Spirit Animals - Any Insights?

[tyy]

Morning/Evening Everyone. Recently two friends suggested I follow a guided meditation to come into contact with my spirit animal. Does anybody in here have any experience with this topic? I tried the meditation but was having a hard time calming my thoughts on that occasion. I thought this would be a good place to learn about the relevancy of this topic to my spirituality.

[tyy]

Wrong section !! I don't know how to remove this post or transfer it.

Edited February 7, 2017 by tyy
Added a sentence

[Loreena]

Your spirit animal is your power animal or totem. My spirit animal is a cat. It could be an animal with whom you have a present/past emotional connection. I have an emotional connection with cats. to do this meditation, do the following steps :

1. find a comfortable place

2. breathe deep and relax

3. stay focused

4. focus for some time on your breathing

5. now imagine you are in a forest.

6. Visualize the sights and sounds of birds, trees, leaves rustling, insects, any noise..

7. Now either focus on some bushes and trees or visualize a path in front of you. Stare down this path. You should now see an animal at the end of the path. The animal you see is your spirit animal. its your totem.

8. Let the animal come towards you.

9. This animal will guide you about the choices available to solve or deal with your specific situations.

[Life Coach]

29 minutes ago, Loreena said:

Your spirit animal is your power animal or totem. My spirit animal is a cat. It could be an animal with whom you have a present/past emotional connection. I have an emotional connection with cats. to do this meditation, do the following steps :

1. find a comfortable place

2. breathe deep and relax

3. stay focused

4. focus for some time on your breathing

5. now imagine you are in a forest.

6. Visualize the sights and sounds of birds, trees, leaves rustling, insects, any noise..

7. Now either focus on some bushes and trees or visualize a path in front of you. Stare down this path. You should now see an animal at the end of the path. The animal you see is your spirit animal. its your totem.

8. Let the animal come towards you.

9. This animal will guide you about the choices available to solve or deal with your specific situations.

It did this and literally nothing came up. I also did a few other Spirit Animal meditations and nothing came up. I had to come up with an animal myself, and I was not sure and could not decide. Either my spirit animal doesn't want to show itself, or I am doing sth wrong, or this is just new age bullshit.

[ajasatya]

@tyy personally i don't think it helps in any way towards liberation. when i practiced it, the mind tried to associate its egoic patterns (my personality) with the behavior of some wild animal, which is just another form of attachment to a limited identity.

you see, the whole problem comes down to calming the mind's activities. and this is all you really need in order to find peace and compassion.

i'd recommend zazen instead, which is solely about experiencing no-mind.

my ultimate suggestion is that you find a zen sangha where you live, because zen practitioners actually know what they're doing. i've checked your profile and it says "ontario".

ready to follow the trail?

[Nahm]

I want mine to be a lion, roughly the size of a matchbox, but with a roar louder than a regular size lion. 

I tried your meditation excercise, but it left me like, "I know buddy! I hear you loud and clear! Where are you!!"

 

 

[tyy]

@Loreena Thank you for the process. The one I used was similar, guided with a youtube video. @ajasatya That's what I was afraid of happening (regarding my ego desiring to be some majestic animal). Thanks for going the extra mile and giving me that link to the zen centers around me! Much appreciated, as I am relatively new to discovering spirituality in general.

[Loreena]

24 minutes ago, Old Soul said:

It did this and literally nothing came up. I also did a few other Spirit Animal meditations and nothing came up. I had to come up with an animal myself, and I was not sure and could not decide. Either my spirit animal doesn't want to show itself, or I am doing sth wrong, or this is just new age bullshit.

 

Well you can't do much if nothing comes up. It's not upto you. You never choose the spirit animal., they choose you. You cannot invent the animal on your own. A lot of people try this and they successfully see an animal in the very first attempt and they see many more each time. I tried it only once and I found it. But it needs to be spontaneous, it cannot be forced.

[Loreena]

@Old Soul You don't need to worry if you don't see. You may let it go.It can only make a difference to those who see it.

[Life Coach]

2 minutes ago, Loreena said:

 

Well you can't do much if nothing comes up. It's not upto you. You never choose the spirit animal., they choose you. You cannot invent the animal on your own. A lot of people try this and they successfully see an animal in the very first attempt and they see many more each time. I tried it only once and I found it. But it needs to be spontaneous, it cannot be forced.

I knew I am the true forsaken one, not even the spirit animals travel with me...what a life...it all lies in my mortal hands, I shall help myself.

[Loreena]

5 minutes ago, Old Soul said:

I knew I am the true forsaken one, not even the spirit animals travel with me...what a life...it all lies in my mortal hands, I shall help myself.

Cheer up. At least you are not forsaken here. There are too many spirit animals typing here along with you.

[Evilwave Heddy]

1 hour ago, Loreena said:

Your spirit animal is your power animal or totem. My spirit animal is a cat. It could be an animal with whom you have a present/past emotional connection. I have an emotional connection with cats. to do this meditation, do the following steps :

1. find a comfortable place

2. breathe deep and relax

3. stay focused

4. focus for some time on your breathing

5. now imagine you are in a forest.

6. Visualize the sights and sounds of birds, trees, leaves rustling, insects, any noise..

7. Now either focus on some bushes and trees or visualize a path in front of you. Stare down this path. You should now see an animal at the end of the path. The animal you see is your spirit animal. its your totem.

8. Let the animal come towards you.

9. This animal will guide you about the choices available to solve or deal with your specific situations.

 

[Loreena]

@Evilwave Heddy lmao

[Guest Annetta]

I always assumed they came to you in your dreams, the dreams that have significant meaning to you - and that animal will show you a solution.  (Mine's the bat - the book Stellaluna had a powerful effect on me growing up)

Have you had any vivid dreams where an animal has been present or shown you a path that you need to take, or something that's holding you back? Sometimes you might even become that animal.

[tyy]

@Whywolf I have also read about your animal re-visiting you when needed, via dreams. Nothing stands out to me looking back at my own dreams though. I will probably try through the guided meditation again when it's a little more spontaneous.

[Guest Annetta]

@tyy Cool, I hope you find it.  Tell me what it is when you do, pretty curious about what it might be.  Good luck.

[Just Do Nothing]

Pretty sure mines a monkey cause when I meditated on shrooms I was like 'yo I'm spirit Monkey'  

That was before I read this too. 

[Toby]

 

[tyy]

@John Flores Interesting. The only others I have heard of were bear & elk. It would be great to figure it out one day, so I could come into contact with it in a dream or trip state (just a guess on the drug trip part, I have no experience with psychedelics). 

[tyy]

@John Flores Yeah I am definitely not prepared to hop on that train (psychedelics). I still have to get a solid meditation routine ironed out. Thanks for the thoughtful response! One day I will meet it!