Meditation and Pause Points
Once again, I am choosing to share a newsletter with you. I have received so many lately containing precious gems to be digested. This one comes from Sally Kempton, a well known meditation teacher, and she speaks of the "pause points" in meditation which are gateways to the Samadhi experience.
Sally Kempton has also been known as Swami Durgananda, and she spent several decades as a monastic living in an ashram. She regularly writes a column for Yoga Journal that is my favorite. I have had the pleasure of studying with her in the past. Here are her insights and words of wisdom. Enjoy!
"The Pause Point, the Gap, the space that naturally occurs at the beginning and end of every activity in life. These natural pauses, are hard-wired meditation opportunities, doorways in the flow of experience. They happen constantly, over and over again. At these Pause Points, the out-flowing mind is invited to turn within, fold into its own source, and inhabit the Presence at the heart of reality.
But if you're not looking for them, you usually miss those moments...
Why is this a big deal? The great text of Vedanta, Tripura Rahasya, calls these pause points, 'fleeting Samadhis.' Samadhi is the Sanskrit name for the state of absorption in the Self, the real source of the mind, the ever-present such-ness that is our deepest truth, and that connects each of us on the deepest level. Samadhi is one of the biggest deals in yoga. In classical meditation practice, its a goal that meditators aim for, and its considered rare and hard to attain. The paradox, though, is that through the Pause Points, Samadhi is totally accessible - if you have the subtlety to notice. Every time a Pause Point presents itself to you, you have an invitation to go into a deeper reality, to rejuvenate yourself at the wellspring of your own Source. Yes, it may only last an instant, then dissolve with the next thought. But with practice and awareness, you can become adept at using those instants to touch the primordial bliss of your true nature, the ever-present Self."
More on Pause Points tomorrow!
Visit Sally Kempton at:
www.sallykempton.com
Sally Kempton has also been known as Swami Durgananda, and she spent several decades as a monastic living in an ashram. She regularly writes a column for Yoga Journal that is my favorite. I have had the pleasure of studying with her in the past. Here are her insights and words of wisdom. Enjoy!
"The Pause Point, the Gap, the space that naturally occurs at the beginning and end of every activity in life. These natural pauses, are hard-wired meditation opportunities, doorways in the flow of experience. They happen constantly, over and over again. At these Pause Points, the out-flowing mind is invited to turn within, fold into its own source, and inhabit the Presence at the heart of reality.
But if you're not looking for them, you usually miss those moments...
Why is this a big deal? The great text of Vedanta, Tripura Rahasya, calls these pause points, 'fleeting Samadhis.' Samadhi is the Sanskrit name for the state of absorption in the Self, the real source of the mind, the ever-present such-ness that is our deepest truth, and that connects each of us on the deepest level. Samadhi is one of the biggest deals in yoga. In classical meditation practice, its a goal that meditators aim for, and its considered rare and hard to attain. The paradox, though, is that through the Pause Points, Samadhi is totally accessible - if you have the subtlety to notice. Every time a Pause Point presents itself to you, you have an invitation to go into a deeper reality, to rejuvenate yourself at the wellspring of your own Source. Yes, it may only last an instant, then dissolve with the next thought. But with practice and awareness, you can become adept at using those instants to touch the primordial bliss of your true nature, the ever-present Self."
More on Pause Points tomorrow!
Visit Sally Kempton at:
www.sallykempton.com
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