What is Meditation, Really?

This past Thursday, I was in the dentist’s chair getting a filling. Things went a little haywire. The electrical equipment was glitching, and though the area being worked on had been numbed, I could still feel some pain. I had a choice: ask for more Novocain and risk rescheduling or stay with it.

COMING HOME DURING MEDITATION

I stayed.

But I didn’t just stay in the chair. I went home. Not to my house, but inward to that still, quiet space I return to when the world feels like too much.

In that moment, my heart raced. Anxiety took hold, and I was deeply uncomfortable. But then the dentist and assistant stepped away to fix the equipment, and I turned inward.

I started with a few gentle four-fold breaths…

Then I focused on sound, without judgment, without labels, without attachment. The clatter of instruments, the high-pitched drilling sounds from a nearby room, even the distant murmur of voices. I simply listened. Not trying to escape them, not resisting them. Just hearing as a one-pointed focus.

Yes, my chest was tight. My heart was beating fast. But I didn’t fight it. I let the sensations be what they were. I accepted them but didn’t engage with them.

Next, I returned my attention to my breath. Quiet, natural. In… out… in… out. Thoughts, noises, movements, they still came. But I kept my focus on the breath. And then, at the bottom of one exhale, that pause between the breath, I shifted…

… into my body.

I felt the subtle tingling, vibrating aliveness in my shoulders, down my arms, through my hands. It cascaded like warm rain down to my feet. This energy field within – the one we so often ignore, and most people have never even felt or known existed – became my sanctuary. I was truly home.

Before I knew it, the dentist resumed his work. But something had shifted. The sounds of the machines no longer fazed me. The discomfort was still there, but it didn’t grip me. I remained grounded… calm, aware, present.

THE 3 POWERFUL TOOLS OF MEDITATION:

I had used three of the most powerful tools of meditation:

• Sound (heard without judgment)
• Breath (steady, simple, focused)
• Body sensations (the energy field within that anchors us home)

And just like that, the appointment was over.

That is the true power of meditation; not some mystical escape, but the ability to remain present, even in discomfort. To use the will to focus gently on one thing at a time.

Breath.

Sound.

And the greatest gift of all: the body… your inner energy field, your path home.

Have you ever used meditation to ground yourself in an unexpected place? Share your experience in the comments, or try the simple breath-sound-body practice the next time life throws you a curveball.