“Meditation makes me calm andcompassionate, which also makes people
around me feel better. Meditation gives
me the power of patience and stability
even in a phase of emotional ups and
downs.”
I am Margitta Dietermann and I am 48
years old. I was born in Germany and I left my
country with my own young family when I was 26
years old. For more than 22 years now, I’m living
and studying in Switzerland, staying close to the
city of Zurich in a lively town with an increasing
number of inhabitants.
I’m a psychotherapist and private teacher.
Before I started meditation I felt discouraged to
run my own business, asking myself: ‘Who am I
that people would ask especially for my help? There
are hundreds of therapists, why would any person
call just me?’ According to that personal style of
thinking, my business was not very successful and
for six years I even was not able to earn my own
living.I urgently was longing for knowledge and
wisdom to guide myself and other people in
a decent way, but I didn’t believe in my own abilities.
Since I learned how to meditate,
I changed my opinion about myself. I realised that
I am full of love and high potential and I asked
myself: ‘What is my special gift that I can bring to
people in society’?
I do freelance work and have been doing so
for more than ten years. I’m working with singles,
couples and families in consulting sessions and
creative workshops. One aspect of my work is
to support people to overcome their psychic
problems in their personal, family and social life
and to help them to reveal by themselves their
individual and unique mission in life. People
who are asking me for help are suffering from
different symptoms, for example from anxiety,
anger, dissatisfaction in life, depression, physical
dysfunctions, burning out symptoms and different
stages of inner and outer conflicts, mainly showing
up in their partnerships and families – with the
result of broken hearts, broken families, broken
relationships – both private and job-related.
An important part of my profession is
to teach parents how to get along with their
children and how to raise them in a sympathetic,
responsible and ethical way, which means also
to train themselves as parents in understanding
their own responsibilities and being a good role
model. Without healthy relationships, we will
have an unmanageable problem in society in the
near future.
To understand the principle of cause and effect
in life is of prime importance to me. How to avoid
doing bad and how to do good deeds – this seems
to be the most important subject in life for me. This
is also really interesting for my profession, because
it concerns relationships. It can really help us to
understand and to accept situations more deeply,
to stop blaming others and to start developing
our own potential of love and success in life.
I have to be alert and wise, in order to
know where to find the root problem and how
to encourage person to look at the very reason
that causes his problem.
Nobody likes to look at the person in the mirror.
Therefore, it’s necessary for me to find the right
words and questions – an artful speech — so that
people may find their own answers.
This activity calls for the highest concentration.
Meditation enables me to acquire and improve
the quality of my power of concentration.
I aim to provide the right climate so that
people can make their own choices to change
their life actively for the better. According to
experience, a personal choice for a new concept
in life is the most encouraging way to proceed
in breaking bad habits of thinking, speaking
and acting – which regularly leads to the
dissatisfaction in people’s lives.
I try to encourage people to trust their own
strength and skills. They first have to know them.
So, I have to find ways to lead them to discover
their inner potential. I intend to inspire people
to create their own personal guideline to follow
in their daily life which leads them to more inner
peace and happiness. I have to be careful in order
not to increase their inner resistance against
helpful solutions, and to diminish resistance
against following an ethical lifestyle.
Necessarily, I myself have to be a good
role model as a teacher – otherwise no one will
follow my suggestions. How could I manage
that without meditation? Meditation makes
me calm and compassionate, so that people
around me feel better. Meditation gives me
the power of patience and stability even in a
phase of emotional ups and downs. As a result,
my customers are able to hold on and stay the
course even if they feel unsure of themselves and
harbour doubts.
Meditation stimulates my intuition and
creativity. People I am working with often report
about their newly detected creativity. While
meditating, I discovered that I had never shown
love and appreciation to my parents that I feel
for all beings inside during and after meditation
sessions. I started doing so. As a result of this
the majority of my customers are able to give
up their resistance against their own parents,
spouse or children. A lot of them meet the
challenge of developing solutions even for the
‘hottest’ conflict.
A precondition for teaching a new lifestyle
in the society I live in seems to be offering people
innovative and creative workshops and to design
appealing workshop sessions. I have to train myself
in teaching the various topics of highest interest,
e.g., for parents or couples. I’m working to present
basic knowledge of how to find inner peace and
social success to worldly people with different
educational levels.
