Meditation: Expanded Perception Can Happen Anywhere

AVAlexander Volchek

Imagine asking yourself whether you can meditate while driving. If meditation is an exercise, the answer is simple: no, of course you cannot. In that view, you are supposed to close your eyes, sit in a particular position, switch off from the world and go somewhere else, or concentrate on something and enter an additional, separate state. But if we understand meditation as expanded perception, the question changes completely. Can you drive while in a state of expanded perception? Can you drive and simultaneously perceive the road, the space around you, your own state, spiritual processes, the people nearby, your speech, the movement of thought, spiritual worlds, various processes, your business and professional development, and your family?

You can. But the crucial point is that you must not lose awareness of the road while driving. We must remember we are behind the wheel. It is not, “I am meditating, so the road does not matter.” It is the opposite: “I am so fully engaged that I perceive the road even more clearly.” Once, while I was returning from San Francisco, the car was on autopilot and suddenly started indicating that I was supposedly inattentive. Apparently, the face or eye sensors interpreted my state as a loss of attention. Yet I remember my inner experience very clearly: I was fully attentive and aware of everything happening, especially the fact that I was driving.

I was simultaneously perceiving the road, deeply immersed spiritually in other worlds, seeing different spaces, speaking, and forming thoughts. The very fact that I could see where a thought broke off, where I had to search for words, and where the flow was not continuous—that is a meditative state, because I am aware of what is actually happening. People often think meditation can only happen in silence. But a state of perception can arise anywhere: in a meeting, in a conversation with your husband or wife, at work, while watching a movie, or while driving.

There is only one question: are you perceiving what is happening, or have you disconnected? If you have disconnected, that is not meditation; you have left the meditative state. If you have drifted into sleep, fantasy, some kind of psychophysical coma, or an incomprehensible state, that is something else entirely. If you perceive reality more broadly while remaining engaged with what is happening, that is a completely different level. Meditation is not about switching off from life. It is about entering life more deeply. Want to learn more about meditation and truly expanding your perception? Subscribe to the channel.