A digest for conscious living
I meditated and completed my yoga practice this morning in that order. I have now realized that as long as my body is in healthy and supple condition, I prefer to meditate before going into my yoga routine. If however, I have tension, soreness or pain in my body, I think it is more productive to do the yoga first in order to get my energy flowing. All the violin playing I did last week, combined with the fact that I have not been able to do my more vigorous excersise routine due to a pesky nasal infection have left my body in a relatively sore and blocked state.The mind body connection is such that blocks in the body like tense mucles definitely hinder the effectiveness of my meditation. This mornings meditation was a verification of that, as I have not had such difficulty concentrating in quite some time. Nevertheless, I was able to have some good energetic releases and although it took me quite a long time, I was able to find my quiet.
The effect that the consistency and intensity of my practice have had on me over the past couple of months is considerable. Over the past 63 days, I have only missed 6 days of meditation and yoga, and I have averaged well over one hour of meditation per day and about a half hour of yoga per day. In the past, I have had periods during which I have practiced yoga and meditation either with intensity, or relative consistency, but never both. I have become aware that I am now seeing and feeling the world in a very different way that I ever have before.
During previous periods of intense meditation, I very often had peak spiritual experiences that were as profound and intense as anything I experience today. I had difficulty however, putting the insights that I gained from those peak moments into practice in my daily life. My conscious mind was aware of certain truths and I experienced certain realizations, but I was not always able to contiuously feel those truths in my heart on a moment to moment basis.
I realize now that a lack of consistency and consequence was the reason why the transformation had been only partial. Becoming Lucid in this dream is only the beginning- remaining Lucid is walking the path.
Modern society is over stimulated in so many detrimental ways. Although so many of us look forward to vacations, weekends, and addictions in order to be able to relax and find some sort of peace or satisfaction, few people actually ever experience peace. The truth is that most people are addicted to the intense and incessant stimulation that we are exposed to on an ongoing basis. If for some strange reason, we experience a situation or period of time during which we are not being overstimulated, most people experience boredom, and their mind quickly finds something stimulating to think about and therefore relive in order to fill the gap.
For many years, I did not realize that what I was seeking through my meditation practice was not true peace, but rather spiritual ecstacy- a very beautiful form of stimulation, but an intense one none the less. Moments of spiritual ecstacy are wonderful and have their place on the path of spiritual development, but I don’t believe that such states are maintainable on a permanent basis. The reason that I was not experiencing a lasting transformation is that even in my spiritual seeking, I was still taking part in my old addictive patterns of behavior- I was striving and seeking for the ultimate stimulation- thrill of knowing God.
Now, if and when I think to myself that “this tranquil feeling is beginning to feel a little boring”, I can be certain that I am not truly experiencing peace. Real tranquility does not feel tremendously exciting and elating. It just feels effortlessly right, complete, very relaxed and clear, aware, and unafraid- even of losing this feeling. True peace has its own subtle bliss, but it is balanced and sustainable and it is the state of mind from which wisdom arises. It is the feeling of freedom and it is my true nature.
Goodnight,
Kikta