Before you begin, find a quite place with minimum distractions to
meditate and where you won't be disturbed for at least 20-30 minutes.
Use incense to charge the air with its aroma. If you choose the outdoors,
pick a quite beautiful place - among trees, in a gentle field, or
a river bank or by the sea.
Get yourself a comfortable chair or use a cushion to sit on the floor.
Sit with your back erect, balancing your head effortlessly. Let your
arms relax to your sides. Your hands rest open on your knees. To keep
the energy of Meditation alive, touch the forefinger of each hand
to the tip of the thumb. If sitting on the floor, have your legs crossed.
Have the feet flat on the ground if you are on a chair. Don't lie
down - beginners may fall asleep lying down.
Learn to weave your legs together with feet on the
thighs and sit on the floor in the Lotus position, which with practice
will become more and more comfortable. Recross you legs during Meditation
if it makes you more at ease. Make sure your body is never uncomfortable
during Meditation. Find a relaxing posture before you are ready
to being meditating for this promotes the right state of attention-awareness
for successful Meditation - remember you have to be in this position
through the process.
The breath is vital in attaining concentration. Deep
abdominal breathing for the first few minutes will pump oxygen to
the brain and cleanse your mind. Inhale through your nose filling
your lungs to their fullest capacity. If there are tense spots in
your body, consciously relax it. Exhale through your mouth. Exhale
the tensions that you are feeling. Gently slow down your breathing
process.
Now relax completely. Decide on your point of focus.
It could be a chant (syllable, word, phrase, prayer or an affirmation),
an image or one's own breath. The subject could vary in keeping
with your style of Meditation, but the objective of nourishing a
focal point is one and the same. It is advisable for the amateur
to begin with eyes closed, since focussing on an object with eyes
open could lead to distractions. (Use a sleep mask or ear plugs
to enhance the experiences of darkness and quietness.) A timer with
a gentle alarm would help in the initial stages to clock the period
you intend to meditate. Could be 10 minutes or more.
Proceed by meditating on the subject/point of focus
that you decided to use. Keep your attention on your breath while
doing this. Feel your breath move through your body. To the deepest
place in your lungs up to the furthest point from you that the air
moves from your exhalation.
Sequentially relax your muscles from head to feet.
If you are visualizing an image (with your eyes closed), continue
until you experience a soundless sensitivity. Gently release the
image from your mind and allow the feeling to linger. As this feeling
begins to lose vigour, go back to your image and re-energise yourself
to the desired state.
If you are meditating to music, keep returning your
mind to each note of the music - not to the melody or the structure
of the composition.
During the process, it is likely you are derailed
from the pathway of your focus. Your office desk. Your bills. Don't
let this discourage you and simply return to your chosen point and
being at peace. Train your mind to shut itself from needless thoughts.
Calming your mind is left up to you - not to your subject/point
of focus. Continue up to the preset period of time. Before concluding,
take a few more deep abdominal breaths and gently open your eyes.
Did your point of focus serve as a steady anchor
in the constant swirl of your thoughts?
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