Meditation
Have you opened your third eye? Did it require a lot of meditation? How do you know when it’s open?
i have :) i was drinking blessed mead and there was lavender incense and ganja in the air and i had just gotten a massage from this buddha-hearted dirty hippie i love named laura, who was three flights down from me, making tea and eggs in the kitchen. i think it was a combination between the spells in the mead and her great energy and the whimsical music playing and all of the lovely smells and my body and soul feeling relaxed and open, but it happened without any effort on my part. i was trying to work on my root chakra, which is something i’m sorely lacking in, and i kept imagining myself as a crystal growing on the earth and my spine becoming deep roots stretching all the way down to the molten core of our planet, but my third eye kept fluttering and bothering me. i kept pushing the feeling away, but it wouldn’t let me ignore it. suddenly my third eye raged open and burned its way onto my forehead. for the next three days, i could feel it pulsing and tingling on my face. now, i can call it up on a whim. i had meditated a lot previously, but it happened effortlessly when i was ready and the mood was perfect. when it happens, you’ll just know.
what is your favourite way to meditate? ♡☁☂✰
being a pisces, my mind is heavily racing and daydreaming at all times, so i like to do “active” meditation where i focus all of that mad mind energy positively, instead of trying to ignore the chaos. my favorite ways are color meditation, playing with my energy bodies, and taking a mental journey.
color meditation: colors have different healing powers and catalyze different emotional reactions, which you can look up online, but i usually pick whichever color i’m most drawn to. i imagine that color as a glowing orb in the center of my heart, which ebbs and flows with my breath. for a moment, i will think about the color and its importance to me. for example, yesterday i was meditating on the color lavender, so i imagined rolling in fields of lavender and swimming in lavender oceans and smelling lavender gardens and playing with lavender kittens under a lavender sky. once my heart and mind are filled with the color, i let it spread to the rest of my body like a growing tide. with every outward breath, i visualize the color expanding to the rest of my body, and with every inward breath, i visualize the color retreating slightly and growing stronger at the source. do this process very, very slowly, and as the color reaches every part of your body, let that part relax completely. this meditation exercise will make you pretty cold, so make sure you’re wearing socks and you have a cozy blanket over you. as the color fills your body, let yourself just drown in its healing. everywhere you focus your mental energy becomes tingly, and by the time you’re completely filled with the color, your body should feel like it’s buzzing. now that your mind is focused and your body is relaxed, you can easily think on stillness and your breath.
energy bodies: the way i was taught, we have three energy bodies, our physical body, our mental body, and our chi body. our physical body is our outer shell, what we see and feel. our mental body is how we imagine ourselves when our eyes are closed. our chi body is where our cosmic energy is stored (when you have an out-of-body experience, it’s this body being felt outside of yourself). there are all sorts of meditation practices you can do with your energy bodies, such as trying to align them so they are working in harmony, experiencing them individually, placing your energy outside of yourself, etc. too many to all go into right now.
mental journey: for many, the idea of just resonating on no-thingness and focusing only on breath seems like pure torture, so a helpful exercise can be taking a mental journey. it’s surprisingly difficult to control your mind enough to do this. when i started meditating like (oh geeze, um) 12 years ago (??), i struggled to even begin walking on my mental journey without instantly becoming distracted, falling on my face, shifting environments, or going on tangents. working on this is a great way to train your brain, focus on your mental processes, self-discover, use your imagination, quiet your demons, and enjoy the brain-boosting, nerve-calming effects of meditation. start by noticing yourself in your body. the here and now. listen to the sounds in the room, the feeling of your body and breath, the smells and the sights you would see if your eyes were open. you could even start with your eyes open to get a better sense. then, imagine yourself stepping outside of your body, and walking out of your house. imagine every door you’d have to open and close, every stair you’d have to walk up or down, and every hallway you’d pass through if you actually did this. when you reach the door to the outside world, you can imagine walking out of it into an imaginary place or into the real world. imagine how your feet feel in this new environment, what the weather’s like, what you see. after you’ve enjoyed this place long enough, imagine the journey back. see your house in the distance, enter it, and return to your own body once more.
i’m having a really hard time opening my chakras. what can i do?
