Discovering True Freedom…
Meditation wasn’t always part of my life, in fact it was quite far from who I was as a person when I started hearing about it. For me, meditation meant sitting down crossed legged (or even in lotus, if flexible enough) and staying there, not doing anything, nor thinking about anything for way too long. And I think that’s what most people hear when they hear the word meditation, right?
I was more of a “doing” person than a “sit down, do nothing, be quiet” person. So when I started practicing yoga, the only thing I was interested in was getting more and more asanas under my belt as fast as possible, sweat, get flexible, and be done with it. To do what? To go where? I didn’t even think about that, I just rushed on my mat, rushed through my practice and rushed back to my rushed life…
At the same time, I was reading more and more books about meditation, about being present, the “Be Here Now” mantra from Ram Dass kept going around in my mind, and before my mind got around to what it meant, I think my soul had fallen in Love with these three words… BE HERE NOW.
I can’t remember having one “ahah!” moment, but I do remember gradually spending more and more time sitting with my breath, and allowing my body to just be there and do nothing, allowing my thoughts to go round and round and start observing them like you watch your kid go in circles on a merry-go-round.
And to me, that’s the closest thing to what thoughts are: they’re like people on a merry-go-round: they keep turning, each one focused on their own special experience, but no one going anywhere. And you can either jump on the merry-go-round and start spinning, or you can just stay there, observe them for a while, then get on with your life, knowing that you aren’t missing much really, that all of this is just temporary and that it doesn’t lead anywhere. Be Here Now…
So I started meditating more, just sitting there with my breath, observing my body, my thoughts, my emotions, and staying neutral by remembering to stay off the merry-go-round. And that’s when these “ahah!” moments started coming, one after the other, and after all this time, I am still in awe of how something so simple could have eluded me for such a long time.
Once you walk down this path, everything starts opening up, as if you had been living under a cloudy sky and the clouds suddenly vanished, letting the sun shine brighter than ever. You realise that there are no more limits, no more pain, no more suffering, no more of all these emotions or thoughts, YOU JUST ARE. HERE. NOW.
Realising that you are Infinite brings the ultimate Freedom, the one that no walls, no physical limits can ever contain, you realise that no matter where you are or what you are going through, you are FREE.
If you find it hard to meditate on your own, do as many guided meditations as you can, listen to people who make you feel safe and happy, until eventually you find your own inner voice and can just be present without any outside support.
Practice, it doesn’t need to be a long meditation, but be consistent, start with one minute, but do it everyday, then try 2mn, then 3… until you find the length of time that is both long enough to be of benefit and compatible with your own personal life.
Just be. Here. Now.
