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How did you get into meditation and how has meditation impacted your life?

I was always a quiet, introspective kid who liked to spend time in nature and didn’t mind alone time, so it’s funny that my first formal meditation experiences were in a group setting as part of a class I took at a yoga studio called Spiritual Growth and Meditation.

This was when I was out of college and in my 20’s — I was feeling lost and seeking answers. Since those classes, meditation has become a daily practice for me – it would be hard to describe all of the changes I have seen from integrating the practice into my life. One of the most important ones for me though is being able to be OK with not being totally in control of my life. It’s easier for me to laugh and move on when things don’t go my way, and also easier for me to not get too attached when things are going well.

How does it feel when you are in a meditative state?

I learned about meditation through yoga. In Classical Yoga (first written text we know of is called “The Yoga Sutras” attributed to an Indian sage and author, Patanjali) there are 4 stages that describe the process of moving into meditation. I’ll name them with their Sanskrit names and describe how they show up in my personal practice a little bit:

Stage 1: Pratyahara – Turning attention inwards. This is the first stage of my practice where I actively try to re-direct my senses (vision, hearing, smell, taste, touch) away from my surroundings. This might look like closing my eyes or focusing my eyes on a single candle flame, it might look like me finding a quiet space so there is less noise to distract me, or if no quiet space can be found, not trying to figure out or follow the sounds that are happening around me. It might also look like me noticing sensations inside of my body (breath flow, heart beat etc.) rather than outside of my skin. As an introvert, this stage usually feels like a relief, and it often relaxes me.

Stage 2: Dharana – Focused attention and concentration. This is the point in my practice where I choose one point of focus (I call it my anchor) for my mind to come back to. The anchor is like my home base. My anchor might be the flow of my breath or a mantra/repetitive phrase. Whenever I start to daydream, reminisce, or problem solve in my head, there is a part of me that is watching and realizing I’ve lost my chosen point of of focus and this part of me says “hey, come back!” This stage often feels like work, but I enjoy it.

Stage 3: Dhyana – Sustained concentration/meditation – This is the stage where I am able to keep focusing on my anchor for more than two or three breaths before another thought breaks in. Even though I’ve been practicing for years now, there are still days where it is difficult for me to get to this stage. Getting into the meditative state is always a possibility, but it’s not something I can predict and it doesn’t happen every time I practice. All I have control over is making the decision to practice, making the time to do it, settling in, and choosing an anchor. Meditation occurs to me when conditions are right. It has gotten easier to get to this state when I am doing a practice every day.

Stage 4: Samadhi – Bliss beyond description/interconnection with all that is. This is the stage of the practice that is described in texts (and by great teachers) as being aware that there is no separation between any living or non-living being in the past, present, or future. Sounds pretty far out, but I think I have experienced this once – I wrote more about it here – and the experience is something that will forever inform how I look at the world and other people. This stage is a blessing, and I do not seek it when I come to my practice. I believe that this stage will “happen to me” when I am ready for it.

What is the top 3 most valuable life advice you can give from your life experience so far?

#1 This too will pass. Everything moves in cycles.

#2 Adopt a dog. They will model how to love unconditionally.

#3 Make time for your practice. Although you cannot know how it will impact you, trust that it will.

What is your favourite quote?

“Wisdom tells me I am nothing. Love tells me I am everything. And between the two my life flows.” ~ Nisargadatta Maharaj

What is something easy and simple that we can do right now to make the world a better place?

Smile at strangers.

Hold the door for someone who’s hands are full.

Small and random acts of kindness are more powerful than we know.

What would you say has been the biggest benefit from meditation?

Waking up to how I create so much of my own suffering.

Meditation has shown me how to observe my perceptions, my thoughts and my reactions to other people’s actions.

It has shown me how easy it is for me to blame other for “stressing me out” and “stealing my peace.” But, in actuality my inability to let go of the circumstance and to forgive creates my suffering.

Taking things personally, and panicking over events that will mean nothing in 10 years creates my suffering. I’d like to think it’s made me easier to live with 🙂

What is the biggest challenge you had to overcome? How did you overcome it? And what lessons did you learn from it?

I was born premature and underwent heart surgery (without anesthesia) in my first days of life. I was on oxygen for a month after my birth because my lungs were not fully developed.

I believe that this time in my life is the single biggest challenge that I’ve lived through. I do not know how I overcame it other than the grace of some very caring human beings, the intelligence of a body that fights to heal itself, and God.

The lesson of this challenge for me is that I can never take my life for granted. I am here for a reason, my life meant something then, and no matter how blue I might get, my life won’t stop meaning something.

When you think about happiness, how do you define that for yourself?

I think happiness is a moving target.

Another teacher of mine once said that contentment and happiness are different goals and to aim for contentment instead of happiness. If we constantly aim for happiness, we miss out on feelings like grief, discomfort, frustration, impatience. And while I’d rather not spend all my time with those feelings, they make me more human. I’m able to connect with other people, art, music, theatre because those feelings are real for me. Contentment is when I’m still able to be grateful for where I am now even if it’s not where I’m aiming to go.

