| Sometimes, simply by sitting, the soul collects wisdom. -Zen proverb |
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| Meditation |
| Disconnect from the chaos ~ Re-connect with yourself |
| Meditation takes time, patience and consistent practice. The goal, to move concentration inward,
free from thought and outside entanglements. You don't have to sit for hours, have a fancy meditation room,
or travel to a meditation center. You may not perfect it until after making numerous attempts. The benefits
are well worth your efforts. They include relaxation, stress reduction, inner-awareness, enhanced creativity,
connection to your higher self. You empower yourself to overcome negative emotions, to respond, not react.
Used for centuries by religious practitioners for spiritual contemplation and to achieve divine union. Today, meditation is not only practiced by mystics. People from all walks of life are seeking alternative methods to reduce the stress and tension of daily living. Meditation is one of those alternatives. Well understood for years in the wholistic community, the mind, body, spirit connection is now reaffirmed by many in traditional medicine. Relax your body, quiet your mind, reduce anxiety, and stress. When negative energy is released, our physical and mental health improves. Our creative abilities are enhanced, and we become open to connect with our Spiritual self. There are many schools and types of meditation, various techniques that can be used. There is no one right method. There is moving, walking, chanting, breathing, passive, mindful, guided, to name a few. Different spiritual and religious groups have defined meditation techniques that are used. You may use different techniques for specific situations. Whichever style you use, wherever you choose to commune, whatever helps to relax your body and quiet your mind, is the right method for you! Here are a few tips to get you started: ~Breathing is very important to the process. Deep, slow, even breaths help calm you. Not just for meditation but when you feel upset or under stress. Practice your breathing wherever you are. Proper breathing energizes your body, gets the blood flowing and will return your mind and body to center. You'll eliminate or minimize anger and frustration. A simple, yet powerful mantra you may find helpful when practicing your breathing and particularly during stressful moments: Breathing in, I dissolve tension, fear, anger, jealousy, resentment, attachment Breathing out, my heart is open, I am creative, calm, compassionate, loving, generous ~Find a quiet place you can sit without distractions. Use a straight back chair or the floor with your back supported. Close your eyes and try to relax, allowing the eyes to rest in a soft downward gaze creates an immediate relaxing effect. Don�t worry about focusing or thinking �I have to meditate now�. Just sit quietly for five to ten minutes. You don�t have to time yourself, eventually you will be able to sit for longer periods. Try to be consistent with your start time and place. This will accustom your mind and body to have a sacred, quiet time. If you find music won�t be distracting by all means use it. Scent is a proven method to enhance relaxation as it goes straight to the brain center. Incense or essential oil in an aroma lamp work well. ~ Find your breath, imagine breathing in through your feet up to your navel, your power center. From your navel, travel upward to your heart center. Then up to the crown of your head, your Spiritual center. Visualizing a light of energy, connect those centers as you breath in the positive, healing, soothing energy. Visualize the light energy traveling through your body, from your crown all the way through your toes as it anchors you to the earth. Connect yourself to this energy source as your breath evens and you become more relaxed. As you sit you might find that your mind is busy with thoughts of what�s next on the list of things to do. Acknowledge the thought and let it float away. One visualization technique you may find helpful is to treat your thoughts like a leaf floating on a river. Notice the leaf as it lingers near you for a moment, don't try to push it away, you are simply acknowledging its presence. Then watch it float away as the current carries it downstream. Patience, consistency, practice. Read Jack Kornfield's wonderful analogy following resources. �Khallimaya 2002 Resources: Meditation Tips & Techniques Osho Visual Inspiration Desktop Meditations Unified Heart Chakra Meditation Unified Field Meditation "...meditation is very much like training a puppy. You put the puppy down and say, "Stay." Does the puppy listen? It gets up and it runs away. You sit the puppy back down again. "Stay." And the puppy runs away over and over again. Sometimes the puppy jumps up, runs over, and pees in the corner or makes some other mess. Our minds are much the same as the puppy, only they create even bigger messes. In training the mind, or the puppy, we have to start over and over again." -Jack Kornfield ~ Buddhist Monk, Author |