It all started some years ago (and no, I’m not saying how many) when I signed up for Zen class with Fr. Ben Wren, SJ. I’d always had this sense of being “beyond” my physical body, and meditation seemed a way to connect with this aspect of myself. (That, and I’d really enjoyed the fascinating-but-challenging history class I’d had with Fr. Ben. His exams featured fun things like “draw the Eurasian land mass and label it. In Chinese.” OF COURSE I wanted to take his Zen class!!)

At this point, you may be expecting to read that I fell in love with Zen meditation. Well…not exactly.

I loved the class, and loved the challenge – and wow, was it a challenge. Having inherited a swayback from my mom, it wasn’t quite possible to sit with spine straight. Being a college student, my mind wandered – a LOT. (It still does, and I haven’t had that college student excuse in a long time.) I did, however, learn that there was a whole ‘nuther world inside (and beyond) my mind, and I have explored methods of meditation and expanded consciousness ever since.

When working in my chosen profession as a clinical social worker, I often taught relaxation and meditation techniques. That’s when I learned that just about anything can become meditative, depending on how we approach it. Washing dishes? Well, if you think about your long list of chores to do after the dishes are done….mmm, no. But if you think simply of washing the dishes, it can become meditative. It’s (dare I say it) being mindful.

Today, “mindfulness” is a buzzword. So is “being in the moment.” But meditation is an ancient practice, and people did it long before anyone had a name for it. Yet social media would have us believe this is The Best New Thing. It’s even become a bit confusing because there are many meditation techniques and methods.

Something that I found helpful on my meditation journey was guided meditations. Thanks to apps and the internet, there are many guided meditations available – some free, some paid for. I’ve lead many a group and individual in guided meditation, and it is a fun (and creative) method. You’re doing something – but you’re focused. (The big challenge with Zen and similar forms of meditation is to empty the mind. Our minds get bored very, very quickly – a characteristic that social media loves to exploit.) With guided meditations, the conscious mind is engaged just enough to quiet the chatter – and it can be very, very relaxing.

Centering Prayer is another popular type of meditation practice. One chooses a word or phrase with spiritual meaning and focuses on that. As with most other meditation practices, if random thoughts arise, they are observed and released, and one returns to the word/phrase. Examples include “Lord have mercy,” “The Lord is my shepherd,” etc.

“I can’t meditate, I can’t sit still!” I can relate. Fortunately, there are ways to move in meditation, and I’m not just talking about yoga (although that’s one wonderful method to get INTO your body and out of your brain). A walking meditation is wonderful. Take a walk outside and leave your phone behind (or set on airplane mode) and just focus on what you see. Observe. If you find yourself ruminating about your to-do list, make a note if it’s something you need to remember and then just let it go. Return to observation. If there is a labyrinth available in your community, walk it! This is a wonderful walking meditation.

Mantra meditations are similar to centering prayer in that they involve a word or phrase as the focus. I remember talking to several devout Roman Catholics who looked very wary when I talked about meditation. However, praying the Rosary is indeed, a form of meditation. Hey, it’s all good, and we don’t have to use the same terminology.

“I can’t meditate, I can’t sit like they want me to sit.” I was told the proper way to sit for zazen, and was told “don’t lie down because you might fall asleep.” While Buddhist monks may practice for years and decades to get beyond the body’s aches, you don’t need to. Most of us will say “I can’t think of anything except how much my rear end/back/neck aches” and give up. What position is comfortable for you to relax? That’s what you want to do. If you do fall asleep, keep trying. Eventually you’ll get it.

There’s technology out there that will help you to calm your mind. Schumann frequency, tuning forks, hemi-sync , binaural beats… do a search on “technology for meditation” and you may well feel overwhelmed. The good news is that you don’t really need this stuff (although you might be interested in exploring it to see what might work best for you). Personally, I have found the sound technology from the Monroe Institute to be beneficial, even with my hearing loss. Their Expand app has free offerings, and you can find some on their website here: https://www.monroeinstitute.org/blogs/free-meditations

The beauty of meditation is that there is a way for ANYONE to do it. It’s been done for thousands of years without technology. That said, sound CAN help one enter a meditative / trance state. Some people joke about “Ommmmmmm” but humming stimulates the vagus nerve and helps one to get “into the zone.” Drumming, rhythm, chant, music – all of these have been used by individuals and groups to get to an altered state of consciousness.

Meditation is about creating space in your life and in your awareness for silence and contemplation. I think the explosion of mindfulness awareness and meditation apps corresponds with the explosion of distractions in our daily lives. The more distracted we are, the more out of touch we become with our inner selves, and with Divine Love. We must make time for rest, reflection, and recharging. Jesus rested/prayed/meditated often. (Among others, see Luke 5:15, also Mark 6:46 – feeding the multitude was a long day!)

I’m often asked the difference between prayer and meditation. In a sense, it depends on how you define each word. Do you define prayer as “talking to God?” Interestingly, some people say they don’t believe in prayer, because what they ask for doesn’t happen/horrible things happen in this world. But this mindset means that prayer is only a petition, a request. And while there’s nothing wrong with that (and certainly nothing wrong with praying for peace – the world needs all the help we can get!) if one thinks of prayer only as requests, then no, it’s very different from meditation.

In this instance, one might define meditation as “listening to God.” But really? Meditation is just being present. With yourself. With God/Divine Love/Source. With All That Is. Just…being, without expectations, without striving, without pretending. And we all need that space.