The Ordinary Mystic

The Maharishi Mahesh Yogi, founder of the Transcendental Meditation technique, died on Tuesday, February 5, 2008. His teachings on meditation influenced the Beatles, Deepok Chopra, and millions of others. Universities have been established throughout the world, all built upon a foundation of TM teachings. What is the reason for how widely his teachings spread? Is it that transcendental meditation is truly a unique and effective method for pursuing personal development?
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Do a Google search for ‘raising vibration’ and there is no lack of information available. But in the spirit of the ‘high vibes game’ meme started at OptimistLab (I’ve just been tagged … twice), I’ll give my take on it as well as five things I do to ‘raise my vibration’.

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As I was driving home the other day and I spotted this sign.

I have to admit I was surprised to see this being featured at a church. I had considered labyrinths to have more in common with eastern religious thought rather than western. Buddhists have their walking meditations, the labyrinth design resembles Buddhist mandalas, a symbol for meditation, and the meditation experience itself is a core practice in Buddhism and Hindu Yoga. So are labyrinths incompatible with Christianity?
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I recently read on another blog the idea of a “presence walk” (by Steve Pavlina) as a meditation tool. It reminded me of a labyrinth that I saw on the grounds of the Center for Spiritual Enlightenment in San Jose. In fact, they call it a meditation labyrinth, and the idea is to start at the beginning and slowly walk your way through the winding path to the center. Then turn around and follow the same path back to the outer edge.

Labyrinth designs, such as the one shown here, have been around for over four thousand years. These have been used as tools for meditation, for healing, and for receiving inspiration.
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