My meditation experience.
Benefits of Meditation
*Mind is always peaceful
*Mind is in a joyful state.
*You have better health
*You can work more efficiently
*Memory power is increased
*You understand the purpose of your life better.
*You become spiritually aware.
Meditation is a state of mind where you are not thinking of past or future but are in the present, just breathing. Your mind is empty of all other thoughts.
I knew all about meditation except how to really achieve it. I tried but didn't really get it, till I made it simple.
I always wanted to do meditation. It was kind of fashionable to meditate or to say 'I meditate'.. I used to think it is easy. Just close your eyes and there, you are meditating.
When I actually tried to do it, I realized how difficult it was. For one, sitting in one place without moving for 20-30 minutes was a big problem. I would want to scratch my head, ear, nose, hand one after another. Sitting cross legged for sometime was ok but not for long. So I stopped trying for sometime.
I couldn't tame my chattering monkey mind. The more I tried to quieten it, the louder it made noise. It jumped from one topic to another without my being aware of it.
How I started to settle down.
My monkey mind.
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.
Starting Meditation?
These will help you.
*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.
Meditation help for you.
Ways to meditate.
A few props are used to calm 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 Meditation
What is Mantra?
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.
Quotes about Meditation
I love the quotes.
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
What do you think of this info? Comments are welcome.
Serenity_Prayer_Gifts wrote...
Thank you for sharing! Very beautiful, honest, and inspiring! :-)
Nayana wrote...
Thanks jacquelinestone for visiting and commenting. I too love to find out ways that make me better as a person, both physically, mentally and spiritually.
jacquelinestone wrote...
Nice job! The benefits of meditation are too numerous to mention. I love lenses that contribute to our wellbeing.
by Nayana
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