how to meditate

When we listen good music, natural scene like sun set or sun rise one feels good as it takes us to a  relax state of mind. However meditation goes beyond simple state of relaxation, it brings a complete thought less relaxed mind. Music, reading or visualization is not suggested in meditation as it  can bring some amount of thoughts.

We know that thoughts and emotions are like violent water waves over the surface of pond. when it occurs we can not see bottom of pond, but when  these waves are silent one can see the bottom of pond clearly. In a similar way thought less relaxed mind is like a pond water with no waves. Salient but alert mind is not a easy task. bcause alert mind is always surrounded with some kind of thought and emotion generated by conscious and subconscious mind.
But if some way such silence is achieved, it  helps meeting your super conscious hidden deep in our mind...whenever such event occurs one  may experience it like meeting a god. it will not happen in just one day..but if one practice regularly, it is most likely to meet your god one day.

To start meditation choose time and place where you can have your privacy and no external disturbance like mobile and TV for the time meditation is done. Choose a place where you can perform this repeatedly over a long period of time. Do some breathing and starching exercise as it help distress your self and prepare mood for meditation. It is not mandatory but it is desirable as one can train mind easily if it done repeatedly the same way and at same place. It means as soon as u will enter in the room and do exercise mind will understand that its time to meditate. It is similar to the events like when we see toilet and feel like going toilet. Whenever we see kitchen we salivate for eating something…whenever we see tv we search remote. And whenever we see deities picture our hands lift and eyes closes for prayer.

follow following sequence for practicing meditation:

1. Sit at one place with closed eyes and doing nothing, not a easy task to start with, as sudden itching sensation..pains will start appearing in different part of body which will keep on distracting or disturb your mind. Your mind will compel you to move …and provoking thought one after another will try to overcome you. to prove that whatever you are doing is a  bull shit. Don't listen to it after few session this will disappear. As you feel comfortable increase time
2. Posture is not very important. But I prefer sitting on chair and hands on my lapse spine erect or otherwise sitting on ground with crossed legs hands resting on ankle with palms up and keeping spine erect and straight.
3. If successful then start noticing emotion, thought, words appearing in mind from next time onwards. But don’t give attention to it and don’t start any dialogue with it. with time these emotions, thoughts and words start reducing in quantity and intensity and you will slowly start drifting towards heaviness and feel sleepy. Certainly a good sign.  micro sleep are normal but avoid long duration of sleep.
4. If you are really feeling too sleepy,  it only means that your body need rest…so allow it to sleep but remember when you are awake continue meditating at least for 5 minutes before leaving place. Believe me it will give an wonderful feeling.
5. Otherwise one can overcome uncontrolled sleepiness by doing meditation with half open eyes.Doing with sitting posture while keeping spine erect and straight will also help avoiding sleepiness. This is considered to be difficult stage one has to be persistence. soon you will be able to do it effortlessly.
6. After some time, mind and body will learn to stay calm and awake without doing anything and mind without indulging internal and external dialogue.
7.  After few days practice you may experience one or all of this with no particular order during meditation 
1. A color full patterns start at centre of the eyes. Or a bright light or a certain color remains 
2. You may start seeing glimpse of picture or short dream about known or unknown
3. Picture of your deity or guru may appear
4.  You may experience sudden numbness in certain body part or feeling pains and fatigue
5. You may hear noise, music or unexplained sound
6. You may experience vibrations at different part of body. Some time feeling as if whole body expanding and contracting in rhythm.
7. Some time feeling like floating in air.
8. Some times your nose may fill with smell…bad or good
9. Some time your old memories may become alive as dream.
10.  Some time you see a new place meet new people in dream like situation
11.  Not aware of your body and time, as if you were  unconscious

I m also at step 7 and experiencing (a) to (k) at different times of meditation. so can not comment more then that on meditation, it is not that important , what you feel during meditation. more important how you feel after meditation.
one thing for sure that after effects of meditation are wonderful.  As I am progressing my mind body relationship getting better day by day. My quality of life is improving. nagging, anxiety, anger reduced to great extent. No prolong state of anger or fear. experiencing full of energy, good quality sleep in less hours.... means more time to devote for my hobbies and interest. World around me looks more friendly.

Mediation experience can't be explained, it can only be felt by an individual, regualr practice of it creates an extra ordinary state of mind and body. It gives us something extra ordinary. Something beyond the approach of our logical active mind. On a scale of 0 to 10 one can have varying degree of meditation even having meditation at level of 2-3 when one feel like state of relaxation can create wonders to us. So when ever possible have it, experience it and enjoy it. just keep practice and ripe the fruit of true joy and happiness. 
Meaning full solution to the issue are result of concentration and contemplation on the issue which is effectively achieved through meditation. its a cycle as below 

Relax>>Meditation>>Contemplation>>Concentration>>Relax 

Before meditation clearly define issue and then carry out above cycle on it during meditation let idea from your subconscious mind flow towards conscious zone. most of the itme those idea will be in raw form which need further contemplation and concentration refine the idea and carry out this cycle with new information few times till you get clear and complete solution 

durwesh

why to meditate

under the influence of deep silence, when we stop talking, nagging, complaining.... in a period of few second silence god may like to talks to us.

