Meditation can be a challenging art to learn. Consider the challenge that so many would-be meditators face. They close their eyes and then don’t know where to focus. One teacher says “Just follow the breath,” but I myself remember coming across such teachings and finding it too difficult to simply “follow the breath,” even for a few minutes. Another teacher gives a mantra, another a mudra, and then another teacher confuses you with paradoxes. It is frustrating because you know you should be developing a meditation practice. You intuit that the deeper fruits and blessings of life cannot be tasted without the ability to center amidst life’s chaos and storms. The desire to grow, improve, learn, and evolve is there and strong, but even a basic competency with this most essential art-form seems out of reach. What to do?
In some ways, it is even more difficult to learn meditation than it is to draw for a person who has no natural aptitude for drawing. With drawing, there is a clear goal that you can see: if each subsequent drawing looks more and more like the thing you are trying to draw, then you can pat yourself on the back and say “I’m improving!” but meditation offers no analogous form of self-evaluation. Even greater peace, blissfullness and happiness is not a clear goal, because you can fool yourself about feeling good, and, as the Tibetan Buddhist know and have stated, there is no territory more dangerous for the spiritual aspirant than the heavenly realms which are asessible via focused meditation. So what the hell are you even aiming for?
This is part of why, traditionally, a teacher has been seen as so important for learning meditation because an Adept is able to accurately evaluate the progress, or lack thereof, of an aspirant. But today, most people are trying to learn from books and podcasts, and so goodluck! To learn meditation without a guide is a little bit like a blind-person learning to draw. Luckily, however, it is possible - where there is a will there is a way.
The mind, if used properly, is a miracle-manufacturing machine. In fact, even if it is not used properly it is still a miracle-manufacturing machine, it is just that the miracle, rather than being a blessing, is a curse! Learning to use the mind to improve your chances of learning to meditate is an absolute must for any aspiring meditator - even if you follow a guru, have an adept teacher, or guide. In fact, it might even be more an imperative if you do already have a guru, because without learning to use your own mind you are sure to make the mistake at some point in the journey of coming to believe that the Power of Life is not within you, and that you are forever dependent upon an external source for guidance, growth and wisdom. This is the great deception which has disconnected too many humans from the true source of their power, wisdom, and innate possibility for freedom.
What the subconscious mind believes is what comes to be, and the beliefs of the subconscious mind are patterned and conditioned by our environment from the day we come into this world. To change our results, we have to change our mind, but to change our mind in earnest, we have to change our subconscious mind. When we try to think positive when the subconscious mind is not feeling positive is nothing but self-deception. To create genuine, positive change in your life, you need to know how to work with and transform your subconscious mind.
What even is the subconscious mind? A mentor of mine said, “The subconscious mind is the body.” In my own efforts, I have found this to be a most effective working theory. If the subconscious mind is the body, then it is the patterns of behavior stored within the body that determines the outcomes of our actions. We can think what we want, but we will only feel clear and aligned if our thinking is congruent with the habitual patterns of our body. If you believe that there is some kind of impassable gulf between your conscious mind and physical nature, then there can be no hope! You will never be able to change, transform, and evolve the conditioned patterns and habits your body inherited. However, if you can accept the idea that your body is your subconscious mind, even if only as a hypothesis, then you will believe you can change your subconscious mind with your conscious mind because if body and mind are of the same essential quality, then one can affect the other and, in fact, there is no clear barrier or distinction between them. One part of consciousness you are more aware of, and the other part of it is still acting and influencing, but you are not aware of it. No fundamental difference. All that’s needed is an increase in awareness and then you can repattern your subconscioussness to be aligned with what you want.
