Meditation's Potential

Depth of engagement with meditation varies greatly among individuals. Often initially, there's only a brief, passing intellectual curiosity. Many others only practice until their stress gets back down to a tolerable level.

Relatively few of us practice meditation to realize its full potential: to discover a freedom that's independent of all circumstances & times. Most will elect to "keep busy" rather than intentionally undertake a transformational path. Deep meditation practice continuously opens windows on a reality that keeps surprising us & thus, keeps stretching us beyond successive comfort zones.

“As you go deeper into your practice, there will be times of great inner tension followed by release to the point of weeping. If you have not experienced this at least several times, you have not yet really practiced.”

Kornfield J, Breiter P. "A still forest pool. The insight meditation of Achaan Chah." Quest Books, 1985.

Meditation practice does bring about de-repression of psychological material, where repressed, often emotionally-charged material, comes to the surface. This tends to happen gradually, so the meditator accommodates to his/her gradually increasing awareness & acceptance. However, it can occur suddenly, which can be traumatic. Willoughby Britton PhD

I highly recommend the chapter "Common Delusions, Traps, and Points of Fixation" in: Adyashanti. “The End of Your World. Uncensored Straight Talk on the Nature of Enlightenment.” Sounds True, Boulder, Colorado, 2010.

Ideally, deeper engagement with meditation is done with the guidance of a skillful, compassionate teacher who is on the same journey, but further along on the path.