Somebody wrote a pearl clutching post against meditation recently, and I got so riled up I had to climb onto my tiny soapbox and have a rant. I say NO to fear based superstition aimed to keep you small.
If someone’s warning about the ‘side effects’ of meditation or saying don’t do it because something spooky could happen, think again, or rather, ditch the head and think with the soul. The Social media post claimed meditation may cause panic attacks and anxiety, and worse, that it may even lead to unwanted spiritual contact.
Ummm – isn’t a deeper spiritual connection what we want?
Going deep is what we’re about when we meditate. Sure, if a bit of self reflection touches on areas that are ready to be healed, great, but no meditation ever caused a panic attack. We meditate to connect. How do you think we’re going to connect to our higher selves, our soul, and the unseen world beyond that is part of us, if we don’t tune in, go inside, and touch that place?
We do that through meditation. How else are we going to do it? We can’t pick up the phone, right? Meditation is a beautiful, beautiful thing. Done right it can open up your soul. There are 103 students in my psychic development group and guess what the first thing they do?
Yup. Meditation.
Meditation to connect with your soul, and so far no one’s died, gotten anxiety attacks or been possessed. They’ve welcomed the spirit connections that can also happen with excited open arms.
The magic is in you
If you don’t know how your own soul works; if you haven’t met your own soul first, how are you going to connect to other people in psychic readings, or the spirit world in mediumship readings?
You can’t. The phone line is inside you. The magic is in you.
Sure meditation can be a grind if you’re not used to it. When I first started, I could barely sit there for three minutes. And I did it every single day for half an hour for 18 months. The same meditation that I now give my students on My Psychic Soul. It doesn’t even matter what meditation. You can sit here with a cup of tea, gaze out of your beautiful London apartment window like I am right now. You can just look out the window. That’s also a form of meditation.
Anything that just stops and lets your mind wander and daydream is a form of meditation. It doesn’t have to be a formal kind of thing if that doesn’t suit you.
You’re gonna meet your soul
You’re going to meet your soul. And what can happen sometimes is there’s stuff to move. Stuff that’s ready to shift, ready to be sorted into the trash bin, like the recycling, yes, that will come up. And it can be uncomfortable, but it’s our soul growing. It’s not to be avoided, it’s not to be fearful of.
It’s actually a great sign our soul is growing, that we are one step closer to touching that eternal part of ourselves, that divine spark that is essentially us. Without all the fears, and the ego’s, and this human trapping. That’s what meditation does. That’s the phone line to God, (however you term God).
Say no to fear based superstition
But this fear based superstition stuff has got to stop, guys. Anything that makes you feel less than, scared, makes you pull back, that’s something trying to make you less than you really are. Spiritual development should make you feel the opposite. Expansive, supported, cared for, loved, free, strong, empowered, loved. I said love, right? And not alone.
Anything that makes you feel alone and small and scary, that’s not a spiritual path, that’s fear based, and we can say no to that.
Say NO to Spiritual middle-manning
And while I’m up here on my soap box, let’s also say no to those who put a gate between you and the divine. This comes in a very slick version these days called “blocks”.
There are many who will fish for ways you are small so that only they can fix them. This is spiritual middle-manning and it sucks.
Spiritual middle-manning is just like the priesthood where no one was allowed to God except the priest, or Shaman, or Rabbi, or holy man, and it’s still going on.
New age middle-manning still exists
It’s in the guise of some of the more unscrupulous psychic coaches, mentors and healers. You can go direct. Your soul is your soul, and you’re in charge of it.
You have the divine ability to connect to your psychic self with what you have. Blocks or no blocks.
All the great mediums of this world didn’t get their blocks fixed by coaches or healers. They simply sat in the stillness of their own soul, (hello – meditation) Maybe they walked in the forest, maybe they prayed, maybe they chanted. But they got through and they didn’t outsource their power to a coach who wanted to be the middleman. You don’t need anybody else, you don’t need me. You don’t need anyone.
You can do it right now with what you have.
