What is Meditation?
Updated: Sep 5
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Meditation is both a science…and an art.
And it may be approached in different ways that are suitable for whatever kind of person you may be…be that someone who is very artistic and creative in your nature, needing to feel inspired, led and to create from a place of inspiration... as a person that is spiritually inclined...or as someone who is highly analytical and in need of provable facts and information to support that which you endeavor to understand- both of yourself as a human being and of the world around you and how you integrate this knowledge into your daily life.
At its most basic and fundamental stage of the process, meditation is stillness and it is breath.
It is stillness of the body and the release of the emotional state...into a status of quietude and calm.
And it progresses into deep focus and awareness.
“Meditation has two aspects. The first is stopping, śamata in Sanskrit (शमता )….Stopping means to stop our running, our forgetfulness, and our being caught up in the past or the future. We come home to the present moment where life is available.”... “The second aspect of meditation is looking deeply, Vipaśyanā in Sanskrit (विपश्यना), in order to see the true nature of things.”1
The scientific aspect of meditation comes in with the moderate adjustment of measurable brainwave state patterns. Bringing the brainwaves into states of alpha and theta frequency is the most common understanding of how the meditative process is to be brought forth 2, which is not incorrect... However, in developing this practice long-term it will enhance and realign all brainwave patterns that you exhibit, including how any gamma and delta patterns may correlate and/or culminate within your current state 3, as it is also in the culmination of the awakened mind state, bringing BALANCE to all measurable brain wave frequencies and patterns, that brings the process of meditation into its fullest fruition.4
The artistic element of meditation comes in from how you practice, and how you learn to express what you learn of yourself through this process.
There are various approaches to meditation and many techniques through which some may develop their practice. But a broad understanding of the ways that people will choose to go about it have been coined in the book called Altered Traits 3, as the wide path, and the deep path. (Ch 1.)
The wide path of meditation is one of releasing negativity and tension for life as it is being lived in the here and now…to become more mindful and present of what is, and to approach it with a state of calm and clear but active presence and compassion for yourself and for others. Many that follow the wide path will meditate with the intention of wellness, health, and stability within the body, heart and mind and for relaxation and rejuvenation from the busyness of their day to day when needed. This approach can and may grow into a self-led journey of personal enlightenment should one choose to grow and expand upon this into what is understood as the deep path.
The deep path is the one of soul. It is to grow from the inside out rather than from the outside in, to transform and to integrate from the depths of the heart, while resounding with the qualities of the wide path…to be present, mindful, in tune with yourself and to develop compassion for yourself and for others. It is discovering what is below the surface of your external or egoic being in order to discover the underlayers of the soul you are and potentially what you have become throughout your multi-lifetime experience and how this culminates into your purpose for this lifetime - or as it is referred to in yogic circles- the Sankalpa…which can also be wide…or deep for the time it is. This can often grow into a lifestyle that is developed to support this time of self-intrinsic seeking and remembering of their soul's nature in order to ultimately express it.
Meditation is not checking out on life and reality as it is… when done correctly. (Though there are methods that will successfully accomplish this.. but within the method we teach, this is not the point and is the opposite of what we aim to achieve.) Using meditation to avoid uncomfortable thought processes and emotions may only set you further behind and is one of the potential obstacles to true meditation.
“To meditate means to pay full attention to something. It doesn’t mean to run away from life. Instead it’s an opportunity to look deeply into ourselves and into the situation we’re in.”1
The subconscious mind is what we aim to access within meditation. And the reason for this is due to the fact that it holds all of the needed informational awareness and may see more opportunity, more wellness, more creativity and more ways to accomplish that which you seek or what you may need to comprehend in order to progress along your path of conscious evolution than the ways that you have previously consciously perceived, have been programmed with, that any previous programming will allow you to believe or understand, or that the unconscious aspect of mind has previously withheld in some way.
At times meditation provokes an internal healing process…meaning that the thoughts that you might have trouble dispelling during your practices or in general and the emotions that arise from these thoughts are at times, things to work through, heal and resolve or find solutions for, or take a different type or level of accountability around, in order to achieve the next step and the next level of meditation itself or for progression along your path of conscious evolution. In these times meditation can involve facing yourself: your karma, your issues, your faults, your joys and blessings, your abilities and capacities, your failures, and your achievements. It can be knowing, accepting, and being there with all aspects of yourself. During this process, both that which is in need of a simple release, as well as that which requires acknowledgment, validation, or a shift in approach and ways of dealing with it or resolving it may arise, and this is where a discernment process may develop …as it is understood that the relevance of what arises is often in congruence with your healing and/or growth process for the time and relevant to your here and now present moment or relational dynamic but at others, is simply a release of previous feeling, thought or awareness that is either related to it or no longer needed or relevant.
At an advanced level, meditation becomes deep awareness, stillness, quiet, calm, and peace… leading the mind to being fully concentrated in order to fully let go. This is where the characteristics discovered within meditative states may begin to become lasting traits of the personality rather than session bound states, though some of these traits become a regularity at different levels of progress than the others.3 (Altered Traits, Ch 13) This is also when the default mode of the mind- ie mind chatter begins to slow on a regular basis 3 (Altered Traits, Ch 13), while focus (within and outside of meditation) may become more effortless.3 (Altered Traits, Ch 13) Deep bliss can and may occur at this state as well as what some describe as a feeling of deep inter-connection and oneness through the natural result of deepened meditation occurring to open and amplify your chakras and/or internal energy flow.
This final state is the goal we attain to through the deepened focus practices as taught in the Stillness Meditation course.
Please feel free to drop a comment or leave a question if you have them, and I will take the time to reach out to you personally to answer these.
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Namaste, and thank you for being here!
Kendra Soleil
Om Namah Shivaya
References
1: Nhất Hạnh, Thích. How To Relax. Narrated by John Sackville, Audiobook Ed. Blackstone Audio. 2023. Audiobook.
2: Howard, Ari. “How does meditation affect your brainwaves?”. PsychCentral, 19 April 2022, Meditation Can Change Your Brain Waves: Here’s How
3. Golman, Daniel & Davidson, Richard J. Altered Traits. Narrated by Daniel Goleman, Audiobook Ed. More than Sound, LLC. 2017 Audiobook
4. Wise, Anna. The High-Performance Mind. Penguin Group, 1995, 2004.
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