Meditation

Meditation is one of the most intimidating aspect of Pagan Religion for many people. In fact, it is one of the easiest, most relaxing aspects of Paganism. Far from the intense study in denial that many people seem to think of it as, meditating is a process of relaxing your body and mind to become more aware of yourself and the world around you. For Pagans, this is as important as prayer is in most other religions. It helps to empty your mind of the day-to-day issues in your life and helps you to pay more attention on the spiritual side of yourself. It also helps to focus your thoughts on magic and ritual.

All meditation begins, simply enough, with breathing. Generally, this is taught as sitting and breathing, but the exact position is not important. Various traditions teach sitting, laying, standing and even walking meditative techniques. As a martial artist, I have on occasion found a meditative state while performing kata (training dances). The main point is that meditation is a state of mind, not a position or action. If your mind is clear, and you are relaxed, you are in a meditative state. You've probably felt this way before; the idea is to practice until you can enter into this state at will. The following exercises will help you ease into the practice of meditation. You may find it easier to record the exercises and play them back during your actual practice rather than try to memorize them.

Counted Breathing

For this exercise, you should be somewhere free of distractions. As you become more proficient at attaining the meditative state, you will be able to perform an abbreviated from of this exercise under almost any circumstances. However, please be certain that you always do so in a safe way; for example, don't close your eyes while driving a car.

• Sit or stand comfortably
  • Keep your spine as straight as comfortably possible
  • Keep your head held upright with shoulders and arms relaxed
  • If you are in a chair, keep your feet flat on the floor
  • Be certain that the position you are in will be comfortable for several minutes
• Close your eyes
• Breathe in for four seconds.
  • Count to four, one count per second as you inhale.
  • As you breathe in, feel the air flowing DEEPLY into your body.
  • Do not tense, raise or pull back your shoulders.
  • The air should flow to the bottom of your chest, gently pushing you belly outward.
  • Try to breath through your nose rather than your mouth.
• Breath out for four seconds.
  • Count to four as you exhale
  • Again, do not move or tense your shoulders
  • Push the air out from the belly (technically, the diaphragm)
  • If other thoughts enter your mind while doing this, banish them and return the focus to your breathing
• Continue breathing and counting as above until you have a feeling of calm in your mind and relaxation in your body.
• When you are calm and relaxed, open your eyes.

Congratulations! You have just completed your first meditation. In future exercises, this method of breathing will be referred to as "Counted Breathing". This was a "4 count" breathing exercise. Sometimes a longer count will be more beneficial. This counted breathing technique can (and should) be used before or in conjunction with the Visualization Techniques, the Ground, Center, Shield Protection Spell, or any other magic spell or ritual

The Whiteboard Technique

If you find you have problems relaxing at night, or that you constantly worry about small issues throughout the day, you might try my wife's whiteboard technique.

• After (or during) your counted breathing exercise, picture a blank white screen.
• Your problems will appear on this screen.
• As each one appears, erase it, thinking "not now" or "I will handle that later".
• After a short time, the problems will gradually stop appearing.

If one particular issue keeps appearing, stop meditating, deal with it as best you can, then return to the counted breathing exercise above. Remember that meditation is a tool, not an escape.

Tension Release

Muscle aches and tension are a serious problem for some people. This technique helps to reduce muscular tension. It is a method of focusing your attention on each of your muscle groups individually and teaching them to relax. The method I learned included hand gestures to go along with each muscle group. Theses are optional, but I have found them helpful. Begin with the Counted Breathing exercise above. After you have reached a light meditative state:

• Focus on your back and spine
  • Make certain that your spine is straight
  • Allow your awareness to move slowly down your back along your spine.
  • Let yourself become aware of any areas of tension along your spine
  • Allow any tense areas near your spine to gently relax and become slack
  • Feel your now relaxed spine for 2-3 breaths before moving on
  • If you don't feel any tense areas, good. The spine is already relaxed
  • Don't fight to relax - just let things happen
• Now move your focus up you back to your shoulders
  • Become aware of your shoulders and upper back
  • Let yourself become aware of any areas of tension in your shoulders
  • Allow any tense areas of your shoulders to gently relax and become slack
  • Try not to shrug or drop your shoulders as they relax, but don't fight it if they do
  • Feel your now relaxed shoulders for 2-3 breaths before moving on
• Shift you focus to your chest
  • Become aware of your chest area
  • Let yourself become aware of any areas of tension in your pectorals
  • Feel your breath moving in and out of your lungs
  • Allow any tense areas in your chest to gently relax and become slack
  • Again, try not to shrug or drop your shoulders, but don't fight it if they do
  • Continue to focus on you chest and breathing for 2-3 breaths before moving on
• Move your focus lower, to your Chi, or abdominal area
  • Become aware of your Chi
  • Allow your breathing to become slightly deeper, as if the air was going all the way down to your Chi area.
  • Feel your breath moving in and out of your lungs and reaching down to the Chi
  • Again, allow any tense areas near the Chi to gently relax and become slack
  • If you begin to slouch or slump, try to bring yourself back upright without tensing
  • Continue to focus on you chi and deep breathing for 2-3 breaths before moving on
• Move your focus lower once again, to your legs
  • Focus on each section of each leg individually, starting with the thighs, then knees, shins and feet
  • As you focus on each section, become aware of and relax tense areas as before
  • Again, continue to focus on you legs for 2-3 breaths before moving on
• Let your focus now shift upwards to your arms
  • As with your legs, focus and relax each part of the arms and hands
  • Once agin, relax each part of your arms
  • Take 2-3 breaths before moving on
• Now focus on your head and face
  • Feel that your head is balanced comfortably atop your spine
  • Feel for tension in your neck and jaw (these are often "hidden" tensions)
  • Let all the muscles in your head and neck relax
  • Focus additional attention on the forehead and the back of the neck
  • Tension hides in the head and neck area easily, so take a little extra time here
  • When you are sure you have relaxed as much of your head and neck as you can, take 4-5 breaths and move on to the last step
• Allow yourself to feel the overall condition of your body
  • If there are any areas that have re-tensed, or that you may have missed, take a moment to focus on them and relax them
  • Once you are feeling as relaxed as you believe possible, slowly allow yourself to focus on your breathing
• With each breath, become a little more aware of the world around you until you are out of the meditative state. You should now feel more relaxed and energetic.

Additional Meditations

These are only the most basic of meditation techniques. The techniques on the Visualization page make good meditation tools for increasing your focus. You should especially try these techniques using a candle flame as your focus.

Guided meditation is often helpful if you have a specific goal in mind. In this technique, you listen to a voice that gives you specific images to focus on. These images can guide you to greater understanding of yourself, or guide you in improving yourself. You can find or create a guided meditation for almost any purpose you can imagine.

The information I have given you is a good start for learning mediation, but it is up to you to continue to study and improve. You should never think of meditating as a chore. Like most things in Paganism, it should be approached with happiness. Do it because you want to, or because you want what it can bring you. Do not do it because you think you "should". You will always get better results doing what you enjoy. Remember: meditation is a tool, how you use it is what matters.

Return from Meditation to Pagan Religion

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