FOR THE LOVE OF MEDITATION ~ A BEGINNERS GUIDE

I met with a Buddhist monk last month because I wanted to know more about meditation.  Yes, I deep breathe.  I imagine the breath purifying each pore of my body.  I practice letting go, and sitting still as part of my daily yoga practice, but there was something more I wanted to find out.  How do we deal with what is happening in the news, when we read of devastating events?  I don't want to be one of those people that does not face it, and I don't want to be one of those people who gets swept up in it so much that they become it.  Where is the middle path here, I had to ask myself, as I sat down in the monks presence, and received the guided meditation?  The answer, that came to me was not all at once, but rather, like a slow drop of water.  This past month has had a rippling effect of understanding this deeper.  The best visual I can offer to you is that one drop, you must become it.  The one.  It is unattached to anything other then its own clarity of motion.  Now allow that motion to be your breath.  In and the out slowly.  Allow all thought to have permission, if you will, to be absent.  Allow yourself to feel the essence of being here, just being.  There is no attachment when in this state.  You are simply the flow of life itself within the vessel that you are.  It becomes simple.  It is a moment of isolation, centering in and realizing, we have this right, to not get swept away in any illusion no matter how real it may seem.  Allow the knowing that this meditation is in fact, the best remedy of practice for this planet and all beings upon it.  Practice this meditation for lets say, 3 min.  Then try it for 10, then 20.  Increase slowly to longer periods of time until it becomes your human nature.  Realize that it is love, it is caring for others, and that you will find this state of being within.  As we become that slow drop of water, for in fact, we will ripple out the essence and vibration that we are being.  We effect humanity through our thoughts alone.  Clearing the mind is healing the entire mandala around us.  Become that center point.  Now all you have to do there is inhale and exhale. Expand and contract. Expand and contract.  No attach. That point will serve harmony to flow and radiate outward as the ripple effect.  You just became that drop of water in its pure existence.  I hope this helps as a starting your own practice to meditation.