MEDITATION  MADE  EASY

I want to congratulate you first for taking time to read this article. You have taken a step towards making your life peaceful. You know that it is time for change.

We are now going to take 10 steps in the journey to learn Meditation and get Ultimate Mind Control. During the journey, some things may seem to be small and easy, but they actually are not and have a big impact on our lives.

Mind is like a garden. We all want to have a beautiful garden. But we cannot get a beautiful garden by thinking itself. We have to plant flowers and nice plants to beautify it. Also, we need to make sure that we take out the weeds time to time. De-weeding is very important. If not done in time, weeds grow very fast and spread fast. Gradually it may spread to our neighbors garden also. Or Vice versa, if your neighbor has not been taking care of the garden as he or she should, the weeds may damage your garden. But there are certain things that you can do to keep that from happening.

1. You can tell your neighbor about what is happening so that he/she can take care of it.

2. Or you can keep spraying the weedicide in your own garden.

3. Or just move to another house.

Out of all three, the best that works for long term is telling the neighbor about the problem so that he can take care of it. Again, make him/her ‘aware’ of the problem. Awareness leads to learning and enlightenment.

We are going to follow the same steps as we do to establish a beautiful looking garden, which include loosening of soil, seeding the lawn, watering the lawn, fertilizing the lawn, de-weeding the lawn, mowing the lawn and ultimately enjoying the beauty of it.

Our mind works the same way. We have good thoughts and we have bad thoughts. Bad/Negative thoughts are like weeds which grow fast and spread fast. That is why staying in company of good people make our thought process better, while bad company destroys our mind and we get into wrongful doings and thoughts. When you cannot avoid the negative company, e.g., a colleague, a neighbor, a relative or whomsoever, the key is to make them aware of their behavior and actions. You may feel that it may sour the relationship, but it wont. It would actually improve your bondage and bring change to his/her world for the good.

Learning anything comes from proper guidance through a person, books, articles, media, etc.  We learn so many things in life. Apart from learning in schools and colleges, we learn everyday from events and happening in our day to day life.

When I started Residency in an urban hospital, I realized I was just thrown into it the very first day. It’s like walking in dark. You do not know where to go. You keep falling and that is how you learn. But people who throw you in do not understand that too many falls create bruises and wounds which sometimes are hard to heal.

So we are going to enlighten ourselves during this journey to get close to be Ultimate Mind Controllers and Meditation pro’s. We will take a step ladder approach and take one step at a time. You may decide your pace. No hurries. We have hurried enough in our lives to achieve what we have today. But for meditation and mind control, we need to take it slow. It is about slowing down the racing mind.

WHAT IS MEDITATION ??

Meditation is slowing down the thought process.

Meditation is a way to feel self. The other word that clearly defines meditation is self-awareness. Just be aware of what is happening in your own body, how your body is reacting to external stimulus. Awareness is always enlightening.

Awareness about traffic laws makes us safe drivers. Awareness about environment makes us more environment friendly. Awareness about education gives us knowledge.

Same way self awareness enlightens us internally. Our body is regulated by Brain. Brain is the supreme power and controls all what happens in the body. It is like class teacher. The various organs are like students who have to follow what the teacher says. If the teacher is good, students behave right and learn right. If teacher is bad, students turn bad.  Human life has significantly evolved over thousands of years. But what has not evolved the way it should is human spirituality and mind control. Making that teacher a good teacher will make it a good class.

How many schools or parents teach the importance of mind control and ways to improve it to their children? Very very few. Generally, self awareness and mind control is not something that people pay much attention and importance to. The reason is unknown to me. What I could think of is that humans have always been trained for survival of the fittest. We are always constantly occupied by thoughts to excel from others. We always compare with others and try to compete in this society. But what people forget in the chaos of life is that hyper-achieving goals to connect with the outside world disconnect them from their own inner world.

Why is Inner World Important?

What we are, who we are, what we do, what we think and what we see is all part of inner world. Our thoughts and experiences created over our life make us who we are as a person. Do you know of anyone who is a perfect thinker? Show me one person and in this world who can say I have a perfect thought process. You will not find one. Perfection in thoughts is something which is missing in this world these days. But we can at least improve upon it. We can clear our minds of all those negative thoughts that we have created for ourselves.

Meditation is similar to learning other skills like how to ride a bike or play the piano.

THE IDEA IS TO SEE WHAT TRULY MATTERS

 

Can you show me some evidence?

We have overwhelming evidence to support the great effects of Mediation.

