Meditation
Meditation
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| "Meditation is a practice of sitting still and doing nothing." |
Meditation is the key to the inner world. Through meditation we can systematically tune the outside world and cultivate the sensitivity to, to the inner.
The mind and its thoughts need cleansing, perhaps more than our bodies. The mind works longer, encounters wider dimensions and runs the operating system of our life as well. Meditation is both an end and a means. We may achieve better clarity, mood elevation, or simply better physical co-ordination. But the mind as an inseparable commander of all else, deserves the best treatment we can give it.
In the face of this evidence it is hard to deny that meditation has great rewards. Who wouldn't want greater health, mood elevation and increased performance. And all that for a practice that cost nothing, requires no equipment, and can be done anywhere. Yet why is it that so few people actually, do take the time to meditate and that even those who do find it difficult to practice as often as they would like to ?
Meditation is often referred as first and last medicine. It can be practiced by a child and until one's last day of life. Meditation is neither religion nor doctrine, but rather one's own personal process of self realization. Handicap is no bar to meditation. Meditation is a self enquiry that leads to philosophy and is the means and end of human contentment. Meditation is to rise above the mind's actions and reactions to the inner stillness of the "all knowing"
When healing ourselves of mental disturbances, first we learn to observe avoidance of negative influences and choosing up uplifting influences, thus generating healthy nervous system. Then begins a process of purifying and strengthening the body to prepare it for remaining still in meditation. Meditation then lead to the liberation from all sufferings and delusions. These steps are undertaken in any treatment program of mental illness to help restore the mind to its natural state of happiness.
Remember, it is your body and mind, and "a sound mind always lives in a sound body"
Introduction
BRAIN-NERVOUS SYSTEM-MIND - AN ANALOGY
Brain - Bulb
Nervous System- wiring
Mind - Electricity
Our mind works like a bulb. and the nervous system can be compared to the wiring, and the electricity which is flowing through this wiring is our mind. Mind is a powerful energy. (ऊर्जा). To keep this energy which should be kept under control and quiet is very important. If this energy is not kept under control and quiet our mind won't be quiet. There will be many disorders (vikars) in mind, like restlessness in children, hopping here and there. Even grownups are restless having different thoughts continuously. Unable to concentrate the mind, unable to study. One is unable to achieve one focused mind. There is a depression in the mind. To calm the mind there is a beautiful technique called meditation.(ध्यान )
It is the meditation that allows our crown chakra (Sahashara Chakra) to open the awareness ever wider without getting overwhelmed or loss in the infinite. It helps us retain our center, which is the primary organization matrix of the self.
How do we take new information and expand our consciousness. If we reject anything that does not fit the current inner paradigm and if we disregard this inner matrix. How do we discern truth from friction or organize the vast amount of information that we receive at each moment.
The best answer to this lies in meditation, Meditation is like de-fragmenting your hard drive. It leaves more room to operate and record new information without crashing your system
Through harmonization of our bodies, breath and thoughts, we can line up our chakras and perceive the unifying essence of all creation.
"A body is a slave of mind."
Learn to meditate
The French mathematician Blaise Pascal wrote "all men's miseries drive from not be able to sit quietly in a room alone." We have become experts at filling our lives with noise and activities. We wake up to the sound of the radio blaring and dress while the television news is on. We drive to work listening to the latest traffic report and we spend our eight hours in bustling office. When we come home at the days end we delve into evenings activity against the background sound of the television, ringing phones and humming computers. Pascal was right most of our miseries do stem from the fact that we have lost sight of importance of being silent, for even a short period, every day of our lives.
Without the ability to concentrate, a full and complete life is not possible. If you lack the mental focus to stay with one activity to stay for any length of time, you will never be able to achieve your goals, build your dreams and enjoy life processes. Without a discipline mind trivial thoughts and worries will nag at you and your will never have the capacity to immerse your self in more meaningful pursuits.
Without deep concentration you mind will be your masters rather then your servant.
