Meditation can be done for many different reasons. Some use it to find inner peace, others to help find a focus in their lives and their work, and still others to increase compassion in the lives of themselves and those around them. But for the most part, I think an aspect of meditation that is often overlooked is the simple fact that it’s nice to just stop every once in a while, sit down, and enjoy the moment.
I use meditation for all the reasons given above and more. But the simple pleasure of stopping is when, perhaps, it is of most use. Taking the time to light some candles and incense, get some cushions out, and just simply be is a great gift that I can give to myself at the end of a busy day or week. As I sit in front of my altar, I allow all the thoughts that are running through my head to make themselves known to me, rather than just being background stress and noise. Eventually, the thoughts slow down and quieten, and then comes that exquisite moment when all is still. No more mental gymnastics. No more body twitches, itches, or squirming trying to find a comfortable, relaxed position. Everything settles. Even if this feeling lasts for just ten seconds, it is good. Better than good. The heart opens; the mind and body are one. There is nothing but myself and the world, here and now, sitting, breathing, peaceful.
Having even ten seconds to still the mind, to allow it to take a break from all thoughts, has an enormous effect on the mind and body for days afterward. Taking the time to allow yourself to set aside the cares and worries, the reminiscing and the to-do lists, the work and the family issues has a profound effect on all aspects of your life. Have you ever sat on the couch after a busy day, flopped onto the sofa, and just stopped for a minute or two in stillness and silence? Meditation is the same thing—allowing your mind and body a moment of rest.
In that deep silence when that moment is achieved, we can have some profound realisations. When we stop the mental chatter, we allow ourselves to refocus on what really matters in our lives. Just a few seconds of that blissful silent state can alter our perception and allow us to put things into perspective. What really matters? Not what the guy said to you in that social media group. Not the office gossip or your infuriating work colleague. Spending a little time in the quiet of our homes or meditation space, whether inside or outside, allows us to see that it’s in the joy of being alive right now and the people whom we physically share our lives with and care about that really matter: our family and friends, our home, our gardens;,our religion or spirituality, the earth. Our perspective can get so skewed by what is happening in the world around us. Allowing ourselves to stop and refocus changes everything.
It’s amazing what ten little seconds can achieve.
That sense of peace will then permeate all aspects of our Hedge Druidry, and we will find that the work we do is more focused and our perspective more integrated with the rest of the world. We may also find that we can enter altered states with more ease, which we will cover in a later section of this work.
Basics of Meditation
There are many different kinds of meditation, from simple mindfulness meditation—where one focuses on the breath and body—to transcendental meditation, journeying, guided meditation, walking meditation, yoga, and more. Meditation is an important aspect of religious and spiritual traditions the world over, simply because it allows a focus and perspective for a clarity we might not otherwise achieve in our everyday patterns and behaviour. It can even help us change those patterns and behaviour so that the spiritual becomes part of everyday life. The mundane and the sacred are not polar opposites but simply part of a large spectrum of existence. We could even say that after doing meditation for years, it allows us to see that there is no separation, no spectrum at all, and that everything is sacred.
Meditation allows us to connect with ourselves and with the world. Today’s society seems focused on doing anything but connecting us with our minds and bodies and with “real” people, what with social media and mobile phones distracting people from even the simplest of tasks, such as walking down the street or going out for a meal with a loved one. Our modern world seems to be leaning toward isolation and virtual reality as opposed to being in the here and now, however dull, wet, uncomfortable, pleasurable, or lovely that may be. Why? Well, there are a lot of people making money from it, for starters.
In meditation, we learn to be with ourselves, in all our glory and all our failings. It provides us with emotional and psychological resilience. We learn to be with ourselves, whether we are in pain or are exceedingly happy. We learn about acceptance in the here and now and what we can and cannot control. We are not seeking any diversions from reality, but instead engaging with it to allow it to influence our lives on a profound level. We are not running away from anything; we are not “away with the Faeries.” We are focused on the task at hand, the meditation, and engaging with our bodies and our worlds in a calm and peaceful manner. Hopefully, that engagement will spill out into the rest of our lives and we will find that calm and peace begin to permeate all aspects of what we do and how we live our lives.
Acceptance is a big part of meditation. We accept that our minds are a little bit crazy. We accept that we have created lives that may have taken us away from our goals or what really matters in life and that meditation helps us to refocus. We accept our bodies too, whether we can sit in full lotus position for hours or whether we need a chair and lots of cushions in order to achieve that peace. We accept the noises around us, the itches and the thoughts going round and round in our brains. And we stick with it, knowing that eventually—eventually—it will all settle and we will find that peace we seek. We can only find this peace through acceptance, not striving or forcing it. You might as well force the wind to move in a different direction, for peace is acceptance.
