Stay on the Path

Stay on the Path

When Walt and I first were introduced to meditation, it was over 30 years ago. Then we were students in the non-denominational Ernest Holmes school of ministry.

We were blessed to be in that type of training because we learned spiritual practices of Christians, Jews, Native Americans, Buddhists, and other religions.

Our first meditation teacher was a young man by the name of Shinzen Young a well-respected meditation teacher on Buddhist practices and the founder of the Vipassana Support Institute and many    other meditation centers around the country.

Last Saturday, I got a chance to see Shinzen once again when he facilitated a mini-retreat for Insight LA. Our oldest son and I attended, although Walt couldn't because of his previous set schedule.

Shinzen took us through meditation, and as he spoke I was so grateful to see him once again. His best selling books took him around the country and abroad, so it was difficult through out the years to attend his classes.

However, on this Saturday, intimate talks with him was going to be impossible for another reason. There were about 300 people who came to hear him speak.

When the retreat ended, there was a huge crowd around him. I thought, this is going to take forever to say hello. We were at the very back of the waiting group, by the stage stairs.

Even though I felt extremely mellow after this wonderful retreat, I could feel the frustrations welling up inside of me. I was surprised at the impulse to push past these people to talk to Shinzen. It reminded me of coming out of a church after a great sermon, and then getting stuck in the parking lot wanting to curse the other drivers.

Ego, ego ego!

As Shinzen teaches, you don't suppress these types of frustrating thoughts. You simply acknowledge they are there, and they leave on their own. You can also label them softly to yourself. "Thinking, thinking, thinking, "or "frustrated, frustrated, frustrated," or whatever emotion or thought arises.   The labeling brings the light of awareness (mindfulness) to these often suppressed feelings, and they melt away.

So I did just that.

As we waited, I observed my breath and became a witness to unsavory thoughts, and emotions born out of my impatience, and they began dissolving.

Suddenly the hostess of the event went on stage and whispered something in Shinzen's ear as the crowd waited to speak with him. He held up a finger for them to wait, and then followed the hostess off the stage so the line could get more organized.

My heart leaped. They were coming toward us at the side of the stage where we were standing next to the stairs Shinzen was exiting.   Now we were at the very front of the line behind only one woman.

The lesson:

Letting go always brings to you what you want in life, often better than you can imagine. When we cling, clutch and try to make things happen, we only push them further away.

When it was my turn, I told Shinzen I was his student from many years ago. "I remember you!" he said. Of course I was flattered, you remember a great teacher, but great teachers have hundreds, and in Shinzen's case, thousands of students around the world.

I do have to admit Walt and I were the only couple in the ministry at that time, so we most likely stood out.

After reminiscing a moment, and taking a picture with him, Shinzen said he was glad that I was still on the meditation path after all of those years.

Driving home, I was thinking, I have been fortunate to have other meditation teachers to help me stay on the path, through out the years, but he was my first, and the reason I pursued the practice.

Find Someone

In these turbulent times, it's easy to get caught up in the world's unrest, and the economy. This is why it's so important to turn to someone you respect to help you stay on the spiritual path. Find a teacher, a coach, a trusted friend, a minister, or a master mind group, a monk, or if need be, a therapist.

Reach out to someone to help you remember the greatness that is already inside of you.

Stay on the path.

Shinzen

Shinzen and Me

Shinzen's Website

(see his videos)

Love, Light and Blessings,

Janet

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