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The following are answers to some of the questions most frequently asked of us by those interested in or just beginning the practice of meditation.

What is meditation?

Meditation has been practiced for thousands of years, so there are countless variations and definitions of the practice. Most forms of meditation offer relaxation — primarily through a quieting of the mind — and create a “pause” from the rapid pace of our lives to let our mind and body “catch up,” re-balance, and re-center.

Some styles of meditations rely on complete silence, some employ the repetition of specific words or “mantras,” some offer guided imagery and/or affirmations, some focus on specific energy centers or “chakras,” some utilize specific sounds and music, some have very ancient roots, rituals, and religious traditions. And there are many more varieties and combinations. Some meditations focus primarily on relaxation and the well documented health benefits associated with this. Other meditations go beyond relaxation to help us reconnect with the deeper clarity, power, peace, and wholeness within us.

What’s the best meditation for me?

It’s hard to imagine any of the wide variety of meditations that would not be beneficial. Of these varied types of meditations, the “best” type is simply the one you find most beneficial… the type that best matches you. So do experiment… and trust your feelings and instincts.

It’s also worth noting that though we may begin meditation for one reason (stress release, improved concentration and focus, deeper rest, etc.), we may soon discover other and more profound benefits (inner peace and balance, stronger sense of self and purpose, physical and emotional healing, etc.).

How often should I meditate?

Meditation should not be or feel like an “obligation” — though, needless to say, you will have to make time to do it. [Also see next question.] Once a week is a good start. If you can meditate more often, all the better.

Doing a brief morning meditation can be extremely beneficial, as it sets the right tone for your day. The morning is a very powerful time, and even spending 5-10 minutes in meditation can establish an inner balance that will help support you throughout the day. The morning is also an ideal time to align yourself and your energy with your intentions, your power, and the “higher” support for what you wish to create that day.

Likewise, a brief meditation in the evening, or at the end of your work-day, helps you re-balance from the rigors of the day. Over the course of a day, these demands (work, school, family responsibilities, etc.) can gradually draw us out of balance and out of our “center.” A brief meditation helps you recover this balance and re-center. It also gives your mind, body, and emotions a healthy interval for some much-needed rest.

How do I know if I’m meditating correctly?

The first rule of meditation — at least the meditation we teach — is: You cannot do it wrong.

Meditation should, first and foremost, return you to you. And you cannot experience you (or your process) incorrectly. In fact, trying to “do it right” — efforting – is really the only obstacle to meditation. So when you find yourself “working at it” or struggling… that’s your signal to pause, return to your breathing for a moment, and let this impulse go.

Meditation helps us “release” — release our stress and heaviness, release our mental “chatter,” release our physical and emotional tension, release our fears and judgment. Understand that release is not something we “do.” Holding is something we do. Holding takes effort. Release happens naturally when we let go of our holding — when we cease to effort. (In fact, one of the very powerful longer-term benefits of meditation is that we will integrate this art of “release” into our daily lives… so that we end up “accruing” less stress, less heaviness, less emotional tension, and less fear as we move through our days.)

And as a follow-up to the previous question, if doing your daily or weekly meditation begins to feel like an “obligation,” you’ve likely let your meditation become “work.” You’ve strayed into that “do it right” mode. Meditation should not be hard or heavy. And it’s not something you need to worry about “perfecting.” Meditation should be, first and foremost, your time for peace and lightness: a time in which you have permission to rest, and a space in which you feel safe to release and open.

Certainly, if you’ve had a stressful day, it may take some time to relax into this meditative state. So do have some patience with this. But again, the lighter you are and the less you “work” at this, the sooner and easier this sense of balance and peace will come.

Does meditation “work” right away?

Yes… and no. Every meditation will almost certainly provide some immediate relaxation and relief from stress, fatigue, and emotional tension. In any given meditation, however, your experience can range from profound and wonderful (in terms of the depth of nurturing, clarity, release, and healing you find) to simply calming and balancing. And while one day your meditation may be incredibly vivid, the very next day you may struggle a bit. So, be prepared for this.

