Spirituality • Pedagogy • Philosophy • Movement

Meditation

Having been again asked to organise a programme of Meditation, I will be running a 9-week course on MONDAY evenings 6-8 pm, inclusive of information with regards impact of meditation on the brain, cellular health, DNA, and other health benefits. Please contact me for bookings or more information.

Meditation can be characterised as an inner active discipline that develops attention regulation. In a nutshell, meditation becomes effortless mindful attentiveness in which one is captured, or 'in the zone' or 'flow', in which the activity or point of attentiveness itself begins to unfurl and unveil.

Another way to characterise meditation is through taking Patanjali's Yoga Sutras, wherein the state of Dhyana reflects what we often intend by 'meditation': sustained concentrated effortlessness and unshakable mindful presence.

From my pespective, meditation involves the whole processes as well as the states referred to in the Sutras as Samyama, which includes Dharana Concentration, Dhyana Meditation and Samadhi Absorbtion. Within yoga, the practice grounded in the previous five limbs.

Within a Judeo-Christian context, meditation allows us to hear, listen, and more deeply hear, through digestive rumination via the ears of the heart, the unfurling revelations of the Spirit and textual unveilings.

From research and a neuroscientific perspective, meditation has been shown to reduce inflammation, reprogramme epigenetic functioning, promote the repair of telomeres, reduce stress hormone levels, and encourage the development of healthier brain circuitry. Meditation has also been shown to decrease pain, diminish the amygdala's size, and increase gray matter in the brain. These together have significnat positive effects on health, on consciouness, and on compassion.

From my perspective, meditation, in addition to deepening our Spiritual connection, works towards increasing authenticity and mutual connectedness.

Though I have written a reasonable amount on meditation, much is either older or off the internet. Last year, I provided a brief introductory inclusion for Mindful Meditation Australia's Newsletter available here.

With regards guided meditations, I frankly have reservations. Sure, guide through a relaxed state, but then, importantly from my perspective, allow the meditator to have the opportunity to enter that silence where the still, small voice within the chambers of the heart may find its echo in the chambers of consciousness.

For those wanting, as a brief guide, an example working through the chakras, I prepared this instructive preparation some years ago.

For my Book Review of the Oxford Handbook of Meditation, click here.

For more information on a pureful secular level, see: