As living beings, we all have an innate desire to move.  In order to stay awake or conscious, something in our bodies or minds has to be moving at any given point in time.  For most of us, our bodies just cannot stay still for long.  If we are limited in action - for example, if we’re seated in a car - we may activate our mouths and start yakking or activate our eyes and start looking around.  Even when we sleep, our brains are still working on healing and rejuvenating us.

Did you ever notice that when we stop some actions abruptly, our bodies and minds immediately start to find the next best thing to do?  Some people develop habits such as nail-biting, stub-plucking or leg-shaking.  We are really creative beings!  I will give you another example.  A few years ago, my daughters were seated in the back seat of the car and they started bickering.  Nothing would stop them, as both wanted to win the fight.  So I told the girls - whoever keeps quiet for five minutes, wins!  Immediately, there was silence.  As I watched from the rear view mirror of the car, they started getting restless before the first minute was up (try it for yourself, five minutes really isn’t that short when you are dying to talk!).

The remaining four minutes was really fun to watch.  They started to discover that they could communicate with their eyes.  Then they started using hand signals.  When things got boring, they started hand-dancing to the music on the radio!  At the end of five minutes, not only were they high in creativity, they also discovered that whatever they had been bickering about, didn’t quite matter!  They got distracted from the negative energy of bickering by shifting their attention somewhere else!  The world inside our car was peaceful and fun again.

We are energetic beings seeking balance, so when we bring down our physical actions, we bring up the mental load - and vice versa.  I know a lot of high-level business executives who do heavy physical workouts to destress … when the body is working, it off-loads the mind somewhat.  It’s difficult to exercise hard and think hard at the same time!  I am a person who is always in motion.  If I’m not doing something physically, then my mind is the one that gets the load.  If my mind decides it wants a rest, then my body will ache for activity.  When I sleep, my body goes into healing mode - that’s energy in motion!

Meditation is one good method that shifts your energy focus to your mind.  While you sit still and keep your eyes closed and your breaths shallow, your mind is the only thing that’s “moving”.  The interesting thing about this “moving” of the mind is that we try to keep it still by disciplining it.  We use mind energy to center and quieten it, so some part of the mind is constantly busy working on the stillness!

Personally I have reaped some benefits from still meditation methods.  I think it’s lovely, but I have come to realize that I get pretty good results from active meditation.  I feel good when I go for early morning walks, or when driving.  My body is kept busy, so that takes away the excess energies from my mind, and it lets down its “guard” and starts to rest.  When my mind is at rest mode, that’s when my intuition comes, or when my Guides decide to communicate with me.  These are no longer my egoistic or crazy thoughts injected by my mind.  They are thoughts that are finally allowed to come through loud and clear from my sixth sense - while I’m moving.

So if you’ve attempted still meditation and haven’t had much luck so far, try getting active and let your mind relax.  You may be surprised at the insights you get!

Blessings,
Irene