Meditation and the Modern World

I am staying at a friends in Vancouver and got up early to do my meditation practice. The whole house still quiet. I first did a little Yoga to get into my body which always makes it a bit easier to sit. I closed my eyes and went inside.

It takes me some time to drop in. I allow myself to do a few sweeping body scans to see if I am comfortable. I make micro adjustments so my body is set up well to sit. I find a place to rest my hands and figure out where my head wants to rest. Once I am comfortable I let myself witness the breath.

I watch it come and go. I explore the journey it takes, the spaces inside myself and the movement it creates. My attention gets drawn into feeling sensations of the body, and at that point I begin a slow scan from the top of my skull to the tips of my toes.

I pass my attention part by part, and piece by pice witnessing these different experiences. Tingling. Or heat. Pinging or maybe cool. Itching or discomfort. Even pleasant sensations. I practice equanimity. I give all the experiences the same amount of time, and all body parts equal attention.

I take my time to scan downward and stop to simply notice breath if my mind becomes distracted. Once I get down to my feet, I will either start again from the top, or begin the journey upwards, returning to where I began.  Depending on how long I sit, I might travel several times through the body witnessing all that is going on inside me.

Today I felt very distracted. Maybe because of the big city energy around me. Maybe it is being in someone else’s home. Maybe my mind is excited about our time at Playland later today!

As I was sitting there witnessing my own monkey mind, I thought just how different meditation is from everything else we do in the modern world.

Meditation is staying with what we feel. The modern world has us chasing pleasant sensations one after another. Mediation has no quick payoff. You don’t get anything obvious from the investment of time you put in. Nothing to show for it (other than maybe more presence, calm, and perhaps a few less sankaras).

Meditation is not showy. No one cares if you do it or not. The modern world is obsessed with how things look. Status. Fitting in. Meditation is old. It is something one accesses from inside. It isn’t exciting or entertaining. Often it is uneventful; nothing to write home about.

Modern living asks us to go faster and accumulate more. Meditation asks us to slow down and let go of the accumulation of everything from the past. Modern living begs us to fret about and strive for financial freedom and retirement. Meditation teaches us about being in the here and now.

It was fascinating to see the contrast of modern life to my meditation practice this morning. It felt like two different worlds. This quiet place I can go inside and just be versus this buzzing outer world where I find myself jumping from one thing to the next. My mind was more attracted to the buzz today. But the days where my mind settles into the practice easily is like a little slice of heaven. Where all goes quiet and all there is, is the NOW.

It might seem irrelevant to explore such an inner practice in such a material world. It might feel ancient, outdated. Why would we spend time observing these subtle inner experiences?

Well, I hope you will try it one day. My meditation practice has shown me contentment comes from being with what is. Inner peace is worth more than mansions and yachts. I have had the good fortune to experience travel and I have seen many examples of life in the modern world. Many of them very shiny and at first they draw you in.

But all those showy, outer experiences come and go. And when they end, we start chasing the next ‘thing’.  What I have noticed in the game of the modern world is we are never satisfied. Rarely present. Always jumping from one desire to the next.

Meditation has given me the wisdom to see that life is here NOW. And if you want to truly experience life, it is imperative to connect to the moment. My meditation practice and the connection to the body and breath which it has given, me allows me to be more present. To drink in what is before me. To not run.

I feel like meditation has given me the gift of really living. It has given me the gift of knowing not to chase what might lie just ahead. It has allowed me the insight to let go of what was. Meditation has helped me to drop into today and really lap up what shows up.

I am excited for our time at the fair today, and I think I will be able to really be there because I spent a few moments this morning in practice.

Want to learn more about meditation?
Join a 10 day silent retreat!
www.dhamma.org