A blog about crystals, energy cultivation and lifestyle balance …
How to Meditate with Crystals 101 – Part 6
by Eric Justin of OneOriginStarseed
Continued from Part 5 . . .
Ideal Condition of the Stomach During Meditation Sessions
An important aspect in achieving proficiency in any system of internal alchemy, or meditative cultivation, is learning how to balance and structure one’s diet and meal times alongside one’s spiritual practices. For the casual meditator who only wants to get some peace of mind, just make sure your stomach is relatively empty at the time you begin your practices each day. For one who wishes to take their meditation practice to significant depths, needs to start being strict about what they eat, how often they eat, and how much they eat. We will discuss this in detail in another write-up, but for now the most important thing to observe is the empty stomach rule during cultivation practice.
The food one eats, has a dramatic impact on the quality of one’s consciousness and energetic purity of the body and mind. Food that is more easily digestible, and has gone through less processing, and which holds the largest amount of living energy in it, is most ideal for a meditator to consume. Pure and natural food will contribute significantly to achieving a sharp, clear state of consciousness with minimal lethargy or sluggishness. The food in this general category includes fresh fruits and vegetables, grains, nuts, beans etc. Because the body uses a lot of its energy in processing, digestion, and moving food through one’s system, helping it do its job by making wise food selections, and giving it several points of rest throughout the day by eating nothing at all and drinking only water, will result in a significantly greater quality of living through heightened mental clarity.
Mr. Sleep Will Come to Challenge You
One of the biggest obstacles to a meditator is resisting the urge to fall asleep when eyes are closed in calm, still, silence. For most people, the convergence of these factors will automatically signal the body that it’s time to go to sleep. For one who sincerely wants to marinate their consciousness in meditative stillness, this is one of the biggest challenges they may face.
The quality of consciousness which we label as meditation, is at that threshold which lies right between sleep and wakefulness. Meditation is a balancing act of sorts, in learning how to sit still on that thin line between the two states of consciousness, and maintain an alertful state of full awareness without drifting off into sleep. This can be easier said than done for many people, and it may take a lot of self-observation and playing with certain variables in order to make significant progress in stabilizing oneself in meditation.
If your meditation posture is relatively stable and secure, you can subconsciously hold that posture as you drift back and forth between sleep and wakefulness, until you find a balance and sleep stops disturbing your practice. It’s an interesting game that will eventually lead to a stable condition where you won’t fall asleep and can stay awake with a clear mind at will. If the urge to fall asleep is overwhelmingly strong, you may need to give in and let your body have a quick snooze sometimes before it lets you stabilize yourself in meditation. If that happens, try not to sleep for more than 5 to 20 minutes at most, and as much as possible avoid the urge to lay down if you can.
Energetic Symmetry
Meditation is about life observation without acting or responding to what happens. It is about establishing stillness, which arises as the mind settles, and tension and stress are released. As one sits for meditation, at first an unwinding of one’s energies ensues, which brings about a rebalancing of the body and mind. When a certain amount of settling has occurred after sitting for a session, we often become aware of the existence of tension, discomfort and other energetic anomalies that are present in us. We may see that there is some specific tension or build up on one side of the body, but not the other. We may see that one leg, foot, hand or arm may be resting comfortably but the other is not, etc. etc. By first becoming aware of the discrepancy, balance and symmetry are next.
Although it is not always true, that the left and right sides of the body should be mirror images to each other, and that the same feeling and balance should exist in both, just noticing the differences between the two sides, will often cause them to rebalance and realign. This will bring a greater level of harmony to the system. You may know that you are holding tension for example, on the left side of your face, when you realize the right side of your face is relaxed and at ease. Consciously learning to let go of what one is holding, and opening to the fresh energy of the moment, is what the blossoming of one’s consciousness is rooted it.
Meditation is a type of cleanse that updates what was not working, dusts off and energizes what was stagnant, and revitalizes what was in decline. Symmetrical observation of the two different sides of one’s body, is one of the measures used to know where disharmony is hiding, and what is standing in the way of deeper and deeper levels of stillness. Just be aware that the balance of nature is not always 50/50. The balance of nature can be known only by viewing the larger picture, rather than focusing on the individual parts.
Becoming a Practitioner of Stillness
Life is an explosion of activity that starts out on full throttle and then slowly peters out until the expiration of that life form occurs. People equate movement and action to the realm of the living, and stillness and inaction to the realm of the dead. We tend to view the two as polar opposites. Either you are in a bustle of activity, or you are still and at rest. The truth of the matter is that the two, give birth to each other, and exist as two sides of the same coin. At the core of nature and the origin of everything that is, and is not, is an unnameable indescribable state of profound stillness, which is the source of everything.
Just as sound cannot exist without its balancing element of silence, movement and action are inefficient and incapable of anything without stillness to generate their dynamism. To look at anything in a state of action, we can see that there exists elements of stillness within that movement. On the other hand, when looking at anything in a state of stillness, we can find there Is some kind of activity and movement taking place within it, which gives it stability and balance. By learning the correct proportion of activity and stillness, means to understand the fundamental aspect of the balance of creation.
Comparing the two basic types of meditation, traditional seated stillness and active moving meditation, we can see that both seek to achieve the same end result, but with opposite states of balance. Traditional seated meditation like Dhyana, Zazen and Vipassana, seek external stillness, with an internal dynamism that emanates from the stillness of mind, and the movement of one’s breath. Active moving meditation, such as Yoga, Taichi or Qigong, achieves a balance of external movement with a stillness of mind and dynamism of gentle breath.
Conscious internal stillness, is what we seek to cultivate in any form of meditation, whether the traditional seated types, or the active moving types. Stillness of mind is the core generator of spiritual energy, from which one’s life spirit shines, and takes its proper position as the ruler of one’s life being, over the intellect and logic many of us are centered on.
Hey everyone… My Name is Eric Justin… I started this blog as a way to help clarify many misunderstandings and misperceptions which have formed around the use of crystals. I aim to promote their positive life-empowering potential in an honest and straightforward way. In addition, I am here to help promote ancient practices of energy cultivation, which can be used by all people to help establish balance and stability in their unending life journey of self-discovery and self-mastery.
Disclaimer – This blog is presented as is, for informational purposes only. We do our very best to provide honest, accurate, clear and concise knowledge based on our own experiences, reliable sources of modern crystal usage as well as traditional uses and even that which comes from history and legend. Any information we provide is to be used by our readers and customers in a responsible manner and at their own risk. By reading this blog, purchasing our crystals or practicing any of the methods we provide, each reader and customer accepts responsibility and risk for their own actions and automatically is bound to our terms and conditions. For more information please refer to our Terms and Conditions Section.
Join the tribe?
Looking For Crystal Accessories?
Subscribe
Login
Please login to comment
0 Comments
Oldest
