Deborah Lipp

Last week we talked about meditating while cleaning. This is good because you have to clean anyway, but there are activities that are inherently more peaceful and meditative, that can be used in a mindful way.

The activities I have in mind fall into two basic categories: Rhythmic and creative. Of course, some activities can be both.

Many meditations guide you to imagery or use objects that focus/unfocus the mind. By staring at a mandala or a candle flame, you engage the mind so that every little stray thought isn’t an agonizing distraction. At the same time, you let go of the mind.

It’s kind of like letting your dog run in a fenced yard; you don’t have to watch him every minute because it’s fenced, and you can do more interesting things while he’s running. A mandala, a breathing technique, an object of spiritual inquiry can be a fenced yard. While you are getting value out of a cognitive inquiry, you are also not thinking about all the unmeditative things that might occupy your mind.

A rhythmic activity might be drumming, dancing, weaving, spinning (on a spinning wheel), sewing, knitting, carving or sanding wood, stringing beads, etc.

A creative activity might be painting or drawing, carving, beading, sculpting, etc.

If you’re doing woodcarving, the part where you’re repetitively clearing the surface might be more rhythmic, the part where you’re actually creating a design is more creative. Similarly, designing a bead project might be highly creative, focusing on color, shape, and arrangement, while actually stringing the beads, once designed and laid out, is repetitive and rhythmic.

Your activity can be purposeful or simply an occupation conducive to meditation. Next week we’ll talk about purposes that work well with meditation.

Prepare your activity. Get out your beading, carving, or knitting supplies before you begin. Sit in your workspace with everything ready.

Ground and center.

Now simply begin, allow your mind to remain focused on the work, undistracted by stray thoughts. Bring yourself back to the moment, to the physical objects, the tactile and sensory experience of your creativity.

You can choose in advance if you will focus on the goal—the end product—or stay in the moment; this bead, this string, this drumbeat. Either way, bring yourself back to that thought process whenever you stray.

Some projects are completed in a single sitting, some are not. Having a long-term project might be a beautiful way to create meditative suggestibility—when you pick it up, it begins to induce trance. On the other hand, a one-shot project has a clear ending point, bringing you out of meditation as you finish. For example, with beading, tying the final knot and attaching the closure is a natural way to end meditation.

I often meditate while cleaning. Specifically, while cleaning my altar or while preparing my home for ritual. This is a focused meditation, clearing the mind and thinking about meaning while I clean.

So I was delighted to find this blog post about cleaning in a Zen context, that mentions meditating while cleaning.

I like to think of a Zen monk sweeping the floors of a temple when I sweep. It’s corny, maybe, but it really helps me focus on the sweeping, and it’s a form of meditation. In this way, I actually enjoy the cleaning, although I’d rather be writing to be honest.

I think she’s slipping here. The trick is to stay in the moment, and not engage with what you’d rather be doing. Be here now.

So, suppose I’m scrubbing the tub for a ritual bath. I hate scrubbing the tub. It makes my back ache, it’s physically awkward, and frankly it never resuls in the Clean Tub I’d like, just a clean tub, if you know what I mean. I want it to sparkle like it’s new and it doesn’t.

But here’s what I do. I center myself, and visual the bath I’ll be taking. I align myself with a ritual purpose. I am doing ritual, just as much as I will be when I’m in the bath. Now, you can just do that, visualize bathing as you scrub, visualize having ritual seated on the carpet while you vacuum, and so on.

But I add a cognitive component: As I scrub, I meditate on the meaning of cleanliness, or of this particular bath. What does it mean to be spiritually clean? As I clean the temple, vacuum the rug, wash the altar, I ask myself about the inner nature of the temple, of the altar. As I dust my private worship altar, I meditate on the relationship I have with that altar. What does it mean to clean the idol, to serve the deity in that way?

These are deep meditations that can take me on interesting journeys. I value them.

And while I will never love the dishpan hands, or scrubbing the tub, doing these meditations takes me far beyond what I’d “rather be” doing and allows me to be fully present for a spiritual task.

Perhaps you think of meditation and prayer as two entirely different things; many people do. Indeed, meditation can be an entirely secular activity, or it can be spiritual, but unrelated to the worship of a specific deity. Meditation is a discipline of mind, focusing awareness, thoughts, emotions, or state of being in a particular way. Prayer, on the other hand, is communion with deity (God or a god or gods).

Prayer can take many forms. It can be supplication, thanksgiving, acknowledgment, or simply being in the presence of deity in a worshipful way. Most Western religions don’t have a specific tradition of meditation; instead, prayer is where meditation happens. To be in the presence of deity and still the mind in order to commune with deity, to receive wisdom or comfort or peace; this is meditation. It’s explicit in things like Quaker meetings, but implicit, perhaps in different language, in many practices of Christianity, Judaism, and Islam.

But this is a Pagan site, and so let’s talk about this in a Pagan way. My plan is to discuss the relationship between Pagan prayer and meditation today, and in the coming weeks, use the Sunday Meditation space to talk about specific aspects of that, like the use of home altars and so on. I’d welcome suggestions in comments about any specific topics you’d like to see.

First let’s talk about the mind in prayer. Assuming the intention of prayer is to speak with or commune with the gods in some way, then it would certainly help to be in a meditative state first. So there’s two ways of approaching this.

Method 1: Pray.

Method 2: Still the mind. Ground and center. Pray.

Now, right on the face of it, you can see that Method 2 is going to work better, and by “work” I mean “produce the desired result,” i.e. achieving a sense of communion with deity.

You can also prepare to pray in much the same way you prepare to meditate, and for the same reasons:

Phone rings while meditating, concentration broken: Bad.

Phone rings while praying, feeling of connection to deity broken: Bad.

So, preparing to meditate and preparing to pray are not that different. You want to take a little space, a little moment where you’re not interrupted. (On a future Sunday, I’m going to discuss small moments of meditation/prayer and how to find them in a busy life. This is super helpful if you’re the mother of an infant, for example.)

Use of a dedicated spot—an altar—for prayer or worship is actually more common than using such a spot for meditation, but I do it for both, and I do it specifically because it works. There’s a number of things a dedicated spot can achieve; it provides visual cues that help still the mind. Being there triggers a kind of post-hypnotic suggestion, indicating to the mind that it’s time to enter into a meditative state. Things you use during meditation or prayer (rosary beads, candles, incense) are all in a convenient spot, so there’s no fussing about.

I meditate at my altar, and I don’t always make much distinction between prayer or meditation. I’m stilling my mind in the presence of my Goddess. Or I’m stilling my mind in order to be in the presence of my Goddess. Whatever. These distinctions: Prayer, worship, meditation, communion; they’re for the intellect, they’re for thinking about afterwards. In the act, in the moment, it doesn’t matter what you call it, it’s simply what you do that enriches your life and brings peace.