Meditation, The Ultimate Tool For Personal Growth

And where to practice it.

Meditation is the cheapest, lightest, easiest, and most powerful practice discovered by the human being. Therefore, it is the ultimate tool for your personal growth.

Now, most of you, probably all of you, think that meditation is to sit down in a crazy uncomfortable position — cross-legged, back straight, the spine aligned with your neck and your coccyx, your right hand on top of the left one, and all of that sitting flat butt on the ground or in a yoga mat. — Then the teacher tells you — Find your inner peace… feel the relaxation… let go…

As an untrained westerner, the only thing you will be feeling sitting in that position is PAIN.

Why do I know? Because I told you already that I am a magician…

I know because I was there sitting in the exact same position for many hours, and although at first, I felt relaxation and peace, after about 10 minutes in that position, my back started to ache and I could feel the gravity sinking my collar bone into the uncomfortable floor.

Until one day…

During a meditation retreat in Chile with my master Ritu, I went to talk to him and told him that the only thing I felt during the meditation was pain… Then he enlightened me with a piece of wise advice that I will never forget.

— Dario, why don’t you grab a fucking chair?…

… Why are you suffering sitting in such an uncomfortable position? In India, they sit like that because they don’t use chairs but you are not from India. Sit down in a chair and stop your suffering. —

Although he didn’t use the word “fucking”, he taught me some important lessons that day.

First: I acknowledged that I was creating my own suffering.

Second: I realized that I didn’t need to suffer following the way that others meditate. What works for someone else, it might not work for me and vice-versa.

After that retreat, I started to develop my own way to meditate following the Vipassana technique that Ritu taught me but with some modifications to my fitting.

Thanks to that, I released my pain, lowered my anger, and deepened my meditation.

Always Follow An Ancient Technique To Meditate

You can find your own way to meditate too. The most important “rule” is — always to follow an ancient technique, learn it, and practice it until you find its roots sinking on your nature — . After you achieve that, it’s time for you to modify it into your own style… or not. That’s up to you.

It is important to follow an ancient or already developed meditation technique because those techniques are passed generation by generation, sharpening every time more and more, developed and mastered for many years.

They are precious gems filled with deep wisdom and knowledge from many centuries. Besides, and the most important reason for it is that; you can be certain of something when learning an ancient meditation technique — they work.

Ancient Meditation Techniques That You Can Learn And Where To Learn It

There is plenty a type of these techniques and I am going to name some to give you an example and I also want to show you the places where you can learn them.

I have already been in some of those places and the rest I found them by recommendation or from people I follow so I believe they are legit.

#1) Vipassana Meditation From Goenka:

Vipassana means to see things as they really are, and is one of India’s most ancient techniques of meditation. It was rediscovered by Gotama Buddha more than 2500 years ago and was taught by him as a universal remedy for universal ills, and as an Art Of Living.

Vipassana is a way of self-transformation through self-observation.

Where can you learn it?:

Although Goenka isn’t still alive, Dhamma.org offers a 10 Day Meditation Retreat for free for anyone willing to learn its teaching in multiple locations over the world. See more in this link: Dhamma courses

#2) Vipassana Meditation From Munindra:

Munindra followed the same basics as Goenka but he developed a different kind of Vipassana that combines sitting meditation with walking meditation. Also, the sitting meditation technique is slightly different.

Another difference is that Munindra only taught a few students his technique whereas Goenka taught thousands of people.

Where can you learn it?:

My master Ritu offers a retreat once every month before the full moon and he is always happy to have people joining. The price is 13.000 Chilean pesos (14€) to cover the use of facilities which is ridiculously low. However, you do need to go to Chile. Link here: Rituraj Meditation Retreat

If you don’t want to go to Chile, I can also teach you. Drop me an email and I will send you the meditation guides I’ve got from Ritu and I will show you how to practice it.

#3) Taoist Meditation:

Taoism (pronounced dow-ism) is an ancient philosophy indigenous to China, which emphasizes living in harmony with Nature. Taoism is based on the teachings of Lao Tzu contained in the Tao Te Ching.

Although even if I find it a bit overpriced, the famous Youtuber George Thompson, has made a great effort to bring his master to light. This is his retreat in China. I haven’t gone there myself but judging the change I saw on George during his videos, this really worked for him.

Where can you learn it?:

See on their website: WUDANG TAOIST WELLNESS ACADEMY

#4) Yoga:

Thanks to social media and the spiritual hype we all know what Yoga is so I will not explain it.

Where can you learn it?:

My friend Celine and my friend Romy are wonderful and passionate girls. They are also great yoga teachers. They both teach in Amsterdam but they have different styles and Celine also offers yoga retreats.

You can contact Romy here: Romyjasmijn or on Instagram @romyjasmijn. Or you can contact Celine here: Celineyoga or on Instagram @celine_yoga

#5) Osho’s Dynamic Meditation:

Osho’s meditation is a fast, intense and thorough way to break old, ingrained patterns in the body-mind that keep one imprisoned in the past, and to experience the freedom, the witnessing, silence, and peace that are hidden behind those prison walls.

Osho was one of a kind and his meditation follows his steps. If you want to experiment with an active approach to meditation, this meditation is a good choice.

Where can you learn it?:

The link takes you to a post with the instructions to start practicings. Although I recommend you check Osho’s living program. If you don’t want to go to India or pay any money you can start practicing at home just by following the guidance in the post. See more here: Osho’s dynamic meditation

There are others like Zen Meditation and Kung-fu and Shamanic Meditation that I haven’t had the privilege to experience or to learn from someone that has gone through it.

If you know someone, I will be more than interested to learn about it. You can comment below or contact me personally.

Meditation Is A System, Not A Posture

Meditation is not just about sitting and observing your thought because you can do that too while you are walking, sitting in a chair, talking to friends, having sex, and getting drunk at a party. It is a system. It is a constant practice of how to analyze every impulse that comes to your senses and how to choose the response to those impulses.

Shall I act? Or shall I let it go? Should I punch this prick? Or should I just walk away with a smile and say thanks to him for his beautiful compliment about my face?

Meditation gives you the power of choosing your actions, your responses. Meditation is a highway to self-mastery…

This article was originally published at www.growingyourwildlife.com