Meditation
"What is meditation? When you empty yourself and let the universe come into you." That is the quotation of Yogi Bhajan on the MEDITATIVE TIME box of the "Yogi Tea" brand teas.
Getting into deep meditation is like achieving a state of true freedom. The first step is to release tension, and drinking a nice hot cup of tea can certainly help you relax -- especially one that makes you say "mmmm." The best mantra is one that does you rather than you doing it.
"Mmmm" is the sound of Perfected Being toward which meditation can help us evolve. It's symbolized by the Norse Rune Mannaz, which looks like a capital M with an x at the top of the two vertical lines (which represent our legs) instead of a v at the top like our regular M. The center of that x is where polarities converge. On our body that place is the midriff or belly. In the spiritual cosmology of the Norse, that place is Earth or Midgard. You can use a picture of a red (representing fire energy) Mannaz as visual meditation by placing your gaze upon that center.
Focusing your attention on your breath is another relaxing technique. Sit quietly in a comfortable posture and be aware of your breathing. Also, do not just observe your breathing -- love every breath you take. Experience the air coming in with your belly expanding and the air going out with the belly contracting. The belly represents your heart, pumping in the blood reddening and enlivening air.
Put more and more awareness on your belly, also called the Hara. After doing that for awhile just focus on your navel. Remember, it was once a cord connected to your mother, your source of life. The belly is where new life gets incubated and transformed into a human being. It is the place of unity, origin, manifestation, and emanation. It is the Earth, which is the spiritual center of the universe and the crown jewel of creation. It is where all elements integrate. The great thing about being a human is that we can take our consciousness back into the belly and allow the process to develop even further to be born anew.
Just below your navel is where Alchemical Taoism considers your power center, also called the Tan Tien, Cauldron, or Elixir Field. To find it just move your body forward and back and from side to side while standing to feel where your center of gravity is. Then be still and put your concentration there. You might even feel heat there. Heat is energy that can both relax and energize you. Energized, you are able to take pleasure in everything you do and every move you make just like what people try to achieve by doing Tai Chi.
With its thinking about this and worrying about that the busy mind can disconnect us to the point where we are ungrounded. So how do you escape from your chaotic head ramblings? The lower belly is where your consciousness can go to get centered because all powers revolve around the Earth or belly. It is the seat of passion, which is the substance of LIFE! Everything connects at the center so it just makes sense that if you go to the center, you will be connected. Past, present, and future all become the now. Heaven and Earth merge into one, and all is the paradise of balanced yin and yang, the intercourse of God and Goddess. That is where we go when we are in our deepest sleep. We experience such complete and utter ecstasy we do not even remember it when we awaken, but we feel the effects by being refreshed and recharged for the new day.
There is a lost parable that neither the highest mountain, nor the deepest sea, nor in the farthest reaches of space will you find the key to paradise. The angels, given the task of deciding where to hide it, did so in our belly. Their thinking was that humans in their arrogance would just laugh at the prospect of it being hidden there, and would instead spend all their time, intellect, and resources looking everywhere else.
Our bodies are a microcosm of the macrocosm. Going within is how we get to the center of both. We contract into the microcosm where we expand into the macrocosm to experience that our center is everywhere and our circumference is beyond anywhere. Omnipresent with no thought of our separate self, we let the universe take us and we become the universe. We surrender what we were, to become what we were meant to be.
Do you want a demonstration of how to assimilate into the universe? Then make some tea. Take the tea bag out of the box and put it in the middle of the boiling water and you get tea. The herb gets infused with the water. If you drink it and it is good, you get a little Nirvana or joy. You can get infused with the multi-dimensional universe when you put all of yourself into the fiery energy of your belly. If you become good at it, you get big Nirvana. That is meditation -- do not be afraid to let it happen.
There was once a church endowed with a magnificent organ. One day after locking up, the sexton heard someone coming up the stairs. It was a straggly looking man who said he had come a long way and asked if he could see the organ. The sexton was afraid and said no, but the man was insistent. After seeing the organ, the man asked if he might please play it. Again the sexton was very reluctant but gave in because of the man's passion for the instrument that was before him. So the organ got played and from it radiated the most magnificent sounds ever to engorge the sexton's ears. That musician was the great composer Felix Mendelssohn.
You are the instrument. Meditate and let yourself be played by the Master Musician. That story was just a hint of the beauty you can experience "when you empty yourself and let the universe come into you."