Meditation
Meditation is simply the art of opening to each moment of life with calm awareness.
The First Steps
Meditations quiets our usually busy consciousness. Produces positive feelings, which promote emotional and physical health.
No lesson on meditation can teach you how to do it. It has to be hands on learning.
Each person must find what works for them. And not be distracted by what works for others.
You must go into meditation without any preconceived notions. Hard/ if not impossible to do but be open to whatever happens.
Why do you want to meditate?
__Inner happiness or peace of mind
__Relief from high blood pressure, stress, or other medical condition
__Spiritual experinece
__Self discovery
__Solution to a problem (personal or professional)
__Creativity
__Healing from life events
__Relief from anxiety or depression
__Aid in recovery from a self injurious behavior
__Boosted memory and intelligence
__Reduce of eliminate chronic pain
__Communication with God or spirit
__Better handle on your weight, temper, anger, etc
Science has proven that meditation can help you …. EEGs, brain scans, blood and hormones
What exactly is meditation?
4 things necessary to produce a deep state of meditation
(Herbert Benson, MD)
1. a quiet environment with no (or few) distractions
2. a comfortable posture that allows complete relaxation
3. a few moments spent relaxing
4. a “mental device” (mantra or prayer) to help block the endless flow of thoughts generated by our mind
Meditation is the art of opening to each moment with calm awareness.
Quieting the mind
I (Loanne) find this impossible to do so I either go the flow, letting my mind wander or I focus on one specific thing (a candle, a thought, a person, a problem).
By focusing on one particular object or thing, the number of signals sent to our brain is greatly reduced, allowing the mind to settle down into a deeply relaxed, yet highly alert state.
Mediation is a skill that requires effort and cannot be mastered over night. At the same time, meditation is not complex or beyond comprehension. It is not hard to learn and is accessible to everyone.
Approaching Meditation Practice
Start slowly. 10 min per day is good.
To help you find your best meditation time answer the following questions
-The quietest time of the day for me is ______
-I am least likely to be disturbed for ten minutes at _____o’clock.
-The place where I have the fewest outside stimuli and demands made on me is ______
Before you meditate
- Check your posture. Are you comfortable? Become very still.
- Rock back and forth gently. Get your body ready for meditation
- Say to yourself “For the next 10 minutes I will be doing meditation practice. There is nowhere to go, nothing to do, no place to be, No one I have to be.
- Begin.
Meditation
1. Take a posture you can hold comfortably. If you need to move this is ok but…. Take 4 deep breaths. Notice that you are in control of your breathing.
2. Become aware of your breathing. No matter what you think of it do not try to control it, just be aware of it.
3. Continue to settle into your breath. At the same time let go of your breath. Allow your breath to dance. Try not to criticize or identify with your breath. Notice that when you first began your breath was shorter and now it is longer, more fluid. This is the wisdom of your breath. It knows what it is doing. Your breath is wise. It knows where it is going, how quickly or slowly. It will, of it’s own accord, settle into whatever pace, rhythm, exhalation and inhalation that is right.
4. Become aware of the pauses, the gaps between exhalation and inhalation. These are called still points.
5. Become a neutral observer of these still points as the breath ebbs and flows, moving of it’s own accord. It’s an endless sea of life. You are the shore, caressed by the ceaseless times. Observe each moment of breath with calm awareness. There is nothing to do, nothing to be nowhere to go. Sit like this for several moments.
6. Now bring your attention to the contact point, the place where you feel the still pints meet. It may be just inside the rim of our nostrils, perhaps directly under them. Or it could be in your chest or abdomen. Watch the breath as it effortlessly glides over your still point.
7. Make your stillpoint an observation tower, the place to watch your breath. Watch the inhalation as air flows in. Notice the moment of stillness, the moment between inhalation and exhalation. Watch the exhalation as air exits.
8. When thoughts arise, simply notice them without the need to do anything about them. Try not to bet emotionally involved with thoughts or take a ride with them. Just receive them as thought. Keep the awareness on the breath.
9. Now flood the breath with peaceful awareness. Do not make any value judgements; just continue to watch your contact point. A long breath is not worth more than a short one. Both are bath the same – breathing.
10. Now move your focus of concentration to the diaphragm. Watch as it undulates with the rise and fall of the breath.
11. Move slowly outside your body. Can you see where your exhalation ends? Is it 2 feet away? Three? Now watch the inhalation. How far into your body does it go? To the very center?
12. For the next few moments, watch the breath wherever it is most pronounced in your body. It may be your nostrils, your diaphragm, chest or abdomen. Or it may fluctuate. Don’t thing about the movement. Just let it be. Thoughts come and go and they don’t have to be names, conceptualized or held onto.
13. Continue to watch your breath. Whenever thoughts, feelings or sensations appear, note them, let them go and return to your breath.
14. Now slowly open your eyes. Take an inventory of how you are feeling, right this moment. As you move onto your next activity, try to take this quality of calm awareness into it. And to the next and next and next activity.
15. Congratulate yourself. You have just meditated.
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