The Power of Meditating Together
Evidence indicates that large numbers of practitioners meditating at the same time has some positive effects in reducing violence around the world, including the so-called Maharishi Effect. Some studies suggest that “large scale group consciousness has effects in the physical world.” Still other studies appear to show that meditating together improves social coherence and teamwork. While these correlations may not convince all skeptics, they do suggest a possibility for us to leverage meditations with the growing Novasutras community to build momentum for increasing agaya and ubuntu worldwide.
Novasutras offers many opportunities for people to focus together in meditation at the same time, including our online Octal Meditations, and meditations for special events and causes like our Amazon4Amazon meditation.
Carol (a local Novasutras practitioner) has invited the Santa Cruz Climate Action Network to meditate for a half hour each Sunday at 20:00 UTC / noon PST, focusing on a visualization of “our glorious planet with a clean, healthy atmosphere & ecosystems” (learn more). Wouldn’t it be wonderful to have meditators all around the world sharing this focus?
Our local chapter in Santa Cruz also gathers to meditate in person when and where we can, such as our meditation in support of a climate fast in December, and monthly gatherings for meditation and shinrin-yoku in local parks.
Some Novasutras practitioners participate in weekly Climate Meditations, led by Extinction Rebellion, at the clock tower in the center of Santa Cruz, with signage explaining who we are and why we’re there. Many participants have remarked about the powerful experience of gathering and meditating silently in a public place.
One passerby asked us meditators something along the lines of “If the climate crisis is so serious, why are you just sitting there doing nothing?” As I thought about this, it occurred to me that “doing nothing” was a great thing to do! I’m not participating in destructive economic activities, and probably improving my own health, so the time I spend meditating has a very low carbon footprint, and reduces my complicity in the forces fueling the crisis. I’m in a public place, with signs reminding people of the crisis, so I’m educating people and keeping the climate in people’s thoughts. And, as I focus my meditation on intentions for the world to prevent, heal and recover from the worst damage of the climate crisis, I believe I am making a difference, maybe improving our chances to create a better world. It’s possible that this way of “doing nothing” is one of the most important things we can possibly do at this time.
Michelle
We are considering having weekly Novasutras gatherings for meditation and conversation at a park near downtown Santa Cruz beginning next month. If you’re not in the Santa Cruz area, could you gather a group near you? Contact us or leave a comment below to share your thoughts.
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