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Another book that I would like to share with you is the book ‘De kracht van meditatie’ by Joan Goldstein and Manuela Soares, editor Omega boek, Amsterdam (the original English version is mentioned in the title).
It is an ideal book for people that have no anterior experience with meditation. You will find specific instructions for starting meditation including a 4-week program to start your regular meditation practise.
The meditation that I have been trained in and that I perform is
anapana meditation : concentration on or ‘feeling’ beneed the nose and above the upperlip => this helps me to ‘master my mind’
vipassana meditation : see http://www.pajjota.dhamma.org or http://www.dhamma.org for the full information
metabana meditation : focus on love, peace, harmony, compassion
I found this meditation forms highly effective for myself even given the fact that I am quite a new-comer in this area (I started beginning this year).
They bring me inner peace and they permit me to stay more equonomous in live. I see things more easily through a different perspective. I look and feel but not necessarily react directly or impulsively.
In my environment people that do yoga, meditate or eat vegetarian or even follow a training to become a coach are still often viewed as ‘weirdo’s’ or lost in time hippies. I have grown up in an environment were making money is an important driver and most of my friends or study colleagues have jobs in commercial companies. When I talk about meditation and the inner me (I believe I didn’t dare to share this yet with my friends) they often look at me in a strange way… or is that me interpreting this?
I know for sure that my parents, brothers and sister find this all quite odd.
It became suddently very clear to me recently that this is withdrawing me to fully go for this style of living. My inner ‘saboteur’ warned me not to exclude myself from ‘normal’ live, to fully take part of it.
I understand now that it also refers to my ever present fear or reluctance to be different from others. I have always admired people that dared to stand out of the group.
Suddenly a quote came to my mind that I have read in the book ‘De grote stilte’ written by Miek Pot (see my former post) :
Mystiek is
slapen, eten
stoffen, mediteren
koken, fietsen
boodschappen doen
overwegen en bidden
free English translation :
Mystic is
sleeping, eating
cleaning, meditating
cooking, byking
shopping
considering and praying
Personally I would leave out the praying, but overall I like the understanding that meditation is just another part of normal live, just as all the other ‘ordinary’ stuff we do.
The quote is so simple and clear in the same time.
I will keep this quote in mind for when my inner ‘saboteur’ is warning me back again 🙂
I have picked up this book without any specific references, I have found it on the bookshelf in my local bookshop. The title translated as ‘The big silence’ appealed to me.
And yes, I have read it in one day.
It gave me such a feeling of recognition of what I have been going through, searching the silence within meditation. I have put post-its on the pages that I wanted to share with you or highlight but my book is now full of it so I can only recommend you to read the book.
It is very conceize and written in a clear language. Too me it seems like a good short introduction to meditation and what it could mean for you but also, as it was for me, it can serve as a confirmation of what you are living is similar for anyone on that same road.
It is written from a catholic background. My meditation training was given from a boedist background. Amazing that the content, experiences are so similar. This shows that as I was thaught during my meditation training the whole experience is not linked with any religion or conviction, it is universal.
As part of my coach training I start today my first blog.
This is completely new to me …
Both the technique (words like widgets, tags, … sound like chinese to me) and the content (inner and outer silence appeal to me now, as well as ‘every second is the first second of the rest of my life’ and living in the be-mode instead of in the do-mode) are subject to fine-tuning I feel.
They lack structure and logic for now. They are not yet complete.
You will find on my blog quotes, thoughts, stories, books as I discover them but also the ones that have inspired me to become who I am today.
As I am fully aware that I am still and will continue to evolve there will be plenty of content to post. Continuity garantied 🙂
For myself this blog will serve in first instance as a repository to find back books, stories, quotes, activities, other sites.
I might share it in the future and open it to receive comments and feedback.
Glad to have started 🙂
Inner strength 
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