Tuesday, January 29, 2008

Meditation Redux

So meditation is about mindlessness, about true relaxation, about rediscovering joy. It's not just sitting in a corner saying 'Om'. You've got walking meditation, breathing meditation, forms meditation. Heck, Kyudo is meditation if you do it right.

Since that's the way of it, here's a list of activities which ought to count as meditation practice:

  • Jamming on a musical instrument (right now for me it's the berimbau).
  • Playing with my dog.
  • Eating really, really good food.
  • Listening to music under the right circumstances.
  • Having some lap time with my cat.
  • Teaching my son to ________ a ________.
  • Talking to my wife with my head in her lap.

All these are exercises in presentness. Not the sort of meditation a lot of people have in mind, but they're all so freeing, so uplifting and joyful. Past and future fade away into a crystalline and wonderful now.

Isn't that meditation?

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