One of the stories I like best of all tells how the novice monk asks a revered and ancient lama: 'What's it like to be an enlightened being?' To which the lama replied after a moment, 'I walk and eat and I sleep.'The young novice was startled by the simplicity of his answer. 'But I also walk and eat and sleep,' he said. 'Yes,' smiled the lama, 'When I walk I walk. When I eat, I eat. And when I sleep, I sleep.'
Meditation is a mental discipline by which one attempts to get beyond the conditioned, "thinking" mind into a deeper state of relaxation or awareness. Quality of life is significantly improved by two or three sessions each lasting twenty minutes, while to make an impact on quantity of life requires three daily hour-long sessions.
There are many different meditation methods.
At the core of meditation is the goal to focus and eventually quiet your mind. As you progress, you will find that you can meditate anywhere and at any time, accessing an inner calm no matter what's going on around you. But first, you have to learn to tame your mind.
Any position in which you're relaxed but your back is straight is permissible, even lying down - but be careful that you're not so relaxed that you fall asleep. In warm weather, consider watching the clouds.
Breath counting – easiest for beginners
Lye down on the floor, palm up position of hands.
Focus on your breathing. Establish a thought why you meditate – I am getting healthier every day/ I am getting closer to becoming President’s Team every day - whatever you want to achieve. If you can visualize yourself in that position – what you want to look like, feel when you are healthy and happy, see yourself being pinned on stage as Pres Team etc, it is even more powerful. Visualization is big part of advanced meditation.
Once you are settled, count each breath you take. Inhale is one, exhale is 2, next inhale is 3, next exhale is 4, etc. Observe your thoughts because they will wonder. They will get away from counting and you may even loose count and start thinking about your problems or your day. If this happens and you become aware of it, no problem, just get back to 1 and start counting again.
Try to get up to 100 if you can. Many people can’t get over 10 or 20 for quite awhile because their thoughts take over. The goal of meditation is to clear the mind and not allow your thoughts wonder and take over your mind.
There will be good days and bad days. Sometime you can meditate for 20 min and stay focused, other days you hardly can count to 20. No problem, keep doing it. The more you do the better it gets and more focused you become. The benefits in every way will be your great reward. It is worth the time and effort.
One Pointed Concentration
However you learn to meditate you must learn to concentrate on one thing at a time. Usually, the mind tries to hold several different thoughts and ideas at once. When you sit down to meditate for the first time, you realize how cluttered the mind is. Mediation teachers have described the mind as a “mad monkey”. However, the mind can be tamed and forced to concentrate on a single thought.
One helpful technique is concentrating on a candle flame. Narrow your gaze to the small tip and block out all other thoughts. When you get distracted, go back to focusing on the candle flame. You can also use other objects like a small dot or flower. The important thing is that you concentrate only on one thing at a time.
Mantra
Another way to learn concentration is through the use of mantra. A mantra is the repetition of a sacred word of a significant thought/sentence. For example, you might repeat a mantra (e.g.: I am becoming healthier, wealthier and happier every day) a certain number of times. Repeating a mantra forces the mind to focus on a single thought. If you can connect with a visual picture of your mantra it is even more powerful.
Silent Mind – this is total bliss when you can achieve it!
After you’ve practiced concentration and learned to focus on one thing at a time, you can proceed to the next stage: no thought at all. Achieving a silent mind is difficult, but when to attain it the experience is powerful. A technique I advise is viewing your thoughts as separate from your self. When a thought appears, make a conscious decision to throw it out of your mind. Over time you realize that you are capable of allowing or rejecting thoughts. Your real “I” is not a collection of thoughts, but something far deeper. This is the most significant realization of meditation - that you do not have to be a slave to your thoughts.
Through meditation, you attain the power to control your thoughts, and on occasion stop them completely. Don’t be discouraged if you can’t attain a silent mind straightaway. It takes time and practice. There is nothing really else to it; meditation is a simple and spontaneous action. Unfortunately, our mind is used to complication and it takes time to unlearn bad habits.
However generally speaking a good meditation is about feeling better, raising your consciousness. We do not rely on others and outer things for happiness we get an inner joy that comes spontaneously. If you have a good meditation you will have a positive view of life. You will feel better about yourself and also others. Meditating well involves bypassing the critical mind, instead we try to bring the qualities of the heart to the fore. The heart by nature does not judge but identifies with others. We will have a feeling of sympathetic understanding with others. In our very highest meditation we get an unmistakable feeling that the heart of the world is good.
Meditation could appear to be a selfish activity because it is only we who benefit. However when we have a good meditation instinctively we feel it is an experience we share with others. Meditation connects us to the universal self we lose our limited ego perspective and a wider sense of identity. This oneness and wider sense of identity gives us a glimpse in to the nature of real divine love.
Meditation gives us a sense of peace. People sometimes associate peace with silence and a passive quality. Real inner peace certainly embodies silence, at least silence from the mind. But peace also embodies a dynamic quality; peace has its own energy. Again the peace we feel is something that we feel we need to share with others. Meditation gives us a sense of real gratitude. Gratitude helps you identify and feel your oneness with your own highest reality.
Even if we don’t experience anything particularly striking in meditation we should not be disillusioned. If we are drawn to meditation every day this shows that we are getting something valuable. Our soul is been drawn to meditate every day and this is like being fed inwardly. This is a good sign each day we are able to make progress even if the signs of progress may not be highly visible.
The benefits of meditation
Quality of life
Meditation helps manage pain, deal with unpleasant treatment side effects, reduce tension and blood pressure measurements, boost our immune function, and support the production of hormones such as endorphins and DHEA which has a vital role to play in helping us feel robust and live longer.
Quantity of life
Meditation extends our lifespan and improves our chances of full recovery. Ian Galwer, founder of Gawler Foundation in Melbourne, Australia on the work of his foundation among cancer patients: 'I have seen many people now recover from very difficult medical situations. It is possible to recover from cancer. It is possible.'
Emotional benefits
Meditation helps us lift the lid off the pressure cooker. The way others respond to us is a very strong reflection of the way we ourselves communicate. When we meditate, we become better at managing stress and living in the moment, making easier to express what we are going through, and be more open to the support and friendship of others.
The benefit of meaning
Victor Frankl, one of the most important psychiatrists of the 20th Century and an Auschwitz survivor, saw first-hand that even in the most painful and dehumanized situations people could discover meaning, and that those with the strongest sense of purpose and meaning were most likely to survive. Meditation is a holistic experience. We will enjoy extraordinary physical benefits that flow from enabling our body to heal itself. But we will also experience ourselves in a way that's extraordinary. We may uncover a sense of meaning in our lives which we didn't self-consciously set out to find.
A fabulous and easy reading on meditation is the book Hurry up and Meditate- Your starter kit for inner peace and better health by David Michie
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