Week 3 – Dirk Herfurth

Only through practice and more practice, until you can do something without conscious effort.

Joe Hyams, Zen in the Martial Arts

You know what is difficult? Meditation.

I have to admit, my first thoughts were that how hard can it be to sit down, close your eyes, and relax breath for 15 minutes? Well, it is harder than it sounds.

After some reading I found out that meditation was quite common in all religions around the world, even Christendom. It was and is not just something for Indian gurus or Chinese warrior monks. During the centuries many known European artists, scientist, scholars, and clerics practiced exercising their minds. Now me as well.

With some previous guidance from sensei Oliver I started. I pictured myself sitting in this famous beach cave on Okinawa, starring onto the line between ocean and sky. Sounds easy, but your mind is a racing machine, constantly spinning thoughts and ideas, playing through past experiences and trying to figure out what the better answer to your 8^th grade crush should have been 30 years ago.

Clearing your thoughts, breathing the moment, close out problems and issues for these 15 minutes of meditation needs, like everything in the world, practice. Nobody can tell you if you are doing it right or wrong (I also suppose there is no real “wrong” here). Modern technology through meditation apps helped me further to understand. Realize that it is normal to have a wandering mind and what the challenges are for beginners. Some techniques I found quite useful to calm my thinking and it seems the 15 minutes go by quicker now than 3 weeks ago.

However, you need to figure it out for yourself. It is your way. You can be shown a direction, but you have to walk it yourself. I am curious of what will change for me while meditating over the next few months. I will keep practicing, even if I end up in 8^th grade once and a while.