“What a Trip” – or Further experiments with mantra meditation
Here’s a peak experience having itself: I stumbled quite spontaneously on a way to practice mantra meditation based purely on what made sense at the time. To engage the entire body/mind and generate increased focus I went for a walk on the deserted beach while playing instrumental dance music over the headphones at about 120 beats per minute. I started breathing in through the nose and out through the mouth in time to the music and in synch with the maha-mantra as I recited it to myself, one mantra on the in-breath and one mantra on the out-breath. It took some minutes, but eventually I was able to focus enough to generate a loop. The loop continued for over two hours, while walking up and down the shoreline as the waves splashed up to my feet. And although it was not your 16 rounds of japa and all that, it did feel like a heightened experience. Especially when schools of dolphin cascaded through the translucent sea across the entire bay. The walking meditation then turned to sitting meditation for another hour or so, during which time I shifted the breathing to a slightly faster pace by inhaling on half the maha-mantra of 32 syllables and exhaling on the other half. So half is recited aloud and half is recited silently in the mind. This would help to maintain the attention span if the mind became bored or wandered too much. After all it is always wondering.
Having sat and stared out to sea for some minutes meditating, I suddenly saw what had been there all the time just above the horizon – the Moon. Well, that just opened up a whole further host of synapses to receive the spontaneous feeling of joy or bliss.
I seem to have followed my nose to a state of paradise on earth. It helps when the environment is idyllic to begin with.
I don’t get down to the beach for my walking meditation more than twice a week, but with days like this I have decided to increase the routine…now that I’m in the mood. This is what is to be expected with the Sun and Moon both in water signs today at a harmonious 120 degree aspect to each other.
