Folks, I have been a meditator for about 18 years now, spending approximately 50 days in total at different silent meditation retreats, and keeping a regular meditation practice. Over the last few years I have found myself extremely challenged within meditation circles, as I have had deep levels of sadness and grief arise - which resulted in deep crying, and even wailing at times. My guess is that my soul is processing some deep trauma and abandonment from childhood. It happens quite often, but my experience in many of the meditation circles that I have been a part of, is that they have not been willing or able to sit with that. It is often too much for them. Particularly with me being a man, and how a man wailing tends to challenge our norms and beliefs. I have sat through many week-long silent meditation retreats where women have cried and the teachers were perfectly OK with it. I myself, have been kicked out of retreats for crying. What I have found, is that no attempt to push it away or channel it into some other realm has worked for me. Nor do I think that is healthy. I think it is totally normal for all of us to have healthy emotions. As a shamanic practitioner said to the other day, in a group that I was in, Someone with a healthy digestive system tends to take a bowel movement 3 times a day. If they were to try to hold that in, that would create all sorts of health problems. Why is it that our society has such a difficult time when our body wants to move emotions through our system? If we try to hold them back, health issues will develop that was as well. That said, its time and I want to cultivate a community of meditators that are TOTALLY OK with this sort of energy arising during a meditation. And life, for that matter. I am one of those types of people that cries deeply at movies, or when hearing of people standing up for peace and justice, or upon hearing a great tragedy that occurred on the opposite side of the globe. I am a DEEPLY emotional being. I am OK with that. For this reason, I have started a group called, The Ecstatic Meditation Circle. The group description is below. If you are interested in being a part of this, please inquire. I intend for us to do regular sits, walking and more dynamic meditation practices - both for simple half-hour, and day-longs or weekends, once the community builds. This group is for people who are interested in being a part of a meditation community that moves beyond the common misconception that meditation is about moving into stillness and silence. While techniques that harness our ability to be still and silent are essential to the meditation path, it is our understanding that those techniques are used for the purpose of cultivating our overall and deep awareness, equanimity and compassion. They are not ends unto themselves. It is our understanding that meditation is a practice of getting in touch with our truest selves, as a way to fully allow that self to shine. With this in mind, the Ecstatic Meditation Circle is a community that is very open to involuntary movement that might arise during meditation - such as crying, wailing, sudden movements (kriyas), etc. There are some communities that would feel challenged by this, but we embrace it. If we can sit in a rain storm and learn to stay centered in ourselves during that rain storm, we can sit still as our brothers or sisters experience a rain storm that pours over their soul, or an earthquake that involuntarily moves their body. While voluntary noises might not be appropriate for a silent sit, as that is not the collective intention set, when our involuntary messages of the soul arise, we lovingly welcome them, and learn to be with them, compassionately, as a community.
Posted on: Fri, 24 Oct 2014 16:52:52 +0000
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