My Old Understanding of Meditation
I never "believed" in meditation. I was always skeptical and didn't fully understand what meditation was. I had huge bias towards anyone who said they practiced meditation or talked highly of it. I associated it with people who believed in "spiritual" nonsense, another concept I didn't fully understand.
I also assumed meditation had to do with religion and connecting to the universe or some kind of higher power of faith, which rubbed me the wrong way since I have always gravitated towards science.
Overall, meditation in my mind was some kind of hippie ritual that was intended to promote peace, happiness, nothingness and facilitate religious explanations of various phenomenon. I was so wrong...
It took depression, over thinking, addiction and codependency for me to even consider meditation as a potential solution for my issues in life. Little did I know it would become the primary tool for helping me improve my quality of life and anchor my authentic being.
How Meditation Changed My Life
In 2016, I started meditating at Rutgers University in New Jersey with a Zazen Master of over 40 years. It was here I began my meditation journey and learned the specific Zazen meditation practice.
The life changing experiences I went through were so vast and intense that I ended up writing a book about them which will be available soon through the links below.
In short, I became so fascinated with the cognitive abilities, deep awareness and conscious exploration I was going through with the meditation that I became obsessed with learning more about the science behind it.
I digested books written by neuroscientists, philosophers, Buddhists, psychologists and coaches. After conducting a couple years of research and combining it with my own experiences with my Zazen practice, I have created a step-by-step custom meditation.
If you're interested in knowing more about the specific ways meditation has influenced my life, check out my FREE book below:
I found that there are so many meditation gurus out there who practice meditations that are closer to relaxation techniques or religious based instead of scientifically driven. I was and am more interested in the science behind meditation and the benefits it can provide such as psychological problem solving and improving the quality of my being. I slowly understood that meditation can be used to dive into deeper states of awareness, tap into reservoirs of wisdom and cultivate authenticity that can be reflected in day-to-day life. My meditation helps do that, but it is not for someone who wants to "relax."
In fact, my meditation is the opposite of relaxation. If anything, you will most likely suffer a bit by practicing my meditation. However, that is the beauty of it. This meditation teaches you how to suffer. It forces you to enter the uncomfortable mental and physical spaces and face them through practicing non-judgmental acceptance and gentle investigation.
Some of the benefits I have personally experienced from my custom meditation are:
1. "Mindlessness" reduction
2. Accessing the spectrum of human awareness
3. Improved mood and emotional regulation
4. Breaking down of conditioned psychological beliefs, personality issues and addictions
5. Finding deeper truths behind your biases, interpretations and perceptions
6. Increased self-awareness and social competence
7. Enlightenment of fundamental roots
8. New appreciation for clarity
9. Overall consciousness growth
10. Increased intensity of life experiences
11. Alignment of life purpose
12. Improvement of quality of life
13. Embracing authentic existence and flaws
14. Accepting Loss and pain
15. Living with fear and suffering
16. Awakening of the subconscious mind
17. Reduction of not feeling good enough
18. Stronger feelings of worldly connection
19. Improved ability to let go
20. Fundamental Guidance and patience
