Today we are learning about meditation. I will briefly explain what is and isn’t meditation, the benefits, and then share to you what various Jedi Knights have written about their own meditation practices.
I like to think as meditation is like stretching before a run, but for your mind. It’s one of those really good, healthy things we don’t like to do when told and yet do when we don’t realize. That’s right I just said you all meditate and you don’t even notice it. A few examples:
Early morning coffee when you take that first sip, you smell the coffee, you enjoy the taste, you sit or stand quietly waiting for your brain to engage. The house is silent and you give yourself permission to be in that half away zombie mode.
You take a soak. The water is hot. You are clean. You relax and enjoy the moment of peace and being alone.
You are doing a craft you love. Say art where it’s just you and finding that perfect color of blue. Putting paint or color piece or marker on paper is so simple you can’t help, but find that sweet zen moment.
You take a long walk. The rhythmic steps, a solid pace, your breathing falls into a good pattern and your mind naturally wonders until you just stop thinking about much of anything.
You are dancing to the music. You feel the beat, the mood of the song. Your body has finally relaxed enough to allow you to move the way you want to move. It feels you are one with the music.
Does anyone have a not on purpose mediation they would like to share?
I could go on and name a number of other activities, but I think you get the point. We naturally meditate. We seek it as a way to relax, let go, and find peace and joy in the world. And yet when you are asked to sit and breathe, that’s when it becomes hard. The ego rebels and brings up a million anxious thoughts about to do lists and past mistakes. This is all normal and natural and can be over come with some mental discipline.
There are various types of meditation. There are the non formal ones that just come in the moment, but there are also more formal, meant to happen meditations. Meditation is when you do a process to relax and be peaceful. Now the classic meditation is to sit and clear your mind, but that’s not the only one out there. Clearing your mind isn’t as hard as it sounds, but it can’t be forced. You can’t say to yourself “ok brain, clear. Stop thinking!” lol won’t work. But if you sit there and focus on your breathe and gently bring your mind back to breathing when you go on a day dream you will find yourself floating in nothingness for a few seconds. Keep doing that until it’s longer than a few seconds.
Meditation has a number of benefits ranging from being emotionally calmer ( note not calm all the time) to relaxing the body which fights the harm of what stress does to you (high blood pressure, headaches, heart conditions, pain tolerance ect). It also helps you learn to handle stress better and can help with various mental issues like ptsd, anxious, chronic nightmares, anger issues, ect. Please note meditation is not a cure for anything, but a great tool for helping many issues. Please keep seeing your doctor and councilor.
Types of Meditation
Note: There are more, but here are a few:
Guided Meditation: Guided meditation is when a trained teacher walks you through a meditation, often visual.
Mantra Meditation: A meditation where one uses a word or a phrase to said verbally and focuses on the meaning. The most famous of them is the “om”.
Mindfulness Meditation: a meditation meant to bring your attention to the present moment. This is often thought to be the “blank” your mind meditation.
Walking meditation: Exactly what it sounds like: meditation and walking. There are varies ways to walk, breathe, and other body movements
Moving medtation (doesn’t have to be walking): Like walking, you can do a number of activities.
Yoga: Yoga being a spiritual practice of moving and holding positions (or at least American yoga is) and then using meditation while in said position.
Transcendental Meditation: is a silent mantra sitting meditation where one gently focuses on a mantra.
Silent Prayer: (archivist note- unfortunately, if something was written in here originally, it was lost when the order recorded it)
Fixity: staring at a spot and only looking at that spot for as long as you can without looking away. It’s also good for when you can’t integrate
There was a really good question that was brought up last time: what meditation to do? Well that’s up to you. Depends on your mood, your day, your needs, and time restraints. Do a little research and decide which meditation sounds interesting to do and then go do it. If it turns out not to be for you or too hard, try another after giving the first one a few days of practice, Never give up right away. This is where discipline comes in.
Homework:
There are two parts:
1. Meditate daily in any method you wish. Meditate 3-10 minutes a day. Be ready to talk about your experience next class.
2. Write about your understanding of the Jedi code and how this relates to your life and to Jediism Post this on Jedi Praxeum.