Elevating the Soul

In an earlier post we looked at some of the initial guidelines of meditation.  These should be understood and practiced each time you sit down for a meditation session.

That said, let us remember that not all meditation needs to be a long drawn out process where we sit in stillness.  Meditation can occur for a few moments while sitting on a bus, in a taxi, waiting in a store line up or even right before a business presentation.

By building images and feelings in the times when we actually do sit down to meditate, we can create triggers which bring back these feelings even when we are not able to enter a deeper meditative state.  The best way to describe this may be through an example.  If in a meditative state you created an atmosphere of peace and tranquility, you can also create a trigger for that feeling.  Then, when you are about to give a business presentation, or if you are feeling anxious about something, you can activate your trigger and bring yourself back to that peaceful and tranquil place.  The trigger takes you out of your anxious state and into a more peaceful one that was created when you had more time to build, enjoy and feel this pleasant experience.

So one the first basic meditative or visualization skills that should be developed is simply creating an ideal tranquil and peaceful setting within your minds eye.

Find a comfortable place to sit, and then close your eyes.  Take several deep breaths allow tension to ease away.  The following exercise will also create more relaxation within your body.

Imagine you are sitting or lying down in your ideal setting.  This could be on a beach at sunset, in a meadow of long grass under the warm afternoon sun, it could be on top of a hill with a light mist falling on your face, you could also be a sitting beside a tranquil pool watching a cascading waterfall ease itself into the still waters.  Create a visual of a peaceful and beautiful scene involving nature and then place yourself within it.  The more time you take to create this place the more you will get out of it.

Is there a wind? How does the land, sand or grass feel against your skin?  Is it warm, slightly hot, or cooler?   Are there clouds?  What color is the sky, the ground, the sand?  What time of day is it?  Is the moon full or hidden behind cloud?   What smells are there?  Is the sun casting pink light from behind a mountain? Does it smell like the open sea, does it smell like a rain forest, an evergreen or does it smell like a flower garden?

This is your creation and it can be anything you want it to be.

Once you have created your scene.  Stay there for a moment.  Take in the beauty and peace of it.  This is a place you can come back to anytime you need to relieve yourself of daily pressure and rebalance yourself.  This is the place you can come to recharge and for at least for several moments quiet the mind of constant chatter and instead build a peaceful haven in which you can retreat.

Now again take a moment to really take in this scene.  Absorb it, experience, feel it.  Feel the peace and refreshing outlook it brings to you.  Feel how in this space you have absolutely no worries whatsoever. You are one with everything in this space and it is one with you.  You love this nature for it is a piece of God, and you are loved by it for you are also of God.

Now, give this scene a name.  It can be a descriptive word, something like “peace” or “tranquility.”  You may have also have incorporated something personal to you into the meditation and you could name this entire experience you are having after the object.

Now, imagine the word that you named this scene being imbued with the experience of the scene.  In this way every time you say that word to yourself you can instantly bring back this world you created.  When you are feeling stressed you can repeat this word to yourself and put yourself back into the relaxing experience that you enjoyed during the actual meditation.

This can often bring some comfort in tough times and provide us with new perspective on the issue we are facing.

Building this peaceful scene is often how I begin many of my meditation and then as we progress further and learn more techniques we can continue to build on this scene and add elements to it that will aid us in our spiritual journey.

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The next article on mediation will look at one of these added elements.  We will create a slightly different scene and through the structure we will explore your current life.  We will then also explore our dreams, desires and passions.  From there we can move to a place where all those dreams and desires are fulfilled, helping to actually manifest them in our waking reality.

May you find your moment of peace, and through that moment weave it throughout the tapestry of your life so that you will enventually be able to say that you are at peace, and are peace.

~Cory Mitchell