Meditation Articles Series

From all the research that I’ve been doing lately around meditation and living in present moment awareness it appears that there is no sure fire way to make awakening happen. Some people wake up just by accident, often after extreme depths of despair and depression. Others follow spiritual practices and disciplines under the mentoring of a teacher. When they wake up they get to live with the certainty of non-separation, inner peace, clarity of mind, and often profound wisdom. They are great helpers and pointers for the rest of us following a spiritual path in life. Their wisdom can inspire us to understand that there is more beyond our own wants and desires, that there is more than just the day to day concerns for our survival.

It would seem once again by listening to the experts in the field of mind/body awareness that meditation is a necessary and powerful tool to gain access to living more in the present moment. Here we can experience an ongoing reality of inner peace, and serenity and at the same time alertness and clarity of mind.

Ongoing Negativity and Emotional Turmoil

However, some people can meditate for years and years and still experience emotional turmoil, and deeply negative feelings in their daily lives. Somehow the experience of quiescence in a meditation session may not always be carried over to everyday living. Often deeply ingrained core beliefs at an unconscious level strongly influence how someone interacts with the world and others.

Combining Western Psychological Methods with Meditation

Meditation has come to the west through the eastern doorway and we associate it with having its roots in India. However, meditation goes back to our earliest beginnings, therefore it is an inherent part of our collective consciousness no matter where we live in the world. The overlays of conditioning in our modern world have taken us away from our true nature by the impact of the values of the society we live in. For example, we do things that are not always right for us out of a sense of duty, obligation, fear, guilt or something else. We might have glimpses of present momentary awareness but, when challenged by someone else, for example, all our inner peace evaporates and we can become either aggressive or defensive. If this is happening to you, consider the benefits of our own western psychological models to also help in the waking up process. Some of the more helpful psychological inner workings that are being used effectively by experienced practitioners with clients are “Inner Voice Dialogue” and “Shadow Work”. These combined with ongoing meditation practice to anchor awareness are proving to help integrate inner conflicts.