Physician Healer
Before we deep dive into today’s topic, I just wanted to thank and welcome all the new subscribing members each week to our Meridian Meditation Podcast Physician Healer Family! To the meditation sessions, we will be adding discussions about topics regarding meditation and its connection to healing and spirituality, as well as audio versions of the weekly newsletters. If this resonates with you then this will assist you with further alignment of your mind, body and spirit. We appreciate your help in supporting this podcast by inviting friends and family to join.
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Meditation: Can It Be That Easy?
We can find the M word everywhere these days discussed in popular podcasts and talk shows, and plastered on magazine covers, wall decor, mugs and shirts. Is meditation complicated, elitist, and reserved only for those trained to sit cross-legged, breathing a specific way with the thumbs and index fingers forming a circle while chanting “om?” Is this a necessary practice for optimal health and wellness?
No and yes, respectively.
Many years ago, I decided it was time that I learned about meditation and to incorporate that in my daily activities. At the time, it was the talk of the town, almost reaching fad-like notoriety. It became almost a status marker one bragged about.
I had different instructors who were all long-time practitioners who taught us the right sit, the right posture, the right way of breathing, and so on. After a few lessons, I lost interest, believing that this was something I could never partake in. Meditation was just not in the cards for me, or so it seemed.
Fast forward some years later, through truly serendipitious events, I was gifted a ticket to a week-long Wanderlust Event, where I found a comedian-turned personal growth author and speaker (Kyle Cease) who also taught meditation, but in a way that I had never experienced.
He gave us permission to just find a chair or sofa in which to sit up comfortably. He told us we didn’t have to sit a certain way or wear beads but if we did, it was fine. He told us that we did not have to breathe a specific way. I felt as if he had given me freedom to learn this necessary art of living and untied my hands.
For me, in looking at years past, I realized that it was always the breathing that threw me off. I felt that once I was drifting off to a mentally relaxed state, I was reminded that my breathing technique was off and that would just abruptly pull me back into the present time wide awake and disoriented. It wasn’t because I couldn’t learn. It was because I just needed a different way. I then thought how incredible it would be if more people knew this because the science behind meditation now is overflowing with data proving significant health benefits as a direct result of stress reduction.
A Harvard study done showed that a minimum of 30 minutes of meditation increased the size of the grey matter of the prefrontal cortex of the brain involved in cognitive function (thinking, reasoning, problem-solving). When they looked at brains imaged between 2 different groups of similar age, they found significant differences in brain sizes between subjects who were meditation practitioners and those who were not. Those who were meditators had larger brains.
When they compared 2 groups of individuals who were meditation-naive but taught and had one group practice meditation, they found that the group that was taught and practiced meditation daily resulted in having larger brain sizes. Other studies also showed that meditation reduced the likelihood for the development of certain types of dementia.
Again, there are many different methods of meditation. Some are active meditations that facilitate manifestations of goals and others are more passive, whose purpose is to release old energies and stories. There is no wrong or right way. Choose a way or multiple ways to achieve what it is that you need to live a more grateful, peaceful, joyful, and loving existence. Over the years, I have added accessing Meridian acupressure points to the meditation method and observed even more powerful results in mental and physical wellbeing, as well as total mind-body healing
Although there is no right or wrong way of practicing meditation, a common question I have been asked through the years by clients and patients is how do they know if they are doing it right. Through my personal observation, if meditation is done “correctly” and again, I am using this word loosely, the individual became more consciously aware over time. This person was less concerned about what was going on outside and appeared more centered within, without expressing stress, worry or anxiety. This person was neither interested in or affected by what others said or did and appeared to be more confident and at peace with life.
The most dramatic benefit I have continued to observe year after year I have taught Meridian meditation was the overwhelming responses that patients and clients were finally able to sleep without prescribed drugs, many of whom had been on sleeping drugs for decades. A few of them reported also that certain life decisions that they were at one time afraid to make, they were finally finding the courage to make them. The technique helped them feel more grounded and secure inside as if they had found their true voice. This was life changing for them.
