Whaaaoooooo Meditation Training – WOW. Not what I expected but flippin cool and learning a truck load
We are lucky that we have a nice small group of people on the course, only 5, so we are able to get extra attention and go into more detail. We have two different teachers who attend different sessions during the day and teach us different things and techniques. The days are pretty long and it’s surprising how much energy it takes to meditate. Our Yoga/Meditation hall is also in the direct sunlight so you start to feel the 40 deg heat in there especially as there are only fans and a make shift aircon thingy.
Our days go like this…we have brekkie at 8:30 and then our first session is from 9-11:30, then 12-2pm, then lunch and then our last session is from 4-6:45pm
The last two days of training have been super interesting and definitely opened my eyes to many different techniques of getting into meditation. The over arching technique/method is using an activity to bring you into meditation or “Active/Passive” Meditation. The active part is used to loosen up the body, improve your will power, challenge your inhibitions and distract or calm the mind to allow you to go into meditation much easier.
The different methods can be used as combinations with one another or by themselves to get you into meditation. I think there are 35 we are going to learn on this course!! Some a bit more crazy than others
We started off with dance….you work your way into a full on dance with your eyes closed and you do it for 30mins to music. It can definitely be a liberating, challenging or an enjoyable experience depending on what type of person you are. I think I’ve broken down a lot of barriers over the last few years so was quite happy just dancing to myself and letting go
It’s amazing how imaginative you can get with your dance moves in a 30min slot, especially when nobody is watching. There are times when you think you are the best dancer in the world, like those nights when you’ve had too many drinks and think you’re the best dancer in a club (you know what I mean!!!) After that you sit down in silence for 10-15mins and meditate, it really is quite amazing how well it works!
The course is not purely about learning all the different methods but also learning how to teach and structure a class, how to conduct it, how to manage the energy, how to explain, how to demo, what music to use, how to deal with different people, etc etc. It’s been really really interesting for me.
Other methods we have practised so far are:
- Using sound – you make the sound, like O, A or a humming noise
- A specific technique to improve your will power using a one line statement and repeating it while you hold your breath to the point where you really can’t breath anymore. This creates various sensations in the body and activates the cellular body
- The Gibberish technique – hahahaha this one is crazy. You walk around the room talking to yourself in a complete foreign language and at the same time you are gesticulating with your hands as if you are in a looney bin.
- Laughter Mediation – literally laughing at nothing in a group, just laughing!!! Some of them are hard to get your head around but you need to be open and just let it be and participate. Apparently they recommend sometimes doing this for 3 hours a day for a week
- Crying Mediation – thinking of something which has brought you pain or anguish in your life and crying about it. Same as above with laughing and doing this for 3 hours a day for a week. If you do the laughing one for a week and then this one the following week then people really start to let loosen their emotions which ultimately helps your break down many blockages and barriers to help with your meditation practise.
- Pranayama – this is using your breath and different methods of breathing to help bring you into meditation.
Like I mentioned, some of them can be used separately, some can be used in conjunction with each other and some you add music to.
In a class/workshop you would also hold feedback sessions with the group which is very interesting hearing different perspectives on what they thought and the impact it had on them!
All in all I’m super chuffed and pumped to be doing this course. Doing meditation for a few hours a day is quite tough though but you can definitely notice yourself having better experiences and more deep meditation.
Only 8 more days in India now, it’s been a super awesome experience but I’m definitely looking forward to heading home too
Much love
Gareth / BB / China / Token