Various Techniques of Meditation
There are many meditation techniques. Some of the techniques are quite simple and can be picked up with a little practice. Others require training by an experienced instructor. It is important to note that because of the effects of meditation on repressed memories and the resulting psychological impact, a first time meditator may go through some discomfort initially; hence it is always a good idea to be under the care of a qualified practitioner as one starts to meditate. In Christian spiritual training, meditation means thinking with concentration about some topic. In the Eastern sense, meditation may be viewed as the opposite of thinking about a topic. Here the objective is to become detached from thoughts and images and opening up silent gaps between them. The result is a quietening of our mind and is sometimes called relaxation response. In Christian mystical practice, this practice is called 'contemplation'.
Mind and Spirit
The mind (mana) and the energy spirit (prana, chi or life force) have always had an affinity for each other, being merely the two sides of the same coin. Whatever the mind engages upon is soon infused with life energy, and conversely, whatever the soul hungers for instantly engages our attention. As a result, certain aspects of each are present in the other.
Out of the two, the mind is the finer and more sophisticated version of the cruder life force or prana—it has a storehouse of its own energy and vitality. Some aspects of it naturally spills over, flooding the spirit with thought and intelligence (buddhi). But it is the vital force, which is inherently a conscious power, finding its expression in the mind, which is inherently the active force.Both prana and mana (mind) are vata (vital force) humoral types, composed of air and ether. But being composed more of the air element rather than the ether, the prana is more active and energetic—like the wind! On the other hand, since the degree of ether is more in the composition of the mind, its nature is receptive and passive—like the wide open spaces.
Out of the two, the mind is the finer and more sophisticated version of the cruder life force or prana—it has a storehouse of its own energy and vitality. Some aspects of it naturally spills over, flooding the spirit with thought and intelligence (buddhi). But it is the vital force, which is inherently a conscious power, finding its expression in the mind, which is inherently the active force.Both prana and mana (mind) are vata (vital force) humoral types, composed of air and ether. But being composed more of the air element rather than the ether, the prana is more active and energetic—like the wind! On the other hand, since the degree of ether is more in the composition of the mind, its nature is receptive and passive—like the wide open spaces.
One Minute Meditations for a Happier Life
by Shirley Ryan
Meditation has been used for centuries to train the mind, and the list for its uses are extensive. Not only does meditation increase wellness in general, it reduces stress, anxieties and cultivates positive emotions. In addition, with consistent use, it reshapes the cortex of the brain resulting in an increase in attention span, sharpening of focus and improved memory.
Sounds like just what the doctor ordered you say? But practically, how does one fit this into a busy schedule? Meditation using mindfulness is the most practical way to meditate. In the simple act of training ourselves to become more aware by slowing down our sense of time passing, we can learn to monitor our moods and thoughts before they spiral downward. We can, in other words, make ourselves happier. Simply being mindful (paying attention) during your daily activities is a kind of mediation.
This kind of meditation is being in the moment, exercising a set of mental activities that sees things with impartial watchfulness. It does not take sides. A mindful meditator is both participant and observer. It is observing all phenomena - physical, mental or emotional - whatever is presently taking place in the mind. Ever eat an orange and really savor the process from peeling through tasting it? Let's see how mindfulness works.
Behold (without judgment) the beauty of the orange as you hold it up to the light and witness the color, moving it to your nose to breathe in the sent of the rind itself. Perfect roundness rolls over your fingertips as the sphere moves from your left to your right hand. Feel the dibbled texture as it slides over your fingertips. All of your senses are alive as you hear the peel pull away from the skin. A cool spray of juice prickles your skin as the sent of the orange creates an aroma that makes your mouth water. Pull the segments apart and bite into it letting the juice run into your mouth. Savor the sweet liquid as it becomes a part of your awareness. This is mindfully eating an orange with full awareness of its presence in your life. The process of mindfulness is simply short bursts of attention to one thing. We do this normally in our everyday life. As you begin to assimilate the process, and become more proficient the attention moves to all things.
Some tips for meditation using mindfulness:
1. Choose one simple thing a day that you can spend time with to give your full attention. (Start with something easy like: washing dishes or the car, deadheading plants, folding towels, brushing the dog, running, making a sandwich, eating anything, brushing teeth, etc.)
2. Make an appointment with yourself for this practice. (Later you can just spontaneously choose, but for now set a time in your calendar or it will not happen.)
3. Tell someone that you are practicing meditation in short spurts once a day. (This commits you to the process and sets the stage for you to change your behavior and view of yourself.)
