Meditating is about being able to completely switch off from the outside world and to turn inwards, about being able to focus on your own thoughts, or silence them completely. Of course with so many distractions in our day-to-day lives this can be very hard and we can find ourselves constantly losing track of our concentration and starting trains of thought. There are some ways though to help you to focus, which we will examine below.
Find a quiet place: Firstly it is important that you will not be disturbed and that you will be comfortable. It is not good trying to meditate if people are going to be walking in and out of the room all the time as this will jolt you out of your state of calm. Similarly make sure you have been to the toilet and that you have a glass of water near should you want it.
Do not place too much pressure on it: A major mistake with many people who learn meditation is that they expect to have miraculous results right away. At the same time they try to completely forbid themselves from having any thoughts at all, from itching, or from getting up to move at all. Obviously this is trying not to think of a pink elephant and immediately you will find yourself reflecting on your lack of reflection and thinking about your silent thoughts… while completely covered in itches. Instead allow your thoughts to drift and scratch or move yourself if you have the urge.
Put worries aside: One thing you must do though is to turn off any thoughts of your commitments or jobs that need doing and basically anything that makes you stressed or worried. There is nothing you can do about these things right now, so you should agree to put them in a box and to come back to them when you are finished – you can rest assured they'll still be there.
Relax your muscles: To relax your mind it can be very helpful to first relax your body. To achieve this you can use a simple technique by first tensing each muscle and then allowing it to relax completely. By first tensing this makes it much easier and much more apparent when you relax and you will end up feeling like jelly. Go through your muscles one at a time and gradually fall into a deeper level of calm as you do. Do not neglect your smaller muscles either – the tiny muscles in your feet and toes and the muscles in your face holding your expression. Each has to be fully relaxed.
Find something to focus on: The easiest way to silence your thoughts is to focus on something – for example a point in your visual field, or your own breathing. If you concentrate on these hard enough then you will lose track of your conscious thoughts and create a calm.
Get a relaxation/meditation tape: Another thing to concentrate on to silence your thoughts is to listen to some relaxing music that can again give you something to focus on. This mustn't have lyrics and a good option would be a piece of music specially designed for this purpose.
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Saturday, August 3, 2013
Friday, August 2, 2013
A Guide to Meditation
Meditation is an effective way to release stress and clear your mind. It may be considered as a healthy exercise that would result to a more relaxed and healthy you. If you are curious about meditation and how it is done, then you just have to make sure that you remember some basic steps to properly do it to achieve the desired results of inner peace and tranquility.
You must have a quiet and comfortable environment around you. Sit comfortably in the half-lotus position. It may take some practice but this is the common position when doing meditation. Make sure to have your straight back and your body relaxed while doing it. Your arms must be in a relaxed position on your lap. Meditation time usually takes about 20 minutes but there is no real time limit at all.
Concentrate on your breathing. This is considered as the lifeline of meditation and the heart of it all. Try to inhale and then slowly exhale out for a few times. Free your mind of thoughts and relax while doing your breathing. Keep your eyes closed all the time to concentrate on your breathing and relaxation of your body. Try to feel your breathing as part of your whole body and let your mind wander. You may also let your mind concentrate on a single idea which is about happiness and that would result to really feeling the happiness within you. You can do this for about 5-10 minutes and when you open your eyes you would feel relaxed and at peace.
Try to step into your consciousness. You can focus on your breathing to do this combined with the relaxation of every part of your body. Even with your eyes closed you are still aware of yourself and your immediate surroundings, the only difference is that you have stepped into your consciousness that is free from problems and stress. It is like letting go of all earthly material that surrounds you. Inside your consciousness you are trying to achieve peace and happiness which you may not have when not in meditation. Again this takes time and practice but with enough perseverance you can do this easily.
As meditation involves your mind you might try to quiet your mind by a visualization technique. You may still have thoughts about problems that bother you and this is helpful to calm down your mind. One recommended visualization is to visualize an ocean with a giant wave that would wash away the problems in your mind. If you are able to visualize this in your mind then you have achieved certain calmness inside you.
Just remember that meditation is a learning process. Some claim that they can do meditation in about five minutes by just closing their eyes, doing deep breathing and letting go of their mind no matter where they are. This is possible if they are already involved in a higher level of meditation. But, since you may only want to try it as a form of a relaxation exercise then you start learning the basics of proper breathing and relaxation before going to the next higher level of meditation.
You must have a quiet and comfortable environment around you. Sit comfortably in the half-lotus position. It may take some practice but this is the common position when doing meditation. Make sure to have your straight back and your body relaxed while doing it. Your arms must be in a relaxed position on your lap. Meditation time usually takes about 20 minutes but there is no real time limit at all.
