Meditation is Your Life
I woke up today and, as I do every morning, practiced meditation. I opened the curtains to the sunrise, lit a candle and sat on my bed, adjusted my posture, all as usual. Today, though, what came up for me was an intention to just be present. As I witnessed my experience, I felt myself shift from “doing” the meditation into “being” the meditation itself, and I remembered these words: Meditation is your life!
I first read Ganga White’s book: Yoga Beyond Belief, while completing yoga teacher training with Ganga and Tracy Rich at White Lotus Foundation. At the time, I felt that the book’s chapter nine, entitled “Meditation is Your Life”, articulated a beautiful philosophy that I resonated with and had only occasionally experienced. Today, though, my perspective shifted and I knew, directly that meditation IS my life; I realized that the techniques of meditation serve as a portal, an entry point to the experience of a larger reality or more fundamental consciousness that is life.
This state of connection continued for much longer than a moment, all morning, in fact. I opened to the experience. Eventually, I began to ponder how this could be happening. Ganga says: “Your entire life is your meditation. All other specific forms of meditation technique are secondary. By integrating qualities of attention, awareness, caring, and insight into all areas of living, we reach a deeper core and more essential meaning of meditation.” Briefly, I considered my current state through the lens of my background in neuroscience. I wondered whether, through my regular practice of these qualities, I had changed my brain to create this more enduring experience of loving presence and awareness.
Then , I experienced no longer being the one observing what is happening inside or outside of me, but being at one—both observer and observed. I listened. I felt laughter arising as I sensed this over-turning of my expectation that I am separate from life. I recognize this shift in perspective as one I have practiced through studying non-dual meditation with Craig Hamilton these last several years. Through that practice I have come to realize that in letting go of this sense of being an observer, separate from experience, I shift into what non-dual teachers call the ground of being and our true nature or non-dual awareness.
This approach to meditation feels natural to me today. J. Krishnamurti, founder of the school of “‘Natural Meditation” says that meditation: “…must come naturally, like a flower that blooms. It cannot be forced.” I felt something like a natural bloom in my heart on this beautiful spring morning. The longer I sat in this stillness, the more I felt a sense of belonging and connection in life. From this perspective, I could see that we aren’t marooned here on earth as if on a lifeless asteroid, lost in space, rather, we are here in connection with the web of life. This is our true nature and our birthright.
I woke up today, more than 400 days after the first COVID-19 case was reported in my home state, and I practiced meditation, as I do every morning. I felt low in energy and uncertain about how to re-emerge into the beginnings of post-pandemic social life. As Ganga White writes: “…everything in life has the potential of moving us to greater understanding and wisdom—and we cannot predict where the greatest lessons will be.” I wondered what the lessons of the last year had taught me, and what they’ve taught all of us. I wondered how to go forward from here. I adjusted my posture, and what came up is the intention to be present, awake. I felt held by life. I could see that these tools for transformation, a meditation and yoga practice, have served to open and deepen my awareness of life and illuminate a path forward. As J. Krishnamurti said, ““Meditation is the unfolding of the new.”
How Do You Unfold the New?
If this approach to meditation speaks to you, I invite you to explore it with this practice. Begin by taking a seat, or, if outdoors, feel your feet on the earth. Sit or stand with alertness and ease. Feel yourself present and aware. Allow yourself to be just as you are, open to life as it is right now. Be, naturally, for as long as you wish, for 2--20 minutes.
You might like to reflect on the questions
How do you unfold the new? How is the new unfolding through you?