All round general informative article on Meditation..

[Eugene66]

Meditation
Meditations can be used as the ultimate tool for many things on the spiritual path. You can calm your body, mind and emotions by applying your intent to do so. This begins with meditation. We also use meditations to change our mind sets faster than if you didn’t meditate.

During my life and especially when I went through deep pains I was wondering why one feels in love with reality or enlightened and then a few days later everything is dense again. Why was it that sometimes manifestation and synchronicity happens instantly and regularly and at other times it seems like it was just a dream that is over? Why do I keep falling back into old thought patterns that I know for a fact does not serve me at all anymore?

Meditation is a process of breaking away from old beliefs that, while it does not serve us anymore, it is still very much present in our day-to-day lives. In a sense what you don’t want is what you are in at the moment. You wish for one thing but society every day affirms something else. Because that was your way of life for so long it takes quite a lot of mind work and attitude adjustment to break free to a point where you cannot be pulled back into the illusions of life anymore.

There are many forms of meditation and they all serve their purposes. All in all the ones that I focus on are the ones that manifest a new reality for me. Most meditations are more a way to reaffirm new beliefs. If you can set aside at least twenty minutes to go within and meditate every day, you can reaffirm to yourself what your latest truths are and thereby strengthening them to hold until they become your habitual way of day-to-day thinking. Meditation is also a more focused way of thinking and thus creates the experiences you desire. You not only affirm your latest truth, you also create the experience of it so it affirms itself to you during the day.

The ideal state to be in is one of total experience and awareness. Sometimes you walk out into the world and everything just looks more focused, more magical. The colors seem brighter and the world is just so beautiful. Sometimes we stumble into that state for a short while and then out again. Meditation enables you to live in wakeful awareness and to be in that state constantly and to maintain it all the time. It is a point of knowing that you are in a paradise of your own creation.


The power of meditation.
Meditation like prayer is one of the most important things you can do in your life. This is not to say that it is an absolute must in your life but it really goes a long way towards focusing your being and setting up reality for you. This is mental preparedness for whatever whenever. It’s like giving orders to a private secretary to schedule your journey in advance for you. Meditation is not really necessary but it makes a great difference. Some would go so far as to say it makes all the difference.

Any task laid before you can be achieved with much more ease and efficacy when you took the time out to relax your body and mind and focus your being, preparing it for the task ahead. That is how meditations serve us in general.

On another plane we can tap into so many invisible forces that paves the way for us. Think of all the transactions running through the universe right now. Communications by satellite, wisdoms on websites, loving thoughts and feelings, wisdom for life and business, electronic money transfers and good opportunities zipping through the universe at incredible speeds. What if you can tap into that frequency just for an instant and get all the ‘stuff’ you can use in this moment of now? What if you can flick your wrist and catch just one good opportunity or one good win-win transaction or one profile contact of a person who can make you deliriously happy?

In effect that is what we do in meditation. We tap into the pool of all existence. Everything in the universe, be it matter or sentient beings, all of it has an intelligence that keeps it together and in the state that it manifests to us. Every thought, deed and feeling resides there with absolute clarity and unconditional understanding. In that space we place our intentions and aspirations. We resonate out like a beacon and send ripples through all that is. We attract perfect synchronicity by drawing the people who can benefit from us while we benefit from them. The infinite intelligence of the universe that we tap into has the perfect match for any venture you set your mind to.

Technique.
While there are lots of ways you can use to achieve lots of things with meditation I would like to say here that there is no one way to meditate. Don’t get stuck on technique. We can teach and discuss technique and see what works for us and what works better, but ultimately no one can tell you how to meditate. While there are numerous ways that will serve you well there is no specific right way in any one of these techniques. You have to ad your own flavor to your meditations and do what you find most comfortable for you. I can only suggest for you what I have found to work but in the end you will try some of these and find a blend of your own that you like. 

Posture.
We have three muscle groups in our bodies. We have the visible surface that we like to look at and develop in a gym. Then we have the deeper muscles that the more skilled muscle developers can develop and then we get the most commonly neglected group of muscles that maintain posture. These are the muscles that the Alexander Technique focuses on in their teachings.

The Alexander Technique is a study of many things with regards to body posture but for the sake of our purpose I am looking at the energy feature of it. This technique looks at how your whole outlook and optimism of life can be increased by simple management of your body energy and the correct flow of it. As we also work with energy and the flow of it in meditation I find the Alexander method the best teacher on posture during meditation.

There are three basic things I do when I sit down to meditate. First I imagine my body as a hollow container that has about a third of heavy sand in it. I sit and see this sand in my bottom end weighing me down. Then I imagine that my head is being pulled upwards as if it wants to float. The third Idea is that my spine vertebrae are stacked like bricks one on top of the other from the bottom up and then I sway my head and body a bit this way and that until they all align. I make sure that I am sitting on my ‘sitting bones’ on the sides of my coccyx.

When you maintain this position you will soon find that it takes virtually no energy to sit like this. You are using your core muscles while the rest can relax fully. In the beginning they get tired until they become more and more practiced in holding your posture this way. Later they become so developed and their muscle intelligence grows to such an extend that you will find sometimes you fall asleep and wake up again in this sitting position.

