Meditation has widely been recognized as a practice that can reduce stress and anxiety, increase positive thoughts, lengthen attention span and positively benefit the overall health of the practitioner. All these benefits sound pretty great for the average human, let alone in a such a tricky time as mid-pandemic 2021.
Meditation has ancient roots both in India and China. In India some of the oldest written records date back to 1500 BCE and come from ancient Hindu traditions, while the oldest documented images date as far back as 5000 BCE. Chinese roots meditation of date back to 3rd and 6th century BC. While these accounts help identify some info about the origins, it is important to note the likelihood of oral dissemination of this tradition. Meditation is commonly associated with Buddhism but has been incorporated into Jainism, Taoism, Confucianism, Sufism and Judaism (to name a few).
Why meditation?
Aside from its obvious benefits and lengthily history, I chose meditation for my free inquiry topic as an incentive to actually have a consistent meditation practice. Truth be told, I have meditated before, but I have never had the “aha” moment that is all too common. I have never felt “good” at meditation (and yes I know, this is not the point and the dualities of “good” and “bad” must be challenged). I have never committed myself to the process of meditation and I have given up all to easily. I chose this topic to deep dive into the different meditation options out there and see which option is best for me. It seems almost silly to me that I have not taken advantage of all the benefits I could receive simply (or not so simply) by sitting down.
So here it goes, I will commit to meditating at least a half hour per week and reflecting on my experience. I will record my time to ensure I am meditation long enough and remove all distractions during meditation time. I aim to use a variety of methods in order to get a good idea of the options and I hope to obtain a set of meditation exercises I can use in the high school classroom.
Meditation is a process of lightening up, of trusting the basic goodness of what we have and who we are, and of realizing that any wisdom that exists, exists in what we already have. We can lead our life so as to become more awake to who we are and what we’re doing rather than trying to improve or change or get rid of who we are or what we’re doing. The key is to wake up, to become more alert, more inquisitive and curious about ourselves
Pema Chodron
