Meditation techniques: What to choose?

Transcendental Meditation techniques and methods: What to choose? 

In this article, we will discuss meditation techniques, and what to choose There are many meditations in the world, not only going back to antiquity, as we used to think but also the creatures of the XX century. The latter have not arisen out of anywhere and in one way or another based on the achievements of meditation techniques of the past.

Meditation techniques: What to choose?

1. Meditation techniques and methods in different cultures.
2. The connection of the term "meditation" with yoga.
3. Meditation techniques in Buddhism.
4. The benefits of meditation.
5. Meditation Techniques for Beginners.
6. What tangible goals can be realized through meditation?
7. Self Awareness and Meditation.
8. Simple Meditation Techniques.
9. Yoga Meditation Techniques.

Meditation techniques and methods in different cultures.

We want to emphasize that the choice of techniques is enormous. One may prefer the Eastern meditation methods practiced in Tibet, India, Thailand, Vietnam, Japan, and China. These include:

• Zen meditation.
• mantra meditation.
• mindfulness meditation.
• breathing meditation.
• candle flame meditation, or trataka.
• sound meditation.
• Vipassana course.
• qigong meditation.
• Taoist meditation.

This once-over could go on for eternity. In Buddhism alone, more than 40 techniques are coming from the depths of time, not counting those that were added by adherents of Buddhism in later times.

The Western tradition also has its methods of meditation. People who are not inclined to classify prayers as such should recognize that they are nothing less than word meditation or meditation-reflection. A typical example of calming the mind, putting it in a meditative state, is with the help of Jesus' Prayer.

The connection of the term "meditation" with yoga.

The term 'meditation' itself comes from the Western custom, from the word - 'to meditate'. The term is not used in Eastern cultures. Instead, we may hear the words 'Dyan' in Hindi, 'tam somatic in Thai, 'tien' in Vietnamese, and if we listen carefully we will realize that the roots of these words are directly related to Sanskrit.

In the yogic tradition, the penultimate stage of ashtanga yoga, practicing meditation, is called dhyana, and the highest stage, the state of enlightenment, the dissolution of consciousness in the very object of meditation and connection with the Being - samadhi.

Meditation techniques in Buddhism.

Meditation in Buddhism is more than just a technique. Although meditation is a means to concentrate and calm the mind, at the same time, it has its own inner meaning, it is valuable in itself. Not for nothing, it is often called the art of meditation, and as with any art, its functionality is not the main thing. It is the intrinsic value of meditation that comes first.

The Benefits of Performing Meditation.

However, the topic of this article is more focused on the practical aspect of meditation, so we need to consider in detail the functions of meditation, what it can lead to and what goals it will help to achieve, how it will help to improve our lives.

• Positive aspects of meditation.
• Improving physical and mental well-being.
• Filling the body with new energy.
• gaining tranquility of mind.
• Learning to concentrate.
• a change in thinking, a positive direction.
• awareness of life and seeing it in a new way.
• helping to replace bad habits with more constructive ones.

These goals can be achieved by doing meditation regularly, preferably daily, at least a little at a time, starting with 10-15 minutes in the morning or evening.

Meditation Techniques for Beginners.

It is recommended that beginners approach meditation more constructively, having clear goals. You can contemplate the specialty of meditation later, however in the present moment, when you're simply beginning, you need to concentrate on the technique of doing it, the conditions, and the state of consciousness in which to approach the practice. Starting and preparing for meditation is just as important as warming up at the gym. It's not easy to just jump into meditation, so you need to set your mind and think about what meditation is and what goals you would like to achieve with it, and only then can you begin the meditation process itself.

What realistic goals can be achieved through meditation?

At the point when you meditate, your body and psyche rest. Ideally, the mind should be able to rest and disconnect from sensory experience, giving it a respite from the daily cycle of thought. In this, no other experience can compare to the practice of meditation.

You work on your capacity to focus. One well-known western popularizer of meditation practice compared meditation concentration to tea, a tea ceremony, calms and sets the mind in a certain direction, whereas coffee can be compared to the concentration in the way people of the western mindset understand it-a rapid stimulation of nervous activity to do the next thing, without a break, drinking it on the go to run again and have time to complete the next item of the plan.

