The adventures of meditating in the Australian Outback for 28 days.
in brief.
This is a true life story that tries to answer the questions:
What does meditation do?
Is it really worth it?
This story is written for those who are interested in meditating for the first time as well as those who are long time meditators and are still asking this question. This story helps answer the questions above as well as provides a down to earth perspective of my own meditation experience by tying it to everyday life.
Let me introduce myself. My name is Nicole, a curious meditation practitioner.
A few years ago I was a U.S. expat traveling around Australia. At one point in my travels when I had a lot of time, I decided to meditate for an entire month while living in the surroundings of small towns and the dry rocky Eucalyptus forests of rural Australia. My aim was to see what meditation could do for my stressed out and chattering mind which haunted me wherever I went.
My traveling partner, Kyle, humored my decision and together we lived in an isolated area out in the bush where I undertook a 28 day meditation practice following an ancient method first written by a Tibetan Buddhist monk over 2000 years ago.
As I practiced, I began to notice various extraordinary things about my mind. Unexpectedly I found how meditation brought me on a journey that was far more life changing than any amount of traveling could ever do. Within this story, each day I describe a new experience and understanding of how meditation created introspection, contemplation, and self-evolution.
At the beginning, there was no telling where this meditation journey would lead when isolated out in the bush, observing every wild and spontaneous thought that passed through my mind. While camping in the outback, I found that I was not as alone as I thought. In my assumed isolation I unexpectedly encountered others wandering the bush.
I will guide you through the mind chattering experiences and obstacles we all have while meditating; while at the same time, describing how meditation promotes the introspection and release of thoughts, feelings, and sensations that occur in the mind and body. Each day helps you look at meditation from a new perspective by illustrating it through the lens of my personal story. I will expand on the ideas of what meditation can do and how it is a useful tool to help you see your life from a new vantage point.
about.
My overall approach in regards to meditation is what one might call a “Beginner’s Mind.” I meditate with openness and a mindset of not knowing. This ideology is especially used in the practice of Zen Buddhism known as “Shoshin,” and is practiced by more advanced practitioners. I invite you to join me in this practice by dropping all of your preconceived ideas and explore to find out.
That said, I am an avid student of many types of meditation philosophies and practices, and I’ve read many books over the years from a variety of traditions before focusing and expanding on my own personal practice. My education and practice of meditation and mindfulness includes having studied from various traditional and nontraditional perspectives including authors such as B. Alan Wallace, Eckhart Tolle, Jon Kabat Zinn, Alan Watts, Sharon Salzberg, Nisargadatta Maharaj, Osho, Ram Dass, Thich Nhat Hanh, Daniel J. Siegel, Dan Harris, Cynthia Bourgeut, and The Dalai Lama.
Besides my own personal study, I am an active, in the world, practitioner. I attended 2 separate 10 day silent Vipassana Meditation retreats; spent a weeklong mindfulness retreat at Thich Nhat Hanh’s Plum Village Meditation Center; attended a 2 day Inner Engineering conference by Sadhguru, took a 200 hour Hatha and Vinyasa Yoga Teacher training in Rishikesh, India; completed a 10 day mindful walk around Mont Blanc, France, Italy and Switzerland; and led my own solo 28 day meditation retreat in Victoria, Australia which the above story is founded on. Overall, I have been practicing meditation consistently on my own for about 5 years.
I hope my story will captivate you, make you think about your own meditation practice, and inspire you in your own journey. My ultimate intent is to help you find your own insight by asking hard questions while exploring this experience we call life.
