Meditation, something that became fashion, more like the new norm. It seems as the distraction and stress rise more people tend to practice meditation more and in different forms. Not always, some choose to learn, practice and share it because they just like it. The point is if you start it, don't despair if does not work for you the first time or the second tine or more times...
Did you notice that a good portion of people who practicing meditation have been through into some trauma in the past? Maybe back then the pressure they had in their life was so intense that basic instincts like surviving woke up and today they have a feel of the world is not so secure.
I observed people from western countries, including myself, when we are happy or fulfilled we have a sense everything it is ok and we do not have to do something, just keep doing what we were doing. As life has ups and downs, when things are going ugly and we feel a little hopeless, we tend to pray, meditate or be alone. That's happening because we need to be in a quite state. That state which the brain can think without distraction and our heart does not pump like crazy.
Praying is another form of meditation. Is then when you can focus more easily in what you are thankful for and what you want to achieve. Today this state tend to be reached more hardly, cause are brains are trained to work fast and make decisions instantly. Your mind needs time to adapt and neurons get rewired so meditation start to work for you. If you break the chain, your brain goes back to the previous stressful state. It is the same like every other habit, quitting smoking, work out, learn new things, it never stops, it is a process.
When I finished the high school I meet some family friends who did some weird stuff like out of body experience and lucid dreaming. The stories I heard scared me a lot, but also something sparked in me. I was interested to study more about meditation and how it is practiced.
Nothing worked on me. I tried hemi-sunc from Robert Monroe, Insight I and II and Tai Chi on the mountains and so on. Nothing real hit me, I heard others saying they filed something or saw something. But nothing to me. At the end I understood it is not about the form of meditation but the people that I met. Everyone had something to shared. By the way, it is working for me only when I am in a quite place by myself. What is working for you?
Photo by Ashes Sitoula