I don’t know about you, but I started a meditation practice because I was at the end of my rope with the endless bouts of anxiety I had experienced my whole life. What I intended to cultivate was a sense of peace — I didn’t realize I would also awaken my psychic qualities.
The first major change I had noticed once I took up a regular meditation practice was the lucidity of my dreams. I had always been a vivid dreamer, but now there was a brighter quality to them and I was actively making decisions in them.
In one dream, I was at my old high school with people who were not fans of mine. They started to say some pretty awful things to me and what happened next was mind expanding. In my dream, I saw myself thinking of what mean thing I could say back, then I saw the space between that thought going from my mind and reaching my mouth, and instead I chose not to say anything and walk away.
This was showing me that my meditation practice was starting to work, in such a significant way that it was creeping into my dreams. What I didn’t know at the time is that much of our healing happens in the astral realm, where we go when we sleep. Messages received there and changes we make then can alter our reality in the material “waking” world.
From that moment forward my dreams would become a landscape of learning about what was happening during the daytime. I would meet people, receive messages, and even be healed by guides (who I would meet later when I actually picked up psychic studies). I kept detailed journals of what changes were occurring, looking back to realize I knew more than I thought I knew during this period of time.
Outside of the dreamscape, I also started to become more acutely aware of what thoughts and feelings were mine and what I was picking up from others. I started to have prophetic visions in my waking life. Sometimes I would even “hear” someone talking to me, even if they were many miles or states away.
What I teach my students is that when we meditate we become keenly tuned into what is going on with our consciousness. We are building the “watcher muscle” which then observes what is happening in our minds. A space is created where we can pause to perhaps choose another thought or to not act out some harmful habitual pattern. This helps us to know ourselves better, and then by extension what is coming into our fields that does not belong to us.
Meditation also helps us to strengthen our vibration (for lack of a better term). We become more robust and resilient. There is a deep sense of groundedness and connection to Self that makes us less susceptible to synching up with others. This lends itself well to being more psychic, because when we are able to hold our own vibration we don’t get lost in the energies of others. Instead we can do the same thing we do for ourselves, whichis merely observe the energies of others.
Speaking from a neuroscientific lens, meditation increases the density of gray matter in our brains as well as strengthens the prefrontal cortex. The prefrontal cortex is what allows us to observe ourselves. It was the last part of the brain to develop so it is still relatively new and not as strong as the more emotional parts of the brain. This is why when we start to strengthen it we gain the qualities of calmness and reflection. Time actually feels like it is slowed down because there is more space between our thoughts and actions. We start to see a bit more of our potential as humans on this planet.
But what about the prophetic dreams? What about hearing from spirit guides? Or traversing the astral realm?
First of all, I think meditation makes us better listeners. Because for the first time in our lives we start to train ourselves to just be, to just watch, to just listen. Good listening comes from being present without any intention of cultivating a response. Especially not thinking of that response while someone else is talking. And guess what, there are a lot of beings and energies that are talking to us all the time. We just never learned how to listen.
But I also have a theory that part of this mechanism can be traced to what is happening in the brain. I have to say, I don’t think that this is by any means a comprehensive assessment of what is going on. It’s also not lost on me that Shakyamuni Buddha explained the mechanism of meditation on the brain which science is only now catching up to 2,500 years later. Still, with my Western-trained mind I still like to note the tangible aspects when I can.
See, while meditating many of the functions of the brain slow down or go offline completely. Parts of the brain that tell us where we are in time and space reduce their activity. The default mode network, the part of the brain responsible for the incessant monologue in your head, becomes less active. Our brain waves slowdown considerably, taking us into realms of trance states.
When we are quiet and our boundaries between time and space dissolve, when there is technically no separation between what is “me” or anything else that is “out there,” and we enter trance-like states — well not only does that sound like being on a psychedelic but it also lends itself incredibly well to becoming psychic.
A lot of what hinders us from accessing information from other times, other people, or other places is the fact that we think of ourselves as separate from everything else. The reality of it (and again, you can check the science on this) is that we’re all just a bunch of floating particles that started out all smooshed together in the heart of the big bang. And as far as I understand, we only perceive time as this one moment because it is useful to us but that the past, present, and future are all happening right now.
It’s pretty cool that we have become particles configured in such a way that we have this whole reality to interact with. But at the end of the day there’s nothing really separating my atoms from the atoms of the computer I am writing this on. Or anything else for that matter.
Indigenous elders, high magicians, Reiki Masters, shamans, and Buddhists I have studied with have all said the same thing: We are all one. We are all delicately interconnected. When we release our concepts of separateness our awareness expands and our consciousness has access to more information than we have been told to believe.
This is why I am not particularly impressed when someone tells me they have obtained siddhis (Sanskrit for super powers) after they have started a meditation practice. To me, siddhis are less indicative of someone’s “specialness” and more a sign of pursuing a path of practice. It’s like if someone were to brag about growing their hair out — it takes some patience and time but it will happen. Impressive but maybe not particularly special.
It’s a democratic set of skills available to anyone who chooses to sit quietly with themselves in a state of meditation for a period of time.
Because what then really matters is how we use them and what kind of person we become. Meditation is a wonderful practice that allows us to calm, center, and ground ourselves. But if it is not also paired with a compassion practice and actively working on ourselves we may become more aware but not any more loving. We may obtain super powers but then use them in unscrupulous ways.
When we are able to combine love + awareness this is truly when the world starts to change for the better.
My intention with connecting to Spirit is to remember that I am one part of a vast cosmos, a part that is no greater or less than anything else. It also helps me to remember I am supported and I can obtain information from entities that may be able to see further and more clearly than me.
When I trust this, I can relax. When I relax, I make decisions from a more peaceful place.
Instead of pulling at all the threads when something seemingly goes awry, I can sit patiently, yet not alone. I can tap into the fabric of this existence and let it pour into me.
With these messages, I can then help myself and help others.