MEDITATION:

MEDITATION IS A PROCESS of accessing a state of reverence by way of an attainment of a state of no-emotion. These emotional states are more fully described in the Sentics section of this site. Persons beginning meditation are frequently instructed in biofeedback exercises which encourage them to self-hypnotically focus on attaining a state termed "No-Emotion." It is in that state that the human mind is non-judgemental and open to a consideration of all options and an awareness of all reality. With practice, a further progression can place one into a deep state of reverence in which spiritual guidance can be received.

MEDITATION IS POWERFUL when one is optimally prepared to learn it and when one is guided by a good mentor. One's LACK of expectation is perhaps the most important contribution to the process AND the one usually ignored and complicated. The world over, persons enter monasteries with the expectation that by following institutionalized rituals and adhering to any and all demands of their superiors --- they will reach a state of spiritual enlightenment.

EXPECTATION simply empowers the Ego and Superego judgemental aspects of the person's identity to interfere with one's achieving a state of No-emotion. That emotion of No-Emotion is a necessary first step to reverence and to contact with one's Higher Self. Only then can one receive the spiritual guidance which is possible.

MENTORING FOR COPING can be just as equally important.
When I was in my mid-teens during the early 1960's, I became interested in doing meditative Yoga. My interest came from an advertisement which was probably posted in the American magazine, Popular Mechanics. No one in my community or at my High School knew anything about meditation or Yoga. As best as I can recall, I undertook the meditative exercises as simply another way to improve my balance, concentration, memory, and stamina. I practiced these Kundalini-style exercises intensively for at least an hour each day. Before a year had passed, my abilities were to astound, confuse, and frighten me.

KUNDALINI-STYLE MEDITATIVE YOGA as I later learned, is one of the most powerful forms of Yogic meditation. My balance, concentration, and stamina did improve. My breathing rate decreased to about 1/3rd that of the normal person of my age --- and has remained so ever since. As can happen with some forms of meditative exercise, my ability to control parts of my body which other people usually consider as impossible also occurred.

HORROR is an interesting phenomenon.
When some people experience horror, their first response may be: "Why is this happening to me?" Or, "Why are you doing this to me?" Often attention-getting exclamations attract the attention of others. Depending upon the social situation, peers may ostracise or honor you if they believe you are the source of whatever evil power has brought horror to someone. In addition, the person or persons horrified may attack you, verbally or physically, ... or shun you. There seems little preparation for most people to respond with interest, wonder, or enquiry. Everyone assumes they understand what is happening. And if you are the innocent cause of all of this concern, that spells confusion, embarrassment, and shame.

A MAJOR MISUNDERSTANDING happened in my Grade 11 Geography class.
Geography was the subject I liked best and my teacher, Ms. Bojnoczy, was one of my most liked teachers. Part way through our class that day, Ms. Bojnoczy posed a question to me from the front of the class. I tried to answer --- only to be met by a surprising barrage of exclamations of horror and disgust. I had never seen Ms. Bojnoczy in such an emotional and agitated condition and thought she must be directing her tirade at someone else. But as I looked around, she made it clear that her words were for me. Everyone was wide-eyed. I was confused. What had I done!

THE SITUATION ONLY GOT WORSE.
A little later in the class, my teacher again asked me a question. As was usual for me, I had been following in my text and notes and again I quickly tried to respond with an answer. Again, a tirade of abuse and shock rained down on me. Something was definitely not right. I was shocked by Ms. Bojnoczy's response. After the class, several peers expressed almost gleeful curiosity as to how I had thrown our teacher into such a turmoil --- as if wondering how they could also do the same. That evening, at home, I tried to retrace what had happened to try and find out what I could have done which was so astonishing.

ASTONISHING ACTS are those we are not expected to be able to do.
I recalled that when I had attempted to answer the questions of Ms. Bojnoczy everything had seemed to go blank for a second. The next instant, the tirade from hell became unleashed. I recalled my eyes feeling strange at the time. I sat down, looked at a book, and then tried suddenly to answer and look up without moving my head. My eyelids moved --- but they felt strange and I seemed to go blind for a second. Could it be? I went and tried to repeat the activity in front of the bathroom mirror. It took several tries --- and then, I had my answer.

MEDITATION HAD EMPOWERED MY CONSCIOUS CONTROL.
My conscious mind was sending two usually incompatible signals and each was being acted on independently. My meditation had given me the control to choose to do two actions, learned to be unacceptable or not possible by most people. At the teacher's command, my eyelids had raised in preparation to provide an answer directly to Ms. Bojnoczy. But I did not want to lose my focus on the page I was looking at --- so my eyes had remained directed downwards. The result was that Ms. Boynoczy must have seen the whites of my eyes! It was not intentional. The last thing I wanted to do was to frighten anyone. Now I had a BIG problem.

THE BIGGEST PROBLEM was having no mentor at this stage.
I did not really understand why what had happened had happened.
After all, such was supposed to be impossible. How could I correct the "talent"? With no one to turn to or ask for feedback ... after all, what little I knew made me the local expert ... drastic measures had to be taken ... and were. Previous to this point, I had been able to experience on three occasions a mystical reality and awareness known in Buddhist meditative groups as Pannier. These are the most clear and intense and revealing spiritual states of mind known to humans and ever attempted to be described. These states had given me an awareness which would forever after change my life. But now, in fear of frightening others, I determined never to do meditation again --- and, to tell my mind never to allow such an incident to occur again. And I did so.

MISTAKES CAN HAVE DRASTIC CONSEQUENCES
With the feedback of a mentor I could have gained a clearer perspective and understanding for what had happened, coped better, made some changes and continued my meditative development and avoided a number of crucial mistakes in the coming years. It would be over 20 years before I would learn a new form of meditation, Tai Chi Ch'uan. At that time, it would help me regain the health I may not have lost had I continued with the Yoga style of meditation.

MEDITATION BENEFITS can stay with you throughout your life. The acquired slower breathing cycle probably saved my life when I was exposed to toxic fumes in the early 1980's. The ability to easily skip breath (breath slowly with relaxation) enabled me to SCUBA dive for twice as long as many divers on one tank of air in the late 1970's.

THE YOGIC BREATH CONTROL EXERCISES again were helpful when an unstable heart condition reacting to a drug during my lowest daily body activity cycle --- between 3.00 and 5.00 in the morning resulted in sudden and intense wheezing and uncontrollable coughing for 1 or 2 hours. Consciously directed breath control saved me from panic, hyperventilation, blackout. Meditation has many advantages to enhance one's health. The benefits of each practice can stay with you for a lifetime.

MANY FORMS OF MEDITATION can be learned.
A person may choose to learn one form and then "graduate" to other more complex and demanding forms. Others may learn several forms of meditation and either practice all of them together, or, choose one or more to practice according to the relevance of need, location, guidance. Some of these are mentioned elsewhere on these pages and Internet links and paper references are provided. Check these out: