Light Watkins is a meditation expert, and teaches beginner meditation classes across North America. You may read more about him here. Follow Light onFacebook and Twitter
Use the force Luke. Let go of your feelings. ~ Obi Wan Kenobi
Growing up in Alabama, I was a certified Star Wars junkie.
I lived and breathed any and everything having to do with Star Wars. I’d collected all of the action figures they had. Every Christmas there was never any question as to what I wanted from Santa. Could’ve been a Millennium Falcon, an AT-AT Walker, or perhaps an upgraded Light Saber to replace my worn-out one.
I remember one afternoon, my brother and my neighbor and I were dangerously balancing on the bed of a pickup truck, sparring with our Light Sabers, while riding through traffic (my neighbor’s crazy Dad was driving), pretending like we were cruising on our speeders through the Endor forest in Return of the Jedi.
Those were the good-old days when a kid would tap into the Force whenever he needed something extra to defeat the evil villains of the world.
Light Watkins is a meditation expert, and teaches beginner meditation classes across North America. You may read more about him here. Follow Light onFacebook and Twitter
Light Watkins is a meditation expert, and teaches beginner meditation classes across North America. You may read more about him here. Follow Light onFacebook and Twitter
If you’ve been meditating at least somewhat consistently, you’ve had moments (or entire meditations) where you didn’t know whether you were transcending – that is, stepping beyond your thoughts – or merely sleeping.
Although it happens to everyone, new meditators in particular have the knee-jerk tendency to fight sleep off, or chalk it up as a less successful meditation. But in fact, meditations where you thought you slept through most of it are extremely valuable experiences.
You see, meditation has a surgical way of correcting the physical, mental and emotional imbalances we’ve been dragging around for years.
Read More Post a comment (1)Light Watkins is a meditation expert, and teaches beginner meditation classes across North America. You may read more about him here. Follow Light onFacebook and Twitter
Light Watkins is a meditation expert, and teaches beginner meditation classes across North America. You may read more about him here. Follow Light onFacebook and Twitter
Light Watkins is a meditation expert, and teaches beginner meditation classes across North America. You may read more about him here. Follow Light onFacebook and Twitter
Light Watkins is a meditation expert, and teaches beginner meditation classes across North America. You may read more about him here. Follow Light onFacebook and Twitter
I’ve been getting better at packing for my monthly teaching tours. I used to take 3 or 4 books with me. Now I just take one. This past trip, I chose Catching The Big Fish by David Lynch. This is a book that has come up over and over in my work, because people (especially in LA) get inspired to learn meditation after reading it.
It’s a short book, with daily musings and anecdotes related to Lynch’s film career and daily meditation practice (he claims to never have missed a day of meditation in 33 years).
Read More
Here I share a story about a thief who used an innovative approach to escape punishment. On the surface, this parable may seem to glorify the use of malarky. But on a deeper level, knowing that it’s not possible to escape karma, I believe this story demonstrates how, when all hope seems lost, there’s always a way. Did the man come up with the story about the horse, or did the story about the horse enter into the consciousness of the man when he needed it? Determine for yourself how this story speaks to you and feel free to comment below.
Read More
Because some parts of India are overrun with monkeys the local officials control the monkey population by employing the help of professional monkey catchers.
Here’s how they do it:
The monkey catchers dig a hole in the ground, place peanuts and candies in the hole, and then place a wood covering over the hole with a tiny opening on it, barely big enough for the monkey to squeeze his little hand inside.
Sure enough, a monkey comes along, his mouth watering from the sweet scent of all those tasty treats awaiting him inside of the hole.
Read More
A couple of days ago, I took a friend to SushiSamba in downtown Chicago for lunch. It was a frigid, snowy day, and when we walked in, we were warmly greeted by a man in his mid-thirties named Chad.
I asked how he was doing, and Chad replied: “Legendary! Here, let me show you to your booth.”
I knew right away this was a special person. Who replies “Legendary” when someone asks how they’re doing??
The huge restaurant was virtually empty with the exception of maybe two or three other diners. However, our server was in such a chipper mood, it was as if he was making money hand over fist that day.
He treated us like royalty the entire time we were under his care. We loved it!
Read More Post a comment (0)
I met someone this past week who told me they’ve been teaching meditation for 20 years. They even teach a university course on the topic. Then this person started telling me what was most important as a meditator was to spend long stretches of time in one-pointed focus and concentration, away from society and everyday life.
On this point, I quietly nodded, but he seemed so adamant about his position that I declined to voice my point of view on this approach to meditation.
What I’ve learned throughout the past decade is that whenever we over-concentrate or over-focus, it keeps our mind active. When the mind is active, the body stays active. Under these conditions, studies have shown that the mind and body aren’t resting very much, if at all.
Read More Post a comment (1)
Westerners tend to have this idea that a quiet mind will bring about happiness and bliss.
But that’s backwards.
First, let’s get clear on what it is we really want. No one walks around with a blank mind. The nature of the Waking State is that you’re going to have thoughts – and lots of them.
It’s a well-known fact among people who study the brain that the average human has somewhere in the range of 60 to 90 thousand thoughts every day, and that about 90 percent of those thoughts get dumped into the next day.
So technically, everybody has a busy mind.
But last I checked, nobody was complaining about having too many creative thoughts, too many insights, or too many big ideas.
I suspect that’s what everyone is really after: a higher quality of thoughts.
Read More Post a comment (1)
When people find out that I’m a meditation teacher, one of the comments I hear is “I could never meditate because I can’t stop my mind from thinking.”
Well, I’ve got news for you: neither can I, and I’ve been meditating consistently since 2003. And neither can my teacher, who’s been meditating since 1967.
As far as I’ve seen, nobody can stop their thoughts by thinking about not thinking. Why? Because “don’t think” is a thought. “Why am I still thinking” is another thought.
Read More Post a comment (1)