Vid: New Skill Unlocked: Your Meditation Journey

My arrogance¹ would accompany me through the 6-hour journey on foot to the Sun Gate. As time went on, my legs ached for rest and my breath begged² for stillness³, but the vision of standing in Machu Picchu helped shut out the hissing of my weak thoughts.

As a child, the calm warriors who walked for days to find their masters fascinated⁴ me. The journey to their destination always ended up being what made them stronger. It’s been 8 years since I’d achieved my lifelong dream⁵ of visiting Machu Picchu. It used to haunt me but now I can relive this trip in meditation whenever I want to.

Meditation is to your mind what sleep is to your body

It is the discipline of the mind. There is a myth⁶ that meditation is for people who need to feel calm, it is not true. I’ve heard athletes discuss their mindsets⁷ in the same way that meditation teachers refer to their minds during meditation. While what happens in the mind during a competition is different from what happens when you’re sitting in a calm place, the principles of attaining⁸ stillness are the same.

Training your mind to remove judgement on what things should be or shouldn’t be is a benefit. It releases you from blocks that make your mind sick, which in turn makes your body sick.

Our bodies have this amazing ability to heal⁹ itself. When we are stressed and don’t take time to let our mind and body rest, we work against ourselves in our healing process.

Meditation is freedom from time

Fortunately and unfortunately, we are in the dimension¹⁰ where time controls everything we do. As we wake up in the morning, we think about what we will do during the day. And it is normal, otherwise, we wouldn’t have much motivation¹¹ to get out of bed. Some of us go to sleep with those thoughts and don’t really let our minds rest from everyday tasks. I’m sure many stress about work during their sleep. I assure¹² you that this is completely unhealthy and is slowly killing us.

One way to calm the mind before sleep is to detach¹³ your thoughts from your reality. Realise that you will complete your tasks when the time comes. Right now, your mind needs to rest while you rest your body.

No matter ¹⁴how hard it feels, you will get there. Just like a child learns to get up, walk and run, you can reach your meditative goals too. As I said before, leave judgement behind.

Meditation is rest from our masks

How often do we smile even if inside we are tired and feel like our sleep was too short? This is a mask. Every time that we leave our comfortable cocoon¹⁵, we put a mask on to protect our vulnerable¹⁶ selves and our ego. These different masks appear with different people. Some people let us be ourselves but most of the time, we wear a thick mask.

In your meditation, practise dissolving¹⁷ the layers¹⁸ of the mask. This should first be done in a comfortable place. Later on, you’ll be able to do it in less practical places if that is your goal. By layers, I mean the different things we’ve told ourselves to build the protective shell around us. Some of the layers I’ve built over the years are:

• protection against emotional outbursts¹⁹ from others
• not crying in public
• smiling even when I’m tired
• protection against criticism²⁰

The strongest people are the adults who can be vulnerable without letting outside factors affect their egos. I aim to be one of them.

Meditation is our home

There are times when the day is too long and I want a little break. It’s important to recognise stress in your body and release the stressful thoughts. Simple things that can cross your mind²¹ in a millisecond are paying rent or wondering what to have for dinner. These thoughts take you away from your present and build up stress. It is up to you to learn to admit to your own draining²² thoughts.

When these thoughts appear, greet them. Pushing them away simply creates blocks in your mind and body. If you don’t want to see them right now, you can observe your surroundings²³. Analyse the contours and shapes without feeling the need to name any objects. Let your eyes glide²⁴ over the curves and lines of shadows and light.

In the beginning, I used to fall asleep. I believe that it was much-needed mental rest from a lifetime of not meditating. Now I’ve learned to get re-energised²⁵ in meditation. It feels like pushing a reset button.

1. arrogance – overbearing pride or self-importance ↩︎
2. begged – ask someone for something earnestly or humbly ↩︎
3. stillness – calm, quiet or motionless ↩︎
4. fascinated – strongly interested ↩︎
5. lifelong dream – an ambition that has existed for a long time ↩︎
6. myth – a traditional or legendary story, usually concerning some being or hero or event ↩︎
7. mindsets – a habitual or characteristic mental attitude that determines how you will interpret and respond to situations ↩︎
8. attaining – to reach an end ↩︎
9. heal – to become healthy again ↩︎
10. dimension – an expression for a derived physical quantity in terms of fundamental quantities ↩︎
11. motivation – a reason for behaving in a particular way ↩︎
12. assure – to cause someone to feel certain ↩︎
13. detach – disengage ↩︎
14. No matter – it is of no importance ↩︎
15. cocoon – an envelope in a protective or comforting way ↩︎
16. vulnerable – exposed to the possibility of being harmed ↩︎
17. dissolving – disappear or vanish ↩︎
18. layers – covers protecting a surface ↩︎
19. emotional outbursts – uncontrollable or sudden intense emotions ↩︎
20. criticism – the expression of disapproval of someone or something ↩︎
21. cross your mind – a thought that suddenly appears in your mind ↩︎
22. draining – tiring, to cause a valuable resource to be used up ↩︎
23. surroundings – environment ↩︎
24. glide – to move slowly, silently and effortlessly ↩︎
25. re-energised – to have energy again ↩︎