This “range of experience” is difficult to explain, except to say that meditation is an extremely “organic” process. Because it aligns you with your own “higher” energy and knowing, it will provide what you need and what you’re ready for at any given time. And this will vary.

A key factor in this variation is that, over time, meditation heals and empowers at deeper and higher levels, so there will be peaks and plateaus (… but you’re actually always moving forward). In this regard, meditation works subtly, but very powerfully with regular practice and over the longer run.

Beyond this, understand that “expectation” can be a bit of a hindrance to meditation. When we are “looking” for a particular experience or outcome, we tend to “close” our energy. Expecting, like efforting, engages the mind and can keep us from the experience we actually need. Again, it’s often best simply to be patient and to “open” to the energy of your meditation.

I find sometimes that I get caught up in my thoughts during meditation. What then?

You should expect this to some extent; more so if you’re new to meditation or if you’re particularly stressed at the time. Don’t let it worry you. Part of the normal process of meditation is allowing your thoughts to “run themselves out.” Your mind is a thinking instrument; this is not a flaw. Even if you were a “master” at meditation, if you use your mind your mind will need time to “wind down.” The less you worry about this process (worry is actually the mind “at work”), the sooner your mind will rest and recede out of your way.

Focusing lightly on your breathing is a natural mechanism to “shift” you away from your thoughts — hence the emphasis on “breathing” in most meditation practice. (“Centering” in our breathing, in meditation practice, also helps us return to our healthy, natural body/energy rhythms.) If thoughts intrude at any time, relax and return your focus to your breathing. If you can, try to treat these thoughts as separate from you. Seeing them as clouds moving freely across the sky is a very effective imagery. Don’t attach to them. Just breathe and let your thoughts move lightly on their own way. [Also see next question.]

I feel as though my mind keeps getting in the way of my meditation, especially when I’m worried about something. What can I do?

Again, this difficulty will lessen as you meditate more. Our minds are “on” constantly, so it may take time before we begin to feel some “separation” from this constant stream of our thoughts. But this will come. Again, the key is being patient and not fighting with your mind and your thoughts.

If a thought or worry happens to be weighing heavily upon your mind when you begin a meditation, let this meditation be an opportunity not to “escape” from or “shut off” this thought, but to lighten around it. In other words, use the meditation simply to release some of the heaviness — the worry or fear or pressure or perfectionism surrounding this particular “matter.” By doing this, you restore balance to your mind and free up more of your “knowing” to understand and address the matter more effectively.

And just to clarify… our minds and our meditation should not be at odds. Meditation should support every faculty and strength within us. And our mind is a great strength. In relaxing our thoughts through meditation, we are not so much getting our mind “out of the way” as much as we are giving our mind its much needed time to rest and recover. Yes, releasing from our “mind chatter” certainly plays a key role in our meditation, as this “noise” can distract us from our deeper, more centered awareness. But doing so also gives the mind a chance to settle so that it can more fully integrate the information we have gathered — and draw upon additional information that we may not “consciously” know we’ve gathered.

And again, by helping relieve heaviness and worry from our thoughts — which burden and constrain our mind — meditation helps us and our minds see more clearly and creatively. Indeed, meditation — at least, most forms of meditation — incorporate techniques that help “connect” the mind with our other faculties for knowing: the knowing of our emotional and physical bodies, the knowing of our heart, the knowing of our higher self. And this “integration” of knowledge will prove very powerful in our lives.

I sometimes just fall asleep soon after I start meditating.

This is not uncommon. As mentioned earlier, meditation is designed to connect you with what you need at the moment. And, given our strained life-styles, sometimes what we need most — for our balance, clarity, and strength — is sleep.

