In this third episode of the 'Spirituality 101' series for the Deeper Dive Podcast, Dr. Robert Carrillo introduces meditation as a practice for spiritual development within Christianity. He explains its historical roots, its benefits, and practical steps for beginners. Drawing from biblical examples and his personal experiences, Dr. Carrillo discusses how meditation helps improve mental clarity, emotional stability, and spiritual connection with God. The episode also addresses common misconceptions about meditation and provides guidance on starting a meditation practice. Join us as we explore the transformative power of focusing on God's word and principles through meditation.

00:00 Introduction to the Deeper Dive Podcast

00:39 Introduction to Spirituality 101

01:07 Understanding Meditation

02:30 Biblical Foundations of Meditation

05:06 Jesus and the Practice of Meditation

11:09 The Benefits of Meditation

13:39 Practical Tips for Beginners

20:32 Resources and Upcoming Events

21:53 Conclusion and Next Episode Preview

Click here to donate to the program

Click here for more Deeper Dive Episodes

OC Church of Christ

Welcome.

2

Welcome to the Deeper Dive Podcast

brought to you by the OC Church of Christ.

3

The Deeper Dive Podcast is about going

deeper into God's word and learning

4

new insight and taking a fresh look at

the verses that impact our daily lives.

5

Today's episode is part three to.

6

"Spirituality 101" by Robert.

7

Carrillo.

8

So, get your scuba gear and

let's dive deep into God's word.

9

Here's Robert Carrillo.

10

Robert: Hello everybody, Robert

Carrillo here, and we continue

11

in our series, Spirituality 101.

12

And it's an introduction to some of

the practices and some of the goals

13

and techniques, uh, of spirituality.

14

spiritual development and specifically

sometimes spiritual formation as well

15

as some of the details behind this.

16

And, and these are all introductory.

17

This is the one on one series.

18

And so today I want to, I

want to talk about meditation.

19

This is a, just a very, uh, uh,

introductory look at meditation,

20

uh, for, for, for those who

really don't have experience.

21

I know that many of us do already.

22

A lot of people meditate and

that's a wonderful thing.

23

But I also know that a lot of

us have never done this before,

24

particularly in our fellowship in

the International Churches of Christ.

25

A lot of us have not have no experience.

26

And a lot of us in the ministry even

have never had any experience or we maybe

27

had experience, but from a different

angle, not necessarily a spiritual angle.

28

So.

29

We're going to talk about that.

30

Okay.

31

So basically what, you know,

what is meditation, meditation?

32

I pulled up a couple of definitions.

33

Meditation is a practice where an

individual uses a technique such as

34

mindfulness or focusing the mind on a

particular object, thought or activity

35

to train attention and awareness

and achieve a mentally clear and

36

emotional, calm and stable state.

37

Okay.

38

That's kind of a mouthful,

but it gives a good, broad

39

overview of what is meditation.

40

Another definition meditation can be

defined as a set of techniques that are

41

intended to encourage a heightened state

of awareness and focused attention.

42

Meditation is also a consciousness

changing technique that has been

43

shown to have a wide number of

benefits on psychological wellbeing.

44

So, um, the, there are, there are,

you know, the, the, it is absolutely

45

Um, very much in the history of

Christianity, a part of spirituality

46

and not just Christianity, but

in the Old Testament as well.

47

Um, meditation can be defined as a set of

techniques that are intended to encourage

48

a heightened state of awareness and

focused attention on God's word, Christian

49

principles and the spirit of God.

50

the spirit of God and God himself.

51

So that's kind of more where we're coming

at it from and where I'm being trained in.

52

Um, as I've shared in the other videos,

you know, I'm, I'm getting my doctorate

53

at Fuller seminary and, uh, I've

personally been meditating for about a

54

year and, uh, it is, wow, changed my life.

55

And in one sense, I would say, I,

you know, I, um, If it was up to me,

56

I probably wouldn't do any classes

or anything for five or six years

57

until I've had even more time.

58

But I've been blessed so much

and I know there's such a hunger.

59

I said, well, I'm going to share what

I know and then we'll have advanced

60

meditation classes in the future.

61

But I'm also going to pull

in some teachers of people

62

who've been much more involved.

63

Um, Psalm 77, 12 says, I will

consider all your works and meditate.