How you feel when you hear a good piece of music, watching sunrise or sun set, chating to a friend over a cup of coffee to whom you met after a long gape… All these creates feel good situation and gives a relaxing feel … right!

Today under tremendous pressure of life we have forgotten natural ways to relax. Now all the time we are under such a pressure of life that even sleep looks impossible. This has resulted into deteriorated health and many fold increase in Psychometric illness, so what to do?

After all why we need relaxed mind?

Our mind also get tired and confused but its working do not stop even if we stop our physical activity. It goes with unending chattering of arguments of thought one after another. Thought carries emotion like anger, hate, fear, happiness…sadness, jealousy…and many more and we do not know how to stop thought and relax it. It looks as if we have no control over it. Even  sitting idle but mind’s unending chattering of arguments drains out all energy because whether one like it or not our subconscious mind forces our body to execute these emotion and carries out all physical and chemical changes necessary to express that emotion resulting into over working of certain organs representing those emotions. Like liver is for anger, kidney for fear, lungs for sadness. By the time we know those changes consciously …its too late. So whole day beside body doing its normal physical labor side by side it keeps on reacting to the various emotion 24x7…result is stressed life.

We all know how to relax a tired body…simple …just stop physical labor and move body to comfortable atmosphere and body returns to normal state, But our mind most of the time under situation of flight or fight or freeze. Do not know how to bring mind to its normal relaxed state.

For many of us all the time we remains under the  state of stress and we take it as normal. Under continues stress body start showing symptoms in the form of poor digestion, high BP, head aches, diabetes, heart problems…under the state of stress, mind consider it as emergency situation and it disturbs natural body rhythm and functions by abruptions, stopping or slowing down least necessary activities like repair and cleaning and digestion. Which in turns is a invitation to more serious problem, as we all know that these activities are very very important to support life.

Although emotions like happiness and joy are better then sorrow, fear guilty or anger. but happens and But still these emotion create disruption in natural function of our body. Moreover, joy and happiness  can not remain for ever it has to end and then negative emotions follows.  

Our mind need to be at neutral and relaxed state state so that body can do function like cleaning and repair rejuvenate effectively. Normally these activities are best carried out during relaxation and sleep  but both  sleep and relaxation is rare. Sleep is also not at best as we sleep with problems.

Disturbed and stressed mind is like city on fire or facing riots and strikes.. How can normal function of city like cleaning repair and construction can be carried in city on fire, on riots and strike.  Normal function of city like cleaning, repair supply and transportation are affected badly. All resources of the city are mobilized to control riots and strike. If this continues…then disrupted supplies, piles of garbage, closed market and hospitals and badly affected life supporting services jeopardize city. Garbage on the street becomes source of rats, flies and many more infectious insect and germs.

Now there are two ways to get rid of those infection. 1- spray insecticides over it . 2- remove the garbage. Removing garbage is considered to be the best option, under such circumstances city often go for insecticides, instead of allowing municipal to lift  garbage.

Similarly our body needs neutral condition, relaxed mind so that body get rid of its toxins and unwanted material naturally. So healthy way is to allow our body to function naturally, but most of the time we don’t allow body to function normal because all the time our mind is abnormal under stress and we go for quick remedies like medication.

Even lowest level of relaxation helps, as it helps returning mind to normal state which lowers stress levels which in turns helps to regain strength and leads to healing and repair mechanism to work. 

But we sleep under the stress as if a person climbing a mountain with big bag of load on his back. Even if he stops climbing, He can not relax until and unless he removes bag from his back. Same way sleep can not make one relaxed until and unless he removes burden from his mind as he removes bag of load from his back. Relaxing mind is an  science and as well as art one has to learn and practice.

We need to relax mentally and physically. We all know one method that is sleep. Although we all know how to sleep and when to sleep, even after that we go with sleepless nights, suffers insomnia, let us find some thing which is better then sleep or at least compliment sleep to certain extent and helps us bringing true joy and happiness to life. Can we have a situation when body is physically at rest, we are fully awake and mind not thinking anything.

Yes, you are right!

That’s called meditation. We all goes through it many times in our life unknowingly, and when ever it happen we are filled with joy and happiness.  Can we have that deliberately!... the answer is yes.

The word meditation is misunderstood most of the time with relaxation..relaxation is not a meditation by itself, relaxation only helps one to go into the meditative state. Although music, pictures, natural scenes or visualization is good for relaxation but to meditate one has to leave all these as they can bring some amount of thoughts and emotions. which can disturb getting into meditation.

Please note that meditation is not a concentration or contemplation. It is a state of thought less ness. a state of mind, when one stops all internal and external dialogue and thoughts and just be quiet. one enter into meditative state. When one is in deep silence. It help body to absorb maximum cosmic energy and repair its energy circuits and clear energy blocks. Regain strength to fight invaders. Repairs cell and clean toxic material.