4. While you wait for this time, practice breathing into the diaphragm in one minute intervals. Cleansing breathwork is an anchor to the present moment and an important part of being healthy. Breathe into the place between your ribs and navel. (Stop lights are a great place to practice this.)
5. Stretch regularly while sitting (Turn your neck as far as possible from side to side and up and down.), and standing (Reach to the ceiling.).
6. When the time comes, use all of your senses: sight, smell, hearing, touch, taste (if appropriate), and intuition. Experience the object without judgment--just observe. (Soapy hand, slippery, wet, silky, warm water, etc.) Detach from whatever you are seeing or hearing--it just is and nothing more.
Nothing is excluded, thoughts, distractions, sounds, images, ideas, or feelings that arise, everything is welcomed. We simply allow whatever is there to be.
Consistently observe with bare attention both the breath and every mental phenomenon. Time is different now as it slows down our sense of its passing. This gives a rare opportunity to see the world and ourselves differently and to choose how we feel and act.
Mindful meditation is a good choice to develop a greater sense of self awareness and of how we fit within the universe. The universe responds favorably to the attention to your life, and the attention to all of its gifts to you.
Meditation has been used for centuries to train the mind, and the list for its uses are extensive. Not only does meditation increase wellness in general, it reduces stress, anxieties and cultivates positive emotions. In addition, with consistent use, it reshapes the cortex of the brain resulting in an increase in attention span, sharpening of focus and improved memory.
Sounds like just what the doctor ordered you say? But practically, how does one fit this into a busy schedule? Meditation using mindfulness is the most practical way to meditate. In the simple act of training ourselves to become more aware by slowing down our sense of time passing, we can learn to monitor our moods and thoughts before they spiral downward. We can, in other words, make ourselves happier. Simply being mindful (paying attention) during your daily activities is a kind of mediation.
This kind of meditation is being in the moment, exercising a set of mental activities that sees things with impartial watchfulness. It does not take sides. A mindful meditator is both participant and observer. It is observing all phenomena - physical, mental or emotional - whatever is presently taking place in the mind. Ever eat an orange and really savor the process from peeling through tasting it? Let's see how mindfulness works.
Behold (without judgment) the beauty of the orange as you hold it up to the light and witness the color, moving it to your nose to breathe in the sent of the rind itself. Perfect roundness rolls over your fingertips as the sphere moves from your left to your right hand. Feel the dibbled texture as it slides over your fingertips. All of your senses are alive as you hear the peel pull away from the skin. A cool spray of juice prickles your skin as the sent of the orange creates an aroma that makes your mouth water. Pull the segments apart and bite into it letting the juice run into your mouth. Savor the sweet liquid as it becomes a part of your awareness. This is mindfully eating an orange with full awareness of its presence in your life. The process of mindfulness is simply short bursts of attention to one thing. We do this normally in our everyday life. As you begin to assimilate the process, and become more proficient the attention moves to all things.
Some tips for meditation using mindfulness:
1. Choose one simple thing a day that you can spend time with to give your full attention. (Start with something easy like: washing dishes or the car, deadheading plants, folding towels, brushing the dog, running, making a sandwich, eating anything, brushing teeth, etc.)
2. Make an appointment with yourself for this practice. (Later you can just spontaneously choose, but for now set a time in your calendar or it will not happen.)
3. Tell someone that you are practicing meditation in short spurts once a day. (This commits you to the process and sets the stage for you to change your behavior and view of yourself.)
4. While you wait for this time, practice breathing into the diaphragm in one minute intervals. Cleansing breathwork is an anchor to the present moment and an important part of being healthy. Breathe into the place between your ribs and navel. (Stop lights are a great place to practice this.)
5. Stretch regularly while sitting (Turn your neck as far as possible from side to side and up and down.), and standing (Reach to the ceiling.).
6. When the time comes, use all of your senses: sight, smell, hearing, touch, taste (if appropriate), and intuition. Experience the object without judgment--just observe. (Soapy hand, slippery, wet, silky, warm water, etc.) Detach from whatever you are seeing or hearing--it just is and nothing more.
Nothing is excluded, thoughts, distractions, sounds, images, ideas, or feelings that arise, everything is welcomed. We simply allow whatever is there to be.
Consistently observe with bare attention both the breath and every mental phenomenon. Time is different now as it slows down our sense of its passing. This gives a rare opportunity to see the world and ourselves differently and to choose how we feel and act.
Mindful meditation is a good choice to develop a greater sense of self awareness and of how we fit within the universe. The universe responds favorably to the attention to your life, and the attention to all of its gifts to you.