Having said this, if you meditate while lying down (on your bed, sofa, floor), you are very likely to fall asleep. You should be comfortable when you meditate, but the strongly recommended posture is sitting in a chair with your back (reasonably) straight and upright (to keep your spine straight) and both your feet flat on the floor. Some prefer sitting on the floor, as they feel a more “grounding” connection with the earth; this is also fine. As for sitting “Lotus” style, if this is comfortable for you, by all means do so; but, it’s not required.

Copyright 2010 Planetwide Publishing, Inc. All rights reserved. For more meditation FAQs, visit http://www.Meditations2Go.com/meditation/faqs/.

Rob Brookler is the founder and creator of the Meditations2Go audio meditation collections and the Meditations2Go.com website. The Meditations2Go audio meditation CDs and MP3 downloads, meditation FAQs, and original articles — available at http://www.Meditations2Go.com — are drawn directly from the popular meditation classes Mr. Brookler has taught for the past 27 years throughout the Los Angeles area. Rob Brookler has studied meditation for more than 35 years, practicing many styles and under the tutelage of a number of fine teachers. His numerous articles offer practical guidance on a variety of personal challenges and life-learning. The articles describe in detail many of the principles embodied in the meditations… and how they can be applied in everyday life. Mr. Brookler is the president of Planetwide Publishing, Inc., which owns and operates Meditations2Go.com and holds the exclusive copyrights to all Meditations2Go and Meditations2Go.com products and content.

Author: Rob Brookler
Article Source: EzineArticles.com
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A guided relaxation session affirming the theme of love and self-esteem. Hope someone out there finds this helpful/enjoyable!

New FaceBook Fan Page Scenic Videos come join the discussion! apps.facebook.com Feel free to download this video www.ripfilms.net Follow me http At the end of a hard day, could you use a little relaxation? If you’re the type of person who finds it hard to let go, why not try experiencing the soothing sounds of water? Listening to a waterfall can help you to ease tension and finally relax after a stressful day. Not only are waterfalls beneficial for relaxation, they can also help to improve your concentration and meditation exercises. Waterfalls are involved in the practice of Feng Shui, as one of the elements of the Chinese art, and allegedly bring an individual’s room good luck and easily flowing positive energy. Do you have trouble sleeping? White noise is a type of noise that is produced by combining sounds of all different frequencies together. If you took all of the imaginable tones that a human can hear and combined them together, you would have white noise. The adjective “white” is used to describe this type of noise because of the way white light works. White light is light that is made up of all of the different colors (frequencies) of light combined together (a prism or a rainbow separates white light back into its component colors). In the same way, white noise is a combination of all of the different frequencies of sound. You can think of white noise as 20000 tones all playing at the same time.

Google Tech Talks February, 28 2008 ABSTRACT Mindfulness meditation, one type of meditation technique, has been shown to enhance emotional awareness and psychological flexibility as well as induce well-being and emotional balance. Scientists have also begun to examine how meditation may influence brain functions. This talk will examine the effect of mindfulness meditation practice on the brain systems in which psychological functions such as attention, emotional reactivity, emotion regulation, and self-view are instantiated. We will also discuss how different forms of meditation practices are being studied using neuroscientific technologies and are being integrated into clinical practice to address symptoms of anxiety, depression, and stress. Speaker: Philippe Goldin Philippe is a research scientist and heads the Clinically Applied Affective Neuroscience group in the Department of Psychology at Stanford University. He spent 6 years in India and Nepal studying various languages, Buddhist philosophy and debate at Namgyal Monastery and the Dialectic Monastic Institute, and serving as an interpreter for various Tibetan Buddhist lamas. He then returned to the US to complete a Ph.D. in Clinical Psychology at Rutgers University. His NIH-funded clinical research focuses on (a) functional neuroimaging investigations of cognitive-affective mechanisms in adults with anxiety disorders, (b) comparing the effects of mindfulness meditation and cognitive-behavioral therapy on brain …

Learn how to combine aromatherapy oils to make an uplifting daytime fragrance oil in this free personal health video. Expert: Nili Nathan Contact: earth911.org Bio: Nili Nathan, host of “Great Healing Getaways”, is the creator of a television series and Web site on holistic health, where she researches, writes, and reports. Filmmaker: Nili Nathan

