Meditation for the Beginner and Heart Centered Meditation Experience for All

Meditation is one of the most important gifts that you can give to yourself in starting each and every day. There are many ways to meditate, but they all lead to the same wonderful experience - a peaceful way to start your day - reduction in stress - answers to questions that we may have been pondering - a wonderful connection to yourself and Spirit.

Throughout this article I will attempt to give you some ways to help you focus on meditation if you are a beginner, and if you have meditated before this will just be a gentle reminder to stay on your practice.

When beginning to meditate, find a quiet place or area that you are committed to using when you wish to meditate or go inward. Start by either being on a meditation cushion or being in a comfortable chair that allows you to sit upright, so that your breath can flow easily in and out. Close your eyes, and you may wish to have some gentle music in the background (wordless unless it is some type of a chant). Begin by breathing in thru the nose and consciously focus on your belly being allowed to go out - babies do this automatically, but as we get older we are told to "suck in our gut" and get out of practice of breathing this way. On the outbreath, a gentle release of the breath through the mouth and you may wish to go to different parts of your body and release the stress that is there - consciously. I know for myself, I store my stress in my shoulder and neck area and spend more time going there. Your feet should be flat on the floor if you are sitting, and all you are doing is focusing on the breath - your breath - your life sustaining force, and honoring it by being One with it. Periodically, because you are not use to this silence, your "ego-self" will try to get your attention by letting thoughts fly into your head - like your agenda for the day - just notice it and take another concious breath and refocus on your breathing. Sometimes I will consciously get myself back in my meditation when this happens, by breathing and mentally saying "I am One with Spirit". I usually sit with my hands palm up, welcoming any insights and my connection with my breath. All of a sudden, you will realize that 15 or 20 minutes have gone by and you did not even realize it. It is truly a peaceful, connecting, and calming experience.

I just went to a wonderful workshop in the mountains with my spiritual support group, and we stayed focused on meditating on the 4 aspects of the Heart Center. If one aspect was calling us more than another then we focused on that particular aspect. The 4 aspects of the Heart Center that we focused on are:

1. Compassion - Sometimes it is easier to have more compassion with others than we do with ourselves. Pracice must always begin at home by finding compassion with ourselves. Compassion allows you to develop another state of consciousness and awareness. Compassion gives you clarity.
2. Inate Harmony - Accepting all the parts of yourself just as they are, without judgement - this means owning your shadow material, and trying to observe it as a pattern that we have developed, without judgement. I know it is hard to believe and there is a part of us that only wants to accept what we have determined and judged as "good" without ever owning our disowned parts(i.e.greed, jealousy,judgement). We must accept all our parts, and not deny or judge them - just observe them when they appear, and begin to become conscious of the why.
3. Healing Presence - When you can be open to all the parts of yourself without judging them, a wonderful healing and shift takes place. Try to come from a place of assessment rather than than critical judgement - an example might be "today, I made an unkind statement rather than, I am always unkind!!!"
4. Unconditional Love - Just PURE LOVE - the glue that holds all of us and the Universe together - each person playing their part in the greater unfolding process. Shedding light on even the destrucive parts of ourselves, allows for Divine healing to take place. It is all part of the cycle that makes us - us. Once we can love ourselves and all our parts unconditionally, we are different, and the way we look at things is less emotional. Since we are Pure love, we attract pure love into our lives - when you can hold and be in this space, it is a great way to live.

We lit a candle each day and placed our hands on our hearts and meditated on each of the these aspects of the heart center, and some wonderful healings took place - I was truly blessed for the insights that I received and honored to be in nature with like-mined people. Try meditating on the 4 aspects of the heart and see the difference it makes in your life.

by Fran Buckless