Day 4. Meditation.

February 22, 2010

“Through good thinking we create positive energy.”

We spent the evening learning and practicing with a meditation master named Dada. The group of us sat on towels or mats on the floor with a light melody playing in the background as Dada spoke to us about the true meanings of meditation and its benefits.

Dada began the session by splitting us into two groups and telling us to form two circles. From there we all raised our right hand and placed it in the centre of the circle. Kinda like the whole “go team, go” thing but without the cheer. Next we raised our left hand and placed that in the middle of the circle on top of all the other hands. Slowly we were to remove our hands from the pile and grab on to the hand above or below us, by the end of it we were each to be holding to different hands. Now that we were all tangled up the point was to untangle ourselves without letting go and recreate our circle. I believe the game was called something about an Octopus when we were younger? But I could be mistaken! Our group did very well and finished the task in quite good timing! We reminded each other that we must use our communication skills and listen to one another for this to work.

Dada said this was to represent community working together. When people need things done, especially here in Mexico, they rely on the strength and cooperation of the community to accomplish the task. When people work together and communicate and listen, things happen. The game was to represent this.

Dada says you must ask yourselves “Can we do this?” And the answer is “Yes we can.” And then you are free.... as our group became free because we worked together.

Meditation is about looking for something inside of us. It is between you and your supreme consciousness. It is a service of love and is meant to expand the feelings of love.

He taught us different positions and body poses to help increase balance within our bodies and mind, he taught us about energy points and the art of breathing. He taught us about Kaoshikii, a dance that helps create peace and strength in our mind and body. He said this dance is supposed to be done every day for 21 minutes for full benefits. We practiced this dance and lasted a song length of 1 minute 31 seconds. We weren’t very good, but we tried.

Someone asked how we are suppose to slow down our minds in order to fully concentrate on mediation and the energy and love around us. Dada said by practicing deep breathing and focusing on slow, deep breaths it will eventually slow all things down, including the thought process. Although I’ve always been keen on the idea of meditation, in theory I have never been fully competent at it because I am not able to slow down my thoughts. I would often grow frustrated because of this and give up. But like all things in life, it takes time and with practice comes perfection.

Another thing we learned about breathing was how it can help with the way we react to things. If we are upset or angry and we want to react in such ways, if we first take a moment to slowly and deeply breathe, we will be able to react in a kinder more caring way. It allows our minds to breath and calm before reacting in an inappropriate way we may later regret.

With that we learned one of the greatest greetings I have ever encountered.

You put your hands together in front of your chest and bow saying, “Namaskar.”

-I salute you, the divinity within you. With the purity of my mind and the love of my heart-

Namaskar to you from Mexico.