On this Page:

The Rest of the Site:

Meditation

Meditation isn't sitting aroung doing nothing and maybe falling asleep. It's a useful tool to help you focus your mind and to become calmer, more relaxed. It isn't just for priest, Tibetan monks, or New Agers who want to meditate on their religion or spirituality. Many athletes also meditate in order to be more focused for their sport.

The reason why people meditate is to become more focused, more relaxed, as a stress reliever. I primarily use it to help myself focus and relax, and to do it very quickly in any given situation.

Types of Meditation

The types of meditation that I practise are 1) sit-down meditations and 2) Tibetan standing meditations.

Breathing

Yes. Breathing is a very important part of meditation. However, you must breathe correctly. When most people breathe, they are not using all of their lung capacity. When you breathe, breathe from both the diaphram (your lower lungs) and your chest (your upper lungs). Start first with the lower lungs and then fill the upper lungs. This type of breathing is known as "natural breathing."

There are other breathing techniques, such as the ones used in yoga, called the "Three-Part Breath" which essentially is the same as natural breathing, but you start with the lower lungs, then fill the mid-lungs, then the upper lungs. And when you exhale, you release the breath in the lower lungs, then the mid-lungs, and then the upper lungs. It is quite difficult to do, and takes a lot of practice.

Mind Noise

When you begin to meditate, you begin to hear what I affectionately call "mind noise." This mind noise are the daily distracting thoughts you might have, such as what you had for dinner last night, paying bills, how you're going to run all those errands with no time on your hands, etc.etc.etc (you get the drift.)

The easiest thing to do is to let the mind noise just come through. Don't worry about it. Don't try to stop it. The more you try to stop it, the more mind noise comes through. Just Relax. Sooner or later the mind noise slows down and becomes nothing. Just concentrate on your breathing until you find yourself become more focused and relaxed.

Sit-Down Meditations

    The excercises have you find any comfortable position, either laying down or sitting down (yes, I know I call it "sit-down" meditation). And "meditate."

Tibetan Standing Meditations

    The Tibetan Standing Meditations are done exactly like the title suggests. You do them standing up. You should try to do these meditations for no more than 30 minutes maximum (although, it might take you a while to do 10 minutes at a time). There are several variations on the standing meditations:

    • Hugging the Tree Meditation. As you stand, you bend your knees slightly and put your arms out as if you're hugging a tree. Hold that position for the allotted time.
    • Triangle Meditation. As you stand, bring your hands infront of your chest, near the heart. Have your hands form a triangle. Imagine a shaft of energy between your hands going up into the sky and down into the Earth
    • Arm Chair Meditation. As you stand, bring your arms up as if you were resting them on the arms of an easy-chair.

These meditations can be very difficult to do. If you're arms start to strain, simply lower them slowly until they are by your side, and then bring them back up to their position

This page hosted by . Get your own Free Home Page