Soo Soon Oh (50 yrs old)
Level 7 / Seo Gwi Po
Written in Dec 02, 2014

 

It was about five years ago when I started this meditation. At that time I felt as though I had reached my limits for everything.

My husband ‘s business failures have always left me in debt, and with my three children who are in middle school and high school, we were in a serious economic situation. I was working as an insurance agent and when I hit my limit after all the pressure every month, I came to read a book written by a student practicing this meditation, and then read a book by the meditation founder, Teacher Woo Myung. I called the meditation center and immediately went the next day filled with excitement. A few days after starting the meditation, red spots appeared on both sides of the thighs and began to itch. Then I felt such severe pain in the shoulders I had massage my shoulders while meditating.

Around the time I was nearing the end of level 1, I headed to the meditation center with my mind completely packed to the brim. That day was the last day of the month, and something was weighing me down. I meditated for an hour, and when I came out, it was a completely different me from one hour before. The world was so bright; it was as though a clogged toilet had suddenly burst free and drains. What was this feeling? I didn’t change anything during that hour except to have meditated and discarded the lived life. It seems as though that experience of change of my mind and heart is what has brought me this far. Two months after I started this meditation, I, who usually says nothing, started chatting with my husband. I wondered to myself why I keep talking like this even though I had bottled up the day-by-day accumulation of gloominess. I was acting strange, but I must have looked good to my husband. I must have looked good enough that my husband who I cannot win against started to practice the meditation. Even after that, life was still hard, but the meditation protected me. Although I was unable to send my children to afterschool academies, I always sent them to the Meditation Youth Camp and University Camp. Thanks to that, my children have grown up quite beautifully.

My husband has also changed little by little. Little by little, he has reduced the amount of alcohol that he drinks on a daily basis. Also bit by bit, he has stopped giving me a hard time after he gets drunk. I also started to let go of my thoughts of money, which always haunted me. At the beginning of this year, I quit my insurance job and started work helping at a fruit farm earning just enough to cover the cost of living. Working in the insurance industry for 17 years, I was not able to rest even for a single Sunday. I had lived day after day, suffocating. But after letting go of that job, I was able to go to the main meditation center and spend more time at the local meditation center. I am grateful to my husband who has been practicing with me and I really appreciate my children who have not let go of the meditation and go meditate whenever they have time. Thank you.

 

Source: www.meditationlife.org