Introduction to Meditation

Meditation is one of major branch of Yoga. It has power to cure mind and body from untruthfulness, ignorance and other painful and unpleasant experience. By practicing of Meditation everyday around thirty minutes one can feel inner peaceful, calm and focused. Technique of Meditation originally developed in Hindu religion in India in ancient time and has been practiced for more than 5,000 years primarily by Hindu and Buddhist religion.

Traditionally meditation was used for spiritual growth. More recently, meditation has become a valuable tool for finding a peaceful oasis of relaxation and stress relief in a demanding, fast-paced world.

Today we live in a fast-paced world. Things happen so quickly that more often that not, we do not have the chance to react to the things thrown at us. We somehow lose the ability to think things over in favor of lightning-quick decisions.

But it shouldn’t be so. Every one of us needs to slow down a little from time to time and be calm. Otherwise, stress will build up and will affect how we deal with the people around us, not only in the workplace but also at home.

The practice of meditation is a way for us to be still for a while and let our minds become focused until we become calm enough to deal with the daily pressures of life.

Some may think that meditation is a completely religious practice. While it is true that a lot of religions, especially Eastern ones, take meditation as an integral part of their practice, it is not necessarily the case. In fact, more and more people who aren’t necessarily religious get into meditation.

People practice meditation for a variety of reasons. While we already mentioned that it helps us become still in this fast-paced world, other people meditate for health reasons and to attain a higher state of consciousness, among others.

So if you think that life is stressing you out, it’s probably time for you to slow things down a little bit. Your mind is probably too distracted with so many things to consider and to think about. Meditation can help you calm down and let you be stress and worry-free.



What is actually meditation?

Meditation involves concentrating on an object, such as a flower, a candle, spirituals realms, a sound or word, or the breath. There's no limit to the things you can direct your attention toward. Meditation is simply about attention, where you direct it, and how it alters your consciousness. Meditation can help you become a loving, compassionate, blissful, productive good citizen, who enjoys every second of life. Meditation can also help us to understand our own mind. We can learn how to transform our mind from negative to positive, from disturbed to peaceful, from unhappy to happy.

There are some basic rules for Meditation:


 Choose clean and peaceful place for performing meditation and make sure there are plenty of fresh air available.
 Try to keep your mind calm and relaxed without worrying about job or other things.
 Traditionally, the best times to practice is in the morning and evening but it can be practice anytime after four hours of taking food or drinks.
 It is good idea to take shower or wash your hand and face before performing meditation.
 It is beneficial to chant “OM……………………..” in your mind.
 If you feel fatigued in the course of doing meditation, rest for sometime and then begin deep breathing, which will remove the fatigue.


Meditation Technique:

Set aside a special place in your room that you only use for meditation or you can find a place outside that feels good to you. Sit comfortable legs crossed and hands resting on lap with your spine reasonably straight. Energy flows up the spine; so try to create a straight pathway for it. It is always good idea to take shower or wash your hand and face before you meditate. Whether practicing indoors or outdoors, the air should be fresh and well ventilated, without draft or high wind and clothes should be loose and comfortable.

Allow yourself to become aware of your environment as you allow your eyes to rest comfortably downward, gazing softly, but not focused on anything. Without closing your eyes completely, let your eyelids drop to a level that feels most comfortable. Become aware of your body, feel your body resting comfortably and safely in the surrounding air. Draw your awareness inward as you feel your body relaxing into the surface. Calmly be aware of your breathing without altering your breath and rest your attention first at your navel then on your nostril. You may notice your breathing becoming more rhythmic. It's ok to let your attention drift a bit. If your eyes become very heavy, it's ok to let them close. If you notice you've come out of your relaxed space, simply bring your attention back to your relaxed downward gaze.