64

on all your mighty deeds.

65

You know, I meditated on this Psalm

and it was really so powerful.

66

It is so powerful.

67

It really impacted me.

68

Uh, Psalm 143, another Psalm,

classic Psalm for meditation.

69

I remember the days of long ago,

I meditate on all your works and

70

consider what your hands have done.

71

You know, meditation is, is, is a very

practical, spiritual, Uh, discipline

72

that helps in many, many ways.

73

And we'll, we'll get

into that in a second.

74

Um, it comes out of the tradition

of silence and solitude of

75

prayer, of contemplation.

76

These are all very biblical terms.

77

And, and, and I'm saying this

and I'm putting a little bit

78

of emphasis here because.

79

I know that some people are afraid that

meditation is really a Buddhist thing,

80

or really an Eastern religion thing,

and, and, you know, what I say to that

81

is, well, first of all, it's, it's rich

in scripture, so it's been around a long

82

time in Christianity and in Judaism.

83

And, and, and I think we should also

remember that, that Christianity

84

is not actually a Western religion.

85

I mean, we, we have a Western

mindset with which we approach our

86

Christianity, but Christianity is

from the Middle East, not the Midwest.

87

I mean, it is an Eastern religion.

88

So this, this way of thinking and

approaching things is the way of Jesus.

89

And it is the way of the culture

in which, uh, our faith and our

90

religion Jesus had a very strong

practice of silence and solitude.

91

Very early in the morning, while

it was still dark, Jesus got up

92

and left the house and went off to

a solitary place where he prayed.

93

And we, we, that little scene right

there, where Jesus kind of sneaks off

94

to go and pray and spend time with the

Lord, to have some silence and solitude.

95

Which is, you know, the

very heart of meditation.

96

We see it in Matthew 14, verse 13.

97

We see it in Mark 1, verse 35.

98

We see it in Mark 6, verse 32.

99

We see it in Luke 4, verse 42.

100

We see it in Luke 8, 29.

101

I mean, this was a

regular practice of Jesus.

102

And somehow, in the Western version

of Christianity, we've dropped it.

103

You know, the Eastern Christian

denomination, they still meditate,

104

you know, the Eastern Orthodox Church.

105

Meditation is a big

part of their practice.

106

And we have, we tend to have a

prejudice against it because of that.

107

We tend to have a fear of it,

but it's important to realize

108

that this is what Jesus did.

109

And there are very good reasons for that.

110

You know, in 18.

111

And we all who with unveiled faces

contemplate the Lord's glory are

112

being transformed into His image with

ever increasing glory which comes

113

from the Lord who is the Spirit.

114

Right?

115

We've run into this before.

116

We've read other similar scriptures

as well as this one that, that in

117

contemplation, what is contemplation?

118

Contemplation is a form of meditation.

119

It's where we focus and we think

deeply about something, right?

120

And we focus on a scripture, we focus

on teaching of God, we focus on a

121

concept of God, and we contemplate,

we take the time to slow down

122

everything and focus ourselves.

123

And this is part of what makes meditation

so powerful is, is we generally tend

124

to have what is called the monkey

mind, you know, just jumping around

125

thoughts, bouncing around everything.

126

But this is our ability to focus

and contemplate contemplating

127

is incredibly important.

128

And we contemplate the Lord's glory is how

God is able to change us and transform us.

129

I talked about that in

the introductory video.

130

Um, and this is very God centered.

131

And I think that's

important to understand.

132

It's probably one of the biggest

differences between some of

133

the Eastern religions and their

form of meditation versus ours.

134

And I don't want to oversimplify, but.

135

where, where many of the popular

meditations are, are you centered?

136

Christian meditation is absolutely

God centered, you know, God

137

centered, you know, it's all about

God and how we relate to God.

138

It's actually caught on quite a bit.

139

It's become quite popular.

140

Um, And it, you know, as I said before,

it has a long history and in the Old

141

Testament, it's translated, meditate is

translated from Haga, which is to sigh

142

deeply, to, you know, to, to, to how,

to, to kind of speak or iterate from deep

143

down inside, or, or the word Siha, which

is to repeat, to, to rehearse something,

144

to say something again and again.