Concentrate on your breathing. This is considered as the lifeline of meditation and the heart of it all. Try to inhale and then slowly exhale out for a few times. Free your mind of thoughts and relax while doing your breathing. Keep your eyes closed all the time to concentrate on your breathing and relaxation of your body. Try to feel your breathing as part of your whole body and let your mind wander. You may also let your mind concentrate on a single idea which is about happiness and that would result to really feeling the happiness within you. You can do this for about 5-10 minutes and when you open your eyes you would feel relaxed and at peace.
Try to step into your consciousness. You can focus on your breathing to do this combined with the relaxation of every part of your body. Even with your eyes closed you are still aware of yourself and your immediate surroundings, the only difference is that you have stepped into your consciousness that is free from problems and stress. It is like letting go of all earthly material that surrounds you. Inside your consciousness you are trying to achieve peace and happiness which you may not have when not in meditation. Again this takes time and practice but with enough perseverance you can do this easily.
As meditation involves your mind you might try to quiet your mind by a visualization technique. You may still have thoughts about problems that bother you and this is helpful to calm down your mind. One recommended visualization is to visualize an ocean with a giant wave that would wash away the problems in your mind. If you are able to visualize this in your mind then you have achieved certain calmness inside you.
Just remember that meditation is a learning process. Some claim that they can do meditation in about five minutes by just closing their eyes, doing deep breathing and letting go of their mind no matter where they are. This is possible if they are already involved in a higher level of meditation. But, since you may only want to try it as a form of a relaxation exercise then you start learning the basics of proper breathing and relaxation before going to the next higher level of meditation.
Thursday, August 1, 2013
About Meditation - How to Meditate to Reduce Stress
Here you find a general definition of meditation, and an easy meditation technique is explained.
MEDITATION IMPROVES BOTH THE MENTAL AND PHYSICAL STATE
Meditation is a group of mental training techniques. You can use meditation to improve mental health and capacities, and also to help improve the physical health. Some of these techniques are very simple, so you can learn them from a book or an article; others require guidance by a qualified meditation teacher.
WHAT IS MEDITATION
Most techniques called meditation include these components:
1. You sit or lie in a relaxed position.
2. You breathe regularly. You breathe in deep enough to get enough oxygen. When you breathe out, you relax your muscles so that your lungs are well emptied, but without straining.
3. You stop thinking about everyday problems and matters.
4. You concentrate your thoughts upon some sound, some word you repeat, some image, some abstract concept or some feeling. Your whole attention should be pointed at the object you have chosen to concentrate upon.
5. If some foreign thoughts creep in, you just stop this foreign thought, and go back to the object of meditation.
The different meditation techniques differ according to the degree of concentration, and how foreign thoughts are handled. By some techniques, the objective is to concentrate so intensely that no foreign thoughts occur at all.
In other techniques, the concentration is more relaxed so that foreign thoughts easily pop up. When these foreign thoughts are discovered, one stops these and goes back to the pure meditation in a relaxed manner. Thoughts coming up, will often be about things you have forgotten or suppressed, and allow you to rediscover hidden memory material. This rediscovery will have a psychotherapeutic effect.
THE EFFECTS OF MEDITATION
Meditation has the following effects:
1. Meditation will give you rest and recreation.
2. You learn to relax.
3. You learn to concentrate better on problem solving.
4. Meditation often has a good effect upon the blood pressure.
5. Meditation has beneficial effects upon inner body processes, like circulation, respiration and digestion.
6. Regular meditation will have a psychotherapeutically effect.
7. Regular meditation will facilitate the immune system.
8. Meditation is usually pleasant.
THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN HYPNOSIS AND MEDITATION
Hypnosis may have some of the same relaxing and psychotherapeutic effects as meditation. However, when you meditate you are in control yourself; by hypnosis you let some other person or some mechanical device control you. Also hypnosis will not have a training effect upon the ability to concentrate.
A SIMPLE FORM OF MEDITATION
Here is a simple form of meditation. By this meditation technique, you should concentrate in an easy manner. This will allow foreign thoughts to pop up. These are handled one by one as they appear. You proceed as follows:
1. Sit in a good chair in a comfortable position.
2. Relax all your muscles as well as you can.
3. Stop thinking about anything, or at least try not to think about anything.
4. Breath out, relaxing all the muscles in your breathing apparatus.
5. Repeat the following in 10 - 20 minutes:
Breath in so deep that you feel you get enough oxygen.
Breath out, relaxing your chest and diaphragm completely.
Every time you breathe out, think the word "one" or another simple word inside yourself. You should think the word in a prolonged manner, and so that you hear it inside you, but you should try to avoid using your mouth or voice.
6. If foreign thoughts come in, just stop these thoughts in a relaxed manner, and keep on concentrating upon the breathing and the word you repeat.
