Am I transcending?
What is transcendence?
If you’ve learnt Vedic meditation you would very likely have heard the word transcendence as we have all been taught an ‘effortless transcending’ technique. Even though this is what we are doing twice daily it can feel like an ineffable experience and I’ve witnessed students doubting their meditation. We can get a little caught up in right and wrong and be concerned that we aren’t fully ‘getting it’.
In reality there is nothing you ‘have to get’ - there is nothing to create for yourself and there’s no way you can miss out. It is as natural for the mind to transcend as it is for a fire to burn or for a tree to grow. Vedic meditation is a simple, natural, and innocent practice because transcending is a natural phenomena. It’s not only available to a select, lucky few… it’s available to everyone. Vedic meditation does not create transcendence, it reveals your own transcendental nature. It’s revelatory of a state that is always here and always will be. We don’t have to go seeking, we don’t have to try hard, we simply need to let go into what is already here at the source of thought. The real truth is, transcendence never fades; it’s our individualised awareness that drifts elsewhere, usually back to the relative material world of ‘things to do’ and ‘places to be’. The journey of meditation is about gently revealing the unboundedness of our awareness, remembering that stillness and bliss is ever present. With each practice, we integrate greater awareness into our daily lives and it becomes the foundation for how we live. Vedic meditation is not about finding something new—it’s about coming home to what’s always been here, and who we truly are.
The transcendental field (or pure awareness) underlies all of life, like a backdrop, but is often buried, ignored, or inaccessible due to over stimulation of the mind and stress in the physiology. Even though it’s a very natural experience, we didn’t grow up with practices and knowledge to integrate transcendence as a normal part of our everyday existence. Instead, we find ourselves on a journey of re-discovery later on in life through modalities such as Vedic meditation. By the way, you’ve probably had an experience of transcendence long before learning to meditate! Meditation is not the only way to transcend but it is a very effective, easy, and enjoyable journey of re-discovery. With regular revealing of the existing reality of transcendence, this state is awakened within us. Our brain and body rapidly learn to model and integrate transcendence. We may at first experience transcendence exclusively in meditation but eventually it becomes out 24/7 eyes open reality.
If transcendence is natural why do we doubt our experience of it?
There is a physiological state associated with transcendence. As we settle down into deeper more subtle states in meditation our biology follows. There is a correlated physiological state to transcendental consciousness - certain brain waves, heart rate, breathing rate, and neurochemistry that is present - just as there is a unique physiological state for our waking state of consciousness, dreaming state of consciousness, and sleeping state of consciousness. Transcendence is a state of restful alertness; we are deeply relaxed just fully awake inside. There is stillness, peace, and presence, and our biology reflects this. Activity has subsided to the degree that the mind is no longer the mind as we know it in our waking state. Which is why we can sometimes come out of meditation and have a feeling ‘where did I go?’, ‘what was that?' or ‘did I transcend?’ We can doubt our experience because it’s not happening on the level of the mind as we know it in everyday life. Instead, consciousness is recognising consciousness. Consciousness is awake to itself. In that direct experience there is no doubt, no misperception, no uncertainty. It simply is. There is complete and accurate recognition of the Self.
When the mind transcends, the body activates the relaxation response. As we relax we create the perfect conditions to begin processing and digesting stress. As the stress is released, a shift in our physiology occurs, and we can no longer hold that more subtle state we were in. Some activity in the mind begins, and at some point when we are on the more surface layers of the mind, we may look back at the experience and go, ‘huh? What happened there?’ We try to understand, comprehend, or makes sense of it but a different physiological state is now present giving rise to more active layers of awareness and a different model to view the experience through. Overtime this difference becomes less and less and we are able to maintain transcendence outside of meditation. We can be in activity, having a conversation, or writing an email and be silent inside, relaxed, deeply rested, and unbounded. This is the process of integration, the process we are all engaging in every time we sit down to meditate.
Let the process unfold.
There’s no need to try and figure anything out in meditation. The process is happening whether we are aware of it or not, whether we enjoyed it or not, and this is the process we initiate each time we meditate. In the beginning we may employ faculties of trust, faith, or hope, as we don’t yet fully know this to be true. We need to create a new model in the mind-body, one of transcendental consciousness and that takes some time because of stress in our physiology. Overtime what emerges is a knowingness of that state rather than needing to trust it is there. Transcendental consciousness becomes awake, present, and directly perceived on an experiential level in all moments.
How to know transcendence is integrating into your life.
One of the most supportive things we can do on our journey of meditation is fully accept and allow whatever is taking place, letting the process unfold. The more we can do that the more the practice can simply flow through us and we experience less resistance. We don’t need to worry or get caught up in right and wrong, just relax and enjoy the journey.
Slow, sustainable, integrated change is a good thing. But this means that sometimes we don’t recognise the micro-changes that are occurring in our lives from meditation. We may not notice the fruits of our practice because we quickly normalise them. The integration of transcendence into daily life can begin to look like….
Getting less caught up in worry, future thinking, or other people’s opinions of you… or if you do it takes less time to ‘come back to your centre’
Having a deeper sense that no matter what happens everything is going to be OK
Feeling more content, happy, and smiling for no particular reason
When faced with challenges feeling more capable to adapt and respond - sometimes with grace and sometimes with more grit!
Feeling more connected to life, nature, and your surroundings and appreciating more the small things in your day
More present moment awareness rather than past or future ruminating
Feeling more at home no matter where you are - including living in your own body
You seem to be in the right place at the right time more often
Feeling more and having a greater sense of empathy and compassion
Love Kathleen x
Resources to explore.
Listen to episode 21 of the Mahasoma podcast - transcendence with Blaine watson