145

And some of the meditation prayers are,

are reciting things or affirming things.

146

But this goes way back.

147

600 years old.

148

This is something brand new.

149

It's, it's coming back.

150

In Western Christianity, I should

say not coming back in West.

151

It's coming back into Christianity in

the Western part of it because Western

152

Christianity, which is what we, most

of us are familiar with that are

153

probably watching this Protestantism.

154

Um, it's in even much of Catholicism

dropped this, although it's not.

155

from Catholicism.

156

They're, they're, they have a

strong history with meditation.

157

But the Protestants do not.

158

And, and part of it is our whole

issue with everything has to be

159

rational and logical and, and

that's a whole nother Lesson, but,

160

um, it's been around a long time.

161

The number of people practicing meditation

162

So this is spreading, this is

becoming, and, and like many things,

163

when something new comes along, some

people fear it and go, oh no, get

164

away, it's, it's evil, it's, it's a,

it's a trend, it's a popular thing.

165

But the fact is, like we've already

established, it's not a trend.

166

It's something that's

been around a long time.

167

Some people will approach it as a trend.

168

And that's going to happen, but the fact

is what real meditation is about has been

169

around for thousands of years, literally.

170

And it is, plays a big part in

the whole theology of God and

171

understanding relationship with God.

172

Um, global statistics show that

across the world somewhere between

173

200 and 500 million people meditate.

174

This is, this is, I, I just saw a

documentary where the guy said that this

175

is the future religion of the world.

176

People are beginning to realize

the value of this meditation and

177

how much more Is the value of it

when it's centered on God, right?

178

So in since 2012, the number of children

meditating has increased more than 800%.

179

You know, what is, what has been,

what is foreign and under suspect to

180

people in my generation is interesting

to millennials and generation Z

181

is going after it with a zeal.

182

You know, and I think this is going

to be a good thing for helping people

183

to learn about God, to grow in God,

and that once again, as I said, it,

184

it, it's going to help lots and lots

of people connect in God, with God

185

in ways they never dreamed of before.

186

Even older Christians.

187

My experience, me personally as an

older Christian, I, I feel like I

188

found, you know, I got the remote to

the cable, the cable box, you know,

189

all of a sudden I have so many new

ways and exciting ways to connect.

190

with God through meditation.

191

Um, and there's so many

benefits to meditation.

192

I mean, it's, it's, it's almost

ridiculous how much it helps.

193

And the fact that we don't know, you

know, it's, it's been scientifically

194

research, why proven to, Boost immune

system, lower blood pressure, decrease

195

pain, relieve depression, increase

productivity, promote creative thinking.

196

It literally thickens the

prefrontal cortex, where the

197

higher reasoning happens, where we

understand deeper things of God.

198

It literally thickens that.

199

It reverses the effect of aging even, uh,

proven to improve health and well being.

200

In general, improve emotional well

being, increase happiness, improve

201

personal relationships by helping us to

de stress and to overcome the anxiety

202

and fears and conflicts and, which,

you know, fear and anxiety plays a

203

huge role in conflicts, uh, benefits

family and communities at large.

204

I mean, just in general, a

household can be blessed.

205

But even one person meditating, let

alone everybody, because especially in

206

a Christian house where what it means is

our connection to God and our awareness

207

of God is becoming so much stronger.

208

Um, Google Scholar turns up almost 700,

000 research documents on meditation

209

and among them imaging studies that

show increased activity in the brain

210

regions associated with attention,

a higher volume of gray matter.

211

This is what I was talking about with

the frontal cortex and lesson lesson

212

amygdala response to emotional stimuli.

213

The amygdala response back here

where we have all the stress and

214

anxiety that actually shrinks.

215

In the frontal cortex, where

we have compassion, and love,

216

and, and, and, and, and peace.

217

These concepts are, are handled, that

grows, and strengthen, literally like

218

a muscle that you're working out.

219

You know, which is a beautiful thing, and,

and, and, and, and what I love about this

220

is it's been true to scripture all along.

221

This is what scripture's always taught.

222

The importance of contemplating the

Lord's glory, of meditating on His

223

law, and on His deeds, and on His

words, and allowing that all to happen.

224

So, um, that's a general quick

introduction to what meditation is.

225

I'm going to give you some

practicals because, again, this

226

is geared towards the newbie.