Do you have a message for our Mindbliss Community?

“Keep up your practice. The world needs you.” ~ Love, Hannah.

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How did you get into meditation and how has meditation impacted your life?

Eight years ago, I had an experience of trauma while I was doing academic fieldwork in Southern Africa. Thankfully, I was unharmed physically, but from a psychological and emotional perspective, I was in shambles.

My therapist asked me what action step I could take in order to feel safe in the world again. I said, “Learn meditation,” because I knew I could protect myself better if I learned to stay present and aware of my surroundings. And yet, the benefits of learning meditation reached far beyond my physical safety.

The more I practiced, the more I learned how to cultivate an inner happiness that could remain untouched by outer circumstances. I also learned how to soothe my emotional wounds with self-compassion.

How does it feel when you are in a meditative state?

When I am meditating, my thoughts begin to slow down as I watch them. At first, there is only a brief pause between each thought, then the pause between thoughts grows longer as I go deeper.

In meditation, this brings me a feeling of profound peace, as I realize that what defines me is my silent center, not my chatty mind.

What is the top 3 most valuable life advice you can give from your life experience so far?

#1 The days you say “I don’t have time to meditate” are the exact days you need to meditate the most. Even if you just have five minutes, you will still reap the benefit.

#2 To paraphrase author Matt Kahn, when you are feeling down, you deserve more love, not less. Try not to beat yourself up if you feel anxious, stressed, or not yourself. That’s the moment you need to shower yourself with compassion.

#3 Give yourself the gift of unstructured time at least once a week. Make no plans for that time period, whether it’s an hour, two hours, etc. When you wake up that morning, go where the road takes you, or where your heart leads you – whether that’s a farmers market, a walk in the forest, a movie by yourself, a yoga class, or journaling on your couch. Allow yourself to recharge, and you’ll have more energy the rest of your week.

What is your favourite quote?

It’s actually from my husband, Darrin Kagele, who is a therapist and mindfulness teacher:

“Surrender does not mean giving up, it means giving up control.” ~ Darrin Kagele

The best things in my life came to me when I stopped trying to manipulate the timing and circumstances of their arrival. I let go, and trusted that life would bring me the blessings I longed for in their own time – and that includes my wonderful husband and our beautiful new baby, Ruby.

What is something easy and simple that we can do right now to make the world a better place?

Listen deeper. Whenever you’re talking to someone who has a problem, resist the temptation to jump in right away with advice or an anecdote from your own life. Stay with their experience. Ask them questions. Listen more closely. Give them understanding and empathy first, because that is what truly heals.

What would you say has been the biggest benefit from meditation?

Resilience. After I meditate, my mind operates at a calmer pace, which allows me to respond consciously to challenging circumstances in my day rather than being reactive when they arise. I’ve learned not to take things so personally, although I still struggle with that!

What is the biggest challenge you had to overcome? How did you overcome it? And what lessons did you learn from it?

Healing my relationship with my father. We were always clashing when I was younger, and I often felt unloved, unworthy, and like I was “the problem child” or “the difficult one.” It’s a painful story that I carried with me into my adult life. I overcame it by doing my inner work – learning to love myself exactly as I am. I’ve even been able to forgive my Dad. The work of Tara Brach, who teaches meditation and Buddhist psychology, helped me to do that.

I learned to stop expecting my Dad to meet my needs for being heard and understood, because he does not have the tools for that at this point in his evolution. Instead, I need to recognize and appreciate the ways that he does show his love for me.

When you think about happiness, how do you define that for yourself?

Happiness means being able to remain connected to myself in the face of all things good and bad. When I feel good about myself, I’m naturally happy, and I can extend more love to others.

Do you have a message for our Mindbliss Community?

YES! It’s a message of gratitude.

“Thank you for taking the time to meditate. Every time you do that, you are raising your own consciousness and the consciousness of the planet. Your time on the couch, the cushion, or wherever you practice meditation, is a gift to us all.” ~ Love Christina.

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How did you get into meditation and how has meditation impacted your life?

For me, even as a child I would find myself sitting in silence in the forest or someplace in nature to “connect” with the wild things. It felt at home, like I had done that for many lifetimes. As a kid, I didn’t know it was meditation or shamanic journeying, I thought everyone did that. It was my one “safe place” to go.

I remember emptying my closet one day and creating a fort inside, I drew “buttons” on the wall (which did not make my parents happy) and I pretended it was a space ship that took me to another world. What I know now from my years as a Shamanic Coach, is that I had created a portal to go to the Upper World. Meditation and Journeying have changed the way I interact with the ordinary world, I see things differently and I experience life much more fully as a result.

How does it feel when you are in a meditative state?

I don’t “meditate” in the typical fashion of sitting still and emptying my mind. For me, I meditate much more deeply by using music, or the drum beat, or shamanic breathwork which I use to “transport” me into another realm. I can go into a trance which is much like a lucid state of dreaming, and interact with the non-ordinary worlds. I do much of my soul work in these places, communing with ancestors, spirit guides, angels, etc.

