"The point here is awakening, right?
The point is not to learn how to suppress yourself so that you feel better, It's how to wake up to the reality of your being, and we wake up to the reality of our being by relating with our human nature. Not by abandoning it. Not by going around it. Not by trying to pray it away or mantra it away. We wake up by letting everything within ourselves reveal itself, be felt, be experienced, be known. Then and only then can we move onto a deeper level. This is very, very important and it is something that a lot of people don't understand. It's easy to use meditative techniques to suppress our human experiences, to suppress things we don't want to feel. But what is called for is just the opposite. True meditation is the space in which everything gets revealed, everything gets seen, everything gets experienced. And as such, it lets go of itself. We don't even let go. It lets go of itself."
This is one of my all time favourite quotes. Before learning meditation, I was under the illusion that those who meditate don't get upset or angry, are always composed and calm, and always know what to say, and more importantly, when to say it.
What I had overlooked was the process of meditation and instead was focusing on the end result. Those who have a regular practice of meditation, regardless which type of meditation is chosen, have a certain way of being with themselves and around others. They actually can seem more composed, more grounded, more present. And yes, the end result does look attractive. Yet it requires for us to sit with what is, which in turn, becomes a way to work through the discomfort, pain, fear, betrayal, failure, unpleasantness, misunderstanding, conflict, .... (the list is long).
Working through whatever is lands us in an unburdened state.
There is great freedom in riding the wave of emotion. Instead, we often have the habit of getting stuck in a constant battle of miserably failing at suppressing it or pretending it isn't there.
Our emotions can get very very scary, even more so when we don't have the proper supportive framework and guidance.
When a memory triggers a human experience and emotion is voiced, that allows the release to take place. The absence of that experience will create a void around which one organizes their thoughts and embodiment. That is what we call 'the missing experience'. Through the work we do together, we try to, collaboratively and experimentally, create and work through in a mindful setting and framework.
