What is Meditation
An ordinary person may consider meditation as a worship or prayer. But it is not so. Meditation means awareness. Whatever you do with awareness is meditation. "Watching your breath" is meditation; listening to the birds is meditation. As long as these activities are free from any other distraction to the mind, it is effective meditation.
Meditation is not a technique but a way of life. Meditation means 'a cessation of the thought process' . It describes a state of consciousness, when the mind is free of scattered thoughts and various patterns . The observer (one who is doing meditation) realizes that all the activity of the mind is reduced to one.
Meditation simplifies our outer life and energizes our inner life
1. Happiness. Meditation can help us to cultivate a real abiding happiness. Meditation allows us to be in tune with our inner self. When we live in the heart we can experience a sense of oneness with others, this brings a happiness that does not depend upon outer events.
2. Inner Peace. Most people would like to experience more inner peace in their lives; at times peace feels an elusive quality because our lives are so hectic. Meditation teaches us how to switch off from the noise of the mind, we no longer give importance to the teeming thoughts which fly through our mind. Through meditation we can gain a clear state of mind; this is the secret of feeling a real inner peace.
3. Health Benefits. There have been numerous studies showing a link between meditation and improved physical health. Meditation is a practical solution to relieve stress. When we relieve stress we help to reduce our blood pressure and heart related diseases.
4. Simplicity. Meditation helps to simplify our lives. When we live in the mind we can feel life is nothing but teeming problems and worries. Through learning to meditate we find we can get joy from appreciating the simplicity of life.
“Meditation simplifies our outer life and energizes our inner life. Meditation gives us a natural and spontaneous life, a life that becomes so natural and spontaneous that we cannot breathe without being conscious of our own divinity.”
5. Living in the Present. When we analyse the thoughts that go through our mind we find that many of them are dealing with the past or present. We are either fearful of the future or ruminating on the past. However by dwelling on the past or future, it means we are unable to live in the present moment. When we meditate we are completely in the here and now. Meditation teaches us to appreciate life as it is; we learn to value our present circumstances.
6. Better Relations with Others. Often we can have minor conflicts with other people because we dwell on minor faults of the other person. Whether it is justified or not, it is a common source of unhappiness and division. Meditation teaches us to give no importance to minor thoughts. When we meditate powerfully we develop a sense of oneness with other people; we naturally look to their good qualities. Their minor faults seem unimportant.
7. To discover a real sense of who we are. Our intellectual mind can seek to discover the answer to many questions, but the one question of who am I? always remains unanswered. To discover our real self; to be aware of our own soul we have to go beyond the mind. It is in meditation that we can become aware of a living spiritual presence. When we find this we feel a new purpose in life.
• During meditation, oxygen consumption drops by 10 to 20 percent and it produces a deeper state of rest than sleep. In fact, 75 percent of insomniacs were able to sleep normally when they meditated
• Meditation is the only activity that reduces blood lactate, a marker of stress and anxiety.
• Meditation decreases the stress hormone, cortisol, and increases the calming hormones melatonin and serotonin.
• Meditators secrete more of the youth-related hormone DHEA as they age than nonmeditators. Meditating 45-year-old males have an average of 23 percent more DHEA than nonmeditators, and meditating females have an average of 47 percent more. Wow! DHEA is one of those supplements people describe for anti-aging benefits because it lowers stress, heightens memory, preserves sexual function, and helps control weight.
• Meditation has a profound effect upon three key indicators of aging: (1) hearing ability, (2) it lowers blood pressure, and (3) helps close object vision.
• Long-term meditators experience 80 percent less heart disease and 55 percent less cancer than nonmeditators. That's a good reason to start meditating. (Psychosomatic Medicine 49 (1987): 493-507).
• 34 % of people with chronic pain significantly reduced their pain medication when they began meditating.
• Meditation is known to produce "spontaneous remissions" in 10% of cancer cases, can help get rid of psoriasis, and is a great way to reduce blood pressure. It also is a critical component of alcoholic anonymous programs and other programs to help people beat addictions.
• Before you begin this meditation, make the decision to sit down and devote the energy of your mind, body, and heart to resting within stillness. This is a time to surrender to wakefulness, mindfulness, and awareness. Find a place where you will not be disturbed, i.e. a room where no one will come in, where the phone does not ring, where little or no noise can get in, etc.
• It is very important that you are physically comfortable when practicing this meditation. This will help prevent you from becoming distracted by bodily sensations that arise from physical discomfort. It is best if you sit upright in a comfortable chair. Make sure you are free from any tightness or restriction due to clothing.
• Take a minute to relax and establish a condition of ease in your body. Close your eyes and mouth, breathing normally through your nose. If it helps you to relax, take a few deep breaths.
• Your goal is to turn your attention inward, away from the outside world of thought and time, towards the domain of stillness. You need a point to focus your attention so that you can slowly withdraw from the external, chaotic side of things. This focus will be your breathing. Become aware of your breathing with each inhale and exhale. Once you are aware of your breathing, slowly begin to breathe into your abdomen. In other words, breathe using your diaphragm, not your lungs. The lungs expand downward instead of out during the inhale. If you do not know how to breathe with your diaphragm or it is uncomfortable, then breathe like you normally do. Just relax as best you can.
• Keep your attention on your breathing. Feel the inhale and exhale. Withdraw your attention from thoughts about the past or thoughts about the future. Withdraw your attention from all thoughts and let your attention become more and more immersed in the feelings of your breathing. Using your Will, hold your attention and just be with your breath.
• Continuously recall your mindfulness, your awareness to the inhale and exhale of your breath. If you find yourself distracted with thoughts, gently bring your attention back to the feeling of your breathing. With each breath, allow yourself to be in the present for really, it is only the present that exists. In the present is where you can discover deeper levels of your mind and being.
• Now that you rest with your breathing, slowly turn your attention inwards and find the stillness in your mind. As you find the silence, be with it. Become the stillness. There is no reason to have any thoughts at this time. You have plenty time all day long to be with thoughts. Now is the time for stillness. Feel the silence and rest in it. If you find yourself distracted with thoughts, place your attention on your breathing again and withdraw from your thoughts. Then slowly turn back towards the silence.
• If it becomes difficult to find the silence or rest with it, try repeating the word "om" (as in dome) in a natural repetition. Say the word silently within your mind. Feel the vibration of the word as you repeat it and immerse yourself in it. If you find yourself distracted with thoughts, slowly bring your attention back to the repetition of the word.
• Don't worry if you find yourself thinking a lot. This is normal. Over time, you will gain the ability to quiet yourself more and more. Like anything else, it just takes practice.
• If you experience some physical discomfort during the meditation, make the necessary adjustments to bring yourself back to the comfort zone. The adjustments might be very subtle muscular, skeletal, or attitudinal shifts. Just do your best to relax and remain as still as possible during your meditation.
• Try practicing this meditation once a day in the evening for about 15 to 20 minutes. Make it a special part of your daily routine. As you become accustomed to your practice, add a morning meditation for the same amount of time.
Read More about Meditation
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everyone should learn meditation as it makes you happy and provides the blissful life...meditation is good for health also..
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