Frequently Asked Questions

What is meditation?

Meditation is simply stopping our interaction with the outside world and turning our attention inward. Relaxing and allowing our awareness to observe the experience within our physical body. It's a very simple activity with monumental capacities. For some, the first meditation experience is the last; for others it is the beginning of a journey and process that supports the unfolding of their essential nature while others find it a simple way to relax. Meditation becomes a means for shifting our energies and awareness inward. For the brave, this quote is offered from Ken McLeod's book, "Wake up to your life" (McLeod, 2001), "Somewhere in this process [of meditation], you will come face to face with the sudden and shocking realization that you are completely crazy. Your mind is a shrieking, gibbering madhouse on wheels barreling pell-mell down the hill, utterly out of control and hopeless. You are not crazier than you were yesterday. It has always been this way and you never noticed."

Why meditate?

Meditation, as taught in the Self as Instrument workshops, is used to develop self awareness. So much of our daily activity requires our attention to be focused outside of ourselves. We have deadlines, appointments, commitments, relationship demands, work, play, we shuttle our children from school to soccer, from dance to music lessons. The world of activity seems to pull relentlessly on us for our attention. The tension and unresolved emotional content of the day is set aside, to be dealt with "later". Quite often when "later" arrives, we're too tired to deal with the day's activities, so we become accustomed to ignoring the voice inside that suggests we relax, reflect, and recuperate. An objective observer would be astounded at the pace and the amount of activity that we partake in the course of a day.

Is it any wonder then, that after a period of time, we lose touch with ourselves? That we feel like a clog in a wheel? We can feel like the grease that makes everyone else's life runs smoother? It's not unusual to begin to question the "meaning" in our lives. Our hearts and souls ache for a more substantial reason for being human, for being alive.

Beginning techniques:

Focusing on the breath, sensing the air moving in and out, or feeling the belly or chest rise and fall, is a beginning technique for focusing the mind and developing self awareness. The Zen teacher Ken McLeod equates cultivating attention with growing a plant. "When the conditions are right, the plant grows on its own. In practicing meditation, we create the right conditions for the seed of attention to grow."

Some traditions utilize a mantra for developing attention. A mantra is a sacred sound or phrase that is repeated in conjunction with following the breath, to still the mind while cultivating focused awareness. One technique that is particularly beneficial for active and competitive minds is to count 1,1,1,1 on the first in-breath, and 1,1,1,1 on the first out- breath; 2,2,2,2 on the second in-breath, and 2,2,2,2 on the second out-breath, all the way thru ten breathing cycles. If a mistake is made, or the mind travels away from the counting, you go back to 1,1,1,1 etc. By the time one has mastered this technique, the mind has quieted sufficiently to simply follow the breath and rest in mindfulness It's important to sit comfortably and erect. The head should be resting on top of the spine and the jaw relaxed. Some traditions keep the eyes slightly opened to enhance attentiveness in the world, and some close the eyes to enhance breaking the connection with the outside world. I prefer to start with my eyes closed and open them slightly when my mind has quieted down.

Whatever our experience is while sitting, we always return to the breath. The mind is capable of infinite distractions and when we become aware of being distracted, we practice being kind to ourselves, return to the breath, and relax. Making judgments about our process or quantifying our progress are distractions. When we become aware that we have drifted, we simply come back to the breath and relax. Sometimes it's helpful to imagine lying on your back on a warm spring day and watching the clouds move across your field of vision. Imagine that your thoughts are the clouds, quietly name them and let them go; thinking of work, let it be like the cloud and let it drift across the field of your inner awareness, thinking of food, let it go, feeling tension in the belly, let it go, etc.; always returning to the breath or mantra and sensing into your experience.

Learning to meditate is like learning to sing, dance, or play a musical instrument. We invest our time in practice and defer to the future the fruits of our labor. My first music teacher taught that talent was the ability to stay with a discipline and to continue the effort when there was no immediate reward; "Practice, practice, practice, and trust that the rewards will come."

What happens when we meditate?

One of the things that we become aware of when we practice meditation is that we have developed conditioned responses to certain life events. These habitual patterns become predictable and generally determine how we respond to particular situations. As we cultivate our attentiveness we are also practicing and developing our ability to witness our experience without comment, judgment, shame or blame. This capacity to witness without reaction becomes a powerful tool for changing habitually reactive patterns as we learn to present ourselves more authentically. A new sense of self is developed with mindfulness. Meditation helps us practice being present in the moment.

We learn to watch the mind and how it operates. Practicing attentiveness enhances our ability to stay with our experience as we begin to unravel our conditioned patterns. As our inner landscape begins to quiet down; a capacity to sense into our body and emotions deepens. We begin to see the relationship between our past and the conditioned responses that we've adopted to protect ourselves. Ultimately we see through our defenses and as we ground ourselves with the breath, unfold into the mystery of our being; always returning to the breath and finding refuge in what is so for us, our truth, in this moment, simply allowing our experience to be. In this space our essential nature manifests naturally. Our capacity to be present in each and every moment is enhanced.

Mark Epstein wrote in his book "Going on Being", "Meditation taught me how to be at one with whatever I was doing. It encouraged me to be myself. It allowed me to do therapy with a focus on doing therapy, just as it taught me to wash the dishes when I was washing the dishes, to walk when I walked, and to play with my children when I played with my children. Meditation was about learning to be more fully in the moment, in the now, engaged in the process of being alive." Ultimately, we learn to respond to life instead of reacting, where each moment and breath is an invitation and opportunity to be more authentically present with presence.

What is inquiry?

Inquiry is a tool for navigating the journey into our inner experience. The capacities developed from meditation: focus, self-awareness, and witnessing, assist us in revealing "what is so" for us in the moment. Inquiry is a means of directing our awareness and guiding our journey inward. Inquiry can metabolize the defensive structures we've created to protect ourselves. As these structures dissolve, our true nature reveals itself quite naturally. We see the defensive structures for what they are; filters that block the direct perception of our true nature.

What is chanting?

Chanting is the vocal repetition of a word or phrase. Traditional music is like a story with a beginning, content, and an ending. This is a linear or horizontal process. Chanting lulls the active and ongoing nature of the mind and facilitates a deepening or vertical experience. Chants and music are used in the Self as Instrument workshops to shape space and invoke the essential aspects contained within the lyrics. These lyrics are usually prayers for love, peace, or enlightenment. Chanting energizes awareness and facilitates the release of repressed emotional content. This activation becomes a natural channel for the expression for our true nature. The breath and voice are used as a grounding exercise as we access deeper dimensions of our personal experience. Chanting in groups intensifies the field energy and enhances the individual experience. Meditation prepares and strengthens our ability to maintain presence during these experiences.

What is emotional intelligence?

The word "emotion" literally means "disturbance". It is derived from the Latin word emovere meaning "to disturb" (Power of Now by Ekhart Tolle). Intelligence is defined as "perception, discernment, and mental ability" (Webster's New World Dictionary). In the Self as Instrument workshops we use the term "emotional intelligence" to mean the capacity by which we perceive and discern the disturbances in the body experience and then utilize our rational processes to learn from and integrate this experience. The transformation of our individual experience becomes our contribution to the collective field of awareness. Our work, relationships, the environment, and ultimately, the planet benefit when we become an instrument of true nature.