Thursday, August 16, 2012

Zen Time

Never thought in a million years that me and Brooke would be able to sit still for a whole 3 1/2 hours.... Mission accomplished.
Today we stuck to our word and went to the temple to learn how to meditate. We were suppose to go yesterday but after we met up for lunch and a beer.... it turned into two beers and then ya we decided we best just enjoy the rest of the day with a buzz instead of buddha. but I must say....
WHAT AN EXPERIENCE.
our expectations: "Ok so lets go get lunch then go to this thing for like 15, 30 minutes tops cause lets face it we both get bored easily and we can't sit still for anything.."
what happened: we got there and there were 4 other people in our class. (2 of which were a man who spoke no english and his translator aka daughter...) Our teacher Manit came in wearing jeans and a polo.
I was expecting some monk or something cra cra... He was so down to earth and normal.
So it was me, Brooke, these two girls who were backpacking and this guy who spoke no english and his daughter. The guy who spoke no english supposedly said he was just looking for a place to meditate and that he had seen the illusion of buddha a few times during meditation. He was startin to freak me out not gonna lie. So later on he got dismissed cause Manit said he could use some more "one on one" teaching ;)
Good call.
We continued our lesson where we learned the ins and outs of meditation. He said, "Welcome to the beginners class, this class will last between 3-4 hours.." I didn't even need to look at Brooke cause I already knew what she was thinking... Do we run or do we just pretend like we have self control. We stuck it out. and I am so glad we did.
The experience we had was one that cannot be described via blog/words. Its personal and self-relfecting. Manit requested that we keep the experience to ourself and that we share with others the knowledge of meditation but the true gain is within your own insight.
The type of meditation we were taught is called Insight Meditation. This type of meditation is practiced to help you have a better understanding of yourself through concentration, awareness, patiences, control, discipline and mindfulness. This meditation goes against what we have been programed to learn since birth....Since we were children we have been taught to copy, copy others thoughts, ideas and actions...What we aren't taught is to look inside ourselves for knowledge and direction. This is what I learned today...
Key reminders that stuck with me:
  • YOU ARE THE BOSS OF YOURSELF.
  • EVERY FEELING YOU FEEL IS BASED ON A CHOICE THAT YOU MADE.
  • YOU CANNOT CONTROL OTHERS, YOU CAN ONLY TRY TO INFLUENCE THEM BUT IT IS THEIR DECISION IN THE END. 
  • NOTHING IS PERMEANT

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