Hi,
I'm Dr.
Kim.
Last night I joined a meditation group for the first time in ages.
The theme of our discussion was emptiness,
A word that appears again and again in most mainstream meditation teachings.
We often hear phrases like empty your mind,
Right?
And the videos we were studying described the meditative goal as a completely empty mind.
As we were sharing,
I realized something.
I've never really resonated with the word empty.
When I think of emptying something,
A glass of water for example,
It takes effort.
You have to grab the glass and you have to physically pour it out.
There's an active sense of doing.
When I hear empty your mind,
It feels like I'm being asked to force or eject the thoughts out of my head.
That effort alone pulls me out of meditation and instead can make me feel quite frustrated.
There's also something about the word empty that feels a little bleak to me.
Another member said it perfectly.
They shared that when they hear empty,
It feels like a detachment,
Like their life has to become meaningless.
And I completely understood there is a negative connotation attached to the word empty.
So I spoke up and I offered my perspective.
Rather than emptying my mind,
I prefer to enter the void.
To me,
The void is not a cold,
Meaningless emptiness.
It's a vast,
Still space filled with potential.
It's the fertile nothingness before creation.
In this void,
Life isn't absent.
It's waiting.
It's a space where anything can arise.
When I enter this void space,
I'm not forcing anything.
I'm not ejecting thoughts from my head.
I simply drop into stillness and free myself up.
I become open.
I become available.
This is the space where the universe or God or whatever name you prefer can speak to us.
It's where inspiration,
Guidance and ideas flow through us.
For me,
The doorway into this void is not actually sitting still in meditation.
It's movement.
For so many years,
I tried to sit completely still in meditation.
But I found myself getting quite frustrated.
I found that my body wanted to move.
Now when I allow myself to move,
When I move slowly,
Rhythmically,
With intention,
When I practice somatic meditative movement like the ones I teach in my live classes and to my one-on-one clients,
My mind naturally quiets.
I'm able to enter a trance-like void state where time disappears.
In this space,
I find I have no thoughts,
No identity,
Even no location.
I become no one,
Nowhere and yet I am completely alive with energy.
From this clear,
Spacious and neutral state,
I then receive insights effortlessly.
Sometimes it happens right there in the movement.
Other times the inspiration lands later in the day or it comes in a dream.
But it always comes from that same source,
That void of pure potential.
After I shared,
Other people spoke up.
Some said that sound meditation helps them enter that same space using vibration,
Rhythm or tone as the anchor that guides them beyond thought.
I love that we each have our own doorways into the same truth.
Whether it's sound,
Breath,
Movement or stillness,
We all are able to touch that vast inner field where creation begins.
For me,
This is the real meaning of meditation.
It's not to empty ourselves,
But to enter that infinite space where everything is possible.
Now I would love to know what you think.
All of this is simply just my opinion.
Does the word empty resonate with you or does it carry a sense of lack?
And how do you personally enter that state of unlimited potential?
Please leave your comments in your reviews.
I would also love to see you on my meditative movement live streams,
So please check out my events here on Insight Timer.
With lots of love,
Have a wonderful day.
See you tomorrow.