The reason people struggle to progress in their meditative practice is this: Their subconscious mind is a chaotic hidden sea of contradictions, conflicting impulses, and incompatible energies. From the day you are born, this society conditions your brain and body with a whole set of expectations, beliefs, and norms that are not compatible with your essence. Therefore you find yourself trapped in a prison which is not of your own making, and you do not know the way out. You try and meditate and feel like you are going nowhere, because that is the truth! You are simply being run through the patterns that were educated into you during your youth, and when you become conscious of those patterns, they feel too terrible, nauseating, and overwhelming to do anything about them. At least when you go about your normal day-to-day life working and being busy you’re too distracted to feel the sheer pain and discomfort of having and holding contradictory impulses within your soul. Most people, for this reason, choose to live entirely upon the surface of life, and to only experience the pain of their inheritance when some life circumstance brings it up. There is nothing wrong with this, but some of us want to know the root and source of being; therefore: Meditation.
The first step is you need to clear out all that junk from your subconscious mind that is incompatible with sitting and resting within the peace of your own Being. This isn’t a particularly easy process because you’re so used to working against yourself. You want a quick fix, you want improvement now, but all this means is that deep-down inside you do not believe you are okay the way you already are in the moment. Meditation can only occur with the acceptance of how you are in the present moment. Therefore, progress seems impossible! When this is the case, the best thing you can do is spend ample time in nature because the harmony, grace, beauty and power of nature also exists within your subconscious mind - your own body is a product of nature’s evolutionary impulse! The harmony of nature is in your DNA, your cellular structure, your organs, beating heart and firing neurons. It is completly spread throughout your body. All you need to do is dump the garbarge that got layered on top of that.
Two things can help with this: a.) learn how to use affirmations and use them, b.) learn to focus your attention on the feeling of physical reality. When you learn to feel the physical reality, you start to destroy the widespread belief that physical nature and mind are two distinct realties. When you absorb yourself in feeling, you find a more universal dimension of consciousness which includes both what is called physical reality and what is considered mind. Holding your attention on the feeling of the present moment is a tremendously powerful practice for clearing the garbage out of your subconscious mind. You can do this by focusing your attention on some definite location within your body. Everytime you manage to hold your attention within a particular location in your body and resist the tug of your habitual subconscious patterns which want to pull your attention this way and that, you loosen the grip that your subconscious tendencies have over your life and open yourself to new possibilities. For example, practice holding your attention on Anjali Mudra. Hold Anjali Mudra for 15 minutes and don’t let your attention be taken away by anything! (For a free, in-depth, step-by-step explanation of this practice, please email a request to infoastroharmonics@gmail.com with Anjali Mudra in subject line)
Affirmation, when used correctly, is a powerful aid as well. However, affirmation is usually used incorrectly. Most people, when using an affirmation, merley contradict whatever their subconscious mind expects, believes, and feels to be true. This is useless, the subconscious mind will win every battle with the conscious mind. The key is, don’t battle, don’t fight! Make harmony instead. There is a reliable method for transforming the subconscious mind, but my general tendency is to think this needs to be taught directly - the likelihood of tricking yourself into thinking you are doing it right when you are just spiritual bypassing is too high. To find affirmations that will work specifically for you in transforming your subconscious, I recommend booking an hour-long Astro-Harmonics session specifically for that purpose. Email in inquiry to infoastroharmonics@gmail.com with AFFIRMATIONS in the subject line.
Meditation means many different things, and often involves sitting with our deepest darkest fears, fantasies, hurts, and frustrations. True meditation happens when there is no longer any resistance and the entire gament of subjective possibility, from heaven to hell, can be experienced, observed, witnessed and understood without even the slightest of opinion, judgement, or preference. But such a thing is simply not possible in the earlier phases! The first step is you have to give yourself an oil change. The subconscious mind has picked up too much dirt and debris for the machinery of your consciousness to operate smoothly. You have to drain that dirty old oil and put some clean, fresh oil in, otherwise your machine breaks down. Get your engine running smoothly, and then the more fancy, rarified possibilities, and dangers, of meditation start to become possible. Don’t skip this important step. Learn to clear out your subconscious mind, and to fill it with new vibrations of freedom, power, and joy.
Comentarios