Dear Integral Meditators,
The last official Integral Meditations newsletter for 2013. As I look back on the year one thing emerging for me has been a sense of the ongoing dance of being and becoming in life, and that is what this weeks article is about; how to begin working with this idea through image, contemplation and meditation.
Yours in the spirit of being and becoming,
Toby
The Dance of Being and Becoming
“They both listened silently to the water, which to them was not just water, but the voice of life, the voice of Being, the voice of perpetual Becoming.”
― Hermann Hesse, Siddhartha
One simple way of understanding meditation is that it is any practice that enables us to rest, focus within our sense of being-ness and prevent us from being stuck in “doing” mode all the time.
Done well, meditation will not only enhance our sense of being-ness whilst we are sitting, it will also give rise to greater fluency and creativity when we do actually get up and start doing something or becoming someone.
Ideally meditational awareness creates a complementary dance between the experience of stillness and the experience of activity/becoming in our life; stillness enhances and emboldens our becoming, and the activity of becoming enriches and informs our stillness.
Getting stuck in either extreme
To engage in the dance of being and becoming means avoiding two extremes:
- Becoming over-attached to stillness and tranquility, as some meditators do
- Becoming over-attached and even addicted to over-activity like much of the rest of the world does!
If the being and becoming in our life is to become a beautiful dance, then our being and becoming need to become like dance partners; each aware of the other, responding to each other’s energy and mood, working together, not against each other.
Dancing into the new year
As a meditation image over the coming days, you might like to see the sense of being and becoming within you as being like two dance partners. Together they create a beautiful sense of movement and energy in your life, but within the centre of the movement there is always a point of stillness, balance and stability.
In your daily life, see your activity as a dance, a perpetual moving across the ever present landscape of stillness and being-ness.
© Toby Ouvry 2013, you are welcome to use or share this article, but please cite Toby as the source and include reference to his website www.tobyouvry.com
Upcoming Courses at Integral Meditation Asia:
January Workshops (Below are the dates, times and titles, click on the link for full details)
Saturday 11th January, 10am-12pm – Get your meditation practice started now! – A Short Meditation Workshop for Beginners
Sunday 12th January, 9am-1pm – Qi Gong for Improving your Health and Energy Levels and for Self-Healing – A Four Hour Workshop
Beginning Sunday 19th January, – Meditation and Mindfulness for Creating a Mind of Ease, Relaxed Concentration and Positive Intention – A 5 week online course
Wednesday 22nd 7.30-8.30pm – Meditation training session for advanced/intermediate practitioners with Toby
Special Coaching offer at Integral Meditation Asia for December 2013-January 2014!
Sign up for three 1:1 coaching sessions with Toby (either Meditation, Stress Transformation or Shadow coaching) for only Sing$435! (Usual price Sing$600).
This is a great opportunity to get some very personally focused coaching for a great price. The only condition is that the three sessions must be completed in the month that they start, so start in December the sessions must be completed in December, likewise start in January the three sessions must be completed in January.