My own life changed the day i learn to meditate. Meditation is not some new age practice reserved for monks sitting a top mountains, on the contrary meditation is an age old technique that was developed from world's wisest people to gain full control of the mind and in doing so, to manifest its enormous potential for worthy pursuits. Meditation is a method to train your mind to function the way it was designed to function. And here is the key benefit : the peace and tranquility you will feel after twenty minutes of daily meditation will infuse every remaining minute of your day. You will be more patient in your relationships. More serene at your office and more happy when your alone. Meditation will make you far better parent, life partner, businessperson and friend. You cannot afford not to discover the power of this five thousand year old mind training discipline.
Meditation
- Focus on the present
- Reducing negative emotions
- Increasing patience and tolerance
- Building skills to manage stress
- Gaining a new perspective on stressful situation
- Improves immunity.
Meditation is not a difficult thing. Its is very common and easy to perform. You require sometime to practice it. We have lost the habit of sitting at one place for sometimes. Meditation is very important to keep our mind calm. The more the mind is calm it will have lot of positive energy. Till we do not have this positive energy we will be suffering from various diseases. Our body will be in trouble. So mind plays an important role in our life. The only medicine for mind is meditation. If a person has learnt how to meditate the mind will automatically be calm. The mind which has disease has to be cured .
Why Meditation?
- Relaxes muscle tension.
- Calms down autonomic nervous system.
- Provides freedom from mental stress.
- Decreases need for sleep
- Energizes body & mind.
- Most effective therapy modify for psychosomatic disorders.
Defining Meditation
- The word "meditation" means paying attention to.
- In meditation one learns to pay attention to deeper, inner layers of ones being.
- These deeper layers are more profound than thinking, analyzing, day dreaming or experiencing emotions and memories.
What Meditation is not
- Meditation is not thinking or analyzing
- Meditation is not day dreaming or reflexion
- Meditation is not a system of beliefs.
- Meditation is not hypnosis.
- Meditation is not passivity
- Meditation is not withdrawal from the world.
In meditation you pay attention to:
- Your body
- Your breath
- Your conscious mind
- Than eliminate all objects, thoughts and memories
- Keep one thought at the focal point.
Focal point means can focus on breath, or on mantra, remember guru, for focus on "OUM" The word om binds the mind.
Prepare a seat for meditation
- Raise buttock 2-3'
- Sit on the cushion
- Relax comfortably
- Sit steady
- Fix a proper place and time for meditation.
- Sit straight
How to meditate
You need to learn
How to relax your body
How to sit comfortably
How to breath diaphragmatically
How to make the breath serene and even
Promote helpful thoughts
Ignore harmful thoughts
How to let go
How to witness or rather than get involved.
Elicits mindfulness and enforce a deeper calmness. It helps to explore our inner strength, weakness and assist in self acceptance. This calms the mind and relaxes the body by slowing down the respiratory and metabolic activities. Meditation stimulates the parasympathetic nervous system bringing in complete rest and relaxation, activating pancreas and liver to secrete essential enzymes.
Meditation Techniques
It is important to find a quiet comfortable environment where you won't be disturbed. Make sure you
don't have clothing that is binding that you won't be too hot or too cold and that distracting noises are kept to a minimum. Meditation is generally better on a slightly empty stomach., through intense hunger pangs can also be distracted. Most meditations are done while sitting comfortably with the spine straight, but not tense. This can be done in a chair or sitting cross legged on a floor, in either full or half lotus or simple Indian style. The reason for this is that the body need to be in a low maintenance position. It can relax, yet not so comfortable, yet not so comfortable that you fall asleep. Further more a straight back allows alignment of all chakras, and better transmission of energy up and down in Sushumna.
Simple Indian Style meditation
When in the half lotus position you can do any number of things. You can gaze at a mandala, a candle flame or some other appropriate visual stimulus or you can simply watch your thoughts as they go by neither following them, stopping them nor judging them. The separation of self and thoughts help to achieve the transcendental state.
Vipasana meditation
Pranava Dhyana
It is very helpful and easy to practice
● Antar Mauna
(A meditation technique) develops resistance to emotional upheavals by developing the witnessing attitude. Antar Mauna deals with the activity of conscious mind. There is awareness of thought, creating, transforming and finally gaining control of the thought process.
● Observing your thumb :
● Observing your thumb :
When you are free even for a short while, hold your thumb out and stare at it for about 12 seconds. This is approximate time the mind can be steady. So observe your thumb for 12 seconds. When you have mastered this, double the time you watch your thumb to 24 seconds. The whole whole practice must be done calmly and mind force must not be applied. This practice will increase focus and concentration.
