How to ground and re-center yourself

Are you continuing to feel that 2020 is shaping up to be one of the most intense years of our lives? We are going through a time full of uncertainty, pain, outrage, and loss.  So, it is normal to feel a bit overwhelmed. Many people tell me that with everything that is happening in the world right now, they feel frazzled, out of balance, and ungrounded. But they often don’t know how to slow down their minds, relax their emotions and energy to recharge themselves.

While the multiple health benefits of meditating are well documented, many people shy away from even attempting to meditate because they believe they don’t have enough time, it’s too difficult to learn, or they don’t know what form of meditation to choose. When I first tried meditating at age eighteen, I thought there was nothing to it. All I needed to do was lie down, close my eyes, and after a few moments, I would float into that blissful nirvana I’d heard others talk about. Unfortunately, one of two things seemed to get in the way: either I fell asleep after a few minutes, or my mind insisted on presenting me with a long list of things I hadn’t done yet, miserable failures of the past, or the unsolvable problems ahead of me. How can you reach that state of inner peace that meditation is supposed to give you, when, the moment you close your eyes, the very thoughts you want to let go of start popping up like firecrackers on the Fourth of July? This is one of the questions for my guest on this week’s Empowerment Radio, Dr. Susan Shumsky, author of 17 books and world-renowned expert in meditation and healing.

Dr. Shumsky is a highly respected spiritual teacher and founder of Divine Revelation®—a unique field-proven technology for contacting the divine presence, hearing and testing the inner voice and receiving clear divine guidance. For over two decades, her mentor was Maharishi Mahesh Yogi, who was the guru of the Beatles. Dr. Shumsky served on Maharishi’s personal staff for 6 years.

Here is an excerpt from her book Third Eye Meditations:

“As a hippie flower child in the 1960s, I was desperately seeking higher awareness. I read every book I could lay hands on about what Buddhists call nirvana or satori—the state of spiritual enlightenment. We hippies were trying to get there through LSD. That didn’t work out for me. I didn’t come down from the drug for months and experienced perpetual, terrifying LSD flashbacks.

“However, once I recovered, I lay on my bed one day (clearly clueless, I didn’t even know meditation should be practiced in a seated position) and prayed for a “meditation.” Immediately an intense flow of energy rushed through my body from my toes to the top of my head. I was plugged into a cosmic electric socket, but in a most ecstatic way, without drugs. I figured this is “meditation.” Little did I know it was not only my first meditation but also kundalini awakening.

“This was pure beginner’s luck. I still didn’t know how to meditate. But a friend introduced me to Transcendental Meditation (known commonly as “TM”), and, at age 21, off to India I went. I then experienced the uncanny blessing of 22 years living in the ashrams and six years serving on the personal staff of Maharishi Mahesh Yogi, founder of TM and guru of the Beatles.

“After that, I was fortunate to study with Peter Meyer, founder of Teaching of Intuitional Metaphysics, who taught me how to tap, test, trust, and follow the voice of my higher self, and how to ask for and receive spiritual experiences and inner guidance at will.

“But what if you have no Maharishi or Meyer to learn from? What if you’ve tried to meditate with little to no results? What if all you achieve is boredom or a headache? This can be a frustrating, hit-or-miss ordeal.

“Yet meditation can be easy and enjoyable when you learn from someone who has practiced and taught it for over 50 years. I started with no spiritual skills, but I learned from masters who guided me step-by-step from point A to B and through the alphabet. These masters trained me to teach meditation from point A to traverse that same alphabet.

Do you believe you don’t have time to meditate? Do you think you can’t meditate? Do you have no clue how to get started, or did you try to meditate but stopped doing the practice out of frustration?

“Today meditation is more popular than ever. More than 14% of American adults say they practice it. Its advantages to health, well-being, creativity, longevity, and happiness are incredibly profound and have been scientifically verified.

“Though millions try to meditate, many don’t achieve a deep state of restful alertness and therefore don’t get the relaxing, healing, spiritually uplifting effects they desire. Because of the proliferation of meditation worldwide, there are many misconceptions about meditation and how it’s practiced. So let’s get started by debunking some meditation myths. 

“Meditation is mysterious, intangible, and impractical. Meditation is not a mystery. It’s an accessible, practical way to experience deep bodily relaxation and mental and emotional equanimity by taking your mind from the surface level into deeper and deeper levels, until your mind settles down to a state beyond all conflict and experiences inner peace and contentment.

“Meditation is something weird and woo-woo that hippies from California do. People from all walks of life practice meditation and get helpful, positive results. Through meditation, you can become healthier, happier, and more fulfilled. Meditation helps you solve a multitude of mundane, everyday problems.

“No one has time to meditate in today’s demanding world. It’s a practice for an age when life moved much slower. Today it’s more vital than ever to take a few moments and settle down to inner peace. Otherwise, the stress of modern life can overwhelm you and damage your health. You would be wise to make meditation a priority.

“Meditation conflicts with certain religious beliefs. No matter what religion you follow, you can meditate. People of all major religions meditate. Meditation leads you to deep relaxation and inner peace. No religion is antipeace or antirelaxation.

“People who are impatient or restless can’t meditate. Even if you think you can’t sit still, you can meditate anyway. Just begin by taking three slow, deep breaths to settle down.”

Join Susan and I this Thursday, June 18th at 9AM PT / Noon ET as we will talk about how to use the subtle energy centers of our chakra system to regain peace, balance, and perspective during these most turbulent times. After all, only when we are clear, courageous, and open-hearted, can we build a more equal, just, and sustainable world for all.