Welcome, dear readers! In this article, we'll explore the practice of meditation—what it truly is, its benefits, and why it’s worth incorporating into your life. Rather than starting with conventional definitions, let’s first clarify what meditation is not.
Contrary to popular belief, Meditation is not about adhering to specific postures or chanting mantras, although these elements can be part of the practice. It’s not about deliberately emptying your mind or achieving a particular result and trying too hard to meet these expectations can make meditation seem unattainable. It doesn’t involve intricate breathing techniques but rather encourages taking slow, deep breaths compared to our usual, automatic ones. Meditation isn't about performing special tricks. Instead, it’s about being present in everyday activities like driving, walking, or observing nature—simply being aware of the present moment.
Since meditation involves working with our thoughts, let’s first understand the nature of thoughts to appreciate why meditation is beneficial. Our minds are constantly in motion, shaped by our conditioning—cultural, social, or personal. Every thought is influenced by this background. Trying to escape from this conditioning can lead to further conditioning. Instead of suppressing thought, understanding the process of the generation of thoughts itself can free us from conditioning. The goal is not to analyze or introspect but to become aware of the intervals between thoughts. These gaps in thought are moments of silence, not related to the thought process, and experiencing them can liberate us from conditioning.
In essence, meditation is about being aware of our thoughts without identifying with them. This observation allows us to see thoughts objectively, avoiding automatic reactions. By observing the gaps between thoughts and the responses that follow, we gain freedom and the ability to choose our actions more consciously. Once there is freedom to move, there’s freedom to choose, and you can become active rather than reactive.
Meditation helps train the mind to focus and redirect thoughts, by allowing us to observe our thoughts without getting attached to them, thereby fostering deep relaxation. This practice of detached observation creates a space within, helping us dissect thoughts and assess their value. Through meditation, we charge our conscious mind, freeing it from rigid systems and fostering attention without effort or absorption. It allows us to understand our mind's operations—its responses, tendencies, and demands—without controlling or judging them. This awareness brings about stillness and liberation from the constraints of time.
Meditation can take various forms. One approach is single-point mindfulness, where you focus all your attention on a single object, like your breath or a candle flame. Another is open sense meditation, where you remain aware of everything flooding into your mind. Both practices involve focusing on your breath: slow, deep breaths activate the parasympathetic system (rest and relax) rather than the sympathetic system (fight or flight). This helps calm the mind and improve focus. Watch the show without engaging. In the beginning, your mind may wander, but that’s normal. The goal is not to control thoughts tightly but to notice them and return your focus to your chosen point. Over time, you'll learn that trying to control thoughts is less effective than observing them. Single-point meditation enhances focused thinking, while open sense meditation fosters broader thinking. Choose the approach that best suits your needs, whether for tasks requiring detailed attention or for broader creative thinking.
Meditation cultivates a state of pure attention, free from effort, division, or struggle. It’s about attention without boundaries, unlike concentration, which is limited and exclusive. True attention encompasses the whole, beyond the fragmented knowledge gained through concentration. It’s a state of learning without a fixed center, allowing for a deeper understanding of the mind and existence.
It's through meditation that we attain self-knowledge by observing thoughts and their origins. It’s a process of emptying the mind of accumulated constructs and beliefs that create resistance and isolation. To meditate effectively, we must relinquish self-centered activities and become aware of the totality of our thoughts and reactions. This awareness helps integrate and understand our inner consciousness, leading to greater emotional resilience and peace.
Meditation is a highway that connects you to your thoughts. It is the act of understanding one's own mind and heart, an act through which we understand the very origin of our thought and the thought process. And thus, maybe to reduce external stimuli which may give rise to new thoughts, to not confuse it with that arising from deep within, we close our eyes and try to sit very silently, without our attention fixed on anything, without making any effort to concentrate, with our mind as quiet as possible, for it is only then that we are able to hear everything: the far-off noises, those that are nearer, those that are very close by, the immediate sounds, it is at this moment that the mind is not confined to one narrow little channel. In this total stillness of the mind, there is no watcher, no observer, and therefore no experiencer at all; there is no entity who is gathering experience, which is the activity of the self-centered mind. To meditate is to purge the mind to its self-centered activities. Having traveled a certain distance in the road of meditation, you will find there is silence, a total emptiness. Such a mind is uncontaminated by society; it is no longer subjected to any influence, to the pressure of any desire. It is completely alone, and being alone, untouched, it is innocent. This whole process is meditation.