I teach the Medicine Wheel and it was during one of my journeys that I was shown what I call the Soul Archetypes, and how they fall into each direction and each Soul Archetype has a very distinct way of meditating that fits them. So meditation is much more enriched when you meditate according to your Soul Archetype. For example, a Visionary who resides in the East Direction of the Medicine Wheel thrives on mindfulness, or silent meditations, or prayer, or chanting whereas the Sacred Heart Warrior of the South would meditate more deeply through creative expression such as Trance Dance, or Art, or even a walking meditation. I think this is one aspect of meditation that is severely lacking in the way we teach meditation.

What is the top 3 most valuable life advice you can give from your life experience so far?

#1 Discover what makes you, you.

#2 Stop playing small.

#3 Step through the fears and the “what if’s” and just do it. We have just this one guarantee of life (we can hope for reincarnation but do we really know concretely and with evidence?) so do this one life right and have no regrets.

What is your favourite quote?

Anything by Henry David Thoreau, he has such beautiful words of wisdom about living so fully and in truth but I am always struck by his quote:

“I went to the woods because I wished to live deliberately, to front only the essential facts of life, and see if I could not learn what it had to teach, and not, when I came to die, discover that I had not lived. I did not wish to live what was not life, living is so dear; nor did I wish to practice resignation, unless it was quite necessary. I wanted to live deep and suck out all the marrow of life, to live so sturdily and Spartan-like as to put to rout all that was not life, to cut a broad swath and shave close, to drive life into a corner, and reduce it to its lowest terms…” ~Henry David Thoreau

What is something easy and simple that we can do right now to make the world a better place?

Be present. It is only in this present moment which we live fully. In the present space, we aren’t fretting about the future, or defined by our past. We aren’t disconnected when we are fully present, or distracted. And it starts simply by paying attention, returning to the moment, capturing your life as it is happening in real time.

When I feel myself moving out of presence, I pause and find one focal point in my immediate surroundings – something I can use my senses to experience – smell a flower, touch a tree, taste my meal, whatever it might be and that brings me back to the moment. It takes practice.

What would you say has been the biggest benefit from meditation?

Learning that there is more than this 3D world, healing deep wounds, connecting with those beyond the veil, taking time to give to my own soul. I know that is more than just one big thing but it’s the culmination of what meditation and journeying has created for me personally. They are the perfect ingredients that has created the most change for me.

What is the biggest challenge you had to overcome? How did you overcome it? And what lessons did you learn from it?

Believing that I could make a difference in the world. I was so afraid of being seen, or that I wouldn’t matter. I am a survivor of bullying all through my high school years that left me with 2 suicide attempts. I grew up in a small rural farming community in Ohio and I didn’t fit in with the people I grew up with. Much of my childhood was spent alone, or being bullied and beat up.

When I turned 21 I left Ohio to move to Arizona. I had no job, no money, and no place to live but in my gut I knew I had to do it. That was the first time I trusted myself and I trusted the unknown. It ended up being my first step on a conscious Shamanic journey that has lasted 30 years now.

From that, I learned how to rise above the pain and yet use that pain and experience as a way to deepen my path. I realized that those times of being bullied and alone, that I was being shown how to be strong, how to be empathetic to others, to be conscious of the pain others feel. I was shown just how resilient I am, and I vowed to never play small again, or shrink back from someone else’s words or actions.

As a result, I now teach a Mentorship program where the primary focus is in teaching others how to rise up into their authentic beingness, and to step back into their power as well. I’ve been teaching this work for nearly 15 years now and have witnessed the deep and profound healing of hundreds of people. And each time, I am grateful for having gone through the fires myself so that I can have a greater understanding of others.

When you think about happiness, how do you define that for yourself?

Relationship. First with myself, how well do I treat me? That is the core of all relationships is the self-love piece. Then it’s relationships to others – people, nature, animals, spirit, etc.

I just finished a year long adventure. I took 12 months to travel all over the USA alone, a self-exploration journey so to speak as well as a journey to find where I wanted to live next. I traveled 33, 243 miles and I discovered some of the most amazing places in America.

I had a long list of places I could see myself moving to – places with great weather, loads of options for outdoor enthusiasts, spiritual communities, great art, music, etc. But in the end, I chose the most unlikely of places – I chose to move back to Ohio after 30 years and vowing I would never returned but … my family are all here and ultimately it was my relationship to them that mattered most. So happiness to me is more about who is taking up space in my heart and nurturing those seeds.

Do you have a message for our Mindbliss Community?

The fact that you are here, making meditation and journeying a part of your everyday life is a huge contribution to helping to shift the world. We can only change the world, truly, by the work we do within ourselves. We raise our vibration, our awareness, and that ripples out into the world in such a beautiful and meaningful way. I’m grateful that I can be a part of your journey in some way and to be a witness to all the goodness you bring forward. Love, Dakota.