Your perception is activated. Even though you don't seem to be awakening the activity of your senses in any way, quite the contrary, you muffle, slow down, and sometimes turn them off altogether, and yet by practicing meditation, you remain in a vigilant state of warning. After you emerge from meditation, your cognitive abilities improve and your intelligence and memory levels rise. This has been confirmed by numerous scientific studies.

Life's goals become clearer. You find real purpose in place of the artificial ones society has imposed on you. Many meditation practitioners come to this conclusion. Their set of values changes and they get rid of external layers, and true values come to the surface. You understand yourself better.

    

Self-knowledge and meditation.

Self-knowledge, not only in the meditative sense of the word as awareness of your body, feelings, thoughts, phenomena, but also self-awareness of yourself as a person, becomes striking. You enter the road of self-knowledge. No books or theoretical knowledge can replace this. The depth of self-knowledge comes through the practice of meditation, it's knowledge directly, you get it by looking deep into yourself, into the depth of your consciousness.

What thousands of people are striving for, attending psychotherapy sessions, is achievable on their own, by jumping into their mind, by considering their "self" through reflection. We can say a lot more about how useful and effective the influence of meditation on the spiritual state and psychological health of a person is, but it is time to turn to the practical part and tell about the meditation techniques that you can use on your own.

Simple meditation techniques.

• The first technique, consists of observing the breath.

You can take a comfortable position so that your spine is straight. Prepare to remain motionless for at least 15 minutes, or better yet, 24 minutes. Twenty-four minutes is said to be optimal for the effects of meditation. Take a full yogic breath and then just start observing the breath. Turn all thoughts to this process only. There is nothing more important to you now than the way you breathe, watch the air going in and out. Thus you can mentally count breaths;- it will allow your thoughts not to be scattered in different directions, and to be on a track of meditation. Then slowly leave a meditative condition and return to the usual affairs.

• The second technique, the essence of which is to bring the mind into a natural state.

Calm down your mind using the performance of a series of 21 breaths and an exhalation, simply observing the breath as you did in the previous technique. This will be the setting for practicing the second technique. You will now observe your feelings, emotions, and thoughts. The point here is to keep track of all the feelings that pop up, the mental images, without pushing them away, without evaluating them, without preferring one over the other. You just have to let them quietly appear and disappear. You'll notice that your uncriticism and contemplation of the passing images helps them go away. Let new ones take their place, but you continue to observe, forming the habit of intelligent concentration and contemplation.

Later on, if you want to practice yoga, this will be a good help to you, because the ability to focus and observe is a key aspect of hatha yoga practice.

• The third technique, is mindfulness

Before you start practicing mindfulness, think about yourself, self-awareness, do a series of 21 breaths and exhalations, and begin the practice. This time it consists of not concentrating on your breathing or on images floating through your mind or emotions. You don't notice them, ignore them, they shouldn't occupy you, try to be aware only of your consciousness. If you can remain unperturbed and not be distracted by inner images, after a while you will notice that there is a certain immovable part of you, of inner consciousness, that is always there. This is it, "awareness of awareness.

Yogi Meditation Techniques.

The yogi practice employs several meditation techniques, beginning with a concentration on and control of the breath through the practice of pranayama, which logically leads to the practice of mindful directed observation meditation, where the highest form becomes the dissolution of consciousness in the Absolute, the connection with the cosmic energy.

Beginners may do the simplest pranayamas without holding their breath, i.e. technically these pranayamas can only be called preparation for them. You can also practice meditation on the object, including trataka. Complementing these types can be meditation related to sound, i.e. mantras.

Yoga meditation techniques are so tightly connected to Buddhist tradition, that it is difficult to draw a line where Buddhist meditation techniques end and something fundamentally new begins. Let's not forget that both traditions are based on the teachings of Vedanta. It's no coincidence that they have a lot in common.

Whichever way you choose to meditate, remember that when you start practicing meditation your life will change. You are embarking on a path of self-discovery. It is a marathon where there is no finish line. There is no time in the sense that we are used to it - everything goes on in its turn, there is no time limit, you get to know yourself without striving to be the first. You are already first for yourself because you have chosen the path of knowledge.