Many people will say that they tried to meditate but just couldn’t find the stillness. Everyone is different, but it is my belief that indeed everyone can meditate in some form or other; they simply have to find the right method for them and want to work hard toward it. That may sound a bit contradictory to what I just said about acceptance, but the peace achieved in meditation often doesn’t happen in the first attempt—or second, third, or thirtieth. If someone has never meditated before, it can take a long time for the mind and body to settle. Our personality and disposition has a lot to say in the matter as well, whether we are natural fidgets or can find comfort relatively easily. We have to truly want to meditate and not just “give it a go.” Meditation is a core element of many religious and spiritual traditions, and therefore it’s not there just to play around with, but is a vital component in working toward your potential and your path’s true potential.
So to begin with, it makes it easier if we are comfortable and without too many distractions. For most people, meditation is often easiest when performed indoors, as we can control the environment in which we are working. After we are able to hold that focus in a controlled environment, we can take it outside and meditate anytime, anywhere, with enough practice and commitment. So here we will begin indoors. Aim for around fifteen to thirty minutes per day for meditation. You can break this down into smaller chunks if you need to; say two ten-minute sessions, morning and evening. Choose wisely the time that you are going to meditate; if you are tired at the end of the day and will probably fall asleep, then meditate in the morning. If you are too busy getting the children ready for school or have a very early commute, then perhaps try meditating at lunchtime or as soon as you get home. I used to meditate in a nearby small church when I worked in a skyscraper building in downtown Montreal many years ago. There, they had a small chapel filled with carved wood and an image of Mary. It was rarely used and often I had it all to myself. I simply sat and meditated in that quiet space for half an hour every day, smelling the wood polish and the scent that all churches seem to have. It was a haven and a sanctuary in the middle of a bustling city and also nice and cool in the summer. Find a space and time that works for you.
Sitting Meditation
Find a room or a space within a room where you won’t be disturbed. If you like, you can create an altar if you haven’t one already (we will look more closely at altar creation in Part Two of this book). A simple altar consisting of a candle and some incense can go a long way to creating the atmosphere that many enjoy in their meditation practice. If you don’t like incense and are not able to burn candles, then you can simply have a potted plant as a symbol of the natural world and your connection with it. I find that having something to look at and focus on helps greatly when beginning on the meditative path, and candles, incense smoke, plants, mandalas, or pictures of gods, goddesses, or other things that inspire us can help. Don’t have too many things when first starting out, however, as this can again be distracting. Simple and easy is always the best when starting on this endeavour.
If you are able to comfortably be in a seated position on the floor, then please go ahead and do so. I find it very grounding, and you can take this posture anywhere you choose to go once you have mastered the basics of meditation (i.e., you can use this outside, where you might not be able to take a chair, in the middle of the woods). Some people may not be comfortable on the floor for various reasons, and so using a chair is perfectly acceptable, though that may limit the places you are able to perform meditation. If you are sitting on the floor, try not to sit cross-legged if you can, because this can cut off the circulation in your legs. I find that the “easy pose” in Zen Buddhist meditation is the most comfortable. In this pose, you bring in one leg toward the body and then have the other pulled in after it without overlapping. This pose is also demonstrated on the Gundestrup cauldron, often considered a masterpiece of early Celtic art. I sit raised up on a couple of cushions, so that the knees are in line with the hips. If they are still raised, you can experiment with adding cushions until you have developed the flexibility that allows them to fall in line with the hips. This provides a stable platform to sit in for any period of time. You may be able to do this without any cushions at all or you may need several. As the years have trundled on and my knees and hips have suffered injuries, I find I need more cushions to raise me up than I used to require, say, twenty years ago.
If you prefer to use the half lotus (one foot resting on the opposite thigh) or full lotus (both feet resting on opposite thighs), then please feel free to use these positions. This requires a high level of flexibility in the hips, knees, and ankles, and if you’ve suffered any injuries to these areas, these postures may not be for you. I sprained my ankle badly years ago and it won’t move into that position easily. My knees are now not able to take the strain of that position either. Forcing your body into any posture is simply not a good idea, and you could do yourself great injury in the attempt. Never force a meditation posture if it is painful or uncomfortable or if your circulation is being cut off.
Sit with your back straight and allow your shoulders to relax. Keep the neck long and “float” the head toward the ceiling. You can tuck the chin slightly to elongate the back of the neck and keep the shoulders from hunching forward. Tuck your tongue to the upper palate of your mouth, which will stop the “double chin” effect as well as decrease salivation in the mouth. Have the mouth relaxed, however, and do not clench the teeth together. Allow the tongue to be soft, but suctioned to the roof of the mouth. Place your hands upon your thighs, palms up or down, whichever you find most comfortable. If you find yourself hunching forward, bring your hands higher up on your thighs until your elbows are at your sides: this keeps your back straighter. You can also place your hands in your lap and sometimes I like to hold one hand cradled within the other. Keep the face and body relaxed, but not so relaxed you fall over, of course! Shift your weight from side to side and front to back and then find that spot in the middle where you feel centred. Then, keeping your eyes and focus soft, you can begin.
