"To develop river-like generosity,
sun-like affection and
earth-like hospitality."
Moinuddin Chishiti
Meditative journey...
Dear new meditators,
Congratulations on embarking on this wonderful journey of inner exploration. Now that you’ve taken your first steps, a limitless world of possibilities and opportunities for growth lies ahead of you. The initial phase of meditation might feel like quietly exploring the unknown, but within this silence lies immense power.
First and foremost, be gentle with yourself. Meditation is not a race but a journey that each of us travels at our own pace. It’s important to take a few moments each day for yourself, even if it’s just for a few minutes, to connect with your inner self. Consistency is key – even short but regular meditation brings profound changes.
Explore different techniques and find the one that resonates most with you. You might discover that some techniques appeal to you more than others, and that’s perfectly okay. Follow your intuition and allow it to guide you toward a deeper understanding of yourself.
It’s also important to enrich your practice with curiosity and without expectations. Every moment of meditation is different, and that’s the beauty of this practice. Embrace whatever arises – calmness, restlessness, joy, or sadness – all of it is part of your journey toward inner freedom.
Lastly, remember that meditation is a tool that helps you better understand yourself and the world around you. Every breath, every moment of silence connects you with something greater, something deeper. Trust this path and know that you are always in the right place at the right time.
May your meditation practice bring you deep peace, clarity, and inner joy. Continue to explore, practice, and above all – enjoy this journey toward yourself.
Mojca
Embrace your unique meditative path
In a world filled with various approaches and techniques, it's essential not to forget something truly valuable—our uniqueness. Meditation is not the same for everyone; it is a journey that is unique to each individual.
Listen to yourself. Your inner wisdom and intuition are the best guides on this journey. Create your meditation practice that reflects your needs, interests, and deep desires. There is no need to follow someone else’s exact guidelines or techniques. Instead, explore, experiment, and discover what truly resonates with you.
Your path is your own. Let your meditation be an expression of your unique nature, your path to inner peace and self-discovery. Trust yourself and believe that you have everything you need to create a practice that nourishes your body, mind, and spirit.
Go with the flow and embark on a path that is yours alone. Be courageous, be true to yourself, and create a meditation practice that will lead you to a deeper connection with your inner self.
As you embark on the journey of self-discovery and the creation of your meditation practice, you may encounter various challenges. How do you find what truly works for you? How do you create a practice that deeply resonates with your inner nature? Doubts may arise, resistances may surface, and through meditation, you might encounter content, feelings, or emotions that are not pleasant...
This is where the theory and, above all, the practice of the 3D Enneagram can come to your aid, becoming a powerful ally in your meditation. The Enneagram is an ancient system that has been upgraded into a modern tool for self-exploration, and I have added the 3D aspect to help you gain a deeper understanding of yourself, your patterns, motivations, and deepest psychological structure. By recognizing your Enneagram personality type and its dimensions, you can discover what inspires you, what holds you back, and how to best support your growth.
How can the 3D Enneagram assist in your meditation practice?
- Personal Alignment: By understanding your unique Enneagram profile, you will find it easier to create a meditation practice that is aligned with your inner nature. Instead of following universal techniques, you can choose approaches that support your specific needs and inner dynamics.
- Deep Understanding of Motives: The 3D Enneagram helps you recognize deeper motives and unconscious patterns that guide your life. This enables you to focus your meditation on areas where you seek greater clarity, relaxation, or transformation.
- Adapting the Practice: With the help of the 3D Enneagram, you can continuously adapt your meditation practice according to your current emotional states and life circumstances. This way, your practice will always be relevant and effective, as it will be based on your present inner world.
By using the 3D Enneagram, you will find it easier to create a meditation practice that is truly your own—a practice that nurtures your body, mind, and spirit, and guides you on your path to inner peace and self-realization.
Some additional suggestions
Everything, absolutely everything you do can be part of meditation or contemplation. Being mindful in small daily tasks, conversations, rest, ... adds a completely new dimension and horizon to life. Giving yourself space for small, sometimes just a few seconds long pauses to center yourself, align your body, soul, and spirit into a harmonious whole, allows you to remain mindful no matter where you are, what you are doing, or what is happening around you.
Walking meditation / Meditation While Walking
Few activities center us as quickly and effectively as walking in mindfulness or deeply conscious contemplation of the moment. Perhaps you could start your small meditation practice with a walk from the parking lot to work. Or when you take time for a walk in nature. Nature is a particularly rich element that supports us in our meditation practice. You can fully dedicate yourself to the act of walking, expand your awareness beyond yourself to the nearby and distant surroundings, or use these moments for gentle observation or even contemplation of a specific current issue. Let the rhythm of your walk set the pace for everything—your breathing, emotions, thoughts. Observe what it's like to walk truly consciously, perhaps slower than usual, because you've given yourself that permission, you've allowed yourself that pause from your usual self...
