Meditation Teacher 8

Learn from the Washing Machine

A washing machine works by agitation. This is what removes the stains. It is an action and a chemical process with the water and detergent. Meditation acts to clean clothes. The clothes represent our self and personalities, the identities we have in the world. When we do pranayama our energy is increased and the subtle nadis, the currents of energy are cleaned. This is like the detergent and water. The stains we are cleaning are sometimes very visible and sometimes they are more ordinary grime. Meditation washes them clean. When we are agitated, or the mind is out of control we can immediately see the need to return to calmness. Sometimes when we sit things come into the mind, old agitations, old traumas. These come to our mind in order for us to feel them through and release.

There two ways, the first is that we tend to distract ourselves from feeling pain and negativity. So we escape or do things to that put our mind somewhere else. We need then to bring our awareness into the pain and feel it in order to remove it. The other way is that we need to change the source of the pain. Sometimes we know pain and that is more comfortable then change. For instance we may cling to old habits such as overeating because we know that habit well and inducing change brings fear. This way involves not feeling or following the old habit but instead rejecting it. Just as sometime we must toss clothing that is too stained, or too worn.

Acceptance and rejecting must come from the light and truth.