Meditation and Intoxicants: Guided

Turning Inward with Jacobson

Our method of meditation begins from the physiology of the human body, which plays a very important role in meditative processes. The method of Jacobson is based on the release of muscular tension. Once this has been learned—or if participants already know it—we can explore new paths. Each time we try to present it somewhat differently, so that it remains engaging.

I have had the pleasure on several occasions of introducing a meditation, and as I grow into the role I notice that many ideas continue to arise regarding the framing, the setting, and the choice of themes. The intention is always to proceed as little as possible in a directive way, so that everyone can find his or her own path, without any philosophy or belief system being imposed.

That is why I like to use themes that carry little or no cultural coloring—unless you happen to be in a homogeneous environment where everyone shares the same reference points. Anyone can imagine being a bird or a fish, a mountain climber or a pilgrim, or another animal. The first three are free of confessional connotations. With the fourth it becomes more difficult. If you speak with other pilgrims along the same path, however, that objection disappears.

There are certainly other meditation themes imaginable. I am still working on one involving the butterfly. Each time it concerns a guided meditation built around a story. That is why I return to value-neutral subjects. In every case it is a journey toward the light. That is what they all have in common.

Jacobson, incidentally, is also a journey—but through the body. In contrast to the others it leads not toward the light, but toward the darkness of the inner self, with closed eyes in a quiet and dark room. It is an experience in itself, and my acquaintance with this method proved decisive for my own development.

Edmund Jacobson (1888–1983) deliberately aimed at a value-neutral method that anyone could use, regardless of belief. Everyone has a body with muscles, and that is the same across all boundaries—regardless of language, confession, skin color, or orientation. The method is open to everyone, and no one needs to feel excluded, perhaps with the exception of patients suffering from muscular diseases.

There is always some loophole to be found in any line of reasoning, but jokes aside, it is the best method with which to begin.

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