Obstacles to Meditation and Contemplation: Part 3

In recent years, I have been working in Behavioral Health as a chaplain in order to promote spiritual growth as well as other aspects of a healthy and balanced lifestyle.

It is important to share the tools for meditation and contemplation that can often bring hope and sometimes relief to those who are challenged with mental illness, drug and alcohol addiction, grief, depression and anxiety, and related issues. 

Group meditation has been a key component of my spirituality groups. Typically, after an introduction and assurances of inclusiveness of culture and religion, we enter a discussion of those things that we tend to bury deep inside. 

Often this includes grief, anger, forgiveness, fear, guilt, and other emotional trauma. But it sometimes includes spiritual and positive emotional experiences that are deemed too personal to share.

From this discussion, we proceed with a meditation starting at the top of the head and “emptying” ourselves of thoughts, feelings, etc. and working downward to the heart. 

We “open our heart.” 

This completes the meditation, but it is suggested that the individual finish the meditation through the rest of the body, in a quiet place, later in the day.

We then share what those in the group experienced in the brief 5-minute meditation. This sharing is often revealing and sometimes brings out stories and group members ministering to one another. 

A handout on meditation (similar to the one at the beginning of this website and in the Obstacles to Meditation and Contemplation: Part 4) and scripture provides an ongoing reference for the patient to reflect on if he or she so chooses.

Check out Obstacles to Meditation and Contemplation: Part 1 and Check out Obstacles to Meditation and Contemplation: Part 2 and Obstacles to Meditation and Contemplation: Part 4