Meditation
Meditation and yoga have been used for thousands of years in order to promote a balanced mind, better physical health and ultimately freedom from all suffering. While hypnosis helps to overcome specific problems, meditation is holistic and helps to improve all areas of life. Outlined here are simple meditations and breathing techniques, which you can use to improve the quality of your life.
- Meditation on Breath
- Breathing Techniques
- Meditation on Goodwill and Compassion
- Meditation on Emptiness
- Meditation as a Way of Life
- Meditation centres in Brighton
Meditation on the breath
Technique:
Quite simply this meditation involves sitting and watching the breath. Simply let the breath come and go naturally either focusing on the whole of the lungs or being aware of the more subtle sensations around the nose. Each time the mind wanders, bring it back to the breath in a gentle and relaxed way.
Purpose:
Creating calm:
The breath is a good natural anchor to still the mind as it continues throughout the night and day. Watching it can have a great calming effect as it rhythmically enters and leaves the lungs like waves breaking on the shore. It can also be helpful to imagine stress leaving the body as black smoke and relaxation entering the body as white light.
Becoming present:
Watching the breath brings the mind into the present. The mind naturally wanders to thoughts of the past and future all the time. The mistake often made during this meditation is to feel bad for daydreaming and become disheartened. The trick instead is to congratulate the part of the mind that realises when the mind has wandered, so that you become peacefully aware of the new present moment. This actively encourages the conscious mind to wake up and be still more often, improving each meditation. Also be aware of posture, if thinking about the future you might be leaning forward too much and by simply sitting upright again you can become more present.
Developing acceptance:
Quite simply if we are able to be happy simply watching the beauty of the breath for long periods of time we will become less irritable and more at peace with the world. We often experience mild restlessness, drawn to pleasure and repelled by discomfort. By accepting situations that are beyond our control, we will act more rationally and put ourselves in a better position to make any changes.
When and how to practice:
It can be helpful to allot just a few minutes or more a day to formally sitting for meditation. You can try kneeling or sitting cross-legged on several cushions, or sit on a fairly high chair. When sitting try to keep your spine upright and your posture relaxed. It's good to imagine the back of your skull being gently pulled upwards and the base of your spine downwards.
You can however practice this at any opportunity such as while on the train or waiting for a friend. This highlights the fact that meditation is not just something we have to sit down to do, but by bringing our awareness to the breath at any time can be of great benefit.
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Breathing Techniques
The breath is a direct link between the conscious and subconscious mind. It reflects emotions so that when stressed it is fast and irregular and when relaxed it slows right down to become smooth. In this way by bringing the breath into the conscious mind and altering our breathing we can have more influence over our emotions.
7-11 breathing
A simple and effective way in which we can regain control over a situation and dilute any unwanted emotions is to breathe in while counting to 7 and breathe out more slowly, counting to 11. This encourages the activation of the parasympathetic nervous system, which aids relaxation. Further to this, focusing on the numbers when counting moves brain activity away from the right hemisphere emotional centres to the left hemisphere logical centres of the brain. This technique is particularly useful for alleviating anxiety and can be used discretely in public.
Alternate nostril breathing (a Pranayama exercise)
Pranayama is a system of yogic breathing techniques which regulate the flow of energy in the body and mind in order to restore balance. Start this exercise by covering one nostril with your thumb and breathe in through the other. When your lungs are full hold your breath for a few seconds. Then release that nostril, cover the other and breathe out. Breathe in with the same nostril, hold for a few seconds and change nostrils again. Breathe deeply and keep changing nostrils when your lungs are full. Do this 10/15 times. It is said that this exercise balances the two halves of the brain and also calms the mind and nervous system. Many people believe that it also helps cure many diseases.
Meditation on Goodwill and Compassion:
Technique:
To start, still the mind by focusing on the breath. Then begin to cultivate a feeling of gentle goodwill and deep respect towards yourself. You might like to internally repeat the words 'may I be well and happy' or imagine a warm glow of acceptance spreading from your heart. Next pass this feeling of goodwill and acceptance on to a friend, wishing them well. Next onto someone who you have neutral feelings towards. Then pass this feeling of unconditional love onto someone you have difficulty with. And finally spread that feeling to every living being.
Purpose:
Developing an open-heart benefits yourself and all those around you, while blame and anger simply leads to more suffering. If someone acts maliciously this is because they themselves have internal pain and so out of compassion we should generate the desire to free them from their suffering. We are all living, breathing humans who simply want to be happy. By cultivating a clear mind full of unconditional love, difficult issues are most likely to be resolved.
When and how to practice:
Spend 10 minutes or more on this meditation, a few minutes on each stage. You can try kneeling or sitting cross-legged on several cushions, or sit on a fairly high chair. When sitting try to keep your spine upright and your posture relaxed. It's good to imagine the back of your skull being gently pulled upwards and the base of your spine downwards.
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Meditation on Emptiness:
Technique:
There isn’t much of a formal technique to this meditation. The intention is simply to encourage awareness. All that’s important is the cultivation of openness to the movements of consciousness, which means that there is no right or wrong experience.
This openness to whatever lands in awareness can be aided by inducing a sense of curiosity. Lightly placing questions such as, “what is this life?” ,“where is this feeling?” or, “when is this happening?” helps to bring about that sense of intrigue. When the ever present moment is experienced with freshness, we are best able to connect to the miracles of life, in a non-judgmental way.
It can also be helpful to notice specifically where the mind is stuck, and give that expression space. The mind tends to push and pull with life, sometimes in quite a harsh way. The objective isn’t to change this tendency, but instead to simply wake up to it with compassion. Pains and emotions often manifest as feelings in the body. By letting go of giving weight to the storyline behind thoughts and gently facing the feelings in the body, gives them space to heal.
The Philosophy:
The term ‘emptiness’ refers to the fact that everything in the universe is subject to change and has no solid, inherent existence. And because everything is interconnected in this way, this also means that there is no fixed self in the sensory world, but merely constantly changing objects of mind.
Suffering arises due to attachment to the unrest caused by the formation of beliefs about ourselves and the world. ‘Waking up’ to life occurs when we connect to the expressions of reality with an openness which is free from attachment. By allowing all of life we become liberated from suffering at the mercy of our delusional thought patterns and experience peace and clarity, flowing in harmony with life. When all striving ceases we realise that we inherently know our true nature which is ‘non-dualistic,’ beyond the constraints of time and space.
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Meditation as a way of life
Good intentions to have a daily practice to sit for meditation can often fall by the way side in our busy lives. That's why it's a good idea to go to a group to keep the momentum going.
Further to this it's important to remember that meditation doesn't always have to be about discipline and formal sittings, it can be more of a way of life. The principles above can be applied to our daily lives and applied whenever we need them.
Mindfulness
Often when doing habitual tasks we daydream. It might be that during these light trance states we are thinking about the past or the future, but we are rarely present. At these times it can be beneficial to move your awareness around your senses, letting go of any other concerns. For example, when washing up you can become aware of the sensation of the water on your skin, or the sight of the shapes under the water or the sounds that the water makes. When eating, you can slow down and even close your eyes so that you can devote your awareness to the tastes. By practicing this kind of mindfulness more often you will find you develop a much deeper connection with the world discovering that your senses become much sharper, more acute and you are able to enjoy the simplest of things.
Meditation centres in Brighton
Bodhi Garden [External link] www.bodhigarden.org
Western Buddhist Order [External link] www.brightonbuddhistcentre.co.uk
Bodhisattva Centre [External link] www.meditateinbrighton.com
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