Let's talk about Meditation Baby, Let's talk about you and me

Why hello there folks.

The topic this week will be about meditation. And I can't wait to talk about it.

So this blog will be about meditation and Buddhism - at least hopefully. If I don't present it right, then I apologize, but I'm stoked to share with you all what I learned this week.

Before that however, please get into the mood of my blog by listening to this song:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Azb28hq75Jc

Alright, so to begin my blog, I want to remind you of my previous question about meditation: "Can we meditate anywhere?" To which according to the monks at Wat Dui Suthep as well as the experiences I've accumulated this week, the answer is a definite yes. The monks at Wat Dui Suthep bestowed much knowledge upon me, well.. at least knowledge that I was awake to listen to. Such examples were the approximately 227 rules that monks have to follow in addition to the five laws that monks cannot break ( Mihir says you can't lie, don't kill, don't steal, no intoxication, and finally no adultery.) However, the information that I paid most attention to was when the monks clarified that meditation wasn't as rigid as I had originally assumed. Instead, meditation is a medium for mindfulness that can be utilized anywhere. According to the monks, you can meditate anywhere, at any time, in any position, and utilizing any method. This was very interesting to me because then this means that I can be mindful in almost everything that I do daily. In addition to what the monks clarified, within class as well as morning meditation, I was also introduced to walking meditation and eating meditation. In walking meditation, I became more aware of the movement my body makes. I felt the strain with each step, and realized how balance could be easily thrown off. Eating meditation further increased my awareness of the movement of my mouth, of the taste of the food, of the sharpness of my teeth and much more. I cannot tell you how much I enjoyed different variations in meditation. Personally, I found sitting meditation to be difficult. I'm not as flexible as I would like to be, however the pain isn't the worst part about it - my mind wanders far too often to remain mindful. However, especially within walking meditation, I was constantly aware of my body, and just my body - nothing else.

Now why is this important you ask? Well, I argue that meditation is a powerful technique (utilized by followers of Buddhism) that counteracts and reduces suffering. However, when we talk about suffering, most people only take note of the extremes of suffering. When I talk about suffering, as mentioned in Buddha's Brain as well, they are the the micro aspects that either instantly elicits suffering, or builds-up over time. For example, a physical suffering may be eating too fast. We know that if we eat too fast, our stomachs will hurt. However, although this knowledge is within us, many people (when hungry) will still eat as fast as they can, and will only realize the negative consequences when it finally hits them. Now, we can attribute this situation to be a result of a type of society that wants everything finished fast, however, needless to say, it's a bad habit that elicits suffering. But, imagine if we were more mindful of eating. Instead of wolfing everything down, we slowly enjoyed the food. Instead of wolfing everything down, we can feel the texture and savor the taste of everything we eat. Granted that it would take forever to accomplish, however, not only would we not experience the aftermath of indigestion, but we would also learn to appreciate not only the food, but most likely everything else that is associated with the food (the one that prepared it, or where it came from).