A Path To Joy

I learned to meditate in the ‘70s when the Maharishi Mahesh Yogi visited Toledo, Ohio, where I lived at the time. On that very first evening, meditation felt like coming home. Since then I have meditated in Buddhist monasteries and Hindu ashrams, in small groups with a Tibetan teacher, alone on the rough sides of a mountain, on sandy Atlantic beaches and most of all, in my own living room.

I have loved teaching meditation groups over the years, participating with people in discovering the deeper and greater reality within ourselves--more than we ever imagined--as well as the healing power of being in the present moment.

Mindfulness meditation is an idea whose time has come. Articles abound explicating the benefits to the brain, the lowering of blood pressure and improved ability to concentrate. (See Time Magazine, Feb 3, 2014) Science has caught up with meditation and as a result, meditation, a practice, which is thousands of years old, is the newest, best thing and I am glad.

I am moved by the small group that I am currently leading which consists predominantly of very senior women, a couple of them with serious health issues. One bravely carries her new oxygen tank to the group. Not one of them has meditated before. Looking around the room at the end of our first session, each woman looks younger; shined up and polished, her eyes filled with light.

 Mindful of the breath, we sit together: steady as a mountain, in relaxed stillness. I behold the effects of the practice in these women; they see the effects of the practice in each other. Everyone is smiling.

What the scientists neglect to mention is that meditation can be a path to joy.

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