As you proceed through this meditation, you should feel steadily more relaxed in your mind and body, feel that you breathe steadily more effectively, and that the blood circulation throughout your body gets more efficient. You may also feel an increasing mental pleasure throughout the meditation.
THE EFFECTS OF MEDITATION UPON DISEASES
As any kind of training, meditation may be exaggerated so that you get tired and worn out. Therefore you should not meditate so long or so concentrated that you feel tired or mentally emptied.
Meditation may sometimes give problems for people suffering from mental diseases, epilepsy, serious heart problems or neurological diseases. On the other hand, meditation may be of help in the treatment of these and other conditions.
People suffering from such conditions should check out what effects the different kinds of meditation have on their own kind of health problems, before beginning to practise meditation, and be cautious if they choose to begin to meditate. It may be wise to learn meditation from an experienced teacher, psychologist or health worker that use meditation as a treatment module for the actual disease.
MEDITATION IMPROVES BOTH THE MENTAL AND PHYSICAL STATE
Meditation is a group of mental training techniques. You can use meditation to improve mental health and capacities, and also to help improve the physical health. Some of these techniques are very simple, so you can learn them from a book or an article; others require guidance by a qualified meditation teacher.
WHAT IS MEDITATION
Most techniques called meditation include these components:
1. You sit or lie in a relaxed position.
2. You breathe regularly. You breathe in deep enough to get enough oxygen. When you breathe out, you relax your muscles so that your lungs are well emptied, but without straining.
3. You stop thinking about everyday problems and matters.
4. You concentrate your thoughts upon some sound, some word you repeat, some image, some abstract concept or some feeling. Your whole attention should be pointed at the object you have chosen to concentrate upon.
5. If some foreign thoughts creep in, you just stop this foreign thought, and go back to the object of meditation.
The different meditation techniques differ according to the degree of concentration, and how foreign thoughts are handled. By some techniques, the objective is to concentrate so intensely that no foreign thoughts occur at all.
In other techniques, the concentration is more relaxed so that foreign thoughts easily pop up. When these foreign thoughts are discovered, one stops these and goes back to the pure meditation in a relaxed manner. Thoughts coming up, will often be about things you have forgotten or suppressed, and allow you to rediscover hidden memory material. This rediscovery will have a psychotherapeutic effect.
THE EFFECTS OF MEDITATION
Meditation has the following effects:
1. Meditation will give you rest and recreation.
2. You learn to relax.
3. You learn to concentrate better on problem solving.
4. Meditation often has a good effect upon the blood pressure.
5. Meditation has beneficial effects upon inner body processes, like circulation, respiration and digestion.
6. Regular meditation will have a psychotherapeutically effect.
7. Regular meditation will facilitate the immune system.
8. Meditation is usually pleasant.
THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN HYPNOSIS AND MEDITATION
Hypnosis may have some of the same relaxing and psychotherapeutic effects as meditation. However, when you meditate you are in control yourself; by hypnosis you let some other person or some mechanical device control you. Also hypnosis will not have a training effect upon the ability to concentrate.
A SIMPLE FORM OF MEDITATION
Here is a simple form of meditation. By this meditation technique, you should concentrate in an easy manner. This will allow foreign thoughts to pop up. These are handled one by one as they appear. You proceed as follows:
1. Sit in a good chair in a comfortable position.
2. Relax all your muscles as well as you can.
3. Stop thinking about anything, or at least try not to think about anything.
4. Breath out, relaxing all the muscles in your breathing apparatus.
5. Repeat the following in 10 - 20 minutes:
Breath in so deep that you feel you get enough oxygen.
Breath out, relaxing your chest and diaphragm completely.
Every time you breathe out, think the word "one" or another simple word inside yourself. You should think the word in a prolonged manner, and so that you hear it inside you, but you should try to avoid using your mouth or voice.
6. If foreign thoughts come in, just stop these thoughts in a relaxed manner, and keep on concentrating upon the breathing and the word you repeat.
As you proceed through this meditation, you should feel steadily more relaxed in your mind and body, feel that you breathe steadily more effectively, and that the blood circulation throughout your body gets more efficient. You may also feel an increasing mental pleasure throughout the meditation.
THE EFFECTS OF MEDITATION UPON DISEASES
As any kind of training, meditation may be exaggerated so that you get tired and worn out. Therefore you should not meditate so long or so concentrated that you feel tired or mentally emptied.
Meditation may sometimes give problems for people suffering from mental diseases, epilepsy, serious heart problems or neurological diseases. On the other hand, meditation may be of help in the treatment of these and other conditions.
People suffering from such conditions should check out what effects the different kinds of meditation have on their own kind of health problems, before beginning to practise meditation, and be cautious if they choose to begin to meditate. It may be wise to learn meditation from an experienced teacher, psychologist or health worker that use meditation as a treatment module for the actual disease.
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