In over 1,000 published research studies, various methods of meditation have been linked to changes in metabolism, blood pressure, brain activation, and other bodily processes. Meditation has been used in clinical settings as a method of stress and pain reduction

Studies have shown that meditation has both short-term and long-term effects on various perceptual faculties.

Meditation has been linked to a variety of health benefits. In a study conducted on college students by Oman, Shapiro, Thoresen, Plante, and Flinders (2008), they were able to demonstrate findings that meditation may tend to changes in the neurological process cultivating physiological health benefits. This finding was supported by an expert panel at the National Institutes of Health.

The practice of meditation has also been linked with various favorable outcomes that include: “effective functioning, including academic performance, concentration, perceptual sensitivity, reaction time, memory, self control, empathy, and self esteem.”(Oman et al., 2008, pg. 570) In their evaluation of the effects of two meditation-based programs they were able to conclude that meditating had stress reducing effects and cogitation, and also increased forgiveness. (Oman et al., 2008)

In a cross-sectional survey research design study lead by Li Chuan Chu (2009), Chu demonstrated that benefits to the psychological state of the participants in the study arose from practicing meditation. Meditation enhances overall psychological health and preserves a positive attitude towards stress. (Chu, 2009)

Mindfulness Meditation has now entered the health care domain because of evidence suggesting a positive correlation between the practice and emotional and physical health. Examples of such benefits include: reduction in stress, anxiety, depression, headaches, pain, elevated blood pressure, etc. Researchers at the University of Massachusetts found that those who meditated approximately half an hour per day during an eight week period reported that at the end of the period, they were better able to act in a state of awareness and observation. Respondents also said they felt non-judgmental. (Harvard’s Women’s Health Watch, 2011)

Over 1,000 publications on meditation have appeared to date. Many of the early studies lack a theoretically unified perspective, often resulting in poor methodological quality, as discussed above in the section

A review of scientific studies identified relaxation, concentration, an altered state of awareness, a suspension of logical thought and the maintenance of a self-observing attitude as the behavioral components of meditation; it is accompanied by a host of biochemical and physical changes in the body that alter metabolism, heart rate, respiration, blood pressure and brain activation. Meditation has been used in clinical settings as a method of stress and pain reduction. Meditation has also been studied specifically for its effects on stress

More recent research suggests that meditation may increase attention spans. A recent randomized study published in Psychological Science reported that practicing meditation led to doing better on a task related to sustained attention.

“A person who meditates consequently perceives objects more as directly experienced stimuli and less as concepts… With the removal or minimization of cognitive stimuli and generally increasing awareness, meditation can therefore influence both the quality (accuracy) and quantity (detection) of perception.”

During meditation there is a modest increase in slow alpha or theta wave EEG activity.

Many diseases which could be cured with the help of meditation are:

Anxiety

Depression

Epilepsy

Asthma

Migraines

Hot Flashes

High Blood Pressure

Chromic pain

Diabetes

Psychological benefits

Stress reduction

Confidence building

Improved Memory

Improved concentration and focus

Improved sense of satisfaction

Feeling of Happiness in Life

Improved perception

Generates Optimism

Reduces Ego

Physical Benefits

 

Improved circulation

Reduction of stress hormones

Generation of happy hormones(endorphins)

Improved vision

Reduction in heart disease

Improved lung functions

Improved brain functions

Balances Blood pressure

Reduces atherosclerosis

Improved endocrine function

Lets get rolling here…

We are going to learn it slow….learning curve is different for everyone. Just depends upon how fast your mind races. Fast racers take sometime to slow down while slow racers are fast learners. A lot of us, over 90%, are fast racers. So we’ll keep it slow.

There are multiple types of Meditation mentioned in the literature. The ways change from culture to culture. But most of them do not do well with Urban culture which we live in these days. We are all busy. We do not have the luxury to sit quietly is a serene place with mountains and waterfall in front of our balcony/patio/room window.

So we are going to learn some ways to mediate in our daily routine without needing any fancy techniques.

So lets begin..

What do you gotta do? Nothing. Just take it easy.

The only thing you need to make sure is that you should feel the changes within yourself before you move ahead with each step.

Step 1-5 could be done with open or closed eyes.

Step 1

Does not matter where you are right now, in office, at home, in train or wherever, just say to yourself, (loud or within)…RELAX.  Repeat it 6 times.

By doing this, you have done yourself a great favor……You have relaxed your mind.

Hurrayyyyy…….!!!!!!!