Calmly feel and be aware of the rhythm of your breathing, if thoughts come into your mind, don’t try to stop or avoid them and let them drift away; just smile as you notice them, observe them and let them go as you return to awareness of the soothing flow of your breath. Always, as your mind wanders, bring it back to your breathing. You may wish to imagine or think of your breath as a color or a light or a pleasant thought moving in and out of your body in a smooth flow of words like "peace", "calm", "tranquility", "love", "light", and "safety", use whatever you wish. You may repeat such words in your mind in rhythm with the flow of your breathing. Smile inwardly as you meditate. Just sit and listen to your breath and the calming thoughts, be aware rest in the stillness and silence of this peaceful, powerful moment and for just this moment, you can release all thoughts, worries and concerns and just be tranquil and serene.

When you feel that you have practiced for just the right amount of time (around 15-60 minutes), slowly return to awareness of your body and awareness of being in your environment. Turn your attention outward and slowly, gradually open your eyes. You may stretch and rub your palms together, place them over your eyes, then rub gently down your face and back of head and neck several times. Then simply proceed with your normal activities.

The biggest blocks to meditation are impatience and expectations. Just continue to repeat the simple process and you will benefit. Don't expect desired result in a couple day, it is long process that needs long practice and effort. Trust yourself and believe in the practice, everything will naturally fall-into-place.

Breathing and Meditation

Breathing is an integral part of meditation. Proper breathing is required in many practices of meditation and is therefore an important tool to be possessed by people who wish to perform this activity.

The practice of proper breathing while meditating helps a person relax while doing the exercise. Proper breathing is achieved by inhaling through the nose, letting the diaphragm (not the chest) expand and exhaling through the mouth.

Doing this slows down a person’s heart rate which leads to a relaxed mood.
Breathing also plays a significant role when a person aims to improve his/her concentration. This is done by focusing the mind on the act of taking in air and feeling it pass through the nostrils until the air is finally exhaled through the mouth.

While this may sound easy, it can be quite challenging when done for the first time.
Then there’s the method for increasing a person’s awareness. Just like the concentration technique mentioned above, it involves putting one’s attention to his/her breathing.

But instead of focusing on the act of inhaling and exhaling air, it is the sensation of breathing where the person trains his/her thoughts. The feeling of the air passing through the nose, filling the lungs and expanding the diaphragm is the sensation that a person should look for.

It helps him/her feel how it is to be truly alive.

This article has shown how important breathing is in the practice of meditation. It is no wonder, therefore, that the two are inseparable activities that a student of meditation should learn.

Benefits of Meditation

The benefits of meditation have been known to humans ever since it was first practiced several millennia ago. This article will discuss some of them in detail and will outline the mental as well as the health benefits of this practice.

1. Reduces stress
- Since meditation helps calm the mind and relax the individual, it helps a lot in reducing stress. This is usually achieved through the breathing exercises that form a part of the practice.

Stress reduction is one of the main reasons why people take up meditation.

2. Various health benefits
- There are already documented cases wherein meditation was shown to have helped in curing an illness. A landmark study is the one done in 1976 by Australian psychiatrist Ainslie Meares which was published in the Medical Journal of Australia.

The study documented how a patient’s cancer regressed after sessions of intensive meditation. Meditation is also known to lower blood pressure levels, which is beneficial to patients who are at risk of hypertension and other heart-related conditions.

3. Improves concentration
- One practice in meditation involves focusing on a particular object such as a candlelight, or reciting a mantra. Doing activities like these have been shown to improve a person’s concentration.

4. Acceptance of events
- Another aspect of meditation is the ability to take things as they are. This helps a lot in reducing a person’s frustrations over things that he/she cannot control.

People who will surely benefit from this include those who are undergoing anger.

The Origins of Meditation

The practice of meditation has been around for several millennia. Although there are no recorded texts which would point exactly when this practice started, several ancient civilizations became the cradle of today’s meditation practices.

India particularly is hailed as the proponent of meditation as an organized practice. Over centuries, many Hindi scholars have written about meditation, from the ways of doing it to its benefits. Some of the well-known Hindi texts include the Vedas and the Yoga Sutras which was written by Patanjali. But no one has arguably been more influential in the world of meditation than Siddharta Gautama, otherwise known as Buddha. In 500 BC, he achieved enlightenment through the practice of meditation. His influence spread throughout Asia and eventually the whole world.

