Meditation, while growing in popularity, seems to remain an experience many people avoid. For some, the experience has been presented in an unnecessarily complicated manner. For others, meditation is viewed as an extension of a spiritual or religious practice. If you’re interested in how an individualized meditation practice can support you in your life, whether or not you are engaged in therapy, my wish is to make that easier. My intention is to demystify the experience of meditation, distill the process to its essence so it becomes less a practice and is, instead, woven throughout a person’s moving life.

So, what is meditation?

That which could not be simpler, or more demanding – sitting down, closing eyes, desisting from distraction, discovering the inherent beauty of mind. It is true that when we stop – stop busying ourselves, stop attending to endless tasks, stop tangling ourselves up in problems and planning – there is a moment of unsettled agitation. Our systems over years and decades of attending to objects of the mind have grown habituated to constant tension; resisting some experiences and grasping after others. Much of our movement is geared less towards celebrating aliveness and more towards securing a sense of comfort and safety, self-soothing, self-preserving.

Self-distraction, whether it be through activity or substance, for most of us grew out of a need to move away from uncomfortable emotional experiences. Rather than feel empty, we reach towards food or drink. Rather than feel helpless, we focus energy on work. Rather than feel alone, we long for relationship. Rather than feel bored, we turn towards entertainment. Rather than feel self-conscious, we reach for an altered state.

And so it’s true that when we stop and move towards stillness, our mind-body systems can react with agitation. At that moment, the invitation of meditation is to rest, to breathe, to witness, and to allow the unfamiliar feelings to pass without indulging the desire to move away or resist. With time, the mind begins to quiet naturally. As the mind clears, we fall into ourselves and begin to know ourselves anew: pure peace, pure openness, pure presence – alive.

Please know that when one begins to tune into the silence that is uncovered through meditation, any number of experiences, both pleasant and unfamiliar, can arise; body sensations, including headaches or nausea, memories and/or flashbacks, sleepiness, as well as emotions such as frustration, sadness, or anger. The key is to allow these experiences to arise without fighting them or becoming attached to them – simply allow them appear and to flow through.

A journey of meditation offers endless jewels, endless rewards. The power of presence, here and now.