Garden or Meditate Anywhere

This morning i woke up in a city, and after, meditation, went for a walk around the neighborhood. I saw gardens between the sidewalk and the curb, in the strip between the driveway and the house. Every few blocks i saw an entire front yard converted to garden. My host, a busy research psychiatrist, had a small vegetable patch in his backyard.

Gardens aren't limited as to placement and neither is our meditation. We can meditate on a cushion, in a chair, or while walking some blocks around the neighborhood. We can meditate while running or while standing in line at the grocery store. We can meditate while pumping gas or while driving. We might refer to these daily events as eyes-wide-open meditations.

This morning i meditated for 2 hours in an MRI. Lying absolutely still, my head sat in a harness, and my body was entirely inside a tube--a good place for an anxiety attack.

But anxiety is a hindrance to meditation, so i followed the instructions and meditated on my breath. A slow jack-hammer clanged around me, vibrating through my body.

Some runs later, the object of meditation changed to whatever i was noticing (also called choiceless awareness). The noise. The noise. The noise. Despite earplugs and earphones (so that i could hear the instructions from the technician and the researcher.) Well padded, yet inescapable noise that i simply sank into and found one tone that sounded like crickets in the yard.