Meditation
Are you enjoying the ride? This Winter Solstice brings awareness of our constant motion around our Sun. Over the years, I have practiced many meditations to heighten my awareness of my travel through Space on this sphere which I often perceive to be stationary or stable. In fact, even in our most relaxed repose, we are spinning at 1,000 miles per hour and moving through Space at 67,000 miles per hour.
I have found meditating on my actual progress through the Universe on the Vehicle Earth both liberating and, for lack of a better word, grounding, even if the ground is in such a constant state of motion. If you do a sitting meditation, open your mind to the realization that you are on a rapidly moving sphere. Visualize yourself on that sphere. Visualize looking out into Space as your position on the sphere turns toward and then away from the Sun. You may actually experience a sense of motion. Relax with it. Enjoy the ride.
A more visual exercise is to meditate in a sunny room or outside in the sunlight. Prior to beginning your meditation, take a few moments to look carefully at the shadows in your environment. Notice where the shadows are falling in relation to surrounding objects. Make a mental note about the shadows and note the time. (Inexperienced meditators may want to set a timer for 15 minutes.) Now meditate, relaxing and breathing normally with eyes open and unfocused or eyes closed. Focus on your breath, especially when you exhale. If you feel distracted, refocus on your breathing and relax. There is no wrong way to do this. When you end your meditation and become more aware of your surroundings, note where the shadows are in your surroundings. Then contemplate on the fact that the Sun hasn't moved relative to you. You have moved, relative to the Sun, even while meditating quietly in a still position.
This kind of experience attunes you to your actual environment, beyond the petty distractions of man-made things and activity. If you do it regularly, you will find your mind opening to a new awareness of your life and actual position in the Universe. And, as our Great Vehicle, Earth, tilts those of us on its Northern Hemisphere toward the Sun gradually with longer and eventually warmer days, your appreciation of life and its very basic elements may grow.
I have found meditating on my actual progress through the Universe on the Vehicle Earth both liberating and, for lack of a better word, grounding, even if the ground is in such a constant state of motion. If you do a sitting meditation, open your mind to the realization that you are on a rapidly moving sphere. Visualize yourself on that sphere. Visualize looking out into Space as your position on the sphere turns toward and then away from the Sun. You may actually experience a sense of motion. Relax with it. Enjoy the ride.A more visual exercise is to meditate in a sunny room or outside in the sunlight. Prior to beginning your meditation, take a few moments to look carefully at the shadows in your environment. Notice where the shadows are falling in relation to surrounding objects. Make a mental note about the shadows and note the time. (Inexperienced meditators may want to set a timer for 15 minutes.) Now meditate, relaxing and breathing normally with eyes open and unfocused or eyes closed. Focus on your breath, especially when you exhale. If you feel distracted, refocus on your breathing and relax. There is no wrong way to do this. When you end your meditation and become more aware of your surroundings, note where the shadows are in your surroundings. Then contemplate on the fact that the Sun hasn't moved relative to you. You have moved, relative to the Sun, even while meditating quietly in a still position.
This kind of experience attunes you to your actual environment, beyond the petty distractions of man-made things and activity. If you do it regularly, you will find your mind opening to a new awareness of your life and actual position in the Universe. And, as our Great Vehicle, Earth, tilts those of us on its Northern Hemisphere toward the Sun gradually with longer and eventually warmer days, your appreciation of life and its very basic elements may grow.
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