Quiet the mind.
This is always the biggie isn’t it? How many times we get stuck with this one? Think about how not to think. Well there are a few guidelines here that can work. I always look forward to a guided meditation that I never heard before because then I can be like an exploring inquisitive child again and keep my mind out of it by focusing it on the guidance.

When you quiet your mind your resonance automatically heightens. Our natural state is to be in heightened vibration but we have underlying and conscious thoughts that weigh us down all the time and prevent our vibrations from going to it’s ultimate. With these thoughts removed you have no resistance and this brings all your desires closer to you through the universal law of attraction.

Have a notebook handy.
Sometimes as you move off into meditation especially in the mornings you cannot help but think about things you have to do later. “Oh I mustn’t forget to call so and so and on my way out I must remember to take that thingy too this time because I would hate to come back for it and……..” It just doesn’t stop does it? If you have a notebook and pen handy then stop and write it down so you won’t forget. This puts your mind at ease and you can carry on. At best you can have a peaceful meditation and at worst you will have a to do list and an organized day. Gradually these lists will get shorter and shorter and your moments in between will get longer and longer.

Talk to yourself.
What you resist persists we all know that. So rather than to try and push your thoughts out just let them be. Look at them from an observer’s stance. Then talk to your mind. “I see you work well and you keep the matters of our concern in focus. I thank you for serving me so well, but right now I wish some peace for meditation so you may think and I am grateful that you do, but right now can you postpone this thinking for me? You can continue later.”

You can do the same with your physical discomforts. “Ok my wonderful body you are telling me that I have a pain in the neck from sleeping with the wrong pillow and my skin tingles when I feel this energy and I have a slight headache and a pain where I stumped my toe yesterday. Thank you for reporting to me. I hear you and I will deal with this in due course but right now you can leave me in peace so I can meditate and you can remind me again later.” Your mind and body are your friends and they will gladly comply.

From the observer then whenever you see a thought happening allow it, thank it and see it evaporate like mist or you can just see it parade past from side to side. By the way mine always appears slightly on the right side and then leaves the stage on the left. I wonder sometimes if everybody experiences it like this.

Use a mantra or a sutra.
Mantras and sutras are great to stop your mind. If you don’t know one then make up your own. Make a short sentence with a spiritual meaning that you can chant. It becomes like one of those silly tunes that you cannot get out of your mind but your thinking slows down and disappears. A mantra or sutra is a sound that you can make. You also get mandalas that you can look at with soft gaze for open eye meditations.

Mantras have a literal meaning while a sutra is a word or two with a whole pre studied concept behind it. Then you get some in between types that is like a key summary of a bigger thought.  The mantra “Ayah asha ayah.” for example means: “I am not who I was. I am who I intend to be.” Then you get the more condensed sutras. The sutra “Soo humm” “Soo” on the in-breath and “Humm” on the out-breath. In this sutra is the whole concept of you being part of all that is and your divine connection with all in creation. It is a whole page of words condensed into two words.

If you are working on a specific thought you can make a little rhyme out of it that loops back on itself to run repetitiously. “Every day in every way I am becoming better and better and that’s why every day in every way…” “Money comes easily and frequently to me so I read my bank statement with joy because money comes easily and frequently to me so I read…” You get the idea. Have some fun with it and put a little tune to it if you can.

Use a guided meditation.
Play a cd or tape and really listen to what is happening. Listen with real intent on hearing and seeing everything the way the person intends you to see it. If your mind has to be busy then keep it focused and busy on the meditation. You can also play plain soothing music and really focus on the beauty of the sounds you hear. When the sounds bring up emotions you can focus on those and just look at them. The seeing of them is the healing of them. That is all that is needed.

Speak out loud.
You can also pray in a meditative state. Speak to your guides and your angels or God or the universe, whichever you prefer. When you talk from your heart you have your whole being invested and focused in the intent of your speech.

Try a moving meditation.
If you are in such a rush that you cannot be still then do a walking meditation. Walk rhythmically while you put your intent and your thoughts out there. Park a block or two away from your destination and meditate while walking there.

These are some techniques that help in clearing or focusing your mind. There are a few other things that is also needed specifically for manifestation meditations that we spoke about so many times that I will just recap for now.

Get out of duality by leaving it or embracing it. Balance your male and female energies or Yin and Yang. You need the male for will and the female to create what you willed.
 

Get grounded properly at the beginning and after your meditation. Some people use drugs while others meditate. The ‘spaced out’ experience is the same and when you meditated it remains with you until you ground properly. Ground properly because you can end up in an accident. We draw part of our manifestation energy and quantum energy from mother earth. Grounding at the beginning of our meditation makes this easier.

The most common way to ground when you feel spaced out is to put your forehead on the ground for about a minute. Another way is to jump or to do a few skips when you walk. When you work with your hands in the ground or when you partake in physical pleasures you also ground. Physical pleasures reside and stimulate your lower three chakras and are thus good for grounding.

Have fun. Always.
The essence of a spiritual life is to have fun in living. When you do these things don’t make it a serious thing. Have fun doing it and smile and laugh at yourself and the world. Having fun and laughing is living with high resonance and opens you up to receive the abundance of good that the universe wants to give you.