Living a Meditative Life

Living a Meditative Life

Does this mean you need to drastically change your life within the next ten minutes? No. Your own meditation will naturally, gradually, and gently make the necessary changes in your life. In fact, you may have noticed some of these changes already.

However, you can encourage and accelerate the process by consciously engaging your body, mind, heart, and soul in sup-port of your meditation. There are countless things you can do; here are a few suggestions:

• Exercise: By cleansing and strengthening your body and mind, exercise can have a tremendous impact on the quality of your meditation.

• Diet: Many people who meditate find a vegetarian diet to be especially beneficial, from both a physical and a spiritual point of view. To learn more about the relationship between a vegetarian diet and meditation, see pages 29-30 of Meditation.

• Inspirational Reading: Many other spiritual seekers have passed this way before us, and their writings are a valuable source of inspiration, consolation, and direction. Try to make inspirational readings a regular part of your mental diet.

• Music: Music is a universal language that speaks directly to our heart and soul. Try to surround yourself with meditative music—in your car, at work, at home, even while going to sleep.
Singing and playing meditative music can have a mantric effect. Your HomeStudy instructor can provide you with sheet music for easy-to-learn spiritual songs written by Sri Chinmoy.

• Spiritual Friendship: Friends provide strength in our moments of need and affirmation in our moments of joy. That’s why it is so important to have friends who live a meditative lifestyle, and can share in your experiences as you progress in your own meditation.
Whenever possible, take the opportunity to enjoy group meditation—if the group is practicing a form of meditation harmonious with your own. The collective energy and inspiration of the group will be an invaluable aid to your own meditation practice.