Basic Principles of Meditation - Women's Fitness

Basic Principles of Meditation - part of the women's fitness video series by GeoBeats. Hi, I am Mary Stancavage with Against the Stream Buddhist Meditation Society. The principle behind the practice of insight meditation is to have the opportunity to stay in the moment and actually experience what is going on for you each moment, as each moment arises. We are so often caught in our heads, and stories, and plans, and memories, that we are not actually aware of what is going on right now. There is no religious connotation to this practice whatsoever. So, you can be an atheist or a devout Christian, and an insight meditation practice will work for you. Sometimes it is thought of as associated with religion, especially since you hear Buddhist meditation so often. And that is primarily because this practice, this type of meditation, was developed by the Buddha over 2500 years ago, and we use his precise instructions for this practice of mindfulness, but if you try it yourself, you will see that there is no dogma attached to it, there is no lessons that have to be learned. In fact, the Buddha’s teaching was: “Don’t do it because I say to do it. Try it for yourself and see if it helps. See if it relieves your stress, your suffering, your dissatisfaction.” And that is where you are able to dissociate the religious aspect with the practicality of the practice itself.