Meditation allows me to experience by
myself the highest level of peace inside I ever
knew. I had no idea before that I was capable of
feeling so happy! As a result of this, the majority of
my customers are getting interested in meditation
– no matter what their educational level.
Simultaneously they are talking about the
fast improvement of their family members while
they are working on adopting their own new
attitude of life. It’s amazing. It is wonderful to
hear so much positive feedback of my work even
in such short periods of time.
Necessarily, I have to organise my business,
to plan the structure of one month, six months,
one year and so on. Additionally, there is a lot
of intensive work like managing the budget,
public relations, acquiring new customers,
communicating information, promoting myself
as well as enlarging and improving my knowledge.
Each time I get tired of meeting all demands,
I sit,slow down and meditate to find new vital energy
and courage. Only few minutes of practising
can change my existential orientation for the better.
Since I started to meditate, I found the
calm and happiness I was looking for. Since I
practised meditation, I know exactly about my
light, my power and my talents. To know exactly
how gifted I am, it gives me the feeling of being
worthy to be alive and being able to help people to
discover their own treasures and resources inside
themselves. I feel more powerful and strong and healthy.
The most amazing miracle is that I am able
to improve and enlarge my own professional
activities. I get enquires regarding very interesting
business projects and I dare to meet a challenge
Consequently, my income has increased like
never before. I changed my home and business
residence to a more beautiful and comfortable one.
It’s a calm and bright apartment in an enjoyable
neighbourhood. The place is near the lake of
Zurich and well connected to public transport, so
that people can reach me easily.
But my life is getting rich not only with
money. Something very important happened to
me. Unlike my past, I now experience peace with
all my family members and friends. I succeeded in
practising true friendship with different people.
In short, I’m never missing anything I need for
my life; instead I can start giving myself.
I would like to encourage everybody to
meditate, because you will feel healthier, wealthier
and more successful in your life. Meditation can
help you find the way to reach your biggest goal in
life. You will get satisfaction and joy. Everything
you are looking for – you will find not outside, but
inside yourself. No one can give you the object of
your greatest desire but you: your own pure inner
light. It’s already within your self! Just detect it
– by starting to meditate! It is the most exciting
adventure in life to get in touch with your own
original root power.
How I started
It was in 1996, when I first became interested
in meditation. My husband was a good example
for me. After starting to meditate continuously
every day, he changed to be calmer, more flexible
and patient. He liked meditation so much that he
learned from his teacher how to teach students.
Thus, I got curious about meditation and I
registered in one of my husband’s classes in order
to learn it. He was a good teacher. But I could not
deal with the method and I gave up.
Two years later in 1998, I met another
teacher and learned a new method to meditate.
She trained me first to focus on my heart in order
to find the ‘entrance’ for a deeper level, then to
rest at a point below the navel. I tried hard but
could not deal with this method as well. However,
while practising, I realised that I knew by myself
a place inside my body which attracted my
attention. Within that point between my navel
and my heart, I felt comfortable and peaceful.
It’s the place I am in contact with, to ‘catch’ my
perception or intuition.
Since then I tried to find my own way to
meditate: I gently closed my eyes and concentrated
on my breathing to get deeper. With my inner eye,
I ‘travelled’ through my body in order to relax all
tensions. I observed my breathing continuously
while trying to let go of all thoughts. This exercise
gave me the feeling of regeneration and peace.
In 2002, I had the biggest breakdown
in my life that I had ever experienced. I
just got divorced from my second husband.
During this time, my method of meditation
kept me grounded and prevented me
from depression.
One year later, in 2003, I met a most
impressive Swiss lady, Elsbeth, who became my
teacher and friend as well. She taught me how
to meditate with ease. I felt convenient from the
very first beginning, because she told me: ‘just do
‘nothing’ - simply be happy’!
I started to work with her to reorganise my
broken life. Elsbeth helped me to discover the
root causes of my suffering.
And she taught me the basic Dhammakaya
technique to meditate. I realised that I knew
the special point in my body to calm my mind
already. But it took time for me to learn
to stay at the certain place within
– called the 7th base of the body – but it felt great.
Although I could not see anything, I felt calm,
light and very peaceful.
