A Short Introduction to Meditation

[aumara]

What is Meditation?

Meditation is a tool for creating a place of quietness within
yourself, a place where you can relax your body and mind.

What are the benefits of Meditation?


**Physical benefits**

reduction of stress and tension, lowering
of blood pressure, strengthening the immune system.


**Mental benefits**

activation of the right hemisphere of the brain, increasing the oxygen flow to the brain resulting in clearer thinking, better remembering, increased creativity and use of intelligence.


**Emotional benefits**

greater calm and sovereignty, increased self-esteem and improved relationships, ability to see the core of subconscious behaviour resulting in being more of an actor than a reactor.


**Spiritual benefits**

developing intuition, connecting to the Higher Self


How to meditate:

The secret to success in meditation is practicing REGULARLY.

You do not need to spend hours meditating - 10-15 minutes a day will do. If you don´t find time to meditate daily, then a few times a week or even a month are still better than nothing.


If you are new to meditation, here is how you can start:

Find a quiet place where you will be undisturbed for 30 minutes (again - at the beginning you will probably not meditate for more than 15 minutes, but it will take some time before to settle down and some time after to return). You may wish to choose a place in the house which you dedicate specifically for the purpose of meditation.


Sit down comfortably. You do not have to sit in the Yogi "lotus" position and you do not have to lie down, but it is
important that you are comfortable. Do not wear tight clothes and take off your belt, watch, glasses if you wear them.

Sit with your back straight and feet firmly on the ground,
hands on your knees with palms up or down - palms up allow for a freer flow of energy.

While some people meditate with their eyes open, we suggest
you close which will help you to focus.


For relaxation, do a short de-tensing exercise:

Stretch yourself in any way you feel comfortable. Inhale while you stretch and exhale while you loosen.

Dont´ forget to check you jaws which very often are tense.

To release the tension open your mouth, move your lips and
jaws as much as you can and relax.

When you feel comfortable and relaxed you will want to do a short exercise to let go of your worries for the next 30 minutes.


A helpful exercise you can use is imagining that there is a helper next to you. You can imagine this helper as being an angel, a figure from a fairy tale, a spiritual guide, a lightbeing, the Holy Spirit, whatever feels comfortable.

Trust that He/She will take care of all your troubles. Just let them all go. You can imagine that you are physically handing over to them a bundle of all your worries, or anything else that comes up in your mind.

When you feel that you are quiet and relaxed, just breathe deeply and consciously. Concentrate on your breath. At the beginning it is very helpful to count on your breath. You may want to count to five while you are inhaling, hold your breath while counting 1-2 and again count to five while you are exhaling. DO NOT try to count to 6 or 7 when your not ready for it - DO NOT force anything.


At the same time you way want to concentrate with your inner eye on the point between your eyebrows, just a little above the eyebrows, the so-called Third Eye or Ajna Chakra. Others prefer to turn their inner eye inwards, towards their body.

If you have difficulty with this, then just concentrate on the breathing and go with whatever comes up.

As you do this you will start relaxing deeper and deeper and you are now actually already meditating for a while, so just continue for a little while longer - see, feel and experience what happens.

At the beginning, when we just start to meditate, our whole system has to get used to this new situation where we totally relax and focus. Therefore, what you have done so far is enough for the first month of your mediation (provided you do it regularly, otherwise it will take longer). There are not fiexed rules regarding the length of the time period you are meditating.

You will come back from your meditative and relaxed state
whenever you will comfortable to do so.

When you feel that you are ready to come back, bring your attention back to your body, move it a little bit, slowly open your eyes, look around and see the things around you. Then stretch out in any way that feels necessary, while you come back to the here and now.

You will feel calm, refreshed and revitalized.

You have now taken the first step for a better life for yourself. Keep up the good work.

[Xlynia]

Thank you for that wonderful easy to follow introduction. I shall try it emidiatly. I do have a quesiton thought. I can already forsee a problem with me. I do not know how to release all my problems. I see my self sitting there trying to think of nothing, but then thinking that when I think of nothing, i'm thinking of something....wich is nothing. Does that make sense? I understand the third eye thing, but then wouldn't that be thinking of something too?
Could meditation be a tool in thinking hard about one thing that is bothering me? OR is its soul purpose to be clearing your mind of all and relaxing?

What are your ideas on clearing the mind....what to focus on besides breathing...and the third eye?

Thanks for your time! ME

[aumara]

Dear Xlynia,

Thank you for bringing up this very interesting and important question.
You are certainly right - When you are thinking of somthing, you are actually thinking of nothing, and vice versa.

It takes a lot of practice to clear the mind and simply 'be' during meditation, without thinking. Meditation is clearing your mind of those things that bother you rather than to think about them. This way you open up for your Higher Self which already has the answers to your problems - or rather challenges - and will then communicate them to you, during or after the meditation.

The key is focus, meaning you don't actually try to think about 'nothing' but you focus on something other than your thoughts, which is achieved by conscious breathing and concentration or focus. The focus on the third eye was given here a helpful tool.

Please come back to share with us how this meditation worked for you.

I invite other members to share their views as well

[Xlynia]

Hello again. AND again thank you for your insight. I have yet another question......

When you are in your "meditation" area, is it ok to have candles on, and music on and dogs running around, or should I seclude myself totally? (I appologize to all about my terrible spelling.) I can kind of hear your answer, something like " If you can tune them out then that's ok, or if the music helps you relax then that's ok" I am always so affraid that I'm doing something wrong....and then it wont do anygood....But then again, i've heard that there is no wrong way to pray either....so I guess this is the same thing. Oh I don't know...I guess that is why i've come here...hope i'm not too annoying..

Xlynia

[aumara]

Dear Xlynia,

Feel free to ask as many questions as you have, that is what this forum is for.

If you are just starting with meditation exercises, it is important to have your own space where noone will disturb you while you meditate. Anything that has a relaxing effect on you, like music or candles as you mentioned, can be helpful.

Dogs or kids running around, the telephone ringing in the middle of your meditation will easily distract you when you are a beginner to meditation. Once you have gained more practice, you will not even notice any noises or distractions.

Good luck with your meditation!