Serenity in Meditation & Prayer...

I frequently receive questions about meditation, especially from those curious to its relationship with my prayer life. So I thought I would take a moment to address them both. Many people fear meditation because of the unknown relationship to eastern religions, cultures and traditions. Because of the intent behind meditation, regardless of where or how it originated, we should not approach it with fear and rejection, but instead with curiosity and open-mindedness. There is a beautiful bridge between eastern and western cultures, religious beliefs and traditions that, when learned about, can bring great revival, transformation and awareness to our current spiritual practice and prayer life.
The purpose behind meditation is to still the mind, learn to rest in the midst of distraction, and bring focus and clarity to consciousness. Stilling the mind can be a great preparation for focus, intent and prayer. The traditional eastern monks all sit for hours in meditation and prayer to gain clarity, insight and understanding. The eastern culture adheres to and respects the principles of stillness and meditation learned and exemplified by their ancestors. The western culture, however, revolves around involvement, busyness, and production. This Ferris wheel is not only in the world of business, but also in many churches, schools and homes. Many have lost the focus of prayer and come to God strictly in the outpouring of request and concerns. God encourages us to be ourselves, to be open, to pray for our friends, families, even ourselves. But we've gotten so good at talking AT God, we have forgotten how to listen to and be still with Him. Not only have we forgotten to listen, but we've neglected the importance of our thoughts throughout the day. We've become the specialist in emergency prayer and scripture regurgitation for the sake of approval and acceptance.
Psalm 19:14 says, "Let the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be acceptable in your sight, O Lord, my rock and my Redeemer." God not only cares about our prayers, about our openness to listen, but He also cares about the constant thoughts and meditations of our hearts and minds. How can my meditations be acceptable if I'm so preoccupied with them I can't even slow down to hear Him? And how can my mind be acceptable if I've closed it to any other ideas of truth?
The Buddhist call the mind the tyranny of the drunken monkey. Our minds are usually restless, bouncing from one thought, demand or fantasy to another. We give into its drunkenness by humoring those thoughts creating a plethora of problems ranging from stress, ulcers, fatigue, even obsessions and addictions. To continue to mull over, hash out, and relive our thoughts is a lack of trust and faith in the One who gives us peace. This is my attempt to control, manipulate or transform a thought, person, situation or circumstance that God has given me NO authority over. I do believe He entrusts me with responsibility, discernment, decisions, and consequences- but I also have a choice as to how much power I am going to give those people, thoughts, circumstances and situations in my own life. I have a choice to meditate on the things of man, my mind, or of Him, His word, and His goodness.
So how can we stop the swirling whirlwind in our minds? By learning the technique of detachment through meditation. Meditation is not just about sitting still, breathing slowly and saying 'OM'. Its a practice of surrender, of trust, of obedience and of strength. It requires trust to let go of all those thoughts in your mind. It requires obedience to sit and meditate on God's truth, your life, and how the two paths unite. It requires surrender to release the illusion of control that we try so desperately to cling to. And it requires strength to see what you've got, acknowledge it for what it is, and decide to transform it, grow from it, be hampered by it, or hand it over. To hand it over is the first step to detachment.
If I can accept ALL that is happening in my life-financial needs, sickness, pain, grief, romance, success, the lack of success-embrace it, acknowledge it and appreciate it instead of fighting and resisting it, then I have learned another step of detachment. Detachment is recognizing what is, and making a choice to keep my emotions and expectations out of the mix. If I chose to focus on one of these particulars- become obsessed in my mind of how I'm going to alter, improve or take from this-then I'm not allowing the process it's place in my life. Instead, I'm trying to figure out every detail, weigh every possibility, measure every corner, and figure out how the rest of my life is going to accommodate and function with it, around it , or without it.

THIS IS AN UNNECESSARY DISTRACTION IN WHICH I HAVE A CHOICE TO ENTERTAIN.

As do we all. Through meditation, these LARGE distractions can be become quite small when I make a decision to refocus instead on my breath, my awareness, the stillness of my body and mind, or something positive and beautiful like a prayer, scripture or mantra. When I give way to the insanity of my circumstances, I lose control of what is one of the FEW and ONLY things I actually have some control over- MY MIND!
"How do you do that?", people ask. In my classes, I often encourage everyone to, "release your thoughts-if any come your way, just allow them to roll by you like clouds." Now, for me, when I began practicing with an instructor, I would find this task UNBELIEVABLY difficult. I would think, "what does she mean, 'let them roll by like clouds!?'..she has NO IDEA what all I have on my plate!" But the more I surrendered to the idea of releasing those thoughts, and the more I began to instead shift my awareness to my breath, I found it became increasingly easier, and to my surprise, more powerful each time I let go. Not only did that release become easier for me in my mediation; it became easier for me in daily life. For me, it was a process of trusting that I COULD let go of my thoughts. I've always had so many TV's and internal dialogues going on at once, that I thought that was normal. I thought everyone always had to have a lot going on, or else they just had nothing going on. I also thought I had to have control over everything happening in and around me, but I began to realize THIS IS A LIE! God does not want my mind distracted and cluttered, nor does He want me so overwhelmed with my life that I am unable to clear my head and relax, and most importantly, let Him do His job-BEING GOD!

