If there’s one golden piece of advice in meditation it’s this: Meditation is definitely not one monotonous state of inner blankness!
Even though everyone wants the brain to shut up during meditation, it almost never happens. Rather, meditation is a dynamic condition of relaxation and tension, inner peacefulness and excited musings about work and love.
When I ask people why they have quit meditating, the most common response I get is, “I just couldn’t get into it. I couldn’t make my mind blank.” They admit that yes, they felt relaxation, and yes, they felt better afterward, but all that inner noise -- that can’t be right, can it?
Learn new, more powerful responses to stress.
This play of opposites that occurs in meditation reminds me of the way vaccinations work.
When you get a vaccination, you take into your body a weakened form of a virus or bacteria -- and your immune system learns to fight it.
In meditation, the mind-body system instinctively enters a deep state of safety and relaxation, and then replays portions of what is stressing you -- so that you can learn new, more elegant, more adaptive, more powerful responses.
For example, in meditation you might find yourself replaying an argument you had with a loved one. You may experience snatches of conversation, the memory of muscular tension, and all the other aspects of what you feel emotionally and physically when stressed.
And then -- and here is the beauty of meditation -- you may spontaneously explore new and better ways of handling similar situations. You will actually get better at coping with stress!
This happens whether you want it to or not, for it’s an aspect of the body’s adaptation and spontaneous self-healing.
If you have a rich and full life, your brain is going to be very busy in meditation. This is good!