Those who find it difficult to be aware, can experiment with writing down every thought and feeling that arises throughout the day; write down your reactions of jealousy, envy, vanity, sensuality, the intentions behind your words and so on. If you write these things down whenever you can, and in the evening, before sleeping, go over all that you have written during the day, study and examine it without judgment, without condemnation, you will begin to discover the hidden causes of your thoughts and your feelings, desires and words. The important thing is to study with free intelligence what you have written down, and in studying it, you’ll become aware of your own state. In the flame of self-awareness, of self-knowledge, the causes of conflict are discovered and consumed. You should continue to write down your thoughts and feelings, intentions and reactions, not once or twice, but for a considerable number of days, until you are able to be aware of them instantly. Writing down what one thinks and feels, one’s desires and reactions, brings about an inward awareness, the cooperation of the unconscious with the conscious, and this in turn leads to integration and understanding.
Through meditation we know about ourselves, not only superficially, but the whole content of the inner, hidden consciousness. Without knowing all that and being free of its conditioning, we cannot possibly go beyond the mind’s limit. That is why, the thought process must cease, and for these cessations there must be knowledge of oneself but do keep in mind not to crave that cessation, you do it not by avoiding thoughts but by witnessing its origin.
Thus, meditation is not a set of techniques or rituals, but a profound exploration of the self. It is a practice of continuous self-awareness and the shedding of accumulated mental constructs, leading to a state of inner freedom and stillness. Unlike concentration, which focuses on narrow aspects, meditation emphasizes an expansive, boundary-free attention that fosters genuine insight and understanding. Through this process, one can transcend traditional limitations and achieve a deeper comprehension of the mind and existence. Through meditation, one can achieve profound self-knowledge and a deeper comprehension of life.
So, who actually benefits from this practice? Is it only the sages, or only someone who decides to leave everything else and only meditate? No. Anyone who chooses to do it will be able to share in its benefits. From personal experience, I can tell that this practice is super beneficial especially for those who have a hard time falling asleep. For most of us, our days are filled with constant doing, with very little or no time allocated for the mind to wander around freely. Thus, when trying to sleep, one ends up getting all sorts of thoughts to pop up in their head. Why it happens only during the time you want to fall asleep is because that's the only time in your day, when your mind becomes free to wander or to unclutter all that with which it has been cluttered with. However, such is not the case for those who meditate. As for them, they do have moments in their day to let their minds wander around freely. The thoughts that pop up in your head when trying to meditate are the same thoughts that would appear when the ones who don't meditate are trying to fall asleep. Thus, the more time you allocate for the mind to wander around freely, often referred to as meditation, the less of those thoughts start popping in your head when trying to fall asleep. Eventually, you will go from spending hours before falling asleep, after having laid down, to simply being able to fall asleep the moment you lay down, and that's because your mind doesn't have to deal with any of those thoughts, because throughout the day, you had time allocated for the thoughts to appear.
Also because of the breathing technique involved, which we hardly pay any attention to, during the day when we are only involved in doing, through meditation, we are able to experience the benefits of stress reduction. Slow long breaths activate the parasympathetic system (rest and relax) instead of the sympathetic system (fight or flight), as a result of which the body is less involved in producing stress hormones and more involved in the process of growth and development. On top of that, we are now open to receiving several other health benefits as a result of our parasympathetic system being activated more than the sympathetic one. Simply because we do not know about all those specific benefits doesn't mean that it doesn't exist.
In addition, through the process of meditation, you develop greater awareness of your thoughts and emotions which enables you to manage them more effectively. Before, you might have had to deal with negative emotions such as anger or fear, simply because the thought in your head dictated you to do so. However, now, as a result of meditating, you are more able to get into the gap between thoughts and the emotion that follows. This allows you to detect whether the thought is even valid or it's just a random one, instead of complacently feeling as the thought wants you to feel. Overtime, this leads to increased emotional resilience and a sense of peace.
Meditation is a versatile practice that can be tailored to your individual needs and preferences. By exploring different forms of meditation and finding what works best for you, you can experience the transformative benefits of this ancient practice. So why not give it a try and discover the oasis of calm within your own mind?
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