5 Irritating Sayings About Meditation

A Quick Preamble: It’s been happening forever, is still happening now and will continue to happen …misinformation, poor education or training, ignorance or even just plain old-fashioned spite means meditation, along with certain foods, beverages and a whole load of other general health-benefitting practices, hasn’t escaped the results of being often misrepresented or lambasted by the well-intentioned as well as the plain misguided… …ho-hum, the beautiful and gentle practice of health-sustaining and mind-strengthening meditation is just another victim of our ever-changing and pretty much over-opinionated society..! Cutting To The Chase: So, meditation has gained serious ground in popularity and use – because the proven benefits cannot be denied, but sadly, so also has the lack of detailed understanding by a lot of practitioners and the often misleading information dished out by poorly trained teachers of meditation… …and that leads me to the main point (or my main rant, if you like) for this specific post: The most irritating sayings about meditation that people should really stop saying: Irritating Saying # 1“Clear Your Mind” …whaaat..?..did you really just tell me – in a really irritatingly soft voice, to “Clear My Mind”..?,,,so now i have to concentrate on thinking about ‘not-thinking..? Sorry dude…that just aint gonna cut it for me…i’m thinking so hard about clearing my mind of thoughts that i’m developing a headache..! OK, i might be a little overly dramatic here, but you get my point right..?..but take note, this is how you tell if the meditation teacher is an amateur trying to do good – and it’s usually your Yoga teacher that would be doing this because a Yoga teacher, bless them all, they’re very good at their main calling, which is Yoga, but they would normally undergo only very minimum meditation training – if any at all. A trained and man-years-practicing meditation teacher will never tell you to clear or quieten your mind – it just isn’t possible…if you’re doing it right, your mind-chatter will subside and then you can slip into the relaxing thoughts of meditation. Irritating Saying # 2 “Nobody Needs To Meditate” or “I Don’t Need To Meditate” Well ok, that’s fair enough…i mean nobody “needs” to eat broccoli to survive, or do weight-training to raise their strength and fitness level – but really, are you going to NOT do something because you don’t NEED to, or are you going TO DO something because it enhances your life and/or improves your health in one way or another – or even in every way..?!? Meditation is actually something that for a whole lot of people is simply a daily habit, a part of their life, that is never looked at as a ‘need’ but something they enjoy doing because it improves many aspects of their life. Irritating Saying # 3 “I Don’t Have The Time To Meditate” Get out o’ town…it has been proven that most people throughout Europe, the United States of America, Australia and Japan, spend between 10 and 12 hours carousing around the web and/or various other digital media…that is truly astonishing…and i ask you, “how the heck do you manage to make all that time available for media but you cant spend 20 minutes in meditation for the good of your health and wellness..?” Ajahn Chah said: “If You Have Time To Breath, You Have Time To Meditate..!” Irritating Saying # 4 “There is no right way to meditate” Please…in any sport, in flying or driving or any other discipline, there IS ALWAYS A RIGHT WAY AND A WRONG WAY. There may be slight variations of methodology in a discipline and certainly in meditation, the act of relaxing the mind or the position that you sit in or even the place where you carry out your meditation can vary from person to person – but there is absolutely a right way and anybody would know that if they undergo regular, structured meditation sessions. Irritating Saying # 5 “My Hobby (or whatever activity) Is My Means Of Meditation” Sorry, but that’s just plain tripe…pure and unadulterated BS my friend or (and i’m giving the benefit of the doubt here) maybe just a misunderstanding of the act of meditation. It’s simple really…a seated, structured meditation is how you will enter the transcendental state of consciousness that’s unique to a seated meditation session – an altered physiological and mental state that can and has often been proven with the use of EEG and heart-rate monitoring equipment. So basically, whereas your favourite activity may very well ensure you concentrate solely on aspects of that activity alone, it cannot take the place of a properly structured daily meditation in your life. A Final Anecdote: If you know what you’re doing then meditation is a truly beautiful tool for your mind and bodily health… …if you don’t know, then you can easily find out and learn, but do understand that at the end of the day, as with everything else, you only get what you pay for, so ensure you follow the training of a true meditation master and beware of the fakes or the poorly trained – you may get a bargain but you’ll likely be misinformed and your meditations will not be as beneficial as they should be. Before you leave, a couple of excellent meditation quotes from a true meditation master – St. Francis De Sales: “Where There Is Peace And Meditation, There Is Neither Anxiety Or Doubt” “Half An Hour Meditation Each Day Is Essential Except When You Are Busy, Then A Full Hour Is Needed”