● Breath Awareness
You can follow your breath in and out, tuning your self to its rhythms. Your breath is your companion for life. When you follow your breath, your mind relaxes. This is the practice also to calm the mind and take you in the meditation. Meditation is simply an awareness of here and now. Hence while breathing imagine your breath rise from the base of your spine all the way to the crown and while exhaling, feel your breath travel from the crown to the base of the spine. Also while breathing in. Mentally chant the sound "So" and while breathing out , mentally chant sound " Hum".
● Breath Awareness
You can follow your breath in and out, tuning your self to its rhythms. Your breath is your companion for life. When you follow your breath, your mind relaxes. This is the practice also to calm the mind and take you in the meditation. Meditation is simply an awareness of here and now. Hence while breathing imagine your breath rise from the base of your spine all the way to the crown and while exhaling, feel your breath travel from the crown to the base of the spine. Also while breathing in. Mentally chant the sound "So" and while breathing out , mentally chant sound " Hum".
● Transcendental Meditation as taught by TM association involves a simple practice of spending 20 minutes twice a day sitting quietly, and internally uttering a mantras, given to the meditator by the teacher. There are no strange postures, breathing patterns or dietary recommendations, making this practice easy to learn and easy to study.
As in TM technique you can internally utter a mantra and focus your mind on its vibration going through you. This harmonizes the vibrational state, as we have seen. You can watch your emotional state and achieve detachment from them, visualize various colors running through your chakras, or spend your time asking who it is that meditating. A common Zen practice is to concentrate on a paradoxical statement, called a kaon, which deintellectualizes the mind by its lack of logic.. "What is the sound of one hand clapping". is a typical Kaon. Another is "What was the face you wore before you were born? The idea is to not to find an answer but to allow a question to lock down the barriers of your normal logical mode of thinking and allow perception of something greater.
● Mandala Meditation
You can gaze at a mandala, Mandala meditation is thought to be the easiest method for beginners. The Mandala is an intricate metaphysical representation of the Cosmos that is at the same time, a magical depiction of the interior state of the enlightened Buddha, as well as being a schematic of a Temple or palace. Mandalas are meant to be objects of contemplation, aids to meditation, their proportions magically balanced to purify and calm the mind. To stare at a Mandala is to experience, if only briefly, the nothingness that is at the heart of enlightenment.
For centuries, this circular design has always been regarded as a sacred device and conductor of positive cosmic energies. These are subtle positive energies, which strengthen our auras. In everyday life, they help create the positive energies needed to help us through hardships, especially supporting us during unfavorable planetary positions or difficult times.
Once we have set our intention, we begin to focus on the center of the circle. Let your eyes take in the beauty of the designs, allowing your mind to wander as it will. If your mind begins to chatter (i.e., I should do laundry, have to get milk, need to finish that report for work), simply bring your attention back to the beauty.
Get inside it, simply fall into it, swim in it, let it absorb all of your attention. As you fall into the centre, you will begin to feel lighter, and intuitive thoughts may arise. Relax and float with the thoughts and feeling that come to you. If you begin to feel lost, uncomfortable or if you get the "chatter" again, simply focus your attention back on it.
Each observer has different experiences. However, the overall consensus is that meditating with the mandala leaves the observer relaxed, and he/she comes away with a resolution or clarity concerning the intention that was set before the meditation
● Candle Flame Gazing Flame
A candle flame meditation is a simple meditation technique in which you focus your sight and your attention on the flame of a candle for a certain length of time. In this situation, it is easier to focus the mind and the attention, disregard the chatter of the mind, and experience inner peace.
● Watch Your Thoughts
some other appropriate visual stimulus or you can simply watch your thoughts as they go by neither following them, stopping them nor judging them. The separation of self and thoughts help to achieve the transcendental state.
● Omkar Meditation Chanting “OM” ओम is a powerful way to control your nerves. It can be practiced at bed time.
It is difficult to compare one method to another and make any kind of value, judgment. Different meditation affects people in different ways. The emphasis is not on technique used, but on how well one is able to use it. No matter the technique, the act of repetition and concentration charges the act over time. It is a discipline and like any other discipline becomes easier with practice.