There are so many advantages to meditation. When I first originally thought of this post, I indeed wanted to make it 100 benefits long (think big right!), however, I was not sure that I could find more than 20-25 benefits on net. While searching I found much more …Well, I made it happen! Meditation is as powerful as I thought it would be. Here is the definitive list of benefits that meditation can provide you with. Please go through list and advice me on this:

Physiological benefits:

1- It lowers oxygen consumption.

2- It decreases respiratory rate.

3- It increases blood flow and slows the heart rate.

4- Increases exercise tolerance.

5- Leads to a deeper level of physical relaxation.

6- Good for people with high blood pressure.

7- Reduces anxiety attacks by lowering the levels of blood lactate.

8- Decreases muscle tension

9- Helps in chronic diseases like allergies, arthritis etc.

10- Reduces Pre-menstrual Syndrome symptoms.

11- Helps in post-operative healing.

12- Enhances the immune system.

13- Reduces activity of viruses and emotional distress

14- Enhances energy, strength and vigour.

15- Helps with weight loss

16- Reduction of free radicals, less tissue damage

17- Higher skin resistance
18- Drop in cholesterol levels, lowers risk of cardiovascular disease.

19- Improved flow of air to the lungs resulting in easier breathing.

20- Decreases the aging process.

21- Higher levels of DHEAS (Dehydroepiandrosterone)

22- prevented, slowed or controlled pain of chronic diseases

23- Makes you sweat less
24- Cure headaches & migraines

25- Greater Orderliness of Brain Functioning
26- Reduced Need for Medical Care

27- Less energy wasted

28- More inclined to sports, activities

29- Significant relief from asthma

30- improved performance in athletic events

31- Normalizes to your ideal weight

32- harmonizes our endocrine system

33- relaxes our nervous system

34- produce lasting beneficial changes in brain electrical activity

35- Cure infertility (the stresses of infertility can interfere with the release of hormones that regulate ovulation).


Psychological benefits:

36- Builds self-confidence.

37- Increases serotonin level, influences mood and behaviour.

38- Resolve phobias & fears

39- Helps control own thoughts

40- Helps with focus & concentration

41- Increase creativity

42- Increased brain wave coherence.

43- Improved learning ability and memory.
44- Increased feelings of vitality and rejuvenation.

45- Increased emotional stability.

46- improved relationships

47- Mind ages at slower rate

48- Easier to remove bad habits

49- Develops intuition

50- Increased Productivity

51- Improved relations at home & at work

52- Able to see the larger picture in a given situation

53- Helps ignore petty issues

54- Increased ability to solve complex problems

55- Purifies your character

56- Develop will power

57- greater communication between the two brain hemispheres

58- react more quickly and more effectively to a stressful event.

59- increases one’s perceptual ability and motor performance

60- higher intelligence growth rate

61- Increased job satisfaction

62- increase in the capacity for intimate contact with loved ones

63- decrease in potential mental illness

64- Better, more sociable behaviour

65- Less aggressiveness

66- Helps in quitting smoking, alcohol addiction

67- Reduces need and dependency on drugs, pills & pharmaceuticals

68- Need less sleep to recover from sleep deprivation

69- Require less time to fall asleep, helps cure insomnia

70- Increases sense of responsibility

71- Reduces road rage

72- Decrease in restless thinking

73- Decreased tendency to worry

74- Increases listening skills and empathy

75- Helps make more accurate judgements

76- Greater tolerance

77- Gives composure to act in considered & constructive ways

78- Grows a stable, more balanced personality

79- Develops emotional maturity



Spiritual benefits:

80- Helps keep things in perspective

81- Provides peace of mind, happiness

82- Helps you discover your purpose

83- Increased self-actualization.

84- Increased compassion

85- Growing wisdom

86- Deeper understanding of yourself and others

87- Brings body, mind, spirit in harmony

88- Deeper Level of spiritual relaxation

89- Increased acceptance of oneself

90- helps learn forgiveness

91- Changes attitude toward life

92- Creates a deeper relationship with your God

93- Attain enlightenment

94- greater inner-directedness

95- Helps living in the present moment

96- Creates a widening, deepening capacity for love

97- Discovery of the power and consciousness beyond the ego

98- Experience an inner sense of “Assurance or Knowingness”

99- Experience a sense of “Oneness”

100- Increases the synchronicity in your life

Meditation is also completely FREE! It requires no special equipment, and is not complicated to learn. It can be practiced anywhere, at any given moment, Best of all, meditation has NO known negative side effects. For some starters it may be a waste of time, my advice to them is …let it be waste of time but remain consistent in practice and I guarantee you that with in a few weeks..results will prove them wrong.  Bottom line, there is nothing but positive to be gained from it! With such a huge list of benefits, the question you should ask yourself is, “why am I not meditating yet?”

please read next blog on how to meditate 

https://webmanthan.blogspot.com/2011/11/how-to-meditate.html