Meditation Made Accessible
Meditation is life changing if you can do it.
Welcome
So many people have told me they have tried, but just can’t stop the “monkey-brain” chatter.
That’s unfortunate because that shouldn’t be a game-stopper.
My Journey with Meditation
Intensively, since about 2017, I’ve been on a quest to understand and make meditation accessible and effective in my own life.
I’ve studied many forms of meditation.
I learned, among many other things:
- From Buddhist Monk, Shinzen Young’s course, the basics of Zen Buddhist meditation.
Buddha’s core teaching was “right thinking” is the way. - From Sadhguru’s yogic “inner Engineering”, that there is no such thing as meditation, only stillness and the quest for “pleasantness”.
- From Edgar CAYCE’S A.R.E., that meditation and hypnosis are the same thing.
(I became a certified hypnotherapist) - From Paramahansa Yogananda’s course on “Self-Realization” a stringent methodology based on ancient Hindu practices.
- From Dr. Joe Dispenza’s scientific approach tracing brainwave states and energy.
- From the Heart Math Institute, the importance of heart-brain coherence.
- From Joseph Campbell’s The Hero with a Thousand Faces and the universal Hero's Journey.
- From Myers-Briggs personality research and constellations about self-knowledge and changeability of personality.
The Philosophy of Meditation
Meditation is not hard. Change is hard. Meditation makes it easier.
In combining, experiencing, practicing and fine-tuning all of these techniques and perspectives, I concluded that your life is not mine nor anyone else’s. Your journey with meditation is as unique to you, as your journey through life is unique within the universe. And both are absolutely journeys, not quick fixes, but life itself.
Think about it.
Has anyone else on this earth experienced exactly all of the same traumas, the same learning experiences, the same relationships, or even lived in the same body as you? If your fingerprints are unique to you isn’t the composite of your life unique to you? Through all of that, is anyone else at the same stage of development as you? Aren’t The things you need or want to overcome and the journey to overcome them, unique to you? Isn’t the way you interpret, think about, feel, or find meaning in life unique? If meditation is a method of change, shouldn’t that method be for you?
So what did the Buddha mean when he said the key is “right thinking”?
If meditation is about eliminating thought, how does that square with right thinking? Is there only one way to achieve “right thought”?
An old Japanese proverb says “there are many ways to the top of the mountain”.
There is room on your unique journey, in your unique stage of development for all of it. But first you must know who you are and what you want to change in your life. Only then does “the way”, the next step on your journey to the top of the mountain become clear.
The Kaizen Approach
Meditation is all about changing your life for the better.
There’s a word in Japanese that embodies a Zen Perspective on life.
The Japanese apply it to business and manufacturing.
"And Jesus grew in wisdom and stature, and in favor with God and man." Luke 2:52
The word is “Kaizen”. It’s made of two Kanji characters. Kai means change. Zen means good or better. In its application, it implies slow, incremental, dedicated, focused, step-by-step improvement. You can find the same idea illustrated in the life of Jesus
Personalized Instruction & Retreats
Through personal instruction, guided meditations and meditation retreats, I seek to help. I think the thing that makes my teaching different from others is that it’s not one size fits all. It recognizes your uniqueness and the need to draw on many great traditions to craft something that works for you, in your stage of development. It’s ok if you aren’t going for Nirvana.
Maybe you just want to be less frustrated or angry. How you go about that should reflect where you are and what you are targeting in your journey in the now.
Join Me on This Journey
This is for anyone with a commitment to change for the better. It is for people who want to change deeply embedded negative thoughts or habits into higher states of consciousness - peace, wholeness, health and joy.
Contact me to set up a personalized session while staying at the Falls at Sewanee Creek. You will learn why the Fairy Woodland, Creative Welding and Meditation intersect in deeply spiritual and transformative ways.
Get your name on the list for an exclusive week-long meditation retreat in nature. Each retreat is limited to a maximum of twelve participants.
