Life beyond words...

It's been a few months since the doctor prescribed meditation for my migraines. So...how's that working for me?

My headaches are fewer and less severe, which could be the result of a new preventative medication. There are, however, those who would point out meditation is not solely about the soul. It can also bring about tangible positive life changes--such as finding that medication that works.

Meditation, I have discovered, is not easy. It's not easy to define and not easy to do. My doctor said I needed something a lot more intense than the 'meditation' I did with yoga. Apparently, concentrating on inhaling and exhaling and reciting, 'the light in me salutes the light in you. Namaste," is not sufficient to bring peace and health.

The spot where I meditate

Many believe to meditate one must 'silence one's thoughts'. (It is very, very difficult to not think.) Then, there are those who promote 'mindfulness' meditation, where one direct one's thoughts away from the past and future and corrals them in the present. Some people 'watch' their thoughts.

Some say one can only think of one thing at a time so directing one's thoughts to one's breathing paves the way to successful meditation.

What works for me is rather than trying to silence my thoughts, I silence my words. That is, I try to think, feel, and experience without words. Words define things, thus separating them. Without words, I can merge all parts of my being and unite with environment.

When I sit beneath that pine tree, my breathing melds with the sound of the breeze. I become one with the sun on my face and the grass beneath me. I put no name to the rustling leaves, the honking geese or the droning plane. I accept all I hear, smell, touch and see--experiencing them just as they are.

I direct myself back to that time long ago before I learned to speak, when I perceived my world as extension of myself, when I had no concept of the future or the past--when life was just a continuous 'now'.

I redefine myself. I transcend the confines of my body, beliefs and experiences.  I explore my existence beyond words and time. In those moments, I sense my power and my immortality.

We do not need words to think. In that way, meditation shares a commonality with music and art. All such endeavors take us beyond the usual definition of ourselves to a place where we connect with all that is, all that we are, that we were, that we will be. We connect with the universe, with others.

Dichotomies disappear. Religion and science, merge as do the soul and the body. You and I become one as do we and they. Time is no longer perceived as linear and thus life and death are understood as an infinite cycle.

Thinking without words and beyond time takes practice, but leads to a very peaceful place.

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LIFE BEYOND WORDS is brought to you by THE TRAZ. 

In THE TRAZ, young Katrina uses meditation to deal with the savage traumas life deals her.

 "Exciting, powerful, & tragic."

"The whole thing ends on a knife edge..."

“After reading THE TRAZ I came away wanting more!”

“The first of a series, igniting an appetite for the sequel”