Step 2

Now repeat the above mentioned exercise while taking a deep breaths. Inhale and exhale at your own pace. Say ‘relax’ while exhaling.

Great…you did so well

Step 3

Follow the rule of 3’s. You do not have to say ‘Relax’ this time. Make sure you inhale in your stomach. Feel it getting expanded and going down with each breath. This is called diaphragmatic breathing. This way, we improve our lung functions and improve circulation more that breathing in your chest.

Inhale for 3 seconds.

Hold for 3 seconds

Exhale for 3 seconds

Hold for 3 seconds…..

Keep repeating the cycle for 10 times.

Feeling great…good

Step 4

Our hands and feet depict our body. All the body channels are present in hands and feet.

Now rub your hands against each other for 15 times.

Rubbing improves circulation in our hands.

Rest your elbows on the arms of chair or flat on table or whatever way is convenient to you. Now join both your hands like in a Namaste pose as shown.

Hindu culture follows this pose on a daily basis. It’s a way to greet people. This signifies that a person with Namaste Pose is greeting you with two balanced world of yours. Joining 2 palms depict connecting inner and outer world. Our Right hand signifies our outer world and Left hand signifies inner world. That is why most of us are right handed because we connect to outer world more than to our inner world. You would see that most spiritual leaders and grounded people and left handed.

Feel the sensations of touch when your palms meet each other. Hold this pose for as long as you can. Longer the better (I would say about 4-5 minutes is good.) Just keep feeling the sensations of two worlds meeting each other and giving you all the peace that you need.

You can feel the warmth and energy being transferred to each other to create a balance. When you feel the balance well, you have done very well in your aim at connecting your two worlds.

CONGRATULATIONS!!!

Step 5

We’ll do the same as we did in step 5, but this time we will use our mind to help us out. Imagine that both your hands have superglue on them. Now put them in Namaste pose and imagine that they are getting glued to each other.

The more you imagine, the more powerful the glue will work. This glue closes all the pores where the energy could be leaking out from. Keep imagining that your hands are getting stuck together. You will now feel that they are hard to get separated because the glue has now settled in and closed all the open channels that were causing trouble. You may keep trying to separate them, but you can’t. This is a good sign.

This exercise works in strengthening the bondage between the inner and outer worlds.

If you cannot feel the strong bonding the first time, give it a second shot. This is not too hard. Just practice.

Now we have connected the two world perfectly. At this time you would be feeling thrilled and energetic because of abundance of energy in your body.

From now on it is important to close your eyes. We will now work on our perceptions and purify our mind. Read first and then close eyes to do the exercise.

Step 6

“Life is less than 5 minutes”

It does not matter how old you are and how many events you had in your life. If you have to think about your Life so far from the beginning till today, it will take you less than 5 minutes to think about it.

Think of all your memories so far in life. Go back as far as you could remember. You could imagine your pictures also. Imagine the time when you were born, your first step, your first birthday, your first day in school, when you got an award, you first kiss, your first love, etc etc….all that you have been through in life. Think of all the good things that happened in your life.

Close your eyes

Take your time.

Wow…you did so well. How did it feel? I am sure it must have felt really good remembering all those memories and events.

By doing this exercise you have fertilized the lawn of your mind. As the fertilizer improves the growth of grass, plants and flowers, your mind will now grow fast.

Good, now since we have prepared the ground well, let’s take the next step.

Step 7

Know your body as never before.

I call it Body Mapping or Body Scanning. This exercise helps you to connect to your own body and know how it is functioning. Put on nice instrumental music. For detailed body scanning you can visit www.theworldofhealing.com and click on meditation tab. It is a 20 minutes Body scanning audio that will help a lot.

You just have to scan your body from head to toe. Feel the sensations on each part individually and relax it. Start with head first, then forehead, eyes, lips, neck, chest, left arm, left hand, right arm, right hand, abdomen, left leg, left foot, right leg and right foot. You will feel the wave of relaxation in your body as you follow this pattern. Your thoughts may wander a lot initially, but will keep getting better with each repeated session. This takes you a deep state of ‘trance’ and you achieve ultimate relaxation and peace within your mind and body. You may feel that you are getting sleepy. You may also feel tingling or numbness in your body which is normal. The concentrated part relaxes to such extent that it starts feeling very heavy. For example, if you concentrate on your left arm and relax it, it may feel that it is getting very heavy like a heavy rock and you are unable to move it. That’s a very good sign.

Step 8

Sometimes human mind’s garden gets overgrowth of thoughts like tall grass. When you feel you are occupied by too much of thoughts, its time to mow the lawn of mind.