There are countless techniques for meditation.
- You can regulate your breath.
- Recite Mantras.
- Visualize colors, shapes and Deities.
- Move energy through chakras.
- Walk or move with awareness.
- Hook your self up to a brain machine.
- Or just stare blankly in front of you.
- To be worth while all of these forms must have one thing in common- they must enhance sooth and harmonize the vibrational aspect of the mind and body, cleansing the mind of its habitual clutter.
- The mind and its thoughts need cleansing, perhaps more than our bodies. The mind works longer, encounters wider dimensions and runs the operating system of our life as well. The widespread practice of TM or Transcendental Meditation as taught by Maharshi Mahesh Yogi has enabled some systematic study of mental and physical effects over a wide variety of subjects. Transcendental Meditation as taught by TM association involves a simple practice of spending 20 minutes twice a day sitting quietly, and internally uttering a mantras, given to the meditator by the teacher. There are no strange postures, breathing patterns or dietary recommendations, making this practice easy to learn and easy to study. The most noteworthy finding of these studies seems to show up :
- In the ECG measuring brain wave pattern.
- In ordinary waking consciousness, brain wave are random and chaotic and most commonly in the beta frequency. The two hemisphere of the brain may generate different wave lengths, and their may be further differences from the front to the back of the brain as well.
Meditation changes this dramatically, immediately upon beginning, the meditation subjects shows increased alpha waves (brain wave characteristic of a relaxed state of mind) which began at the back of the brain and moved forward. After a few minutes the alpha wave increased in amplitude. The back and front of the brain become synchronized in phase as did the left and right hemisphere. The resonance continued and in many cases theta waves appeared. (a deeper state than alpha) specially in those more experienced with practice. In the most advance meditation, alpha was found to occur more frequently in a normal,, waking state and with greater amplitude. With these people theta was more prevalent during meditation and even occurred during normal waking states. and with greater amplitude. With these people theta was more prevalent during meditation and even occurred during normal waking states. Meditation has a physiological effects as well. Oxygen intake decreased by 16-18 percent, heart rate decreased by 25% and blood pressure was lowered, all of which is controlled by the autonomic nervous system (control of the involuntary processes). This allows the body to enter a state of deep rest - for deeper than what it receives in sleep. This rest than allows for greater alertness in waking consciousness.
It is interesting to note that while mediators do enter the state of deep rest the attention / awareness increases rather than deceases. When a sound was produced periodically to a non meditator the brain wave showed a gradual acclamation to the noise less and less reaction until it was effectively 'turned out". The meditator on the other hand, while meditating reacted freshly to the sound each time it was made. Therefore while the body diminishes all its activities the mind is essentially released from the body's limitation and freer to expand to new horizons.
It is suggested that meditation de-stimulates the cerebral cortex and the limbic system and through the brain wave resonance heals the split between the old and the new brain. This split has been suspected to be a cause of alienated emotional state and schizoid behavior. difficulties particular to humans and essentially to non existence to animals. Better co-ordination between the two hemispheres can also lead to increased cognitive and perpetual ability.
And the physiological effects ? Aside from general feeling of relaxation, inner piece and increased well being. Mediators were found to have improved academic performances increased job satisfaction and production, a decrease in drug use (both prescription and recreational) and faster reaction times. All this form simply sitting still and doing nothing.
We have spoken to rhythms, resonance and morpho -genetic fields and how all three of them tend to perpetuate themselves just as they are. In a world whose vibrational level is largely oriented around the first three chakras, placing greater value on materiality. It is difficult to find a time, validation and even desire to go off and enter a different wave length-especially one whose reward is so subjective. The idea that one "should" meditate add to the thousands of other "should s" hammering on us each day almost makes the practice repugnant.
Yes true meditation is a state of mind- not an effort. Once the state is achieved a few times it begins to create its own self perpetuating rhythm, its own morphological field and its own effects on vibrations around us. Than it becomes an integral part of life staying with us through waking consciousness, sleep and other activities. At this point meditation becomes a joy not a discipline, but until than we can only describe the effects and hopes they are enough to fire the will's curiosity. At least the prize is right.
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