7 Benefits You Can Get From Meditation

                                        7 Benefits of Meditation
                                      by Kaya Omodele @theabeng

Meditation enhances our spiritual, mental and physical balance, and enables us to experience "the moment."  Meditation also sharpens our focus and awareness; it heightens our senses and alertness.

7 Benefits we get from meditation (holding a meds):

1. Relieve our stress and tension
2. Gain a greater sense of spiritual and mental balance
3. Improve our positive energy flows
4. Reduce muscle tension and joint pains
5. Relieve headaches and migraines
6. Calm nervous/anxiety/panic attacks
7. Achieve a higher heights- a greater sense of spiritual and psychological wellbeing

Dub Poetry: Kwayana's Meditation (Wisdom of the Drum)

Abeng Dub Poetry: Kwayana's Meditation
(The Wisdom of The Drum)
     
copyright 2015 K. Omodele  @TheAbeng

"The Caribbean tradition, taken as a whole, is a revolutionary tradition. It is the stage on which acted Cudjoe and Cuffy, Accabreh and Accra, Toussaint, Quamina and Damon, Adoe and Araby."* ~ Sidney King (Eusi Kwayana)

Eusi Kwayana #FreedomFighter

Intro:  
Yow! Dis meditation/Moves di nation/
            ReVERBERATION...VERBeration

I feel de drum-min' of yuh words,
rub-a-dubbin' of yuh verbs,
yuh meditation is kinetic-
medication of de herb
levitates me like a bird-
yuh rebel riddim moves me
depose a titled king, go
liberate like Baba Eusi.
Asante rise up outta shanty,
proverbs, Broddah Anansi**,
yearnin' for Kumasi***
Cuffy burn down half a Canje
Uncle Brian scribed we picture,
painted scripture, sketched the sound.
Uncle Walter woke the people,
lit the city; Tell de town!

(Bridge:)
Yeah Man. Don't bother call dis no poetry/dis is kinetic flow-etry
Prophets are hardly recognized in their own lands
This rebelution forged by drum-ragin', fire-blazin' sound.

Seethin' like Accra buss 'e chain
want SParK field a-flame
Darke flicks-ing up the protest****
jukked an' gutted from de frame
pickney***** scatter down de lane
Boy, u bet-ter run
policeman ah come
wid bad-mind and gun.
But the soundin' of de gun
can't drown de wisdom of the drum
grind a fool down with a pestle
can't part de foolish from a dunce.
Kwayana's wisdom may taste bitter
cure de sick, move de lame
N'Daiye couldn't tame
cock she crown, lock she mane.

* Caribbean slave revolt/rebellion leaders. Quote from "Birth of Freedom," New World Magazine, Special Independence Issue, 1966
**Anansi, or Anancy, is a spider, a trickster character from African oral tradition, that was
brought over by slaves to the West Indies/Caribbean and lives on in Caribbean
tradition and folk tales. (Akin to Brer Rabbit in the U.S. South)
***Kumasi is the chief city of the Asante/Ashanti, NW of Accra, Ghana
****Father Darke was a priest stabbed to death while photographing government
forces brutalizing anti-government protestors in Georgetown, Guyana
*****children

Conscious Itation (Meditation)

For I, Kaya, meditation is the path I take when I engage in communion with the Divinity within me- 

i & I.

As a youth my Mother introduced me to meditation as a way of calming me because I use to have an acute case of asthma and a wicked case of vexation of the spirit and those two, when mixed, can drive a single mother clear up over a mad house wall. So she traipse me over to this Hindu man who showed two ah we lessons in dhyāna. I have been meditating ever since then, on and off.

People have been meditating in various forms for thousands of years. Many cultures have their own forms of meditation, while others overlap, sharing similar elements and traits. But regardless of minute differences, most people and cultures meditate as a part of attaining higher spirituality, or as Rasta seh, a Iyah Ites (higher heights).

There are certain common features  in all meditation, regardless of culture: a quiet/peaceful setting, concentration/focus/attention, a comfortable position, relaxed breathing.

There are also various ways people meditate. Some are:

• using imagery or visualization of mentally relaxing places; 
• silently repeating a spiritually/mentally calming word, phrase or thought (mantra) to help keep out distractions; 
• using an increased sense of awareness to concentrate/experience the present through broadened senses such as smells, sounds; 
• transcendental, which is using mantra to eliminate all thoughts from the mind.
• and yoga, which involves performing postures and controlling breathing exercises to achieve healthier body and a calmer mind.

