There is a strong preconceived idea - deeply engrained in our western way of thinking - which triggers our imagination due to our lack of knowledge, which has largely been fed by what we have read in the press or what we might have observed in friends or colleagues who are followers of different far eastern belief systems.
The sixties with the hippy movement and the seventies with the so called “Eco’s”, played a vital part in the creation of a somewhat negative image regarding the new wave of spirituality which had started to spill over into the West. Most of these people were categorised as lunatics or airy-fairies, treated as outcasts in our society and not taken seriously. It took about half a century and a lot of effort and patience on behalf of the highly respected Dalai Lama, along with the endorsement of celebrities such as Richard Gere who openly lived a Buddhist life, for Buddhism to find acceptance and respect in our society.
As mentioned in the introduction of this book, meditation and mystic teachings have never been a natural part of our modern culture, our upbringing and our conditioning in the West. The words such as guru or master have different connotations attached to them. Unfortunately, many gurus and masters themselves played a role in feeding a negative image by abusing their charismatic powers over their followers, which, in some cases, led to shocking revelations and scandals. In most people’s opinion, the words guru or master describes someone who has absolute control over another.
Once yoga found acceptance and became the latest fashion in the lives of celebrities – soon to be followed by the average person - it was only a question of time before yoga turned into a profitable global business.
Today, most people have a very positive attitude towards yoga; they enjoy attending classes and can experience the benefits of practicing yoga on a personal level. However, in this new world of yoga practice, there is little understanding that yoga was actually originally developed to channel our body’s energies and our minds towards meditation. Few regular yoga classes include refined meditation techniques, largely because most yoga teacher training courses typically only touch on meditation at a very superficial level. Therefore, most yoga teachers have not received any real training in the science of meditation themselves.
It requires a lot of effort and practice to establish a neutral or objective state of mind. We are usually too close to ourselves or we are standing in our own way to be able to relate things to a greater perspective
Additionally, without the support and facilitation of a teacher, the attraction and gravitational pull of our meditation practice in itself, might not be strong enough to sustain the initial interest and fascination of our mind over a longer period of time. Soon the mind will become distracted by other more powerful attractions and temptations in life, the mind will then happily allow you to sacrifice the idea of meditation in order to replace it with something more satisfying. That’s part of the nature of our mind.
The majority of people who chooses to follow a path of meditation does so to find a different meaning in their lives. Some might have reached a particular turning point and started asking different questions, whist others may be attracted by the science and psychology behind meditation, which offers a promising tool to further, evolve themselves within.
Others want to meditate in order to come to terms with upsetting experiences from their past, dealing with conflict or grief. Many people choose to learn meditation to help balance their mood swings, control their emotions or simply because they want a break from the busy chatter in their head.
Before committing to learn from a new teacher. People are advised to ask as many questions as they may have - just for their own peace of mind. If a yoga or meditation teacher were asked how he has developed his teachings, the appropriate answer would be that he hasn’t developed any of what he teaches himself. Instead he should attribute all his acquired knowledge and experience to his own teachers and sources of inspiration.
So in the beginning there may be no need to start with a teacher. But when one reaches a point where one wants to deepen ones meditation practice, a series of lessons or classes with a teacher are highly recommended. If one wants to explore, study and practice what the whole field of meditation has to offer, then working with a teacher becomes necessary and unavoidable.
First published: 05 March 2012
Copyright © Alexander Filmer-Lorch March 2012 all rights reserved
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