I practice mediation for about 30 minutes each day. I can say, with certainty, that this practice has benefited me immensely. In my opinion and based on my practice meditation is :
- the act of attaining perfect silence of the mind.That is, to get the mind to cease thinking and stop the generation of thougths. To get the mind to focus on any one activity.Silence of thoughts is one such activity which is the original concept of meditation.
- the human mind is thinking all the time. Even as you are reading this you are thinking. That is, you are not focused fully on the act of reading this post. To purely read this (with complete concentration) is a form of meditation. To read with complete concentration i.e. focused reading with no other thoughts invading the mind at the time of reading is also meditation.
- to begin meditation, sit comfortably anywhere, in any pose, but with the back straight. That is you do not necessarily have to sit in Padmasana.
You may sit upright on a chair keeping your back straight. Face north if possible.Fingers in gyana mudra
-close your eyes lightly
-focus your mind (concentrate) on the middle of the eyebrows. Do not force your eyeball to move to see from the center of the eyebrows.
-sit still while keeping your mind focused on the center of the brows.
-do not actively think about any mundane activities like going over the day's activities.
- if you find thoughts flowing through the mind just watch the thoughts float by without getting involved in these thoughts.
- keeping breathing normally without focusing on the breathing (another breathing method is to actually focus on the breathing by mentally saying "soo" when breathing in and "hum" while breathing out.
- when you are meditating, you may keeping hearing all the noise from your surroundings.Please do not pay any attention to these noises. Your objective is to focus between your eyebrows and concentrate on the thoughts that float by without getting involved with these thoughts. It is just like watching the water in the river go by without getting into the water.
- keeping doing this daily (say 10 to 30 minutes a day) till you can reach a stage, in 3 to 6 months, when you actually get the mind to stay blank during meditation. That is you do not have thoughts floating by.
- do not be too concerned if you do not seem to be able to be a passive observer of the thoughts floating by in your mind during meditation. The moment you think you are getting involved with your thougths, just detach yourself again and again.
- do not be too concerned with the apparent lack of progress. If you follow the above, you will notice progress in course of time. This depends upon how long and how frequently you practice meditation.
Some of the benefits of the continuous practice of meditation are:
a) Reduced anxiety and stress
b) More energy
c) Clearer thinking
If you have any comments on this post I will be glad to hear from you.
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