Video and Transcript Segment 17

Return to Interviews done by Cindy Herb

TITLE:  Shaman Discusses Meditating – Types of: Deep & Mantras for Meditation

Shaman Charles Crooks talks about what is meditation. Specifically, he discusses its purpose, some different types of meditation, including deep meditation, and how to meditate. This shaman also tells us the difference between prayer and meditation. He also elaborates on what can happen when a person spends time meditating, as well as where a person can meditate the most effectively. In addition, he discusses mantras for meditation, explaining that different mantras can bring forward different things for an individual. Listen below to learn more. You can also read the transcription below the video.

Note:

The videos from Segment 8 to Segment 20 have a technical problem where the  Video Light used was too low. This caused Red Eye.

Red Eye is the reflection of the Retina back to the camera when the soruce of the light is too close to the camera lens. 

It is not an evil redness coming from my eyes.  We didn't realize the problem till later. A fix is on its' way.

Please click here for the Transcript 17 Video

Note: All questions and responses in the above interview were unrehearsed.

Cindy:  Hi, this is Cindy Herb, The Joyful Survivor. I'm here today with Charles Crooks who is a shaman here in the Dallas Fort Worth area. Thank you, Charles, for agreeing to talk to us.

Shaman Charles:  Thank you very much.

Cindy:  I want to talk to you a little bit about meditation. What is meditation and what is its purpose?

Shaman Charles:  Well, meditation is defined as contemplation of any one particular thought. That's all it is.

Cindy:  So, what's the purpose of it?

Shaman Charles:  Well, let's say I'm trying to figure out how to make a light bulb. Thomas Edison meditated on the idea and he figured out how to do it 259 times…he finally got it right on 260, I think. It's a form of meditation. Whenever you contemplate an idea or concept, sometimes you just draw all your attention to that. You can meditate on a flower and have some pretty nice experiences because as you're meditating on the flower, you're basically tuning into every aspect and every condition that flower represents. And so, other thoughts will come in that will support you in that. But that is a form of meditation.  

Cindy: So, I'm talking about…like for me, I meditate every day. But, some people call it prayer. So, are there differences between meditation and prayer in your view?

Shaman Charles:  Yeah. They're both basically the idea of concentrating on a particular subject or matter. But the difference is that prayer basically says, "Please send me something I don't have." Okay. Meditation says, "I see that to be, therefore, it is."

Cindy:  So you're pulling in like Law of Attraction or…

Shaman Charles:  Not pulling in.

Cindy:  Okay.

Shaman Charles:  Let's remove 'pulling in' from it because when you're doing meditation, you're actually seeing something as it is or as you choose to see it. And as in seeing it, you are defining it. And as you define it since everything is already part of you anyway, the universe complies.

Cindy:  So, meditation isn't going quiet and listening?

Shaman Charles: Yeah. That's also another form of meditation. Yes. But again, you're concentrating on a particular thing and you're wiping your mind clean of all other thoughts and activities.

Cindy: So, do you find that [it is] beneficial for people to meditate?

Shaman Charles:  Sure.

Cindy:  Will that increase somebody's intuition by meditating on a daily basis?

Shaman Charles:  It depends. But keep in mind, what are they going to meditate on? Are they going to try and figure out a mathematical equation? Or are they going to try and figure out whether some radio personality has the hiccups on Saturday? It all depends on what they draw their attention to that will determine the quality of the meditation that's involved here.

Cindy:  So, let's look at meditation from…there are people that they want to meditate because they're trying to raise their consciousness.

Shaman Charles:  Okay.

Cindy:  So, if we're looking at it from that aspect…

Shaman Charles:  Yeah.

Cindy:  Is it beneficial?

Shaman Charles:  Yeah!

Cindy:  It is.

Shaman Charles:  Yeah.

Cindy:  Because…and what can happen? Do you meditate?

Shaman Charles: Uh yeah.

Cindy:  And what happens? Do you see different things? What happens?

Shaman Charles:  Well, it depends on what I'm doing that day.

Cindy: Do you have thought….does your intuition work more when you're meditating?

Shaman Charles:  Alright. First of all, let me define something. Okay. I think this is important. Alright.

Cindy:  Okay.

Shaman Charles:  I can meditate standing up or walking or I can meditate in a shopping line or any of those places. I just tune in. I'm zoned out because I've gotten good at it. More than anything, I'm used to it. So, as far as accessing deeper information, yeah, it's easier when an individual will sit down and allow their mind to get blank and to basically draw their attention on a particular subject or a condition. And in doing so, they also allow the universe to respond. And so they draw themselves into those areas where that information is stored. So, you can't go wrong with it. Okay. But, I'm one of those types who can pretty well meditate anywhere that I am.

Cindy:  Are there different types of meditation? I've heard people talk about transcendental meditation, maum meditation, and mantra meditation. Like what is transcendental meditation? Is that different [form of meditation] than anything else?

Shaman Charles:  Well, it's a different type of meditation. It's a form of meditation that's used by basically…I think it's over in China that started using that…China and the Middle East. I'm sorry, the Far East. And I haven't really looked at it too heavily. So, I'm not going to give a whole lot of information on it. I'm aware of it, but I've not been really interested to follow up in that area.  

Cindy: Okay.

Shaman Charles:  The other types of meditation—the mantras for meditation is kind of cool because as you do a mantra, depending on what the mantra is, can determine what you're going to bring forward. Okay. And the third type of meditation is just silence or not even a mantra, but just a tone.

Cindy: Okay. And what about deep meditation? Are there different levels of meditation like deep meditation? What do you ask people…to try and get to a deep meditation or?

Shaman Charles:  No, no, no, no, no. I don't like to use the term 'deep meditation' personally. Because the key is what do you want to do. That's really the key, what is your purpose? What's the key? What do you want to accomplish? And because I don't think that somebody in deep meditation is going to gain that much more information than somebody who's not in deep meditation as long as they access the same information.

Cindy:  Like I've been in meditation before, and it seemed like it was a deep meditation because time just seemed to not exist.

Shaman Charles:  Yeah.

Cindy: You know, like I'd be in meditation for thirty minutes and when I got out, it seemed like it was like five [minutes].

Shaman Charles:  Um huh.

Cindy:  Is that common?

Shaman Charles:  Yeah.

Cindy:  Yeah. Alright. Well, how much time do you think people ought to spend if they meditated? Is there a time limit?

Shaman Charles:  Well, it's not like you put a quarter in the machine and you know, it kicks you out after ten minutes. No, not something like that. [Laughter]. So, let's kind of set the rule of thumb—the more that you allow yourself to meditate periodically throughout the day, the better off your day is going to be. 

Cindy:  Okay.

Shaman Charles:  So, it's really a personal call. But I like the quarter bit. Though, that's pretty good.

Cindy:  That is pretty good. Well, I'm going to cut it short for now. We'll talk about this a little bit more [later]. Thanks again, Charles, for being with us today. If we wanted to find you, where could we find you?

Shaman Charles: http://healerofheartsandminds.com and http://shamanic-enterprises.com. That's a hyphen between shamanic and enterprises.

Cindy:  Thanks again and thanks to all my viewers for listening. Hope you all have a great day, including you Charles.

Shaman Charles:  Thank you very much.