“When I let go of who I am, I become who I might be.” – Lao Tzu It’s not easy to let go. Old habits, old relationships, old clothes… they all seem to hang around far longer than we want or need them to. It can be so difficult to break away from the tensions of our lives. The same can be said for those held within our bodies too. In a recent article we discussed how meditation can help let go of stagnant energy and make space for new energy, light and love to take it’s place. But that is much easier said than done! We all have an idea of what it means to meditate… you sit quietly with your eyes closed for a while right? Don’t think… just breathe. Just RELAX. But how many of us truly know how to do that? It’s hard! So whether you meditate for 10 minutes or 10 hours, there are a few pointers to consider that will help you get the most out of your time. Consider the following saying; “A Daoist does not meditate to relax, but relaxes to meditate.” To discover the real benefits of meditation, we first have to learn how to relax. And that means we need to create certain conditions within ourselves that will allow tension to be released. First on the list is… Safety This is the primary condition of true relaxation. But when we talk about safety, we don’t just mean that you need to meditate in an environment where you won’t get mugged. Although that is definitely a factor to consider! What we are addressing here is...
Visit the fashionable neighbourhoods of New York, London or Paris and you are sure to see the obvious hotspots… a quirky coffee shop, a farmers market, a spinning club. But the last few years have seen a new health trend emerge in cities all over the world. Meditation is hip, and there are studios popping up everywhere, offering respite from the bustling streets and crazy lives of people all over the globe. According to a recent survey by magazine Psychology Today, there are now 10 million people practicing some form of meditation daily, and that’s just in the US. A ritual once only associated with deeply spiritual and religious practices is now becoming universal. Mainstream! But why? Apart from the fact that it’s a cool thing to tell your friends, what are the real benefits of meditation? This was one of the first questions we addressed on the work/study program here at Wandering Dao. Two weeks ago we all arrived from different parts of the globe to start a 100 day journey into Qi Gong and Daoism. During that time we would be practicing sitting meditation for 2 hours everyday. For 100 days. 2 hours of sitting still. What a crazy thing to do! What possible reasons are there for putting yourself through such a thing? Well, we had a variety of answers. Some of us wanted to quieten hyperactive minds. Some of us wanted to know ourselves better. Others were seeking an increased awareness of life. But we all had one thing in common. We all came from the society of the ‘quick fix’. In our world things...