After what I have personally experienced and seen, I realize that if these methods work for one person, they will work for many others.
I will now address the myths and troubleshooting questions that our beginning students frequently ask regarding the basic quiet sitting meditation and how to interpret the different issues that pop up. This will be accomplished in 2 parts.
Part I
1) I can’t sit still, so I can’t meditate—It’s not about sitting still. It’s about sitting and not giving your mind a job so that the mind can purge the trash and allow us to focus and think more clearly. Tell yourself the trash smells and allow it to be taken out.
2) I can’t focus and keep my mind peaceful—It’s not your job to do anything but to allow. You are not to interfere or go to a pleasant place. The mind knows what to do and does not need your help. If your mind wanders, let it. It is not your job to wrestle it back to the present moment.
3) My mind is noisy and I don’t like what I’m seeing and thinking about. I can’t get rid of it. I can’t seem to focus or concentrate on meditation—It’s not about getting rid of the noise as much as just sitting, being a quiet observer and allowing the noise to passively flow. Remember that the noise in your head is trash about to leave. The direction is always out. Thoughts are not coming in. They are leaving, like trash.
4) I don’t have time to sit for an hour. I’m very busy. I have a lot of things to do today—Believe it or not, everything that you think you have to do is an illusion. The mind has a way of keeping you busy, like a hamster on a hamster wheel. Step off and you realize the wheel actually stops. You were the one moving it all along. Same thing with sitting, if you take that leap of faith and meditate for an hour you will then find out how many things you could’ve crossed off your to-do list and how many problems solved themselves or became non-issues. That is how you end up having free time.
5) I’m not the problem. There are so many people and things I have to deal with that are stressing me out—Yes, you are part of the problem, unfortunately, no matter what other people are doing around you. Start by changing yourself and through your energy shift you will magically see how everything around you changes, including opportunities and people you will attract.
6) How do I stay in the present moment?—I always recommend that my clients allow the mind to wander wherever it wants to go. However, if you really feel you need help coming back to the present time or “the now” all you have to do is ask quietly, “Can I feel my heart beating, can I feel myself breathing, am I grateful for being alive this moment?” This immediately brings you back to the present moment.
7) Why is staying in the present moment so important?—Whenever we can be present in “the now” we remove ourselves from the past and the future, 2 places we have no access to. Our thoughts of the past can lead to regret and disappointment and the future can lead to fear and worries. It is also said that time is an illusion and only exists for those of us living out our human lives on earth. That said, remember that although we have no control of the past, we do have control of the future through how we choose to feel right now. It’s just that by the time the future reaches us, it will be the present time.
8) Sitting in meditation is doing nothing—On the contrary, running around busy fixing and doing things is also doing nothing productive but gives us the illusion that we are. We cannot fix problems created within the same space of consciousness or reality. We cannot find solutions if there is so much clutter or trash in the mind. We cannot find solutions or answers if we do not go to a different or higher level of awareness. For example, we cannot do 4th grade math if we are in the 3rd grade, no matter how hard you work. You have to go higher into the 4th grade to solve 3rd grade math problems. Another analogy is if you are in the pond and are trying to stop the water from moving, you will have to get out of the water to higher ground.
(The rest of the troubleshooting questions will be discussed in next week’s issue).
For those of you who are brand new to meditation, don’t pressure yourself that you have to do it right. Trying is not failing. Failing is when you stop trying.
For this week’s Meridian Meditation lesson, check out our YouTube video included below.
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Once again, as we wrap up this week, we are so grateful and happy to welcome all of our new members each week to the Physician Healer Podcast Family where new weekly extended guided Meridian Meditation sessions are released to help you relax, reduce stress and worry, and to take back control of your life. We will be adding discussions about meditation’s embodiment of the mind, body and spirit connection and the importance of understanding our spirituality. So, come help support us by joining our family.
Until next time, we send you all an abundance of receiving much to be grateful for🌻🌞
With Love and Gratitude♥️🙌🪷
Dr. Celeste Amaya
