My First Real Meditation Practice

In my life, I have been fascinated with the body's energy system-how thoughts are grounded in energy-and how training ourselves to use this energy can seem intimidating or strange at first. Still, it's a natural part of our human experience, inviting curiosity and trust in your own journey.

Forty years ago, I came upon a book that was a thousand miles away from what I was reading, what I believed, and what I was even capable of understanding. It was deep into meditation, moving Chi energy through the body's systems and collecting energy from the earth and the heavens, how the stars and the universe affect our being and or lives.

I know it scared me, too.

Here is the church-going sick boy venturing into the unknown, like many beginners who fear the unfamiliar yet want to explore energy work and meditation to see how they might affect my health and my life.

Lesson one: Just because you never heard of it doesn’t mean it's bad. Like always, I didn’t tell anyone because I didn’t want people to ridicule me and impose their fears on me. I was weak enough already.

I began practicing what I was reading slowly, navigating fears and warnings that sometimes made me hesitant.

Lesson two: In this modern world we live in, it’s not unheard of for people to tell you that you need to go to China to learn this from a certified master, who charges two thousand dollars plus airfare.

I didn’t have that option to do that. I will take it slow and do my best. I read the book a couple of times; it was always a slow process for me. Being dyslexic, I learned more by memorizing the pictures. I would read the bullet points, then see them in my mind's eye, and do them in my meditation practice.

I followed this practice every night for about two years. I was unsure what I was gaining from it-whether I was feeling anything or just going through the motions-but I kept sitting, curious about how it might transform me over time. Over those years, I noticed subtle shifts-more calm, clarity, and resilience-that kept me motivated to continue.

I had a local New Age store nearby, and we got the ads for it. Lo and behold, a teacher was coming to teach what I was trying to learn. It cost, I believe, $150 for a 12-week course. That was a lot of money for us at the time, and my wife looked at me and said, " You're going!

Lesson three: Listen to your loved ones.

I went to the first class; it was very elementary for me. Seeing that I had been practicing for two years, he was going over the rules that were already burned into my mind. After the third class, I wasn't sure what this guy was going to teach for the following nine classes. Then I moved ahead of the class, and while everyone else worked on the smaller part of the practice, I did the whole meditation without permission.

After the session, as everyone sat after the meditation, the teacher looked at me with a scowl. “Did you have fun?” he asked. I looked, surprised. "What do you mean?" I asked.  He quickly answered, saying, “I know you did the whole meditation practice without asking, and you should practice where the class is at.”

Lesson four: Don’t move ahead of the class.

That was my aha moment. At the end of the class, I raised my hand. He reluctantly called on me. “I said I had a couple of questions.” He said, “Ask.” “Question one: How did you know I did the whole meditation?”

He quickly answered, “I felt your energy field expand.”

Lesson five: Don’t think that your thoughts are only in your head. They are in your energy field for all to feel. Plus, the ones in your energy field are your true thoughts, not the made-up ones in your head.

“Question two: So, how I feel, and the energy I feel, is me doing the practice right?”

He answered in a low, soft voice. “Yes”

I felt validated; my persistence paid off. Regular meditation and energy movement became my passion, teaching me that consistent practice can lead to profound personal growth and insight.

I did finish all twelve classes. Other students started coming up to me after class, asking me to describe what it felt like. In the last class, he was going to give us a little boost of his energy, refined from his energy field. (Hands-on healing using two-finger opening of the energy channel in the spine.) The students who were left in the class received a little boost of energy from him. It was a big to-do. He skipped me.

During the last couple of weeks, I attended his class. I also took my Reiki Level One class and started my hands-on healing journey. The week after my Reiki Class, he pretty much didn’t want to deal with me.

For twenty years, I taught this technique to hundreds of people in my Saturday-morning guided meditation class. I just stripped down to an easy practice.

To those people who came to those classes, thank you for being my teachers.