On Sunday afternoon, March 6th 2016, CandleX hosted its first Intro to Meditation session. The event was held at the house of one of the community members and led by CandleX’s facilitator Xiaojie. Seven people participated in the event, which included a discussion of concepts and styles of meditation and a guided meditation session.
We discussed the following types of meditation; Attention, Mindfulness, Passage and Benevolent. Participants were instructed to focus on whichever technique they were automatically drawn to. The idea that meditation can help calm the mind and bring it peace is not a new concept. However, most people don’t actually understand the full intent of meditation. With instruction and practice participants were able to relax and gain a better understanding of the benefits of meditation and whether or not it would be something that could help them moving forward.
At the end of the session the attendees expressed their new understandings and feelings about meditation. In the recent decade, Yoga has become increasingly popular and many comparisons were made between the two. Some of the participants found it harder to relax in Yoga because of the constant movement and sometimes quite technical positions, while others thought meditation was harder because there was nothing specific that their minds could focus on. The participants left with a sense of satisfaction about their new knowledge and abilities.
The session concluded with suggestions of local and online resources that those who want to continue the practice of meditation can access. The local resources include, The Beijing Mindfulness Center and daoscape.com. The online resources include: Peace Revolution and Chopra Center Meditation.
