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Finding stillness through meditation is like coming home

by Stephanie Squibb

Stephanie Squibb, meditation and yoga teacherMeditation is a state of being. The meditative state invites the world into your heart and mind from a space of loving-kindness, tolerance, compassion, and truth. The mind, then, becomes a mirror reflecting its own natural state of bliss, or uncaused happiness.

The meditative state of mind doesn’t come easily. Knowing there exists this seed of bliss within each one of us, we train our minds to concentrate. Through careful attention, you become intimate with your breath, and that allows your body and mind to soften and become receptive. All spiritual traditions share the understanding that internal exploration, coupled with awareness, nourishes the beauty that we are.

Recognizing the need for internal stillness, we sit quietly in meditation. In sitting, you quickly discover it takes great effort to sustain stillness. The calm mind becomes temporarily hindered by grasping at the wanted or at averting the unwanted. These mind experiences undo connection to awareness of the present. As Henry David Thoreau said in his book Walden, "God Himself culminates in the present moment, and will never be more Divine in a lapse of all the ages."

Cultivating awareness of the breath-body, we train the mind to identify with that which is boundless and unmoving. So ask yourself, is life opening and enriching your consciousness, or is it shutting you down?

"Meditation isn't about finding out who you are, it is about finding out who you're not but thought yourself to be," says Matthew Flickstein, prominent insight meditation teacher. It is a gentle approach to unlearn what pulls you away from the authentic, spiritual being that you are, rendering you free to love the world unconditionally. This practice touches the deepest calm that is within each one of us. Living in the richness of spiritual calm is like coming home.

Join Stephanie for a year of Insight Meditation. Stephanie’s 12-month meditation series covers a variety of topics with a focus on home practice. Class meets the third Thursday of every month at Cascade Yoga Studio beginning January 21, 2010. Cost for the entire series, which includes email support from Stephanie, is $144 for the year. Students are also welcome on a drop-in basis at $15 a class. Please call Cascade Yoga at 616.464.1610 for more information or to register. Download registration form >