I am constantly reminded in scripture that my job is to be, to wait, to listen, to abide, to be obedient, to seek His will, to go where I am lead, but most of all, simply ABIDE! Are these not the characteristics of meditation and of prayer?

TO BE, TO WAIT, TO SEEK, TO LISTEN, TO BE OBEDIENT,TO ABIDE?

God wants me to rest, and that don't just mean layin' down for a nap! He wants me to REST, cause He's got it all figured out, I DON'T HAVE TO!
Psalm 37:7-9 .. Rest in the Lord and wait patiently for Him; Do not fret because of him who prospers in his way, because of the man who carries out wicked schemes. Cease from anger and forsake wrath; do not fret; it leads only to evildoing. For evildoers will be cut off, but those who wait for the Lord, they will inherit the land.

To rest, cease, and forsake anger require practice. These things are not encouraged in our culture, nor often understood. Meditate on rest. God wants me to meditate-in fact, He's pretty dern specific on what He even wants me to meditate on, and it ain't the ache in my big toe!
Philippians 4:7-9 .. And the peace of God, which surpasses all comprehension, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus. Finally, brethren, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is of good repute, if there is any excellence and if anything worthy of praise, dwell on these things. The things you have learned and received and heard and seen in me, practice these things, and the God of peace will be with you.
Psalm 4:4 .. Tremble, and do not sin; Meditate in your heart upon your bed, and BE STILL.
(emphasis mine)

God assures me that in my obedience to diligently practice ALL His ways, I'll be rewarded with gifts more valuable than the world can ever allot me.

1 Peter 1: 4-10 .. For by these He has granted to us His precious and magnificent promises, so that by them you may become partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world by lust. Now for this very reason also, applying all diligence, in your faith supply moral excellence, and in your moral excellence, knowledge, and in you knowledge, self control, and in you self-control, perserverance, and in you perserverance, godliness, and in you godliness, brotherly kindness, and in your brotherly kindness, love. For if these qualities are yours and are increasing, they render you neither useless nor unfruitful in the true knowledge of you Lord Jesus Christ. For he who lacks these qualities is blind or shortsighted, having forgotten his purification from his former sins. Therefore, brethren, be all the more diligent to make certain about His calling and choosing you; for as long as you PRACTICE these things, you will never stumble.

It really is that simple, guys. And here you thought there was more mysticism and excitement to it. I do so hate to disappoint. I assure you there is no disappointment in learning the value of silence. To know God requires communion, communion requires meditation, meditation is active practice, and practice renders us neither useless nor unfruitful. I pray you are inspired to sit still today. Allow me to lead you in your first meditation, and for the old timers, allow me to lead you with a mantra (or thought of meditation).

Find a sacred space, clean of debris and distraction. Sit comfortably so that you are able to stay awhile. (Avoid lying down, because that often leads to sleep). Close your eyes, and slowly breathing in through your nose, and out through your nose. As you inhale, slowly count to 6, and as you exhale, count to 8. This will be your first step to taming the mind and awareness, it's hard to think when you are counting. Do this about 10 times, more if you are highly agitated or unable to settle. Once your mind is clear, inhale and repeat in your mind, TO ABIDE. As you exhale, repeat in your mind, TO ABIDE IS REST AND PEACE. Now, for beginners, this may bring on a flood of thoughts behind the idea of abiding, and I would encourage you when you are done, to return to those thoughts and even journal them. It is in the stillness that we hear the still, small voice. But for now, just focus on the phrases. When you've done this for approximately 10 breaths in and out, then you may return to the stillness, and wait for the magic. For some, this is where the breath of God weighs heavy with you. You will feel airy, light and free without thought or distraction..NAMASTE to you! For some, you will distinctly hear His wisdom, His answers to prayer, and specific directions for you day..NAMASTE to you, as well. And for others, you'll be just as confused, distracted, and bogged down as when you began, and that's alright too! This is a practice which takes time, often years to cultivate, so don't beat yourself up if you don't get it right away. Just keep practicing, and in time it will come.

May you be blessed in your meditation, prayer life, and journey today!

Namaste!

(ok, what's that mean, April?..It's a greeting of presence & acceptance without judgment; basically, the Divine in me greets the Divine in you!)