Why Did a Life Event Prompt You to Start Meditation?

It’s not necessarily a profound life event that prompts someone to start meditation. For me, it was a mix of curiosity and necessity.

Divorce and Adversity

My path to meditation began when I faced the greatest adversity. After giving birth to my second child, my ex-partner left me just two weeks later. He was cheating, and this triggered a whirlwind of negative emotions—depression, insecurity, and abandonment. I felt so overwhelmed with self-loathing that just getting out of bed was a daily challenge. Social media, the news, and the pandemic only worsened my state of mind.

To silence the noise and process my thoughts, I started a daily meditation practice. After two years, I learned how to channel negative thoughts with more logical reasoning and consciously let them flow through me without disrupting my daily life.

A Near-Death Experience

Somewhere along the way, I had a near-death experience. It changed me so profoundly that I began to research the state I had entered. I discovered that during meditation, I could connect with realms I had encountered during my near-death experience. This state of heightened awareness and profound knowing was unlike anything I had ever experienced.

The Importance of Personal Transformation

Not everyone agrees that a life event needs to prompt one to start meditating. Some argue that a true seeker is naturally drawn to introspection and self-examination. If someone starts meditating in search of peace or well-being, they might not fully understand the essence of meditation. Instead, they should focus on service and helping others, such as housing the homeless, feeding the hungry, and defending the vulnerable.

Personal Experiences and Enlightenment

At age 14, while playing baseball, I suffered a serious knee injury that led to a knee reconstruction. The experience was so intense that my mind and breathing stopped, and my consciousness intensified dramatically. I noticed that my vision narrowed, and I felt as if I was leaving my body and entering my knee through a visual tunnel. The fear of death made me return to my body, but I also realized that either coping with pain or fainting were my only options.

Years later, I joined a yoga school to explore these concepts further while completing a PhD in physics. I practiced between two and three hours a day, focusing on breathing and concentration. After six months, I felt a significant shift. My mind became at ease, and these practices led to moments of pratyahara and samadhi, though these experiences were not under conscious control.

These personal experiences taught me that the intensity of our consciousness can expand dramatically through meditation, showing that we tap into a much greater potential than we realize. Meditation is a journey that can transform us from within, and sometimes, it takes a life event to prompt us to start this journey.