Benefit of Meditation
The diagnosis and prescription of meditative practices for the prevention/cure of ailments (both physiological as well as psychological) is something, which has received far less attention than it deserves. The benefits, which vary according to individuals, since the very act of meditation is such an intensely personal experience, are usually realized slowly but surely. On the whole, the effects of meditation are wholly dependent on a person's mental makeup—on the extent to which one is at ease with oneself. Benefits are cumulative with regular practice. More can be accomplished with less effort. Drug AddictionThe Transcendental Meditation technique has proven to be a successful coping strategy in helping to deal with drug addiction," a useful tool in psychoneuroimmunology (PNI) by helping to control the immune system, and an effective manager of stress and pain.Prolonging Life ExpectancyA strong link has also been established between the practice of Transcendental Meditation and longevity. Only two factors have been scientifically determined to actually extend life: caloric restriction and lowering of the body's core temperature. Meditation has been shown to lower core body temperature.Stress ControlMost of the people who get on meditation do so because of its beneficial effects on stress. Stress refers to any or all the various pressures experienced in life. These can stem from work, family, illness, or environment and can contribute to such conditions as anxiety, hypertension, and heart disease. How an individual sees things and how he or she handles them makes a big difference in terms of how much stress he or she experiences.Research has shown that hormones and other biochemical compounds in the blood indicative of stress tend to decrease during TM practice. These changes also stabilize over time, so that a person is actually less stressed biochemically during daily activity.This reduction of stress translates directly into a reduction of anxiety and tension. Literally dozens of studies have shown this. Pain ManagementChronic pain can systematically erode the quality of life. Although great strides are being made in traditional medicine to treat recurring pain, treatment is rarely as simple as prescribing medication or surgery.Anxiety decreases the threshold for pain and pain causes anxiety. The result is a vicious cycle. Compared with people who feel relaxed, those under stress experience pain more intensely and become even more stressed, which aggravates their pain. Meditation breaks this cycle.Childbirth preparation classes routinely teach pregnant women deep breathing exercises to minimize the pain and anxiety of labor. Few call it breath meditation, but that's what it is.Meditative techniques are also a key element in the curing arthritis. Meditation may not eliminate pain, but it helps people cope more effectively. Cancer and Other Chronic IllnessMeditation and other approaches to deep relaxation help center people so they can figure out how they'd like to handle the illness and proceed with life. An Australian psychiatrist who uses meditation with cancer patients, studied seventy-three patients who had attended at least twenty sessions of intensive meditation, and wrote: "Nearly all such patients can expect significant reduction of anxiety and depression, together with much less discomfort and pain. There is reason to expect a 10 percent chance of quite remarkable slowing of the rate of growth of the tumor, and a 50 percent chance of greatly improved quality of life.
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Heart Disease and High Blood PressureMeditation is a key component of Ornish therapy, the only treatment scientifically proven to reverse heart disease, besides research has also proven TM to be very successful in treating various heart ailments and high blood pressure. InfertilityCouples dealing with infertility may become depressed, anxious and angry. When relaxation responses are taught to such stressed out, infertile couples, the meditators experience less distress and are more likely to get pregnant.Respiratory ProblemsAsthma, emphysema and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) all restrict breathing and raise fears of suffocation, which in turn makes breathing even more difficult. Studies show that when people with these respiratory conditions learn breath meditation, they have fewer respiratory crises.Premenstrual Syndrome (PMS)Meditation can ease physical complaints such as premenstrual syndrome (PMS), tension headaches and other common health problems.Meditation gives people a psychological buffer so that life's hectic pace doesn't knock them out. Practicing meditation is like taking a vacation once or twice a day. When you nurture yourself, you accrue tremendous spin-off benefits.For example, when you are under high stress, it can worsen symptoms of PMS because stress can cause the muscle tension associated with PMS complaints such as fatigue, soreness and aching. On the other hand, when you meditate regularly, you dramatically reduce your body's response to stress, and that can ease the discomfort associated with PMS. The results may not be apparent for several months. You will probably need to meditate regularly for several months before your body responds positively.Irritable Bowel Syndrome, Ulcers, and InsomniaMeditation can also improve irritable bowel syndrome, ulcers, and insomnia, among other stress-related conditions. Eighty percent of the people who use meditation to relieve insomnia are successful.Meditation can help prevent or treat stress-related complaints such as anxiety, headaches and bone, muscle and joint problems. Meditation also provides an inner sense of clarity and calm, and that, in itself, may help ward off certain illnesses.