sometimes it takes a long time… if you’re having trouble with them, i would work on opening your third eye first. it makes opening the others easier (at least for me), because you become more aware of them when your third eye is awake & active. try meditating in dead man’s pose with an indigo stone on your forehead between your eyebrows (sodalite, lapis lazuli, sapphire, indigo, labradorite, or azurite are good ones to try). these stones (& the color indigo) aid in bringing out your third eye, plus the weight of the stone on your face will help you focus your energy on that spot. you could also meditate on your physical eyes, feeling them in your sockets as well as all of the bones/muscles around them, and then slowly, slowly visualize the pressure you feel in each eyeball coming closer together until they both meet in the center. sometimes when i try this trick, my eyes go cross-eyed under my closed lids as i let the pressures merge. you could also draw your attention to where your third eye lies dormant by rubbing your thumb between your eyebrows in a circular motion. keep yourself aware of your third eye, visualize opening it, light muggwort/saffron incense, call upon your personal deity/deities (or just yourself if you don’t believe in all that) for aid. you could also try chanting the sound Aum/Om while meditating. this is believed to be a magical sound with intense spiritual properties in Hindu/Buddhist practice, and is associated with third eye awakening. you could also try wearing a bindi or rhinestone (whatever you’re comfortable with) over your third eye. bindis have many meanings/uses, but one is that they help bring concentration to the wearer in awakening the third eye.
when you open your third eye for the first time, TRUST ME, you will absolutely know. it will feel like there is a raging fire of energy between your eyes, and this feeling will last for several minutes, hours, and sometimes even days, even when you’re no longer focusing on that spot. sometimes this feeling is unbalanced… your third eye may be slightly crooked or off-center (mine is often shifted to the right side of my face), but you can work to straighten that out with practice. once you’ve opened your third eye, give yourself a break for a while. opening chakras can be an emotionally straining experience, so don’t overdo yourself, even if you’re super excited. often, we hide memories or feelings in our chakras that have been lying dormant for a long time, so don’t be surprised if the first time is a little overwhelming. once we’re awakened to our problems & struggles, we can work to fix them.
after you’ve given your mind, body, & spirit a little tender loving care, you can work on opening your other chakras. consult google sensai if you want to know the bilja sounds, colors, notes, meanings, smells, stones, & techniques for the other chakras ;)
ever since i moved to the city i’ve struggled with meditation. there are just too many noises amidst the hustle & bustle for me to sit down & focus for even a second. how can i ignore the noise & get back in the swing of meditation?
i’m having sort of the same, but opposite problem right now. too much noise inside! :S one thing you can try is sit there and listen closely to all of the sounds… the electricity humming, the fan slowly spinning air, the fridge buzzing, sounds in the hall, cars in the street… and just be very aware of everything in your surroundings. how the carpet feels under you. the smells around you. how bright or dark it is behind your eyes. meditation isn’t always focusing on nothing or focusing on breath. it’s also about being aware. so start by being completely aware of all of the distractions (whether they’re inner or outer), and then slowly phase them out. the same goes for noise inside of your head. take all of the little voices in your head (the ones telling you all the errands you’re behind on, the ones telling you what you’d rather be doing, the ones telling your that you’re hungry/thirsty/tired/impatient, the ones telling you that you’re too stupid or ugly or pathetic, the ones reminding you to call your mom and do your homework), and stick them in a box. then turn the box up to the loudest volume possible and let them yell and have their say. and then slowly turn the volume knob down, until they’re just a mumble. and finally, well you’re ready to be still & quiet, turn them off! you can train your brain to get good at this. often the sounds of your surroundings or of your self-nagging will start up again, but just keep hushing them and turning the volume down. as always, it takes practice. it will be extremely frustrating at first, but you will get better at it. try sitting down at the same time every day (or night). over time, your mind will learn your rhythm and know when it’s time to be quiet. good luckskis :) :)
what’s the best pose for meditating?
I actually have serious back problems, so I like to meditate either with a pillow/chair/wall supporting me in full lotus, or i will lay down on the floor with a pillow in the small of my back. if i’m laying down, sometimes i will put a blanket over me because my extremities get quite numb. if i’m sitting in lotus, i will put my hands either in “dhyana”, “namaskara”, or “chin” mudra. In dhyana, you lay your right hand over your left with your hands in your lap and your palms facing up, and let your thumbs touch, creating an oval. In namaskara, you put your hands at your chest in a prayer position. Chin mudra is the most commonly used in western yoga, where your thumb and pointer make a circle, and then you extend your other three fingers.
Do you listen to music while you meditate?
it depends on my mood, but when i do turn on music, i’ll put on a bizet/tchaikovsky/camille saint-saens station on pandora (i realize this may be too chaotic for some, but it’s like a mental “breath of fire” for me), or alternatively i’ll do something soothing like lullatone/coeur de pirate/norah jones… oh yes, and the album “tribal beats for urban streets” set a mood that felt heavy with incense and citars.
i know that for a lot of people, music can be helpful, but lyrics are distracting and fast beats are intoxicating (just adding to all of the voices already in their head), so you may want to lean towards something purely instrumental and soothing. personally, i just use music as a starting point, and then once i’ve manipulated my mood to where i want it to be, i start listening to my body, and then i go deep inside. :)
