On our Dhamma path we are told to meditate, meditate and meditate some more, for this meditation is the beginning, middle and end of our road to liberation.
But it is important that we understand completely the purpose of what we do as we sit quietly being with the breath, the subtle movements of mind and corresponding sensations in the body.
It is not to have memorable experiences of peace and calmness, or out of body adventures or any such fantasy the mind of ‘self’ may grasp at.
Rather it is to sit in stillness (as much as possible) and allow the truth of Anicca,
Anatta and Dukkha to appear before us and reveal their truths; that everything is a process of moment to moment change and behind those changing moments there is nothing that can be held as permanent and so to attempt to do so brings only frustration and the sense of life and every moment in it as being ultimately unsatisfactory.
This is the gift of the Buddha; not something magical, mystical or mysterious but a way of Awareness and Love, to see and know the reality of this being that we call ‘self’.
Gender, social position, race and culture are irrelevant to this practice, and even physical posture is not especially important (although effort and determination are everything).
So meditate, meditate and meditate some more, but understand that this meditation is not to get something, it is only to see and understand the reality of self’. With this understanding we are free.
May all beings be happy.