remember an exact moment of thinking,

Okay,

This is it.

I see a little X on the map marked enlightenment,

Better go get it.

But one day I did it.

I sat down.

I breathed in.

I breathed out.

I probably lasted three minutes before I had as much as I could handle.

Still,

I did it.

I acted on my desire to tame my mental beasts.

It was a small start,

But baby steps have always served me best.

With my butt on the cushion,

I toddled unsteadily,

A toddling that lasted years before I felt what I feel now,

Which is a confident stride in my practice.

Not a cocky swagger,

Just a calm knowing that I can step into the world of calm and move with focus and attention,

Not so much to a distant place down the road,

But just to the moment that is immediately around me.

If you're listening to this,

Perhaps you're hearing the calling too.

I can help you start your practice,

Learn how to step solidly into it.

The very first step is to observe and acknowledge the calling.

Maybe you hear it because you are intrigued by all the studies cropping up promising fast results from meditation.

Maybe you hear it because you are a spiritual seeker.

Maybe you hear it because you are so miserable and nothing else has worked and desperation is the background singer for the calling.

Really,

I don't care,

In a very nice way,

What got you thinking about meditation.

I'm just glad you're here.

I'm glad you're here.

Be glad for the calling.

It might take you a while to get settled into a practice,

And that's just fine.

The great news is you are listening.

Reviews

Thank you Spike. Me listen, that doesn’t sound like me. But am trying my best 🙏 😊

K.I.S.S. that was the best discussion on meditation period. Thank you.

This one spoke to me. Thank you.

Love this!! She is my kind of “guru”.

Im glad I found you 🙏

This woman is incredible!

Yes!! Clear brilliance

Thank you thank you!!! This has been MY LIFE..almost all of it..been praying to my spirit team, everyone ANYONE to lead me to people who can best help me with my years of PTSD, anxiety, depression, all that low energy..SICK of medication, highs and lows mostly lows lately..I was called/told to start meditation..I just started it and feel the support through the replies of others comments and stories..it helps me even if just a little one day..I was guided to read this book and am so grateful for you sharing your story to help others and myself. So thanks immensely!!!💕

I am enjoying this immensely. Beautifully written and beautifully read

Lol. Keeping it real.

Great. Now...how do I find more?

Straight shooter and to the point, ❤️it! Paying attention. Thank you.

Thank you for cutting out the crap and getting to the point ! made me laugh

thank you for sharing yourself!

Cut to the chase. Love it!

Straightforward and real. Encouraging for those new to meditation. I like the matter-of- fact attitude.

Excellent. Love the authors straight forward and bullshit free style. I'd I'd've to read her book in its entirety.
She's refreshing 👍

I like the straight talking of this. Thank you.