Adventures in Meditation

When thinking about meditation in India, it's easy to think of immersing oneself in an ashram, a la "Eat, Pray, Love". That's basically what I did my first year here, when I did Vipassana meditation outside Hyderabad. It was easily the hardest thing I've ever done in my life: a 10 day silent meditation; waking up at 4am to sit and meditate... still sitting and meditating hours later. It was also one of the best things I've ever done; some call it a lobotomy of the mind. It's amazing all the hidden issues that arise, and how joyous and cleansed you feel after.

I'm eager to do it once more before leaving India this year. But at the same time, I'm excited to start a practice of meditation where I'm not holed up in a cave, in an ashram, or a Vipassana "cell". It's no wonder to me that yoga started in India, or that the Buddha achieved enlightenment here. India is the craziest of crazy places, where even a "relaxing" evening stroll is punctuated by numerous car honks, yells, or other loud noises.

I figure if I can meditate here, in my flat, which is easily twenty times louder than my apartment in NYC, I will achieve deep inner peace. I have my first go at it this morning, using a CD on Buddhist meditation that I got from the Omega Institute in New York.

I close my eyes, focus on my breath... and then hear the vegetable vendor yelling about tomatoes as though his life depended on it. Luckily, its though the voice over my speakers hears what's happening, and talks about one man who meditated living next to a fire station. He would use each siren as a way to check in and see whether he was present. I decide to give it a try.

For me, what was a shift during this meditation was just observing everything happening in my body -- including pain in my shoulders and itching, which is something I've been struggling with a while now. It's amazing what happens when you just observe and "give it space to open up." It just dissolves away.

Looking forward to making this a practice everyday! I may not reach enlightenment, but I'll settle for a happy and healthy body.