Meditation Articles Series

Accept and allow whatever is happening in your meditation practice. As I read through forums and links to meditation I come across people who are very caught up in the phenomena that will arise in meditation practice. Such phenomena as flashing lights, voices, visions, symbols, out of body experiences often happen in meditation practice. Sometimes these heightened experiences are very pleasant and after coming out of the meditation practice a person may feel they have been in an altered state. Then what can occur is a desire to repeat that in the next meditation session. It usually doesn't happen and then there can often be great disappointment. I have seen this time and time again over the years at meditation retreats. Some students could not accept that such a phenomenon is like anything else; rising and falling and passing away. They became attached to what they had experienced. Often the ego would be convincing them that they were special or chosen in some way. They would talk about their mind-altering experiences to whoever would listen and it was a way of making them feel superior to others. If you do have any of these experiences accept and allow them to be there. Stay fully present in your one pointed focus. Whatever you do refrain from trying to recapture that experience. Treat it like any other that arises in your practice. Approach each meditation session without any expectation of how it should be. Accept and allow and stay alert in momentary awareness.