Meditation and Movement for Self-Healing

What is meditation? Meditation is a process of becoming aware of your thoughts and how they affect your actions and relationships in the world around you. It is a way to slow your mind and your body down and let go of habits and thoughts that are keeping you from being happy and healthy. Meditation leads to self-awareness and self-knowledge. This leads to courage and confidence and the ability to bear with the difficulties of life. It also helps you to enjoy life more fully. What is meditative movement? As you practice meditation, you become more aware of how you move in the world; how you walk and talk to others, how you communicate through your actions. Eventually, you can carry the stillness you experience in sitting meditation as you go about your business in the world. You can practice this stillness in action by moving with awareness, paying attention, being mindful. How is meditation self-healing? By choosing to meditate, you put your focus on your own self. You care for your own body. You care for your own mind. Your brain, blood, hormones, bones, organs, limbs and skin are all made from the same material and work together to support you in the world. When you put your mind or consciousness on your mind and body, you shine a light on them, just as you do a child or friend in need of attention. That light is love, self-love, and it is healing. Note: For purposes of this particular meditation guide book, healing does not include “curing” or “fixing” specific diseases, illnesses or structural imbalances in the body. Rather, these meditations can support you emotionally and physically as you go through healing processes with your medical doctors and other health care professionals. How does this healing look and feel? You will fall in love with yourself, and possibly the whole universe. This will make you happy. Your thoughts will be happy and as a consequence, your body will be too. A little bit of happiness goes a long way to healing. Does this practice require patience and discipline? Yes. May it take a long time? Perhaps. But when you arrive at your first Aha moment, it’ll be easier to persevere. You will begin to look forward to your meditation time as something that brings a spark of joy to your day. Happiness and laughter release healing endorphins and energies in your body. Feeling good is infectious. It helps you and your body to relax and create the conditions for self-healing. Caution: In the process of moving toward healing, you will most likely come up against the obstacles of negative thought patterns that have interfered in your happiness and health all your life. You may not experience this as pleasant but meditation is a way to face these obstacles, become aware of them and let them go. You may need the support of a mental health professional to help you through these obstacles. How do we meditate? There are many different approaches to meditation. It has been practiced all over the world for as long as human beings have walked the world. Looking up at the night sky and gazing at the stars, your thoughts may fade away as you ponder their mystery. Simply sitting and looking out over a lake, field or into a forest, you pay special attention to the sounds of birds and animals singing and scampering. Standing above a cityscape, watching it from a skyscraper, you may see the connection between the movement of humans and the stillness of the earth. You may bring your spiritual practice into your meditation or you may choose to keep it secular. Initially, you will keep it simple: you, your breath and your stillness. Breath Awareness A Seat for the Breath To become aware of your breath, it’s best to be still, comfortable and away from distractions. Eventually, you may create a special space for your meditation practice. To begin, simply find a chair. Plant your feet on the floor and bring your spine away from the back of the chair. Let your back be its strong and supple self, lifting out of the seat of your pelvis like a tall tree. Respect its natural curves, the low back, neck and upper back. Let your shoulders move down your back. Rest your hands on your knees or in your lap. Close your eyes. Notice how you breathe. Feel your belly and chest rise as you breathe in. Feel your belly gently move in toward your spine as you breathe out. Stay with this breathing and find your own easy pace. Keep breathing. No holding. No catching up. Just breathe. In. Out. You may lose track of time. But sense that you are breathing like this for about five minutes.