TEACHER: Jeff
THEME: Boundaries
MEDITATION: Psychic Shrink-Wrap
INTERACTIVE: Spiritual Challenges: The Right Practice for the Right Time

Our theme this month is different strokes for different folks. This is every bit as true of course for meditation and spiritual practices  – or at least, that’s one cherished CEC assumption. When I first started practicing mindfulness, I was all about deconstructing myself. A lot of people need this – we’re so tightly wound, all calloused and hunkered down. There was a lot about myself that I couldn’t see, so the inquiry was very fruitful. Over time I realized this was no longer my primary challenge. It was the ADD; I didn’t need deconstruction, I needed containment. This is part of the meditative learning process: figuring out what you really need at different times, which may be different than whatever ideals are being bandied about by the teacher / culture / whatever. So … for this meditation, we’ll shrink-wrap our outer edges, where the bleed-out happens, and explore how that feels for each of us.

Then for part two, we’ll take up our monthly (sometimes bimonthly) Spiritual Challenges discussion, this time on the theme of finding the right practice. Caveat emptor: there is really no tradition or official body of teachers / meditation researchers who can speak authoritatively about this question. It is something we ultimately have to take responsibility for on our own, although we can get insights and tips and support from our community.