Personal Techniques
The first time when I began the Dhammakaya
Meditation method: I was sitting on the floor on a
10 cm high and round meditation cushion in the
half lotus position or kneeling with my lower legs
turned back. I straightened up my back and with
smoothly closed eyes, I began to breathe more
slowly and deeply. First, I concentrated on the
relaxation of all muscles in my body. Afterward, I
tried to visualise a clear bright object like a small
crystal ball – small like the tip of my smallest finger -
and I allowed myself to let it enter into
my body. I automatically felt a warm and tingling
feeling in the zone of my solar plexus, but I didn’t
see any crystal ball or light.
I was disappointed. Through days and
weeks, I tried too hard. In the beginning, I was
only able to sit 20 to 30 minutes, than my knees
started hurting. When I was participating in my
first seven-day meditation retreat in Chiang Mai,
north of Thailand, I felt more pain in my body
than progress in my meditation. After realising
that I forced my body and my mind, I simply
focused on relaxing and the feeling of happiness
arose each time I got deeper inside. At the same
time, I noticed that I didn’t see any light, but I
had the feeling of sitting in a sphere of light and
perfect harmony.
After a year, the pain in my knees ultimately
caused me to change my position and I had to sit
on a chair. I always changed from chair to floor
for short meditation sessions to let my body get
accustomed and it worked! After two years, I was
able to sit comfortably in the half lotus position,
the right leg across the left leg. Now, I am able to
sit for one to two hours without pain.
How I proceeded
With the help of the Teaching Monks, I
learned how to guide my mind through the seven
key points of the body and how to still my mind
at the seventh base - two finger-breadths above
the navel level - in my very centre. I use the
mantra ‘Samma Arahang’
(which means ‘purify the mind’)
repeating silently three times at each
key point, until resting my mind at the seventh
base. By doing so, I have the feeling of efficiently
closing the door to my outer sensual perception
and to open up the door to my world of peace
within. In case of a wondering mind, this mantra
brings me back to settle my mind again and again
in my centre. I use it often during my daily work
as well, in order to ‘reset’ the activity of my mind.
I am able to experience instantaneous happiness
only by remembering it.
Sometimes, I notice in the beginning of my
meditation session that my mind is willing to
settle down. If this happens, I let it go straight to
the seventh base, without travelling through all
key points of my body. I always keep reciting the
silent mantra ‘Samma Arahang’ until it disappears
by itself. From this moment on, I feel profound
happiness and joy.
In the beginning, it was difficult for me to
sit down regularly each day, until I cultivated my
discipline with a structured plan of my day. This
gave me the chance to answer my basic need for
tranquility and happiness, which now allows me
to sit down and meditate with joy!
If my brain is too active and if I have
uncountable thoughts or some resistance to
sitting down, I try to do the walking meditation
for half an hour in the forest and fields nearby.
After returning home, I feel refreshed and for the
most part I can sit down and slow down.
By meditating in the group and by training
with the Teaching Monks, I always get inspired to
exercise meditation regularly at home, each day at
least 30 minutes in the morning and 30 minutes
in the evening; if possible I would increase the
period of meditation time to one hour or more
for each session.
We have one slogan in our Swiss Team:
SITDOWN – SLOW DOWN – at least:
- once a day;
- once a week in a group;
- once a month
(overnight – each First Sunday);
- once a year (one-week retreat); and
- after 3 years of daily meditation give
yourself the inspirational treatment of a
one-month meditation retreat
Particular approach
I like the lotus flower. It seems to be the
most beautiful flower for me. I have a lotus flower
crafted from crystal with a clear crystal ball on
the top. I like to visualise the crystal ball on the
top of this crystal lotus flower in the centre of
my body. It opens to me symbolically as the
entrance to my own crystal world inside. I just
feel bright, beautiful and pure by observing it. In
this moment, it’s easier for me to concentrate and
to calm my mind, because I do it with so much joy!
I try to be connected daily via the internet
to the DMC programme and the teachings of the
Most Venerable Abbot Luang Phaw Dhammajayo.
I like to join in the meditation with teaching
monks and the Dhammakaya students all over the
world at the same time. In this way, I feel happier
than if I were meditating alone.
After finishing meditation, I was so delighted.
I felt pure and perfect happiness. I retained this
happiness for the following days. I felt such a
deep and lively connection to the inner body;
something unlike what I had ever experienced
before. It was an endless stream of power which
arises from inside meant to be shared with every being.
"We Are One With Meditation"
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