I was brought up a Protestant Christian. In the past year when I've been going through the process of divorce. At critical times, afraid for the future and feeling sorry for myself, I go to the local Catholic grottos and churches. I take solace in the statues of Christ and the saints. I talk directly to Christ at all the different times in his life, when he was a baby to when he was resurrected, and to Mary, and St Francis, and St Peter.
In particular I love the pietas. Mother Mary holding her dead or dying son Jesus Christ calms me, puts my own small problems into a bigger perspective. I love the pietas.
But I've also been learning the scientifically proven effects of meditation, proper meditation. Meditation lets the lower limbic part of the brain, the fight or flight part of the brain rest for while. And meditation makes the frontal lobe of the brain grow, literally grow. If you take a catscan of your brain then meditate for 11 minutes every day for 30 days, then take another catscan, you will see visual evidence that your frontal lobe has grown.
Meditation was hard for me to learn. It took about a year of practicing or I should say struggling to practice meditation before I was able to settle into it and allow it to be what it is. And it is useful, and I do enjoy it now. But it wasn't easy to learn, it was definately for me a slow process.
But with learning meditation I became acquainted with Buddha statues too. And they act as a visual cue to calm my mind also.
I like that Buddhism isn't dogmatic. I can be Christian and practice Buddhism at the same time, because the practice of Buddhism is as simple as practicing meditation. Yoga helps too, it helps prepare the body for meditation; yoga is the means but meditation is the end. It is the practice of Buddhism. Nothing more, nothing less. The essential simplicity of meditation.
So I can pray to Jesus, and I can meditate too. And the two are lovely combination.
So I am setting up an altar near my meditation cushion. A meditation cushion consists of two parts, it is a zafu and zabuton. The altar just makes the spot feel more reverent and calm, acts as a visual cue to calm the mind.
But I've also been learning the scientifically proven effects of meditation, proper meditation. Meditation lets the lower limbic part of the brain, the fight or flight part of the brain rest for while. And meditation makes the frontal lobe of the brain grow, literally grow. If you take a catscan of your brain then meditate for 11 minutes every day for 30 days, then take another catscan, you will see visual evidence that your frontal lobe has grown.
Meditation was hard for me to learn. It took about a year of practicing or I should say struggling to practice meditation before I was able to settle into it and allow it to be what it is. And it is useful, and I do enjoy it now. But it wasn't easy to learn, it was definately for me a slow process.
I like that Buddhism isn't dogmatic. I can be Christian and practice Buddhism at the same time, because the practice of Buddhism is as simple as practicing meditation. Yoga helps too, it helps prepare the body for meditation; yoga is the means but meditation is the end. It is the practice of Buddhism. Nothing more, nothing less. The essential simplicity of meditation.
So I can pray to Jesus, and I can meditate too. And the two are lovely combination.
So I am setting up an altar near my meditation cushion. A meditation cushion consists of two parts, it is a zafu and zabuton. The altar just makes the spot feel more reverent and calm, acts as a visual cue to calm the mind.
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