Meditation helps alleviate many stress-related illnesses like asthma, high blood pressure, heart disease, migraines and fatigue.

When I meditate, I remain still and embrace the stillness of mind. Most times I chant a mantra, but sometimes when in nature, I immerse myself in the sounds, smells, and feel of my surroundings.

I love meditating by the sea, fountains, streams and rivers because the sound of water dancing over rocks calms my soul. And if birds flock by, they bring chirps and flapping, flittering feathers to the orchestra.

When I have no phones ringing, computers blinking, cars beeping, and nothing demanding my attention, I can feel myself drifting within my mind. I often find that my thoughts continue rolling involuntarily, and so I refocus on my mantra, sounds and sensations around and/or within me. When I get to that space within where there is very little thought outside of natural phenomenon- my heartbeat, the breeze,etc., my mind is peaceful and relaxed. I've decreased my negative thoughts and energy while increasing self-awareness and positivity.

I read somewhere once that when we calm ourselves in meditation, our neurotransmitters rest from sending on thoughts/electric charges to our minds. Its like a deep form of rest.

Itation rejuvenates mind, body and soul.

Namaste...RastafarI

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Omodele: The Son Also Rises

copyright 2010 K. Omodele

Sunrise is a gold-smeared promise, with its hint of anticipation. Day clean; a new slate; a rebirth, like Spring, except The Son is only a day older. He's excited as he embraces each Dawn- a time to briefly contemplate then bury yesterday's mistakes. Can't undo what has been done. (Did Basquait ever erase smudges; did he cover smears?)

Sunrise is a vernal whisper cascading over dying winter silence. It blankets the algid night and its dew-draped freshness inspires, murmuring, "Today is a new day." Pond water steadily slushing over stagnant stones is his mantra, persistence will eventually form, shape and mold the unyielding. "Life is change; stagnation is death."

The Son rises with the sun. He rises like the sun...With the confidence worn by a warrior who has trodded through a hail of brimstone and gunfire, he meditates over his canvass, lifts his chin and continues painting the rest of Life's Journey...

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On The Mountaintop

What life has taught me
I would like to share with
Those who want to learn...

- Bob Marley Intro to the song War (Excerpt from speech by HIM Haile Selassie)

 On The Mountaintop

Copyright 2010 K. Omodele

I have a Bredren who thinks I am madder than one a them running [of the] bulls because I love morning time alone on top of Stone Mountain. And I am ecstatic sharing time on a swing with my little niece. He doesn’t really comprehend how much I enjoyed pedal boats with my cousin (and two Sistren). He doesn’t choose to feel the sense of urgency I have in creating moments. And that's cool, he and I have different perspectives when it comes to the passage of time - we look at life through different spectacles.

I have missed out on moments that many people my age have experienced: high school proms/ dances/ fetes; getting married; a son’s/daughter’s birth; a first word, first step, first day at school. But on the other hand, there are no ex-wives lurking, no all he money (alimony), and no support payments due of any kind.

There’s much that I’ve missed, so right now I am considering moments like a canvass and creating masterpieces. Them damn pedal boats had me sweating like a Preakness stallion, but guess what? I savored the whole scene the way an accident survivor appreciates life after avoiding that “bright Light.” Some of the things I’ve experienced since I “came home” I never thought of doing…EVER! Like visiting a winery (and I don’t mean a dance hall); and meditating on Stone Mountain top. I danced with my aunt and her friends at de Luna’s (a Spanish, as in Spaniard, lounge). I realize these are not things that the average person would write home about, but my reality three years ago was hard like a flogging...HARD like iron bars...I mean HARD like penitentiary yards. So I man give thanks and praises to the Almighty for seeing me through. And though I cannot promise HIM that I will be the perfect son, an Ingel on earth nor unwavering in spirit, I do promise to notice his beautiful WORKS – the burning sunset; the bright moon suspended against a deep purple back drop glittering with tightly-scattered stars; an ebony Empress and her breath-snatching smile; my pushing-ninety granny with her life-pleated skin and sly, twinkling eyes; and the way I feel, high, on top of Stone Mountain after hauling myself out of the depths within the beast.

Bredren, you’ll never catch the exhilaration painted in a passing moment until you are forced to stare at time frozen stiff.

Atlanta Sunset

Taken from Pedal Boats @ Tidal Basin, Washington, DC

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