In order to feel able to speak intelligently about pilgrimages, I decided to read, The Pilgrimage: A Contemporary Quest for Ancient Wisdom, by Paulo Coelho. The description of the book reads, 'This parable explores the need to find one’s own path. It is part adventure and part guide to self-discovery, combining enchantment and insight'.
During Coelho’s journey, his guide shows him seven meditation exercises. I thought I would share my favourites with you today. There are more, of course, but perhaps you will want to get the book and imaginatively embark on Coelho’s pilgrimage with him yourself. (Also, remember that you can imaginatively join me on the Camino journey I am taking right now by going to our Centre’s Facebook page to watch for our regular posts: https://www.facebook.com/TheCentreCR)
The Listening Exercise
Relax. Close your eyes. For several minutes, try to concentrate on all of the sounds you hear in your surroundings, as if you were hearing an orchestra playing its instruments. Little by little, try to separate each sound from the others. Concentrate on each one as if it were the only instrument playing. Try to eliminate the other sounds from your awareness.
When you do this exercise every day, you will begin to hear voices. At first, you may think they are imaginary. Later, you will discover that they are the voices of people from your past, present and future; all of them participating with you in the marking of time. Do this exercise for 10 minutes at a time. Eventually, you will find that this practice helps you to more confidently know what the right decisions to make for yourself are.
The Seed Exercise:
Kneel on the ground, and then seat yourself on your heels and bend forward so that your head touches your knees. Stretch your arms behind you. You are now in a fetal position.
Relax, releasing all of your tensions. Breathe calmly and deeply. Little by little, you will be able to perceive that you are like a tiny seed that is cradled in the comfort of the earth. Imagine that everything around you is warm and delicious and that you are in a deep, restful sleep.
Now imagine that, suddenly, a finger moves... . The 'shoot' within you no longer wants to be just a seed, it wants to grow. Slowly, begin to move your arms and then allow your torso to begin to rise, straightening up until you are seated on your heels.
From here, begin to lift your body up... slowly, slowly allowing your trunk to become more and more erect, while you are still kneeling on the ground.
Now the moment has come to imaginatively break completely through the earth. Begin to rise... slowly placing one foot on the ground and then the other, fighting against the disequilibrium just as a shoot battles to make its own space, until you are finally standing.
Imagine the area you have burst up into and what is all around you: the sun, the water, the wind, the birds. You are now like a shoot that is beginning to grow. Slowly raise your arms toward the sky. Then stretch yourself more and more, as if you wanted to grasp the enormous sun that shines above you, giving you strength and attracting you.
Next, imagine that your body begins to become more and more rigid. Allow all your muscles to strain as you feel yourself to be growing, growing, growing. Imaginatively allow yourself to become huge, with the tension in your body increasing more and more until it becomes painful and seemingly unbearable. When you feel you can no longer stand the intense sensations, scream and open your eyes.
Repeat this exercise for seven consecutive days, always at the same time of day.
I practice the "Listening Exercise" regularly and have used the "Seed Exercise" as a meditation. These are like little pilgrimages I have gone on in my mind and body, that have transformed me in some way. I would love to hear about the learnings you have had on pilgrimages of your own.
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