Why Meditate

The often elusive ability to quiet the mind is extremely important in developing and maintaining psychic abilities.  Our man-made physical  environment with its clutter, noise, and distractions can be a barrier to meditating as well as receiving psychic impressions, which is probably why many people prefer to meditate outside, in a natural garden type setting.  Water is also an important element to many people, but of course the only real requirement is solitude.

 

Healing Power of Meditation

Research has shown that Meditation can contribute to an individual's psychological and physiological well-being. This is accomplished as Meditation brings the brainwave pattern into an alpha state, which is a level of consciousness that promotes the healing state.

There is scientific evidence that Meditation can reduce blood pressure and relieve pain and stress. When used in combination with biofeedback, Meditation enhances the effectiveness of biofeedback.

Patricia Norris, Ph.D., Director of the Biofeedback and Psychophysiology Clinic at the Menninger Foundation, reports: "In our practice at Menninger we use meditative techniques to enhance immune functioning in cancer, AIDS, and autoimmune patients. We also use meditation in conjunction with neuro-feedback to normalize brain rhythms and chemistry in alcohol and drug addiction, as well as other addictive conditions. Almost all of our patients use meditative techniques in learning self-regulation for disorders such as anxiety and hypertension, and for stress management. We consider meditation a recommended practice for anyone seeking high-level wellness."

In addition to the growing body of research literature on meditation, physicians, psychotherapists, and other professionals are increasingly adding meditative techniques to their practice. Over six thousand physicians have begun the practice of Transcendental Meditation and regularly recommend the TM technique to their patients. Dean Ornish, M.D has demonstrated that heart disease can be reversed with a comprehensive program that includes meditations. Many physicians consider meditation a key element of an integrated health program.

• Physical Benefits of Meditation
• Psychological Benefits of Meditation

The benefits of an ongoing meditation practice as it impacts our health can be classified further into three categories: physiological, psychological, and spiritual. Most people who practice meditation do so to reduce stress, anxiety, anger and other negative emotions. Increasingly, physicians prescribe meditation as part of the treatment for a large and growing number of medical conditions

  

Four Elements for Meditation

There are four elements formeditation. These elements are:

• A quiet place to meditate,
• A comfortable or poised posture,
• An object for attention-awareness to dwell upon,
• A passive attitude.

A quiet place
The best environment for the practice of meditation is similar to that most conducive to lying down or sitting to progressively relax the body muscles. Sit in a quiet place with minimum distractions. Later, you may be able to meditate well in places where more is going on: launderettes, railway stations, doctors' or dentists' waiting rooms, on trains and buses, and so on.

A comfortable or poised posture
A sitting posture is better for meditation than lying down. This is because lying down is the normal sleep position and meditation lying down could easily lead to sleep. If you are not a person who easily goes to sleep during the day, you may like to meditate in a semi-reclining position on a sofa or large armchair with the back of your head supported. In traditional meditation postures, however, the back is normally kept erect, though not rigidly upright. This is called poised posture. The right attitude for meditation may itself be described as poised: alert yet also relaxed. Poised posture promotes the right state of attention-awareness for successful meditation.

In the East, the cross-legged postures, with head and back in vertical line, are considered ideal for meditation. In classic Lotus posture, the legs are crossed with feet on thighs, and imparts the right feeling of poised sitting for meditation. These postures are difficult and even painful at first for those who are not familiar with them..

 

An object to dwell upon
The object the attention dwells on is often a mantra, usually a Sanskrit word or syllable. The focus of attention is often the meditator's own breathing. Both mantra meditation and awareness of breathing fulfill all the elements required for meditating for relaxation.

Some meditation methods involve looking at objects with open eyes, but in others, the subjects close their eyes which makes relaxation easier to induce.

There is much to be said for choosing either a neutral word or a meaningless sound for mantra meditation. Some people, however, like to use a word like 'peace' which has relaxing associations. This is all right provided the word does not set off trains of associative thought. In this type of meditation the single thought-sound has the effect of quietening the mind; Maharishi Mahesh Yogi says that the thought-sound takes the meditator to the source of thought. Studies of the brain wave patterns of meditators indicate that the deepest relaxation results when thoughts are absent, or few and of no importance.

If you make awareness of breathing your single meditation method, let your attention dwell on the gentle rise of your abdomen in diaphragmatic-abdominal breathing. Your breathing becomes very quiet and even after several minutes of meditation and the gentle movement and rhythm of abdominal breathing promotes relaxation.

 

A passive attitude
This last element of meditation for relaxation is said to be the most essential. It is sometimes called poised awareness or attention-awareness because in it relaxation and alertness are in perfect balance. There is nothing exotic about it: you were passively aware when you let go from tension in the muscles of your arms, legs, trunk, and face.

A passive attitude means that distractions from environmental sounds, skin tingles etc., and the inevitable intrusion into the mind of thoughts and images are viewed casually and detachedly. Let them come and go, of no more consequence than small clouds passing across an expanse of sky. But each time you become aware that your attention has slipped away from the mantra or the sensation of abdominal breathing, and you are engaging in a chain of logical thinking or developing interest in some sounds or other sensations, bring your attention and awareness back to the meditation object.

It is really very simple, as long as you keep a relaxed attitude going. Don't force, and don't cling. With practice, moments of great calm and deep restfulness during meditation will become more frequent.

Techniques

Meditation Message Board