If you are sitting in a chair, then you can do much the same as on the floor. Ensure that your feet are placed flat on the floor, that the chair’s height does not raise or lower you too much, and that your knees are more or less level with your hips. Sit forward on the chair if you are able so that you do not have to use the back support. If you need the back support for any reason, you can put a cushion behind you to keep you forward and stop you from slouching in your seat. When my back goes out and I am in the process of recovery, I find that I need this back support for a few sessions before I can go without. Do what is comfortable for you. Place your hands on your thighs, palms up or down or sit with them in your lap. Ensure that the shoulders are down and relaxed and have the head, chin, and mouth in the same position as previously described. Keep the eyes soft.
If you are unable to sit in any position, you can also meditate lying down. I myself am unable to lie flat on my back on the floor due to back problems, but if you find this is the easiest pose, then do please feel free to use it, as long as you don’t fall asleep too often in your meditation. In any pose, you may fall asleep, and I have done so for a few minutes in a seated pose just resting my eyes. This can be as beneficial as meditation if your body requires the rest, and so don’t beat yourself up about not staying awake should you fall asleep. However, if this is a regular occurrence, you may want to change the time you are meditating and do this when you are less tired. Relax the body and keep the tongue up on the upper palate of the mouth to reduce salivation. If you are familiar with yoga, many sessions end with the corpse pose or savasana, which is lying on your back, feet slightly apart and allowed to fall outward, arms slightly away from your sides. Relaxing the whole body in this pose can be extremely restful. People with back issues can raise their knees up slightly if they need to, with blankets or cushions beneath their knees.
Now to meditate!
Allow your thoughts to do what they will, but be aware of the thoughts. The trick to simple mindfulness meditation is to allow the thoughts to arise without becoming lost in them. If we start to lose ourselves in our thoughts, we lose our focus and the thoughts simply won’t settle because we’re engaging with them. Think of it as whirlpool that we create that is stirring up the mud at the bottom of a body of water. If we engage and continue, helping the whirlpool in its spinning, the mud will never settle. If we stop engaging, if we stop stirring, the water will calm and the mud will settle to the bottom. Our thoughts are much the same. If we pay attention to the thoughts that are arising without engaging in them, say, becoming angry or sad or happy or lost in a memory, then the thoughts will eventually stop coming up. Our mind will lose interest in the thoughts if we stop paying them attention. And as we stop feeding the thoughts, they will settle and quiet down. So, we might say to ourselves, “That’s a thought about that paper I need to write,” and then disengage. Then we might say, “That’s a thought about last night’s event,” and then disengage. Worries, memories, to-do lists—all these will pop up and we can just label them and disengage. Eventually, they will stop coming up. And when that happens, you get the stillness and silence that you seek, even if it is only for a few seconds. The world may seem to quiet down. It may seem that there is nothing but you and your body, maybe the candle in front of you. There is not a care in the world. You can just sit still, simply be in the moment, without thought, without worry, in full peace. Enjoy that moment.
You can always set aside a different time for pondering, thoughtful contemplation, and problem-solving. We need our thoughts in order to achieve many things in our lives. The difference lies in being in control of our thoughts rather than letting them be in control of us. You can think of them as a small child; they will require much of your time and need nurturing to reach their full potential. But you need to be in control of them, otherwise they might do things that are unwise or dangerous and harmful. We need to understand our minds. We need to be aware, because what we are not conscious of can control us.
Some use the breath as a tool to quiet down the mind. This can be done, but I prefer to pay attention to my thoughts, as described above, for this allows me to understand my mind better and helps to quiet the restless unproductive thoughts in between meditations as well. If I am focusing on counting, then I’m ignoring the thoughts, pushing them away, and then perhaps they will arise as I lie in bed, awake at two o’clock in the morning. However, this method does work for some people and so let’s look at it here.
When we breathe in, we can focus on our breath and simply count “one.” When we breathe out, we again focus on the breath and count “one.” Our next inhale and exhale will be “two.” Go up to five or ten and then start again. Some like to be even more mindful with the counting and say to themselves “one breath in, one breath out,” “two breaths in, two breaths out.” Taking the attention away from our thoughts can help us in the short term to achieve the stillness that is necessary and at the heart of meditation. It is a quick fix, however, and the long-term benefits will not, in my opinion, be the same as if we were mindful of our thoughts. Another version of this method doesn’t involve counting at all and is simply saying to yourself “breathing in” followed by “breathing out.” This pinpoints our focus on the breath, and after a few minutes of this, we might be able to stop focusing on the breath and simply enjoy a moment of peace.