227

You know, uh, the person

learning to meditate and

228

learning what this is all about.

229

Uh, this is the way,

okay, this is the way.

230

Um, first of all, I'm just

going to say start simple.

231

Don't go, I'm going to go meditate for

an hour or meditate for a half hour.

232

Um, it will probably be agonizing.

233

For most people it is.

234

Uh, I started with 10 minutes and I got

to tell you, 10 minutes was a challenge.

235

Um, I have so much what is,

what, what I referred to

236

earlier, the monkey mind, right?

237

Monks call it the monkey mind.

238

The monkeys are always jumping around and

you've got thoughts bouncing all over.

239

And it's taken time learning how to

focus, how to calm my mind, and how

240

not to be, uh, just knocked around,

you know, by all the monkey mind stuff.

241

Start out simple.

242

Ten minutes.

243

Start slow.

244

Start slow.

245

Don't, and what I mean by that, I

mean you, you take a deep breath, you

246

calm yourself, you slow things down.

247

What, your brain is not going to

slow down actually, it's going to

248

increase in awareness, but in a

sense you slow down the monkeys,

249

you slow down the world around you.

250

You don't try to take on too much.

251

Um, be patient, be patient with yourself.

252

Uh, what, what you're, you're trying to

do is relax your mind and your heart.

253

Scolding yourself isn't going to help.

254

It's counterproductive.

255

And what do I mean by that?

256

Well, we, we try to focus on something

and we can't and next thing you

257

know, we're thinking about what

we're going to have for dinner.

258

We're thinking about the, something

somebody said that hurt our feelings

259

or something, an argument we got into

last week and, and it just bounces

260

around and we say, man, doggone it.

261

I can't do this.

262

Don't do that.

263

Don't do that.

264

When your mind wanders, it's okay.

265

What you, the, the, the examples I've,

I've learned is, and I'm, and I'm, and I'm

266

stealing these from different teachers.

267

I'm, I'm taking their analogies,

which are very helpful for me.

268

One that I was given was, imagine

you're sitting by a highway, or maybe a

269

freeway intersection, and your thoughts

are like all the cars driving by.

270

Some are stopped, some turn left,

some turn right, some keep going.

271

I'm, I'm, I'm.

272

Don't get in the cars and go with them.

273

And if you find yourself in the car,

just pop back to the corner again.

274

And get back in your little chair.

275

You're sitting in your beach

chair, and you're just watching

276

all these thoughts go by.

277

And, and, and, and don't scold yourself.

278

Don't be mad at yourself.

279

I can't do this.

280

Don't worry.

281

Like I said, the first, especially the

first times, can be very challenging.

282

One of my professors said, I just

want you to spend ten minutes silent.

283

And and thinking about

nothing but your breathing.

284

And I couldn't do it.

285

I just, my brain was bouncing everywhere

and I kept looking at the clock.

286

When is my 10 minutes up and now I

can sit and 45 minutes goes like that.

287

It's just, Whoa, where'd it go?

288

And I just, I have such a great

time, but it's taken time.

289

It takes time.

290

So you gotta be patient, be steady.

291

In other words, keep doing this.

292

If you can daily is great.

293

Even if it's Monday through Friday.

294

And you get up and you spend 10

minutes where you're in a quiet place.

295

There isn't a bunch of stuff

going on around you and you just

296

focus on your breathing or there's

lots of great YouTube videos.

297

I'll talk about that in a second

that can help, but you just focus

298

and just be still for 10 minutes

and then you feel better with that.

299

You add 10 more minutes and

add 30 minutes, you know, be

300

steady and be kind to yourself.

301

Don't rebuke yourself.

302

Don't get on because

that's counterproductive.

303

That just gets your brain all upset again.

304

You're trying to calm things down.

305

You picture one analogy I heard

is, is like a jar of river

306

water and it's always shook up.

307

It's always shaking.

308

So you got mud and rocks and leaves

and all kinds of stuff floating around.

309

This is setting it down

and not touching it.

310

And everything settles and the

water clears up and you can

311

see that's what you're doing.

312

You're learning to settle yourself.

313

You're learning to be still and

know that God is God, right?

314

Uh, you're breathing.

