The Pitfalls of Meditation

The physical benefits of meditation are well documented such as lowered blood pressure, relief from anxiety, and stress reduction.

Even though a strong meditation practice has its physical benefits it can have some pitfalls in ways you might not see right away. Many of these issues arise over time subtly and fall under the umbrella of pride.

Well known as spiritual pride, can happen from attachment to time, experience, wokeness, travel and guru worship.

We embark on a practice for ourselves, and before we know it we are lost on our path. We can get lost by slowly being engulfed in pride and our ever inflating egos.

Time might not be on your side

Spiritual pride can happen as you get attached to the amount of time you meditate.

Pride about meditating everyday or however many hours a day bears no meaning in a practice. There is a famous saying, that if you can quiet your mind for 1 minute you will achieve complete enlightenment.

Meditation should be like a good skin care routine. You do it for you.

There is no significance in the quality of person you are if you meditate 5 minutes a day as opposed to someone who mediates twice a day for 3 hours. It’s no one’s business how much time you spend meditating so you should question why you feel the need to advertise it.

The idea that time spent in meditation puts a person on a higher moral ground is a huge pitfall of spiritual pride.

Are you experienced?

Science can measure that meditation changes our brain wave activity for the better. This is a positive thing for us and everyone we come into contact with, but does that mean being good at meditation matters or is this just another form of pride?

What is being good at meditation?

It doesn’t matter, what matters is the act.

To sit

you sit alone

for yourself.

It’s the time you take for yourself to meditate that is going to directly help you in your life and the world around you.

Reactive people and situations make time speed up as emotions rise. Meditation can make you calmer and less reactive by creating a space in those intense situations.

When there is a sense of space and time you can remain calm and use critical thinking to deescalate the situation rather than feed it with more negative emotions. This ability to remain rational can help people around you who are in more reactive states.

It doesn’t matter that you are experienced at meditation, what matters is your ability to use the benefits of meditation in your life. 

Your Wokeness

Being awake in the true sense of the word, is rising above the duality that exists on this planet. It's about high functioning with our words and actions. It’s about how we treat ourselves, others, and the planet.

Meditating can help with this, by slowing us down and helping us with a better perspective of ourselves and the world around us.  

If we are woke, meaning the true sense of the past tense of the word awake, we certainly aren't all over the internet canceling anyone who disagrees with our views.

Wokeness in its negative form is spiritual pride at its worst. It goes against all the benefits that true meditation provides which is connectedness to our world and all sentient beings.

Lost in space

Meditating at an ashram in India, or with your guru on in Costa Rica, or you go to yoga retreats in Portugal…you are lost in space.

Meditating in a particular place, with a specific person is meaningless. Sure it’s travel and adventure but it doesn’t make you profoundly better at meditating.

The idea that a person who meditates on their couch is not as good as someone who could afford to travel to a foreign country is spiritual pride. You don’t have to travel to meditate. This type of pride separates us.

The guru won’t get you there, nor will the ashram, you have to face yourself.

Meditation is an opportunity to connect to ourselves.

As far as I know, I bring myself everywhere I go. So it doesn't matter who I sit with or where I go as long as I'm there, I'm good.

Being enlightened doesn't mean hosting retreats in Bali, it means that we have broken our wheel of suffering unconsciously to now suffer consciously, to understand impermanence of life, to detach from the mind and who it tells us we are.

Real Change

Meditation has benefits that can create real change in the world.

Not by a guru

Not meditating 5 hours a day

Not by making a persona of yourself touting your abilities

These are all just pitfalls of pride.

Meditating will help you find connectedness to everyone and everything on this planet. In this connectedness lies the keys to many problems this planet faces.

If we can be aware of the pitfalls of mediation we can make positive changes in this world.

What do you think?