And What Is Meditation Anyway?
What is meditation?
It is surprisingly simple.
It is one conscious breath.
You let the air pass your nostrils, through your nasal passages, down through your throat and into your lungs. Your stomach moves slightly outward. Your chest widens. Then the air turns back, passing upwards until it reaches your nostrils and releases itself again into the universe.
If you were totally present, perfectly still, without doing anything, simply aware of the path of the air, meditation happened.
And if, out of pure happiness, you decide to follow one more conscious breath, meditation continues.
And perhaps another.
And another.
You may begin to recognise a deep inner peace arising. And as you continue, perhaps that peace increases. Somewhere along the way there may appear a quiet happiness.
Continue a little longer and something rather extraordinary may make itself known: the simple joy of existing.
And then, if you are lucky, you may find yourself in bliss.
If this is the case, you probably don’t need to come to my retreat.
Although, if you would simply like nine days in good company, doing absolutely nothing in beautiful surroundings in the highlands of Sri Lanka, you are most welcome.
This is meditation.
It is so disarmingly simple that its profundity is easily overlooked.
There are no secret techniques and no hidden wisdom waiting to be revealed on day nine.
I can point my finger towards the moon, but you have to turn your head and look for yourself.
You could sum up the whole teaching in seven words:
Sit still. Do nothing. Watch your breath.
Even a child could teach this.
Probably much better than I.
After that, we just sit still.
And perhaps, somewhere between one breath and the next, we recognise that nothing needs to be taken away and nothing needs to be added.
It was already here.
We had simply overlooked it.
And perhaps that is the whole point.
And What Is Gestalt Therapy Anyway?
And what is Gestalt therapy?
Well, it is basically the same thing, in other words, from another tradition, slightly more modern. Different words, perhaps, but pointing in much the same direction.
Don’t do anything. Just let whatever arises, arise.
And if what arises can be met with compassion, friendliness and kindness, that can become a healing moment. The emotional baggage you may have been carrying for many years can begin to dissolve and release.
Simply by coming into this present moment.
Also here, you don’t have to do very much. What needs to arise will arise by itself if you are simply here and now.
Gestalt therapy is an experiential form of therapy where we explore what is happening here and now.
It can be surprisingly simple, and sometimes surprisingly intense. There may be sorrow, fear, frustration or anger — but also surprisingly much joy, happiness and fun.
Nothing needs to be hidden.
You are invited to come as you are.
Rather than endlessly analysing why we are the way we are, Gestalt invites us to become aware of how we are, moment by moment.
And through that awareness, something new can become possible.
But nobody can do that part for you. You can lead a horse to water, but you cannot make it drink.
Gestalt can help us find the water.
The drinking we have to do ourselves.
And it begins with something very simple: allowing what is here to be here.
Accept everything whatsoever.
That is what allows the past finally to become the past, instead of continually interfering with this present moment.
Gestalt therapy is, in the end, simply an invitation to become more fully alive.