Well, not really. His writings contain a great deal of wisdom and humor, but as far as I can tell he didn't write anything about meditation. I spent my freshman and sophomore years of college at Elmira College in upstate New York. Elmira boasts the home of Mark Twain's writing cabin where he wrote many of his famous books, such as The Adventures of Tom Sawyer, and The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn. The cabin is a small octagonal shaped building that sits in the center of the campus, and I used to pass it every day when walking from my dorm to my classes. Mark Twain's wife, Olivia Langdon Clemens, was from Elmira, NY, and the couple had a summer home up in the hills of Elmira called Quarry Farm. The writing cabin was moved from Quarry Farm to the college campus in the 1950's. Quarry Farm is not open to the public, but it is reserved for scholars who wish to research and study Mark Twain.
One of my art professors at Elmira also taught a meditation class. He had spent time in a Zen monastery in San Francisco (he also told us that he was college roommates with Robin Williams; I had to take his word for it). This art professor was one of the first people I knew who practiced Kundalini Yoga and was deep into meditation. He wove Eastern Wisdom and yoga philosophy into all of our art classes. I was intrigued to learn more, so I eagerly signed up for his meditation course. Little did I realize how much these practices would guide my life direction.
Somehow my professor convinced the owners of Quarry Farm to let him teach our meditation class at Mark Twain's summer home on the hill. We would take a bus from campus up into the quiet woodland hills. We spent time inside the main house in meditation, or sat on the front porch looking out over the hills. A few times we practiced walking meditation around the grounds. It was so serene and peaceful. It was an honor to be meditating in the presence of Mark Twain's creative spirit.
I lost touch with this professor over the years (though Josh and I did run into him while honeymooning in Ithaca, NY a few years later, and we had dinner at his house!), but his teachings on both art and philosophy have remained a guiding force throughout my life.
I consider meditation to be a more important anchor to my well-being than my yoga practice these days. Maybe my physical need for asana is shifting with each passing year. I hope that one thing the pandemic has taught us all is that we have very limited control over our outer environments. Sometimes events in life can feel overwhelming and intense. Meditationteaches us that we have a great deal of control over our inner environment if we take the time to sit and practice.
Meditation is often the calm in my storm during very stressful times. For a few minutes each day, I can shut off the outside world and all of its troubles as I connect to my body, my breath, and my deeper Self. There is no need for movement–just simple and profound observation of the breath and mind.
On top of all the shared global stress of our times in the past month, my daughter had a bad car crash that has caused some big struggles at home (yes, she is ok!). I believe if I didn't have my meditation practice to guide me, I would be struggling in a very serious way. Meditation isn't making all my problems go away, but it is helping me to move a little more slowly, to be less reactive, and it is helping me to find and to keep my center during some deeply stressful times.
I would love to share these benefits of meditation with you!
A short list of meditation benefits includes:
increased ability to focus and concentrate
reduction of stress/decrease in sympathetic nervous system response (fight or flight)
promotion of relaxation/increase of parasympathetic nervous system response (rest and digest)
increase of gray matter in brain (enables control for movement, memory, and emotions)
increase in neuroplasticity (brain's ability to adapt and change over time)
To get the full benefits you need to meditate regularly...let me help!
I have also a new meditation series! You can purchase this as a 6 lesson single course, or you can sign up for the new meditation monthly membership (if you are a monthly yoga member, it's already included in your membership benefits!)