Dear friend, I would like to encourage
you to experiment with as many forms of meditation that come within your
reach. Meditation is the act of concentrating and calming the mind. It
is the act of leaving the stressful world behind and going within.
Meditation has several distinctive phases:
► First,
you need to decide what to focus on during your meditation. You could
focus on a text that’s deeply anchored in your belief system (prayer, mantra,
affirmation), an object (candle, statute), or your breath (the gentle rhythm of
your belly going up and down).
► Get comfortable, preferably sitting upright with a straight back. Quiet
your mind, relax your muscles, close your eyes (optional) and focus your attention
on your breath, object or text (prayer,
mantra, affirmation) of your choice.
► Breathe calmly from your abdomen and—if you like—repeat your mantra, prayer or
affirmation silently on the rhythm of your breath.
►
When a thought comes up, do not engage yourself in that thought. Instead,
look at the thought as though it were a cloud in the blue sky. Imagine a
breeze moving the thought along an d refocus on your breath, the sound,
or the object. Thoughts are to be expected. Just calmly acknowledge that you are thinking about
something. Accept that fact. Now, respectfully and with loving care,
distance yourself from the thought and refocus on your breath, mantra, or object.
► After some practice you may become free of thought for short moments.
The more you practice meditation, the longer you may become
"thought-less." This state is very healing for body and mind.
It will help your skills to focus your thoughts and fine-tune your intuitive powers.
► Sometimes, people go into a deep meditative state and experience
revelations or acquire spiritual insights.
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What is meditation?
When you go into meditation, the frequency of
your brain waves becomes lower. With a little bit of experience you
will produce higher Alpha brain waves (11- 14 CPS/Hz). Experienced
meditators may be able to reduce their brain wave frequency to the
lower realm of the Alpha waves (7-9 CPS/Hz). Some studies claim that
long-term experienced meditators are able to further reduce their
brain waves during meditation into the Theta and even Delta range.
There are numerous scientific studies done on
the beneficial effect of meditation (mainly Transcendental
Meditation), indicating that daily meditation reduces stress,
anxiety, insomnia, high blood pressure, alcohol and drug use, and improves happiness, learning
ability, creativity, energy, memory, health, relationships, and
longevity.
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Find a place where
you will not be disturbed, take the phone off the hook, and throw
your pager and cellphone out the window. Sit down in a comfortable chair, with your
back straight. Place both feet on the floor; take a deep breath; close
your eyes; and concentrate on the rhythm of your breath;
breathe
naturally.
Follow the movements of your belly going up and down. Focus your
attention on your breath. When you notice that you are thinking about
something, follow the steps described earlier and refocus on your
breath. If you feel an itch, just
 scratch, and return to your breath.
If you suddenly get a great idea, open your eyes and write down the
thought. Then, take a deep breath and return to focusing on your breathing.
If you like
incense and candles, go ahead—use them,
but know that they are not necessary.
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Mindfulness Meditation
Another form of meditation is what I call mindfulness meditation.
Just stop for a moment with whatever you are doing and become
mindful of your surroundings.
For example, you are working in a
vegetable garden and you notice a ripe cherry tomato. Instead of
popping the tomato in your mouth and going back to work, you stop. You fully concentrate on the tomato and zoom in. You become aware of the color, the form, and the smell.
You touch the tomato and feel its skin. You take a deep breath, and
experience the natural perfection of the tomato. You are in awe, and
the beauty and harmony of nature literally overwhelms you. And as
long as it takes, you sit there in the garden, with your eyes wide
open, grateful and in complete bliss.
As you have noticed, you can integrate many meditative moments during
your day. You could do mindfulness meditation on the sunrise, a playing
child, music, food, the fragrance of a flower, the touch from your
partner, the wind in your face, the sunset,
...
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Quieting
the Mind