Enjoy that moment, when the peace arrives. Savour just sitting there without worry, without fear, without extremes. Feel the solidity of your body, the timelessness of the soul. And know that you are grounded in the here and now, in reality, in peace and quiet, flowing through you and out into everything you do.
Walking Meditation
For the Hedge Druid, walking meditation allows us to connect to the land where we live as well as give us a good meditation practice to follow. I would advise beginning with sitting meditation first and foremost and then trying that outside before moving toward walking meditation. The distractions can be difficult to overcome when out of doors and especially when moving. However, for some people, engaging the body allows the mind to rest and we see this through many forms of yoga, for instance. Finding that moment of stillness in sitting meditation first, however, prepares us better for when our bodies are physically interacting with the natural world around us and can provide us with a better knowledge of what to expect and how to maintain that sense of peace and calm.
When performing walking meditation, we need to be aware of our surroundings. Indeed, that is the sole focus of the meditation. In paying attention to the world around us, we are not paying attention to our thoughts. We are simply putting one foot in front of the other and noticing the sights and sounds without becoming lost in them. Our bodies are moving, but our minds are empty of worry and doubt, distraction and fear, instead focused on the feel of the ground beneath our feet, the smell of wood smoke, the cry of the hawk overhead. We’re allowing our minds to take a break from our thoughts and instead focus externally upon our environment. Walk as slowly or as quickly as you feel comfortable; there is no set pace. Simply be comfortable and be aware. Awareness is the key in walking meditation.
How often do you see people walking past, completely lost in thought? Their bodies are here, with you on the street, but their minds are not. In walking meditation, we aim to not become lost in our thoughts, but to be truly awake and aware of the world around us. At the very least, it will be safer that way, as we’re paying attention to cars and cyclists, tripping hazards, and more!
Walking meditation works beautifully with a sitting meditation practice. With sitting meditation, we become aware of our thoughts and how our minds work. With walking meditation, we become aware of our environment and how the world around us works. Blending the two together provides a holistic view of the world that is utterly integrated. Do both, if you can. If you are unable to walk for any physical reason, then you can do a similar meditation simply looking out a window and focusing on what is happening outside the window without becoming lost in the action occurring outside. Notice the crow flying overhead. The light on the cloud. The child laughing. The sound of the lawnmower. Don’t engage, just notice.
Simply by noticing what is going on through our feet, our eyes, our ears, and our sense of smell, we become a part of our environment. Walking meditation is not about walking through an environment, but becoming a part of it. If you can combine walking meditation to a spot where you can do sitting meditation, so much the better. You will be able to find that sense of peace, combined with a better awareness of the world around you, what is happening in nature, without the distraction of the myriad of thoughts whirling around in your head.
For this is the goal of the Hedge Druid. To be an active and contributing member of an environment, of an ecosystem. Not merely an observer, but a functioning part of the whole. In order to do so, we must become aware of ourselves, of how our minds and bodies work and in doing so better understand where we need to let go in order to allow the stories and songs of others to enter into our world. If we are constantly living inside our heads, with our thoughts in control, then we will never know the joy and beauty of the external world. We need to understand our minds in order to get outside of our heads. Then, we can find the peace necessary to begin to understand how the lives of others work, how they contribute, how we can work with them in harmony and in balance. Meditation is a great tool to help us on our journey, both sitting and walking meditation.
Journeying can be seen as another form of meditation, sometimes used for problem-solving. As opposed to guided meditation that involves the person following guidance from another in their mind, journeying travels deeper still with the soul, traversing the boundaries through to the Otherworld. The Irish form of this is called immrama and consists of a journey over water to start the quest. You can combine both guided meditation and journeying with drumming, chant, and song to create a truly unique experience for all the senses. You can also combine both guided meditation and journeying with various forms of sensory deprivation, such as the “sweat house” or teach-an-alais in Irish Gaelic. There is record of Druids performing imbas forosna, another form of sensory deprivation that involved utter darkness and then being brought out into light.28
In Part Two of this book, in ritual we will go through various meditations: guided meditations and journeys.
She sits upon the heath, the warm sandy soil beneath her, the air shimmering in waves of heat before her. She breathes the dusty scent of the earth, the gorse, and heather. She hears the pigeons in the trees at the wood’s edge and the cry of a hawk circling high overhead. She listens, fully aware of where she is, fully aware of her body, of her breath. She breathes in and out, breathing with the land. She feels beads of sweat from the hot summer sun roll down her hairline. She doesn’t move, just feels and experiences the sensation. Breathing in and out, she simply is, living and breathing and being. There is only this moment. There is only now. There is only peace and integration …
28. For more on these techniques, see my book The Crane Bag: A Druid’s Guide to Ritual Tools and Practices.