What it Means to Use Imagery

The best meditations utilize a healthy bit of imagery. This is because the mind latches on and create better pictures with information that is not too vague.

Would you rather hear someone tell you to breathe or to take a deep breath? The wording and phrasing of each sentence is an art many take for granted.

Nobody wants to know that you sat in a room in an office building. They want to know that you were sat on a burgundy leather backed chair, staring out at the variations in color of the sunset that you could see from the tall grey building where you worked.

At first it seems counter intuitive. Why would the shorter one be less interesting? Simply put: it’s boring.

When you get bored, your mind wanders from what you’re trying to focus on and it puts your focus on something it can be interested in. Personally, I’m unsure of the why. It’s not my job to know the why just yet. I don’t even know why or even how we get bored when we have such an immensely amazing world surrounding us, or maybe that is why we get bored.

If you were in that tall office building, you would be much more interested in the sunset outside your window than the piece of labor you’ve been working on all day.

This is why imagery is important in meditation. It makes it easier to keep your mind from straying back to those thoughts you’re trying to put away.

The difference between using imagery and not using imagery is the difference between being taught a lesson by the teacher calling role for Ferris Bueller in Ferris Bueller’s Day Off, and being taught a lesson by John Keating of “The Dead Poet’s Society.”

One is boring and makes you skip class, the other is interesting and changes lives.

Namaste,
-Alexandria

What Relaxation Feels Like

Relaxation is a word used so often by people who don’t even get to experience it that much. This is why people turn to things such as meditation.

So today I decided I was going to give an example in an… Interesting format.

Relaxation is an amazing feeling.
It’s going to bed half an hour later than you wanted
Because you were so content you just had to stay up
And soak up all the happiness you felt during the day

Relaxation is the feeling when
You wake up with the beautiful sunshine shining through your bedroom window
And as you look at the clock you notice that you have woken up later than you wanted
But before you actually have to

Relaxation is the feeling
Of curling up with your pet on your bed and smiling
Feeling a mutual affection move through you as you ponder
How it is they are so soft

Relaxation. The feeling of comfort and being
Okay with every piece and part of the world at the current moment
It is not worrying about the future, because you already have it figured out
And what you don’t have figured out you don’t worry about
Because it will figure itself out and you’ll think about it
When you get there

It is not dwelling on the past
Because the past, has already been spoken for

It is a thought of the now
How you are feeling
What kind of wonderful emotions are washing over you like
The waves of the midnight ocean
On a full moon

That. Is what relaxation feels like.

Namaste,
Alexandria

The Musical Elements of Poetic Meditation

Yesterday we discussed the wording aspect of Poetic Meditation, but now we’ll go into the musical elements.

Volume. The music is a background for the words. It is the foundation of the song, needed to keep the structure solid, but not the most visual part of the building. The volume should never make the words hard to hear, but on the same note, it needs to be loud enough to be like a guiding line.

Instrumentation. The music may include any kind of instrumentation with a few exceptions. First, it should not be too fast paced. There may be parts that are faster, but they should be less than half the piece. Second, it should not involve percussional instruments. Percussion can be distracting for the listener. If one finds a way to implement a slight amount without it being distracting, it can be used, but in moderation.

Additional sounds. The music of the Poetic Meditation can include other sounds, such as those from nature. Again, it follows the rules of not distracting from the words or making them hard to hear.

A special note on discord and minor chords. While these can be utilized, they follow the same idea of percussion instruments and fast paced music. It should be used in moderation and not be distracting. Poetic Meditation is to be used for positivity, thinking, motivation, even distraction. It’s for relaxation.

Poetic Meditation uses the musical craftsmanship of traditional meditation. It uses gentle music that is quiet enough for words to be spoken over without much problem, but captivating enough that it captures the mind of the listener to enable them an effortless journey.

Namaste!
-Alexandria

Wording Style of Poetic Meditation

For those of you wondering what poetic meditation looks and sounds like, I will soon be creating an example Poetic Meditation that I will post here. (Plus I’ll be making a CD but that is a story for another day.)

Today we are looking into some of the finer details on what defines Poetic Meditation. The wording style.

Poetic Meditation brings with it the elements of poetry and spoken word with the guidance and voice of meditation. But it also includes another key factor and that is the storytelling. With this information it’s easy to get confused on what Poetic Meditation is to sound like and it is doubtless that there will be created many a crossover.

Here are the specific elements of each literary part:

Poetry: Rhythmic. Captivates through word play. Uses a lot of metaphors and similes.

Stories: Creates a journey. Has at least one character. Utilizes imagery to captivate the reader. Contains a plot, with a climax and rising action as well as the falling action.

Spoken Word: also rhythmic. Captivates through how the words are spoken and the ideas behind the words.

Obviously these are generalizations, but these generalizations are the pieces of Poetic Meditation.

Poetic Meditation seeks to have a journey, much like a story. With a rising and falling action and a climax. It seeks to use high levels of imagery to show the listener in their minds eye what it is that they are experiencing. It introduces the listener as a character. They are the protagonist of this mental story.

And the story is told in a rhythmic way. Though it does not require rhyming words, it does require a poetic flow and to be able to be read as though at a poetry recitation. It does not, however, need to be structured like a poem but rather a spoken word piece because Poetic Meditation does speak words.

The voice of the speaker, while still gentle, is not so trancelike but more powerful. The speaker brings you in to what you’re experiencing by the way they space their words and the tonality they use to say it. A spoken word artist is a poet and a story teller and in the case of Poetic Meditation the speaker encompasses pieces of all three.

So you word Poetic Meditation as a rhythmic story, set with pauses and moments where the voice artist uses their art to turn the words into more than literary art but a meditation that captivates.

-Namaste.
Alexandria

Poetic Meditation

Welcome to the specifications of Poetic Meditation!

As previously stated in the first post, Poetic Meditation is a newer style of meditation that combines a sort of guided visualization with the spoken word art.

Poetic Meditation focuses on the journey. The journey is important for creating a feeling of stress relief and focus, as though you went to a poetry reading or read a book.

The specifications are as follows:

1. Will have music. Music is important as a backdrop of poetic meditation, though the stress will be upon the words.
2. Music will not be percussional. There should not be any heavy percussion-like sounds due to the distraction from relaxation and wording.
3. Creates a Journey through the words that brings its listener to a place of calmness, grounding, or inspiration.
4. Can also be used as a problem solver to work out specific issues in ones mind.
5. The form of wording should take on a story-like format or editorial piece, rather than instructions. The purpose is not to guide towards a goal, but rather to open the mind, break the current train of thought, and give the listener clarity which they can use to focus without anxieties.

I will soon be creating examples of poetic meditation for listeners to use that I will post to my youtube when it has been completed.

Tomorrow I will create a post that looks at the word formation of poetic meditation.

Namaste,
-Alexandria

A New Kind of Meditation

I’ve created this site in order to show the world a new kind of meditation. I am the creator of this style. It’s unique, but borrows much from other styles.

I came upon this idea wondering about what would happen if the amazing relaxant known as meditation could be combined with the stories and rhythm of spoken word.

I bring you poetic meditation.

Poetic Meditation takes the deep breathing, musical, and relaxing properties of meditation and combines them with the attention giving rhythmic effects of spoken word.

Have you ever read a story and felt like you were in a trance afterwards? You were so brought into the world of the story that when you came out you were calm and clear headed. I want to try to give that same effect with this new kind of meditation.

And I will.

This is a blog to bring this idea out into the world!

Later, I plan on putting out the specifications of the style into a new post. This is just here to introduce the concept, rather than the rules.

Namaste,
-Alexandria