Meditation class

Our Baha’i community (Welwyn, Hertfordshire, England) has been running a series of public meditation classes in a local community centre for the past few weeks. The classes, using the excellent CALM course, designed by Paul Profaska and published by George Ronald, have attracted a number of friends of Baha’is, all of whom have said how much they’re getting out of the course.

We’ve had as many as 15 in the class some nights, but last night there were just seven of us. The theme of the class was dhikr (or zikr), the remembrance of God. In simple practical terms, this can mean inward repetition of one of the names of God, although participants chose (privately) a word or phrase for repetition that suited their particular and heartfelt need. These classes do not enforce a particular practice or system of meditation - there is no set Baha’i meditation practice and we strenuously avoid pushing people in any particular direction - but introduce people to various possibilities and help them gently build up their skills in meditation practice.

We start each session by sharing (if we want to) anything from our week just gone, any stresses, any joys, any meditation practice we’ve been able to do. We then go into around 15 or 20 minutes of quieting down, physical relaxation, and moving into the meditation proper. The meditation period closes with the reading of a quotation from the Baha’i scriptures. Last night’s quote was:

…give thy best attention to the remembrance of God, that thy heart may at all times be animated with His Spirit, and not be shut out as by a veil from thy Best Beloved. Let not thy tongue pay lip service in praise of God while thy heart be not attuned to the exalted Summit of Glory and the Focal Point of communion. [The B