At the end of my 8-week journey (which is the subject of my ebook memoir) I knew I wanted to maintain a daily spiritual practice. This is something I had never in my life had the discipline to do. As I had learned to meditate during the course, I was most drawn to the Zen tradition of Zazen meditation. It wasn’t a philosophical preference so much as the half lotus, eyes open, focusing on the breath method was comfortable for me at that time.
Also Hyon Gak Sunim, from the Korean Zen tradition, was one of my favorite teachers at the time. You can watch him explain “what Zen is” here. After watching it you just feel compelled to sit and ask, “What am I?” Well… I did anyway. It takes Ramana Maharshi’s self inquiry method of “Who am I” a step further. Or maybe just different, not further – still it has been a helpful exercise for me.
My first question was “how long” should I meditate every day? There are a lot of opinions on the internet regarding this, most of them ranging from five minutes to three hours. And then I happened upon a Zen Proverb. You should sit in meditation for twenty minutes every day – unless you’re too busy; then you should sit for an hour.
This made me laugh out loud. And all mystics recognize laughter as one of the unnamed gifts of the Holy Spirit, so I took that to be my answer. Over the next four years I missed a day here and there or shortened it to ten minutes, because I do have a life outside of meditation. But for the most part I’ve been faithful to my commitment.
A year later I added a yoga practice. I had done yoga from time to time since 1988 – way before yoga was “a thing” in the U.S. But as exercise it hadn’t appealed to me, because I’m more of a pound it out on the treadmill sort of exerciser. And as a meditative practice, I just didn’t have the patience for committing to it on a regular basis. But yoga had been part of the sample of mindfulness exercises, and I had learned to quiet down and appreciate its value during my 8-week course. I found Fightmaster Yoga on Youtube, which demonstrates the Ashtanga Half Primary Series. And I printed out a cheat sheet. Eventually, I memorized my own version of the routine and it became my “moving meditation.”
Now almost five years into my journey, I practice a form of meditation from the Christian mystical tradition known as Centering Prayer for 20 minutes daily. I also practice Hatha and Ashtanga yoga several times per week. And for good measure I practice visualizations, affirmative prayer, say prayers of gratitude, and balance my chakras. I’ll be writing more here about all of these practices and my thoughts and experiences with Vedantic, Buddhist and Catholic Mystic traditions. I don’t have anything against any other religions, those are just the ones I’ve experienced. Recently however, I’ve been learning from spiritual teacher Cynthia Bourgeault. Her work is heavily informed by Sufism, Quaker and Episcopal traditions. So I never know where the journey might go.
If you are struggling in any aspect of your life and don’t have a disciplined spiritual practice, I invite you to take a break from the struggle and focus on creating a consistent practice. Start with any manner of being in silence with your Self or the Divine (however you conceive of those) that is familiar and comfortable to you. Commit to it for at least ten minutes every day.
If you do not have any experience with a particular religion (or the experience you have was painful or damaging) then the easiest method to start is Shamatha meditation from the Tibetan Buddhist tradition. If that is difficult try this BodyScan meditation for a week and then go back to it. And if you feel too restless during either of these, try this mindful yoga routine that uses a combination of movement and guided meditation.
One fruit of my practice has been the appearance of patience, something I always thought I just didn’t have in me. But somehow, when we look away from trouble and look toward God, solutions have a way of appearing. Things “miraculously” find a way to work themselves out. As the Book of Job says: Agree with God, and be at peace; thereby good will come to you.
What I finally accepted is that the universe is not relying solely on me to fix everything. To the contrary, while I will come and go the universe will be here doing what it does just fine. That’s not to say I didn’t come here to contribute anything of value. We are all here doing our part. But I know now that I don’t have to worry that all will be well. And neither do you, because as the Buddhists say: Everything is as it should be.
Are you on a journey to mindfulness or in need of spiritual healing? What everyday spiritual practice resonates with you? Please share in the comments or contact me.
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