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Cacao experience | Ceremonial cacao | Meditation
"You should sit in Meditation for 20 minutes every day — unless you're too busy. Then you should sit for an hour." -Zen proverb
Meditation has constantly been growing in popularity with each passing year for decades. The reasons seem obvious. The more demands on our time and mind our current, fast-paced society exerts, the more people feel the need "to know how to belong to [themselves]," to quote French philosopher Michel de Montaigne. So many turn to Meditation from a growing need to reduce stress amid busy schedules and demanding lives, to find some sense of peace, calm, and inner harmony.
Meditation can offer that and more. Ultimately, Meditation aims to train one's attention and awareness to the present and cultivate mental clarity and emotional calm. Meditation can quieten the mind and tap into the stillness of our deeper consciousness. But it does not do this forcefully. As Deepak Chopra says, "Meditation is not making your mind quiet; it is a way of entering the quiet that is already there" and returning to the state of being present. There is no greater facilitator, ally, partner, and guide for this than Ceremonial Cacao. Many of Keith's Cacao Practitioners practice and offer some form of Meditation facilitated by Keith's Cacao. So, let's delve into what Meditation actually is.
There is no easy way to define Meditation. The word is used to cover such a vast range of varied practices from so many different traditions and cultures. Meditation techniques have been practiced for thousands of years to develop attention and awareness of the present moment. They are widely used as a spiritual practice in Buddhism, Hinduism, Sikhism, Jainism, and yoga, as well as in secular contexts such as modern interpretations of mindfulness. In the Jewish, Christian, and Muslim traditions, some consider prayer to also be a form of Meditation, since the mind is focussed on specific sets of words or concepts.
As varied the contexts in which Meditation is practice, so are the many different techniques. In general, Meditation practices involve establishing a focal point to free oneself from distractions while finding stillness in a steady and stable posture, although, some forms of the practice involve movement, even dance.
Some focal points for Meditation include:
• Sound, such as the repetition of a mantra, phrase, or other sounds.
• Visualization, such as picturing an object in your mind's eye - often the lotus flowers or the chakras.
• Gazing at an actual object such as a candle or a yantra, with the eyes open.
• Breathing: observing the breath and the sensations it creates as it travels in and out of the body.
• Philosophical or spiritual concepts: such as loving-kindness, acceptance, or self-transcendence.
Although there isn't a right or wrong way to meditate, it's important to find a practice that meets your needs. Not all meditation styles are suitable for everyone. These practices require different skills and mindsets. But, whether you're looking to reduce stress or find spiritual enlightenment, know that there's a meditation practice for you. The right practice is the one that feels comfortable and one that you feel encouraged to practice.
There are many things in life that are beyond our control. However, it is possible to take responsibility for our own states of mind and change them for the better. According to Buddhism, this is the most important thing we can do, as it is the only real antidote to our personal sorrows, the anxieties, fears, hatreds, and general confusions that beset the human condition.
Meditation is a means of transforming the mind. In its various forms, it allows practitioners to observe the patterns and habits of their own minds. The more we notice the interrupting thoughts, the longer the gaps between them become over time. With regular work and patience, these nourishing, focused states of mind can deepen into profoundly peaceful and energized states of mind, with transformative effects and a new understanding of life.
Meditation isn't about becoming a different person, a new person, or even a better person. It's about training in awareness and getting a healthy sense of perspective. You're not trying to turn off your thoughts or feelings. You're learning to observe and better understand them, without judgment. And this leads us back to why there is no great facilitator for Meditation, no more powerful ally, than pure ceremonial Cacao.
Pure Ceremonial Cacao is the world's best connection and partnership facilitator for whatever you choose to connect to. Revered and used for centuries as a "plant medicine" because of its heart-opening qualities and wide-ranging health benefits, Ceremonial Cacao added to your meditation practice is a powerful way to connect deeper with your sense of feeling, heart, and intuition.
Once considered a deity, Cacao is now known to be a potent medicinal plant, an entheogen, which among other things, as Keith Wilson says, will bring you to the door of whatever journey you are taking, but will not push you through it. Pure Ceremonial Cacao helps you open and receive what has always been available. This state of heightened receptivity, nowness, and presence is an essential ingredient to any spiritual practice. Whatever the type of Meditation, Ceremonial Cacao will help everyone go deeper into the experience and get more out of each session. It allows for more to be understood and retained on many levels, and for connections and deeper meanings to emerge on much more than the intellectual/mental levels. You can give yourself this experience by joining Andrés Jimenez, Ceremonialist, Meditation Teacher, Therapist and General Manager of Keith’s Cacao in Guatemala, in an Online Cacao Ceremony and Group Processing session every Wednesday via Zoom.
On a chemical and physiological level, Cacao has a unique combination and synthesis of nutrients and active agents that help explain the physiological effects on the body and chemical effects in the brain that make it a great enhancer for any meditative practice.
Among other things, Cacao's significant components include:
• Magnesium, which helps to create mental clarity and focus while relaxing the body's muscles and boosts the health of our bones and heart
• Theobromine, which affects a gentle yet long-lasting stimulation of the cardiovascular system
• Phenylethylamine, the 'love chemical,' which causes dopamine levels to increase, leading to heightened attentiveness and elevated mood, making us feel captivated and engrossed by whatever we are doing.
• Anandamide, 'the bliss molecule,' which acts as a pain reliever, stress reducer, and happiness booster.
• Monoamine Oxidase Inhibitors that slow down the metabolism of neurotransmitters Serotonin (which contributes to our happiness and regulates mood) and Dopamine (which helps attention, learning, and emotional responses), thus ensuring that both of these mood-altering neurotransmitters are maintained in our brain chemistry for longer.
When grown and consumed consciously, Ceremonial Cacao carries a high vibrational quality, which lovingly guides us back into our bodies, connecting us to our own hearts and the world around us. Inspiring engagement with both the inner and outer realities, it brings us into a meditative state and space, where everything we do is done meditatively and mindfully.
Sadhguru says, "Meditation is not something you can do; you can become mediative, you can become Meditation, but you cannot do Meditation. It is a certain quality. If you want this quality to blossom in you, you must cultivate your body, mind, emotions, and energy to a certain level of preparedness. Meditation is not going somewhere; it is a homecoming. It is getting back to your original nature. Instead of being on the surface, you are going deep into the core."
Keith's Ceremonial Cacao does precisely that. It nourishes the body, opens the heart, focuses the mind, clears the vibrational energy, and then lovingly holds you so that you can go deeper, as Keith Wilson used to say, "with more love and less fear".
