Rockin' Southern Meditation

How many times a day do you read or hear someone say, “you should try meditation”.  Once a practice for the mystical gurus only, now it has become part of most of our everyday lives. Even down here in the South.  There are a great variety of meditation methods you can choose from.  The uses for a meditation practice are so wide-spread that the definition of meditation encompasses many different ideas. The two most common uses for meditation are stress relief and spiritual connection. In fact, meditation really is in whatever form simply about connected with a deeper part of one’s consciousness.  The reason may be different, but connection is what meditation is all about.  

There was once a time when the topic of meditation was not heard of in the South, or perhaps, it was not well thought of in the South.  Due to a lack of understanding of the benefits of a regular meditation practice, the idea of it was dismissed. Unless you count sitting in a rocker on the front porch sipping sweet tea and counting your blessings as “meditation”. Now, times have changed and more information has become widespread for everyone.  Even in my small backwoods part of the world, the topic of meditation is becoming one that is much discussed and even practiced.  I first noticed the change in my weekly yoga class. Once the ending meditation, (where everyone rests in shavasana) was simply referred to as a five-minute relaxation period to “forget all of the worries of the day.” Now, after years of building a good yoga class, our teacher is able to move her students through a guided meditation that almost always goes way past the typical five minutes of relaxation.  Because her students are more receptive to the idea they are able to absorb more of the benefits.

I recently learned that several of the local colleges include meditation classes as part of their psychology, sociology and health classes.   These classes teach students various ways and forms of meditation to help them in their lives, and they are given ample time, thirty minutes to an hour of each class to practice these techniques and reap the benefits of what they have learned.

In short, the message has spread and been heard.  The art of meditation has spread in its many forms.  It has always been available, but now it’s familiar enough for the naturally superstitious Southern lot to try.  As an avid meditation practitioner, I am overjoyed that I now encounter others who are also benefiting from this simple activity.  Connecting with one's inner self can seem daunting, but it can also help filter out the stresses of the modern world.