We need to trim the hyperactive thoughts. The good news is that you do not have to have a lawn mower for mind garden. You just have to think that your thoughts have been overgrowing and its time to trim them. Just the mere thought of doing this will cut out all the hyper-grown thoughts and will leave you with mental peace and a clean, beautiful mind. Feel as if your mind is getting clearer and your mind which was creating waves earlier is not so calm and peaceful.

Step 9

Life is busy. Does not matter if you work hard or no, everyone feels that they are busy. The sounds that we hear in our lives, natural or artificial create a channel of reactions in the body and mind. Vibrations created by noises affect us in good way or bad way depending upon what vibration we are listening to and perceiving more. To balance the body’s natural vibrations, we need to listen to the most natural sound of Nature. The balancing through vibrations is called CHAKRA HEALING.

Human body has 7 Chakras from base of the spine to the top of the head. Chakras are like banks who store lot of energy which they can give out whenever needed. Sometimes, some chakras are underactive and some are overactive. In other words sometimes we are not using the chakra’s energy as we should and sometimes we waste too much of chakra energy that leads to imbalance in body and life.

The 7 chakras are

1. Root Chakra – Represents our foundation and feeling of being grounded.

Location: Base of spine in tailbone area.
Emotional issues: Survival issues such as financial independence, money, and food.
Sound: LUM

 

2. Sacral Chakra – Our connection and ability to accept others and new experiences.

Location: Lower abdomen, about 2 inches below the navel and 2 inches in.
Emotional issues: Sense of abundance, well-being, pleasure, sexuality.
Sound: VUM

3. Solar Plexus Chakra – Our ability to be confident and in-control of our lives.

Location: Upper abdomen in the stomach area.
Emotional issues: Self-worth, self-confidence, self-esteem.
Sound: RUM

4. Heart Chakra – Our ability to love.

Location: Center of chest just above heart.
Emotional issues: Love, joy, inner peace.
Sound: YUM

5. Throat Chakra – Our ability to communicate.

Location: Throat.

Emotional issues: Communication, self-expression of feelings, the truth.
Sound: HUM

6. Third Eye Chakra – Our ability to focus on and see the big picture.

Location: Forehead between the eyes.

Emotional issues: Intuition, imagination, wisdom, ability to think and make decisions.
Sound: OM

7. Crown Chakra – The highest Chakra represents our ability to be fully connected spiritually.

Location: The very top of the head.
Emotional issues: Inner and outer beauty, our connection to spirituality, pure bliss.
Sound: AUM

You should chant these sounds 50-100 times everyday to help with Inner Healing. To heal Root Chakra, please visit www.theworldofhealing.com and click on meditation.

Step 10

Chant ‘OM’

Om is the most powerful sound of nature. Chanting Om purifies Mind and body significantly. Let’s learn a little more about OM.

The vibration produced by chanting Om in the physical universe corresponds to the original vibration that first arose at the time of creation. The sound of Om sustains life. Om also represents the four states of the Supreme Being. The three sounds in Om (AUM) represent the waking, dream and deep sleep states and the silence which surrounds Om represents the “Bliss” state.

Because the first of the three states of consciousness is the waking state, it is represented by the sound “A” pronounced like “A” in America. Because the dream state of consciousness lies between the waking and the deep sleep states, it is represented by the letter “U” which lies between the “A” and “M”. This “U” is pronounced like the “U” in would. The last state of consciousness is the deep sleep state and is represented by “M” pronounced as in “sum.” This closes the pronunciation of Om just as deep sleep is the final stage of the mind at rest. Whenever Om is recited in succession there is an inevitable period of silence between two successive Oms. This silence represents the “fourth state” which is the state of perfect bliss when the individual self recognizes his identity with the supreme.

The Power of Chanting Om

1. The chanting of Om drives away all bad thoughts and removes distraction and infuses new vigor in the body.
2. When you feel depressed, chant Om fifty times and you will be filled with new vigor and strength. The chanting of Om is a powerful tonic. When you chant Om, you feel you are the pure, all pervading light and consciousness.
3. Those who chant Om will have a powerful, sweet voice. Whenever you take a stroll, you can chant Om. You can also sing Om in a beautiful way. The rhythmic pronunciation of Om makes the mind serene and pointed, and infuses the spiritual qualifications which ensure self-realization.
4. Those who do meditation of Om daily will get tremendous power. They will have luster in their eyes and faces.

www.theworldofhealing.com