Transcript

This morning I sat down for meditation and I thought I’m not going to focus on my breath as I normally do. Instead I’m just going to listen.

I’m going to listen to the things that are outside of me as well as listen to the things that are inside of me.

So I had listened to the cars passing by on the street, the dogs barking, the creaking of the apartment building in which I am staying.

And I also listened to my heart beat and felt the blood pulsing through my body showing that I am most definitely alive.

It’s interesting to listen. It’s wonderful to hear. It’s an interesting sense because you can detect things that are sometimes very far away, which is unusual if you think about it. Even something you can’t see you can hear what it is.

It’s not always obvious why we meditate and I guess to people who don’t have this practice, maybe they have no idea why somebody would do it.

Maybe they just think its an unusual form of relaxation. Very unusual to put your legs in the lotus position just to relax.

Actually meditation has a sort of a biological purpose so we can look at it on this scientific perhaps a little reductionist model.

A long time ago humans lived in the jungle or on the plains in the savannah and there were a lot of predators around.

We had to be prepared for a situation which was life or death and we had to have those responses: freeze, flight, or fight. Responses that will help us survive, stop in our tracks so predators can’t see us, run away so predators can’t catch us or to defend ourselves physically against predators.

Now when you are in that state of stress, cortisol levels are very high. That means that your blood has to always be ready to go to your limbs to defend yourself or run away.

Fortunately we don’t live in that type of world anymore. Now we can retreat. We don’t have to have our cortisol levels so high all the time and we can actually enable our bodies to work on things that are more important. Like regulating our health or maintaining our immune system.

And that’s exactly what happens when you send this strong message to the body by using the power of meditation.

Sit. Personally I sit in a half lotus position. And it’s a position in which if a predator were to approach I would be uncomfortable because I can’t quickly get up and run away.

So we deliberately put ourselves into this form that is vulnerable and we close our eyes generally and slow our breath, which also slows our heart rate.

Now we’re not gaining as much oxygen which would be necessary in one of those dangerous situations. So send our body that message. Recuperate, relax, renew.

Because there is no threat here and here’s that clear message. Now we don’t have those predators around so we can actually do this, every day. We can even meditate several times a day if we’re so inclined, but at least a little bit every day is wonderful.

But it’s interesting if we look at it from this evolutionary biological perspective you might just think “I guess that’s all it’s for. Meditation is to maintain health.”

To anybody that’s an experienced meditator they would say “Hmm, I don’t think that’s all it is.”

Introspection is something that goes beyond our evolutionary needs of just a reaction to predators of the past. Introspection seems to be something that pushes our minds to spiritual dimensions to fully get into it. Cause Jesus said the Kingdom of God is within.

And Carl Jung said “He who looks outside dreams. He who looks within, awakes.

Is it true? Are the lessons of our masters, our ancient teachers, true? I encourage you to find out for yourself. As for me, I remember saying to my monk friend who taught me in meditation “Its fascination because I found out that there is actually a universe within me.”

And he responded, “Only one?”

Its wonderful to sit in meditation. There’s no pressure on you. You don’t have to anything, you don’t have to worry about a deadline. All you have to do is focus on that very moment, the thing that’s in front of you, your own breath…whatever it is you decided to lend your attention.

It’s wonderful to listen and as I was sitting there listening, this thought bubbled up through my conciousness saying, “Que bonita experiencia”. What a lovely experience. What a lovely experience to sit in peace and to bring peace to the world through your own reactions.

To make yourself less reactive by getting in touch with that deeper part of yourself. It is wonderful to meditate. It’s a lovely experience. It’s a gift and it’s a blessing. It’s a gift for you, it is your blessing and it’s available to you right now.

Yes meditation is a lovely experience. Thank you so much for reading.