Meditation is a cornerstone of yoga.
The postures and movements of yoga are designed to make the body ready for meditation. Yoga strengthens the abs and the
back so that a student can sit comfortably for long periods of time. It also aids in flexibility of the spine, so that
the body's natural energy can flow eaasily. Yoga postures and breathing techniques serve to bring the right and left
hemispheres in sync, balancing one's thought processes and helping with focus and concentration.
True meditation - the absence of thinking or reacting in
response to stimuli - is extremely difficult to achieve. When people say that they are "meditating", they are actually
practicing one of thousands of techniques which are designed to quiet and focus the mind and eventually lead toward
the ultimate goal of meditation. Here is a very simple technique that anyone can use to begin a practice of meditation.
1. In an ideal situation, there would be a soundproof
meditation room, specially decorated with inspirational objects and/or paintings, that you could access any time you wanted
to. So, let's get real. Very few of us have such a place to go to, but we can generally find a place that is quiet
and comfortable, where we can remain undisturbed for 20 minutes or so. Turn off your phones and pagers, or have
calls forwarded to someone else during the time that you plan to meditate. If this is impossible - (having lived through
two 24/7 jobs at the Safety & Health Director for two major federal agencies, I do understand the
inability to turn off the pagers & phones!) - pick a time when you are unlikely to receive any calls.
(I have known students who were so dedicated that they set their alarms in the middle of the night so that they could wake
up and meditate relatively undisturbed at 2 or 3am.)
2. Try to meditate at the same time each day.
You will find that your body and mind will become attuned to a rhythm and you will be able to achieve a relaxed state
much more easily.
3. If there are distracting sounds in the environment,
you may want use headphones and listen to "white noise" or specially designed background sounds which balance the right and
left hemispheres of the mind.
4. Sit comfortably, with your spine as straight as possible.
If you place yourself into a totally reclined position, you may fall asleep. If you have difficulty sitting up straight,
you may use a hard back chair or sit with your back against a wall. [If you have problems sitting up straight, it may
be due to weak back muscles or weak abs. Some yoga poses which may help include cat/cow (back); bridge (back);
forward bend (back); double leg raises (abs); and variations of the boat (abs).]
5. Close your eyes. Make some micromovements to
get yourself in a comfortable position - - comfortable enough so that you won't have to move for the duration.
6. Now, simply begin to focus on the breath. Feel
the breath coming into your nose, into your lungs, and filling up your body. Then allow the breath to slowly exit, feeling
and sensing the entire path of the breath. Repeat this over and over.
7. As you continue, slow the breath down and attempt
to make the breath even. In other words, allow your inhalations and your exhalations to be approximately the same length.
Don't force anything. Let go of the effort. Simply "be" in the moment.
8. During this process, thoughts will come and
go. It happens. Allow the thoughts to simply flow away, like logs drifting down a river. Don't give them
any energy and allow them to simply float away. If you fight thoughts, you simply create more. Don't get discouraged.
This can take a lot of practice. Even monks who have practiced daily for years can have "off days", so don't
give up. The effort is worth it and the benefits are indescribable. You want to attain the ultimate in "witness
awareness" - being the "perfect" observer.
9. You may want to use a timer at the beginning,
especially if you are doing your practice in the morning before you have to go to work! Don't use an alarm
clock or anything which is really loud or jarring. Even though you may not think that you have reached a deep state,
your system doesn't need a shock like that. If you use background sounds, like ocean waves, you can use the soundtrack
to gauge your time. Once you really get established in a meditation practice, you can get lost in it and time
will simply fly by. (One time I sat for meditation and didn't really think I was successful, so I decided to get up
and get something to eat before I attempted it again. However, when I got up, I saw that 3 hours had gone by - not the
3 or 4 minutes that it seemed.)
Other notes and cautions: There are many "tricks" to
getting into meditation and accessing deeper and deeper states. There are also many meditation techniques which include
moving meditations of various sorts. Moving meditations are excellent for people who have a hard time sitting still.
You may also want to employ a physical or mental "trigger" mechanism, special physical exercises, specially designed music
or sounds, special symbols, special words (mantras), chakra visualization, color balancing, hypnosis/self-hypnosis, yoga nidra,
or other techniques to enhance your practice. The best technique is the one that you want to practice. If you
use a special word or group of words, like a prayer, mantra, etc., don't share that info with anyone else. Your technique
and your practice is your own business. Know that there is an extremely fine line between meditation and hypnosis, a
line that unethical persons can easily cross to use to their advantage. If you would like to advance in your practice,
make certain that you take classes from someone who has practiced meditation for a long time. Your meditation instructor
must be someone that you trust. Make sure that you avoid cults and avoid being ripped off by teachers who charge exhorbitant
costs for "personal mantras". For more information, email me!
