Meditation for Peaceful mind

Many a times I started and gave up. I had found out that meditation was not for me. I couldn't keep my body still, leave alone the mind. The more I tried to control both, the more both rebelled.

Finely I stopped trying and looked for other methods. I also came across the 'Art of Living' foundation. It is founded by "Sri Sri Ravishankar'. The main ashram is in Bangalore, India. Their website is http://www.artofliving.org

I did a basic course there and that changed things for better for me. My mind and life both benefitated from that. During the course we were introduced to Sudarshan Kriya. It helps to calm the mind. We also did some meditation.

First thing I realized that trying to force the mind to be quiet had just the opposite effect. More thoughts rushed to mind. Trying to concentrate on an object made me think only of that object. And then the mind wandered wherever it was taken by the particular thought.

Not trying to concentrate on making the mind blank helped me. I just kept my mind on my breath. Whenever it wandered to some other thoughts, I just brought it back to breathing without feeling irritated by that.

I accepted that it may take time to be able to concentrate but that I will get there by practice and I decided that I will not give up halfway.

*Choose a place for your meditation. It can be in your house or elsewhere.
*Choose two time in a day that are convenient to you for meditation.
*Try to stick to the timing you choose.
*Spread the chair/seat at the place of meditation and sit on it.
*Keep back straight. Neck and head erect. Rest your hands in your lap. Close eyes.
*Think of the clear, vast, infinite sky. Think of the sky without sun, stars, moon, clouds.

As some people find it difficult to keep their mind steady, a few props are used to settle the mind.

* Slow music : Slow, peaceful music, mostly instrumental, is used before starting to meditate. But do not use songs as the lyrics may distract you.

* Candle light : some people light a candle and watch the flame to concentrate.
*You can also count numbers to settle your mind. Counting backwards can help too.

* You can close your eyes and think of a place where you were happy, peaceful to experience the peace again. Your mind will be more willing to be steady.

* You can also observe your breath to steady your mind. That is what I do.

You do not need any outtside thing to help you. You are always breathing anyway.

So I learnt to use breathing for calming my mind. We are breathing all the time. I learnt to breath calmly, steadily, deeply. It did not happen immedietly but over a period of time. I learnt to be aware of the breath. That helped.

Mantra is a Sanskrit word. It means a powerful word that protects you. We all know the powder of sound, the words. Sound can affect the mind and the body. Both in positive and negative way. Certain sounds act in positive way. Others in negative way.

Just pay attention to the sounds/words running in your head all the time. They are the sounds/words of your parents, teachers, siblings etc. Even though you heard them long back, they can affect you now.

Even if you do not understand a word, the sound of that work can affect you.

Mantra meditation allows you to concentrate on positive sounds and eliminate negative sounds. Repetitions of Mantra clears the disturbing thoughts that clutters our mind and diverts our energies to positive thoughts. We become more aware of ourselves.

Mantra is a sound or a word repeated again and again till it becomes a part of your consciousness. It frees your mind from its 'always doing' state. It takes you to higher consciousness, of awareness of your own higher self.

Mantra can be a word in any language. Many people prefer to use the Sanskrit language mantras such as

OM
or
SO HUM

Mantra is generally given by a guru to his disciple.

Simple Meditation

MEDITATION is simple. PRECISELY because it is simple, it looks difficult. Your mind is accustomed to dealing with difficult problems, and it has completely forgotten how to respond to the simple things of life.

Osho