Meditate Schmeditate!

That's what I often hear when people who are so, so busy start to talk about their priorities.

Meditate?? Are you kidding? Who has time for that?!

I have a different take.  I think meditation is the biggest, grandest, most effective and efficient time saver in the Universe.

No joke.

All my life I've made use of the opportunity to create and teach what most inspires me - and at this point the inspiration list is pretty long!  Sometimes a great teacher can trigger a need in me to simply explore new territory and exchange results.  Sometimes a world event - like the recent oil spill - informs my choice of a workshop topic or audio program as I relate to the deep societal call to find our power amidst disempowering events.  Then there are other times when the simplicity of a fabulous piece of music inspires an entire block of new Yokibics moves and ways to co-create with the bodymind energy we have all been graced with.

Always and ever though, does one single concept come round and round as the motherlode of all teachings for me, as the quality of life gained from the experience is literally beyond explanation. Meditate.

It's one of those "you've gotta experience this one for yourself" kinds of things.

Part of the Eight-limbed tree of Yoga, meditation and it's pre-cursor concentration are called  Dharana and Dhyana, with epic volumes devoted to their care and practice.

I remembering hearing Marianne Williamson speak on the subject and she smilingly ticked off all sorts of examples where "meditate" was the prescribed balm.  The seeker goes to the top of the mountain to hear the word of God.  God says "meditate." The student goes to the guru to ask the meaning of life. The guru says "meditate." The anguish of a mother who, while mourning the loss of her child goes to her spiritual guide to ask why life contains such sorrow, and the guide after consoling her says "meditate."

My own exerience informs me every single day why the answer "meditate" is so very powerful. Primarily meditation is a PROCESS rather than a fixed answer that can change and vanish as life evolves - and life is a process of ever moving and unfolding moments in a wave we can ride successfully or get trounced by.

Last week a student asked me how I came by the name "Yokibics" and after owning it for almost 30 years, I had the vision of it as clear as the day it came - a double seater airplane crossing the screen of my mind while in meditation, followed by a banner proclaiming the name.  I didn't "think it up" but rather I received it while waiting for it to arrive.

Ahhhh - waiting for it to arrive.

There is ease in that...

and a sort of patience demanded.

A couple of years ago I had a nasty keritosis on my back - the kind of "pre-cancerous" itchy thing that can worry the life out of a person and usually get cut off, which I have already had happen to others spots just like it.  Sinking into my deepest self I literally "knew" that a blend of essential oils would be benificial to me.  I heard the list inside my mind like directions.

This time it was not a vision, but rather a voice.

My body received the mixture of oils like the perfect antidote - and 5 weeks later no more spot.  Others have asked me for my recipe - many others at this point - and with some tweaking and a fair amount of research on how to create a base creme for delivery, it has become a Yokibics Monkey Creme Personal Care Product - "use it to get those monkeys off your back!"

What a gift!

I have had many more like these two pivotal experiences in meditation... many more. 

Sometimes the gifts are dramatic. Sometimes they are so subtle as to be almost missed.  A quiet moment of insight can shift everything...a reflective moment of caring can open the floodgate of tears withheld, and bring the refreshment of new beginnings. 

The certitude of a path that feels like a slippery slope when the worry mind is at work can apprears as an oasis of calm in meditation.

These are the gifts of meditation that cannot be bought or demanded.

There are plenty of places where you can get information about techniques and styles and support for the journey.  I will write about more of them here on this blog in my upcoming posts. 

For today it is my simple intention to share some of the gifts of the journey.  Once embraced, the "how-tos" will simply fall into place.

I invite you to close your eyes for a moment when you finish this post, and stay for a minute - or five - before you move into your next activity or thought.  Stay a while and feel the quiet place of your own receptivity.

This is a powerful place, and it already exists inside of you.

Befriend it now and you can rely on it forever.

blessings and grace to you,
Gael
Author and Spoken Word Artist

Photo credit: Bob Alba