If you ever work with me and say you’ve got blocks I’ll smile gently and ignore you. I’ll suggest some quiet time and maybe another round of the soul expanding meditation I use with my students. Because it works.
So then you can make that journey into yourself. So, say no to fear based superstitious crap, and run it through your filter. If it makes you feel fearful, less than, alone, scared, it’s not for you. Don’t buy into it. You can go direct with your spiritual connection whenever you want, with whatever you’ve got because the magic is in you and always has been.
If you’d like to have a touch of extra magic, I have a little free gift for you.
10 more ways to improve your intuition. With easy to implement practical hints, and one that will take you by surprise. Just for the magic, that’s already inside you.
Hi Lovely Denise,
I just wanted to pop in and respond to some of the content in this email, but firstly, can I share with you my gratitude for your beautiful energy, distinct branding- I just love it, it cheers me up, and for creating such a beautiful facebook group that has become my favourite place to be on the internet. Your beautiful energy exudes through everything you do.
I do want to talk about meditation and fear mongering. Over the years I have done a lot of yogic meditation under the guidance of gurus, and Buddhist mindfulness practice under the guidance of lamas, as well as meditation in various settings-gatherings, completely woo hippie circles, theatre groups, business meetings.
I love meditation, I do, I have found it to be so valuable to soothing my soul and finding my sky-mind and deeper levels of empathy, as many people do. I’m also trained in psychotherapy with a love of the blossoming world of western study into happiness, meditation, mindfulness and compassion practices and their applications within psychotherapeutic settings.
However….. there ARE actually circumstances where meditation can be too strong for people and bring up psychosis and panic attacks. Particularly for those who have underlying mental health challenges and those who suffer from PTSI or unrecognised traumas. Some people are so deeply traumatised that even closing their eyes is triggering and can instigate dissociative states.
We need to be careful…. and mindful of this. There are many recognised unwanted effects of meditation and yoga including visions, flashbacks, panic attacks, arising and unresolved emotions, that if not properly processed can become harmful. These are very real possibilities, and people should be aware of them.
I agree it is a fools game to make people afraid of meditation… that’s not at all helpful….but there is certainly potential for these things to arise. There is also potential for increased stress when not ‘achieving’ a meditative state, increased self criticism, spiritual bypass (avoiding self-awareness and claiming ‘enlightened being’ – self-declaration of guru or shaman status etc) and enhancement of personality (I don’t like the word disorder) traits that can be socially misaligned or harmful to others.
A big part of the problem is that many people who meditate, do so in environments where they are lacking guidance, or the meditation leader is neither properly trained to lead the practice nor equipped to assist with processing what can arise out of meditation.
One of the key reasons I went on to study psychotherapy and counselling came from my own experience in a theatre class where we were guided into regression meditation that triggered a trauma response- panic attack, dissociative state and months of ongoing anxiety.
It left me in a highly traumatised state which caused me to abandon studies. IF the teacher had been trained and equipped, then the process and outcome may have been different.
The truth is meditation is too often treated as though it is a light and happy, happy practice that everyone can and should do it, and people are taken into the deeper parts of their mind by boffins like my theatre movement teacher, with no clue of the potential for serious trauma to arise or how to handle it. And that is what we need to be wary of, rather than the meditation itself.
We know that practices like meditation and yoga (and theatre classes) bring up trauma- that is why there are gurus, and lamas… I really think its not a practice that should be treated lightly- it is one that should be guided by gurus and lamas, skilled practitioners and psychotherapists who not only know how to guide people into safe meditation practice, but back out again.
So while I absolutely agree with you that meditation is a powerful tool to enhance our self knowing, sensitivity and empathy, we do need to take the fear and anger/defensiveness (both products of fear) out of our responses to the fear mongers and gain a level picture of what actually can and does occur, so that we are better equipped to guide people towards self-safety, healing, connection and awareness.
I know it’s probably something the gurus will tell us more about and have known about for yonks… but here is a study on the unwanted effects that may have contributed to the fear mongerer getting all stupid about it in the first place (they’re not entirely wrong… but they are not helping either). https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5584749/#!po=34.0000
Much love, honour and respect
Anna Kristina