315

You breathe in through your

nose and out through your mouth.

316

And you breathe, you breathe all

the way down to your stomach.

317

Your stomach should go up and

down when you're deep breathing.

318

Not quickly, cause that'll heighten

you, that'll, that'll, you slow breathe.

319

And not so much that you get panicky.

320

Some people, when they breathe

too slow, they panic like they're

321

going to suffocate or something.

322

And there are breathing

many different kinds.

323

And actually, I'm going to

do a video just on breathing.

324

But, slow down, calm your breathing.

325

Breathe in, through your nose.

326

And out through your mouth.

327

Center your mind, you center yourself.

328

And, and, and we'll be, I'll do a

video on centering or just picking

329

a word or, or something you look at

a candle or a word or that you learn

330

to focus yourself on, you center.

331

There's mindfulness breathing meditation.

332

There's affirmation meditation.

333

There's Lectio Divina.

334

These are just different types.

335

There's a body relax.

336

There's where you're able to just turn

off all the fight or flight mechanisms.

337

These are all different types.

338

And I'm going to do videos on all of them.

339

Uh, when you, when you meditate,

position yourself well.

340

I mean the classic, you know,

Buddhist meditation when you're

341

sitting with your legs folded.

342

Great, if you can do that, awesome,

but you don't have to do that.

343

You can sit there with your feet

planted on the ground in a comfortable

344

place, again where you're not

going to be disturbed too much.

345

And you position yourself

comfortable, sit up.

346

You can lay down and meditate.

347

Great.

348

But.

349

I will tend to fall asleep if I do that,

and, and several other people that I've

350

helped with meditation, that's what

they did, they fell right to sleep.

351

If you're a hard working, burning the

candle on both ends kind of person,

352

you will certainly fall asleep.

353

Um, so I say sit up in a comfortable

place, if you can cross your

354

legs, great, if not no worries.

355

You close your eyes, you breathe

in deep and slow, in your nose,

356

out your mouth, you focus on

your breath, you focus your mind.

357

And your thoughts on your breath.

358

You feel it coming in.

359

You feel it filling your lungs.

360

You feel it all the way down

to your stomach and then you

361

exhale through your mouth.

362

If you don't want to exhale through your

mouth, you can exhale through your nose.

363

That's fine.

364

It is better by far to breathe

in through your nose though.

365

And I'm going to be sharing different

things that are coming up to help with

366

these different kinds of meditations and

different kinds of practices to help us.

367

Um, spiritual learning labs, spiritual

retreats, spiritual resources.

368

There's some great apps, meditation

apps, contemplation apps.

369

Um, there are some great spiritual

websites, spirituality websites.

370

We've got conferences, even

in, in, in our group, we've

371

got some conferences coming up.

372

We'll be letting you know about that.

373

Um, forming workshops, spiritual

forming David tackles, uh, uh,

374

workshops, which are fantastic.

375

Uh, and I would recommend his book,

read it now, you know, Forming

376

a Work of Grace by David Tackle.

377

Contemplation workshops,

learning how to focus ourselves,

378

learning how to contemplate.

379

And there's podcasts out there as well

as I'm going to be doing some of my own.

380

But these are just the resources

I'll be sharing with you guys.

381

This is the book, Forming

the Work of Grace.

382

This fall we're going to do a 12 week

series and there'll be several of them.

383

We'll also be doing some

facilitator training.

384

Which I think will be fantastic.

385

And I'm going to have a, basically

a bulletin board, but an electronic

386

bulletin board, calling it under the

broom tree and the spirit of Elijah

387

being taken care of by the Lord's angel.

388

So if you'd like to learn more about

it, sign up the way of the pilgrim.

389

Um, I think it's going to be fantastic.

390

And, uh, it's a great journey, the

spiritual journey, peace be the journey.

391

God bless you.

392

Buen Camino.

393

Thank you, Robert.

394

Again, this episode is part

three of a five part series.

395

Our next episode.

396

We'll be on meditation again,

but this time on breathing.

397

Thanks for listening to deeper

dive by the OSI church of Christ.

398

If you want to get connected to us

or want to donate to the program, go

399

to our website O C church of Christ.

400

Dot com or through social

media at the OSI church.

401

Join us next time for part

four of spirituality, 1 0 1.