While the East has been practicing meditation for several centuries already, the Western world picked the practice up much later. In fact, it was only in the mid-20th century when meditation became a popular practice among Westerners.

Today, more and more meditation centers and organizations crop up in the West. While meditation used to be intertwined with religious practices, a good number of Western meditation centers are stripped off this spiritual aspect. They usually focus now on the health benefits of this practice especially in the fast-paced world of today.

But regardless of the loss of the spiritual side of meditation, it is still widely-recognized for its benefits to people’s mental well-being. It was and it still remains as one of the central aspects of meditation.

Variations of Meditation According to Religions

While most people would agree that meditation is a mental practice, the objectives of different people and different religions vary.

In this article, we will discuss the differences among major religions on how they view the practice of meditation.

1. Hinduism
- This religion probably has the oldest texts that deal with meditation. While there are several types of meditation in Hinduism, they generally focus on achieving a calm state of mind.

This is one of the more popular perceptions of meditation.

2. Buddhism
- Founded by Buddha in 500 BC, this religion’s take on meditation is that which aims to attain enlightenment just like its founder.

3. Christianity
- This religion treats meditation as a prayer. Thus practices such as praying the rosary can be considered as meditation in the Christian world.

Another form of meditation practiced by Christians is by pondering upon a certain religious passage. It has a striking difference against

Eastern religions since Christian meditation involves an active mind while the opposite is true for Eastern practices.

4. Judaism
- what is referred to as Jewish meditation is in fact a collection of practices that revolve around practices such as contemplation, visualization, analysis and gaining intuitive insights.

5. Taoism
- While most religions practice meditation while remaining still, Taoism takes a physically active take on this. It is evident in the practice of Tai Chi wherein practitioners do what is called ‘meditation in motion’.

As you see, there are basic differences among religions on how they approach meditation. However, a common thread that keeps them together is that they treat meditation as a mental practice.

Meditation to Reduce Stress

People encounter stress everyday, some do at work or school, others at home. While they are usually able to cope with stress, sometimes the burden simply becomes too much that people break down because of it.

The Science of Stress

In the General Adaptation Syndrome model designed by Hans Selye, he identifies three stages that people undergo when stressed.

During the first stage, the body goes on a state of alarm at the realization of a threat. In this stage, cortisol is released by the body.

The second stage is where the body becomes unable to cope with the strain until its resources are depleted.

Finally, the body breaks down which include the exhaustion of the immune system. Because of this, the body is unable to fight of sicknesses which then expose the person to illnesses.

How Meditation Helps Reduce Stress?

Meditation is one method which can help reduce the stress levels of a person. By calming the mind and giving the person a sense of control over things, the things that are considered threats (the things which cause stress) become easier to manage.

But the reduction of stress isn’t the end of the exercise. Since stress can make people prone to illnesses, reducing stress can help in keeping the person healthy.

The practice of meditation, therefore, can result in improved health and resistance to illnesses. So the next time you feel stressed out, try to calm yourself down by practicing meditation. While your problems won’t exactly go away, you at least become mentally prepared to face them.

Meditation to Improve Concentration

Today, there are a lot of things that help in keeping us entertained. In the internet alone, there are a multitude of websites that do such that like video sharing sites, gaming sites and other websites which cater to our interests.

While there is nothing wrong with entertaining ourselves, a problem arises with our constant need for distractions. Because of that, it becomes difficult for us to focus on one thing.

We do not need to take extreme measures to help us focus. There are practices which can do the job for us. It includes the practice of meditation.

People take up meditation for different purposes and improving concentration is one of them. There are several methods by which meditation does its job.

One is through breathing exercises. Even an exercise that is as simple as being aware of the times we inhale and exhale can do wonders to our ability to concentrate.

While it may sound easy, it can be quite difficult especially if one has to deal with distractions such as outside noise.

Another method is by reciting a mantra. A mantra is a phrase or a sound that is recited repeatedly. For Catholics, praying the rosary is a form of a mantra.

The repetition becomes the center of the meditation to which the person’s attention becomes focused.
There are other more methods by which meditation can help improve concentration. However, the two mentioned above are the most basic and could help beginners start out with the practice.