Meditation has been an important part of my life for many years. Not only do I regularly seek out practitioners of guided meditations, I also write and deliver my own.
It has been around since humans started writing, with Hindu records dating back to 1500 BC. But primitive tribes without a written tradition have been observed in modern times using repetitive rhythmic chants, or mantras, often supported by drums and natural hallucinogens. It has almost certainly been around for so long as humankind.
Recorded examples of meditation techniques can be found in Buddhist, Chinese, Japanese, Egyptian and Greek traditions. Religious forms tend to focus on spiritual growth, secular (non-religious) meditation emphasizes stress reduction, relaxation and self-improvement. Both spiritual and secular forms of meditation have been subjects of many scientific analyses over the past 60 years . With so many variants, and so many books trying to analyse what is going on, I run a course called “Taking the Mystery Out of Meditation” to allay any fears, and encourage this life affirming practise.
One of my friends memorably misquoted this course as Taking the Misery Out of Meditation” – and misery definitely has nothing to do with meditation! Instead I take a brief look at the history of meditation, how it works, and then deliver some guided meditations for people to experience it for themselves. The idea is to declutter our busy modern lives, and busy brains, to provide some time for us to think clearly and concentrate on the things that matter.
I will next be running an evening session entitled, “Taking the mystery out of meditation” at Horninglow Spiritualist Church, Burton upon Trent on Tuesday 6th 7pm, December 2016 details to be confirmed shortly on this site.