In fact, walking belongs to any repetitive movement that synchronizes and calms our brain (directly influencing the reticular formation in the brainstem), so you can start any meditation with some rhythmic movement: with the movement exercise we learned in Part 1, with dancing, walking, swaying, running... Use your imagination and explore.
Meditation in Sports
Sports also require a lot of centering and have their own rhythm; "being in the flow" is a sports term for Natural Presence, when we just are and act intuitively, without any excess. This is probably why sports attract us, because they offer us this liberation (from our usual self :).
Meditation in... Everything We Do
In Zen Buddhism, many formal expressions of meditation and mindfulness have been developed: the tea ceremony, creating ikebana, the short poetic form called haiku, ... I personally love the tea ceremony; sometimes alone, sometimes with a companion. So cooking can also be meditative, as can vacuuming, mopping the floors, and so on...
Presence When Eating
To be truly present, to savor and enjoy every bite. We can start with choosing the food itself; where and what we will buy or grow. When we feel the urge to eat something quickly or something we know we’ll regret later, for example, to suppress some emotion or to "comfort" ourselves with a whole tub of ice cream, that’s the right moment for a short pause/meditation about what is really happening at that moment, or we might contemplate whether there is a better, more suitable way for us.
Meditation of Forgiveness and Gratitude
We can start here with ourselves, especially when it comes to forgiveness. You will find many resources online about meditations on these two themes.
Meditation on an Inspiring Person or Archetype
We can also take a person (real or imagined) who inspires us as the object of our observation and reflect on what it is about that person that inspires us, what we might miss in ourselves or do not dare to show because...
We can take any archetype at any level as the object of our observation; abstract geometrical or at the level of deities. Here, for example, Christian contemplative methods like oratio can teach us a lot. Oratio is that moment when, through contemplation, we offer our heart to God as a response to His word that we have read and meditated upon. It is a dialogue where one places their thoughts, emotions, and desires before God. During oratio, there is no room for formalities or routine. It is a personal, sincere prayer that comes from the depths of the heart, as a direct response to God’s revelation in the text.
Here, too, the possibilities for exploring various techniques, traditions, and methods are vast. I often use the chief White Cloud prayer for my meditation.
Contemplation of Daily and Yearly Rhythms, of the Sun and the Moon...
Throughout the day, we can take a short pause and become aware of the time of day. In modern life, full of light pollution, it is sometimes difficult to realize that it’s already well into the night, and we deprive ourselves of necessary sleep. In the morning and at sunset, we take a moment to connect with the Sun, which makes life possible and allows us to be alive because of the energy that every living being on Earth absorbs in one way or another. Us included. Every cell in our body shares a part of the Sun's energy.
The Moon, mysterious, drives the seas, moves us here and there, some more, others less. Hidden, yet always present, in its phases, it gives rhythm to the woman within me...
Contemplation of the Stars, the Universe
Sometimes, when I return home from work at night, after parking the car and having a few steps to the entrance, I take a few moments, especially on a clear night full of stars, to give myself the chance to feel the perspective, me and the stars, me and the universe. At first, it was a bit intimidating, but now it fills me with quiet joy and trust...
We have reached the end, .... which is really just a new beginning.
Dear Meditators,
As we come to the end of our meditation course, I would like to encourage you to take with you one of the key teachings we have explored—the principle of wu wei.
Wu wei teaches us that true power lies not in forceful action but in natural, spontaneous action that is in harmony with the rhythm of life. Throughout this course, each of you has experienced moments of deep peace when your mind and body worked in harmony, effortlessly. This is the essence of wu wei—allowing yourself to go with the flow of life, without the constant need for control and striving.
As you return to your everyday lives, I encourage you to carry this sense of natural action with you in every step. Let wu wei guide you in your decisions, relationships, and in everything you do. Trust that in moments when you stop forcing and simply allow things to happen, you will find deeper wisdom, clarity, and inner peace.
Remember, meditation is just the beginning. The true art lies in bringing this state of inner peace and balance into your daily life. Don’t force, don’t rush, but instead, go with the flow and allow life to unfold as it is meant to. Trust the process and be present in every moment.
May you carry with you the deep calm, clarity, and ease that comes from acting in accordance with the natural order of things. Thank you for your dedication and presence in this course. May the principle of wu wei bring harmony and contentment into your life.
May your step be light and your spirit peaceful.
Thank you, and best wishes on your journey,
Mojca