Good Vibrations

In the last few years the word "vibration" has entered the vernacular in relation to the state that every living thing is in.  Yogis have been talking about a living being's vibration since ancient times, and science has also discovered that all matter is constantly in motion (vibrating).  In fact, science has shown that all matter is actually mostly space.  Every atom contains "vast" amounts of space (relative to the size of an atom!).  Vibration is also a main point in quantum physics, although I have heard it said by a physicist that what they mean by vibration is not exactly what yogis and spiritual seekers are talking about when they talk about vibration.

Ok, I am not a physicist nor a molecular biologist, so I don't want to go too far down the science rabbit hole for fear of misrepresenting something!  But, I have been a student and practitioner of meditation long enough to know that meditating raises a person's vibration.  This raised vibration is what is enabling one to reach higher states, into the superconsciousness and the Higher Self.  One of the reasons it is good to meditate with a group, particularly one in which you are not the most experienced meditator, is to benefit from the group vibration.  It can make it easier to raise your own vibration; you can to a certain extent be carried along by that communal vibration.  One of my former teachers said that he has been known to strategically sit near a more seasoned meditator than himself in group meditations to try to benefit from that higher vibration.

I have to admit that sometimes my rational mind has gotten too strong and wondered if this vibrational talk is true.  It's one of those areas that a someone like me, who tends to lean toward intellectualization and can stumble against these more esoteric topics, likes the sound of but at times has also wondered if it's more a fanciful idea.  

In that regard, it has been quite funny for me to see the evolution of my pets when it's come to meditation time.  We were able to "get our dog back" when we moved back to the US earlier in the summer.  She had been living with my dad and stepmom for 4 years while we were abroad.  We also just got a kitten 2 weeks ago.   As the kids are now back at school, we have started to get into more of a rhythm on school days.  It seems that after the kids get on the bus, I have a perfect sweet spot of time to dedicate to my meditation practice.  The pets have without doubt caught onto this now.  It is really funny to see my dog following me around just before I start my practice.  She does not follow me around much the other parts of the day unless she needs something, like going outside or she's ready to eat. The kitten always ends up snuggled up around the meditation cushion (only at meditation time, never at any other time).  They both get settled in and ready to absorb those vibrations.  I was doing an online meditation with my friends in Sweden and South Africa yesterday and showed them how the dog and cat were up on the bed while we had been chatting online, and I told them that when we meditated I would bet the kitten would come down and end up laying behind me against the cushion.  We started meditating, and sure enough after a few moments she jumped off the bed and came to rest behind me.  I had been sitting in the same place the whole time, but the first 30 minutes I was just talking to my friends and not meditating, and it wasn't until the meditation started that she came to be near me...  To be immersed in those vibrations.

Their reactions to/expectant behavior of meditation is really interesting to me.  Because a higher vibration is one of those less-tangible benefits of meditation, it can be hard to gauge whether things are changing on a subtler level than my more gross/worldly perceptions can notice.  But animals are known to be more sensitive to many things in this material world than their human counterparts, and having now seen how their behavior changes at that specific point in the day versus the other 23 hours does give me a sort of canary-in-a-coalmine gauge of vibrational changes, but of course in a much more positive way than the poor canary!