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Meditation can help most people feel less anxious and more in control. The awareness that meditation brings can also be a source of personal insight and self-understanding. Handling Repressed Memories Meditation may lead to a breakdown of screen memories so that early childhood abuse episodes and other traumas suddenly flood the mind, making the patient temporarily more anxious until these traumas are healed. Many so-called meditation exercises are actually forms of imagery and visualization that are extraordinarily useful in healing old traumas, confronting death anxieties, finishing 'old business', learning to forgive, and enhancing self-esteem.Meditation frees persons from tenacious preoccupation with the past and future and allows them to fully experience life's precious moments. Many men and women tend to live in a state of perpetual motion and expectation that prevents them from appreciating the gifts that each moment gives us. Meditation is a process that returns us to the present moment of our lives and allows us to wake up and reevaluate the way that we live our lives. DepressionFeelings of helplessness, hopelessness and isolation are hallmarks of depression—the age's most prevalent mental health problem. Meditation increases self-confidence and feelings of connection to others. Many studies have shown that depressed people feel much better after eliciting the relaxation response.Panic AttacksSometimes anxiety becomes paralyzing and people feel (wrongly) that they are about to suffer some horrible fate. Panic attacks are often treated with drugs, but studies show that if people who are prone to panic attacks begin focused, meditative breathing the instant they feel the first signs of an episode, they are less likely to have a full-blown panic attack.
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The longer an individual practices meditation, the greater the likelihood that his or her goals and efforts will shift toward personal and spiritual growth. Many individuals who initially learn meditation for its self-regulatory aspects find that as their practice deepens they are drawn more and more into the realm of the "spiritual."While working with many cancer and AIDS patients, physicians have observed that many are most interested in meditation as a way of becoming more attuned to the spiritual dimension of life. She reports that many die "healed," in a state of compassionate self-awareness and self-acceptance.
Mind and Body
Mind and BodyThere's more to meditation than just closing ones eyes and an understanding of this technique demands an understanding of our mental realm. The subtle state of mind, which is the ultimate stage of meditation, requires a tremendous amount of energy to reach. An absolute harmony between our gross physical realm, sensual realm and our life energy is the prerequisite of a meditative state of mind.
Traditional perceptions of our mental make-up are uncommonly useful in understanding the workings of the mind. According to ayurveda and yoga, both the mind and the body are made up of the 'Five Great Elements' (Panchabhutas) of earth (prithvi), water (jal), fire (agni or tej), air (vayu) and ether or space (akash).
But in spite of such composition, they have absolutely opposite elemental structures. While the body is made up of the heavier elements of earth and water (the ayurvedic kapha or phlegmatic humoral type), it functions through the lighter elements of fire (pitta or heat humoral type) and air (vata or vital energy humor). The pitta, fire or heat of the body controls all digestive processes and the vata, air or vital energy lends its spark to the nervous system.
The mind, meanwhile, is composed of air and ether (vata humor)—the lighter elements, which lend mobility and pervasiveness to the mind. And our mental functions proceed through the heavier elements of fire, water and earth (pitta—heat and kapha—phlegm). The element of fire lends reason and perception to the mind, while water and earth lends it emotion and physical identification. But our mental functions proceed through the heavier elements of fire, water and earth. While fire lends reason and perception to the mind, water and earth lends it emotion and physical identification respectively.Unlike the phlegmatic body, in substance our minds resemble ether—formless and all pervading. And in motion it resembles air—penetrating, constantly in flux, effervescent and unpredictable!
Traditional perceptions of our mental make-up are uncommonly useful in understanding the workings of the mind. According to ayurveda and yoga, both the mind and the body are made up of the 'Five Great Elements' (Panchabhutas) of earth (prithvi), water (jal), fire (agni or tej), air (vayu) and ether or space (akash).
But in spite of such composition, they have absolutely opposite elemental structures. While the body is made up of the heavier elements of earth and water (the ayurvedic kapha or phlegmatic humoral type), it functions through the lighter elements of fire (pitta or heat humoral type) and air (vata or vital energy humor). The pitta, fire or heat of the body controls all digestive processes and the vata, air or vital energy lends its spark to the nervous system.
The mind, meanwhile, is composed of air and ether (vata humor)—the lighter elements, which lend mobility and pervasiveness to the mind. And our mental functions proceed through the heavier elements of fire, water and earth (pitta—heat and kapha—phlegm). The element of fire lends reason and perception to the mind, while water and earth lends it emotion and physical identification. But our mental functions proceed through the heavier elements of fire, water and earth. While fire lends reason and perception to the mind, water and earth lends it emotion and physical identification respectively.Unlike the phlegmatic body, in substance our minds resemble ether—formless and all pervading. And in motion it resembles air—penetrating, constantly in flux, effervescent and unpredictable!
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