Do you have a few minutes to sit back and relax? Just find a comfortable chair where you can sit and relax for a few minutes while you listen to this audio. if you would like to download this mp3 audio free, please subscribe to our newsletter at: www.newlifehypnotherapy.com You will also receive a Free report on hypnosis and information about seminars, news and promotions about new hypnosis audios and products. To see a list of our available hypnosis cds and mp3 downloads for sale please go to www.newlifehypnotherapy.com Find us on facebook! www.facebook.com Thanks and many Blessings!

This is a great example of my Core Relaxation Technique. Notice how I work light to medium, to deep for greater comfort and effectiveness. Serendipity Flowing Massage

I’ve struggled with meditation most of my life. Over a span of 15 years, I purchased meditation CD’s, attended meditation classes and read books on meditation, yet was still unable to incorporate it into my daily life. The meditation CD’s usually put me to sleep and the classes and books made me feel like a failure! In fact, my first meditation was quite painful and I always felt like I was too busy to meditate!

The sad truth is that while most of us are aware of the benefits of meditation, very few of us actually have a regular meditation practice. There are a lot of obstacles to overcome in order to incorporate meditation into our daily lives. I overcame those obstacles and have been meditating daily for two years as well as meditating periodically throughout the day! Through meditation I have experienced more peace and joy in my life, I’ve become less reactive and less stressed and I have more energy and creativity! And I know you can experience these benefits as well!

But first, I think it’s important to define what meditation is? Many of us have misconceptions about meditation. The most common misconception is that meditation is about getting rid of thought! That would set anyone up for failure! Meditation, rather, is about becoming the observer of thought rather than the reactor to thought.

Meditation, pure and simple, is being fully present in the moment! In this meditative state you are aware of the truth of who you are beyond your body and your mind.

Have you ever been in awe at a beautiful sunset? So much so that you forgot about what happened 5 minutes ago, and you weren’t thinking about the future? You were completely in the moment and had this sense of aliveness inside? Well, that’s meditation!

So now that we know what meditation is, how do we incorporate it in to our daily lives? I knew the reasons why I had struggled for years before I developed a regular meditation practice, but I was curious to see if others had the same reasons, so I conducted an international survey on the biggest obstacles to meditation and received over 400 responses from people in 46 different countries. Below are the TOP SIX biggest obstacles to meditation, and how you can overcome them!

Obstacle #1: Not having enough time

The biggest obstacle people face in developing a regular meditation practice is TIME. We don’t have enough time to meditate! (Interestingly enough this wasn’t just an “American” phenomenon. People from all across the globe mentioned they didn’t have enough time to meditate).

Yet there are 4 simple ways to incorporate meditation into your life without taking ANY time out of your current schedule!

First, I invite you to convert your waiting time into meditating time.

The average person waits 45-60 minutes a day. We wait for appointments, we wait in traffic, we wait in line at the grocery store and we wait on hold on the phone. Yet those precious “waiting times” can be converted into meditating times.

So next time you are waiting for an appointment, take a moment to notice your breath. Or next time you are waiting in line at the grocery store, take a moment to smile from the inside.

Second, have a daily activity be your meditation. You can incorporate meditation into any of these daily activities:

*brushing your teeth
*emptying the dishwasher
*showering
*eating
*walking
*folding laundry, ironing

As you brush your teeth, notice your breath. Or notice the aliveness in your hands and mouth. As you empty the dishwasher, feel the aliveness in your hand as you put each dish away.

Third, have your dog or cat be your meditation! Have you ever noticed when walking your dog how your dog is completely in the moment, taking in its’ surroundings? Well you can join your dog in this blissful state. When walking the dog notice the aliveness in your feet with each step. Notice the aliveness of the trees, birds, your surroundings. While petting the cat, notice the softness of the fur. Be completely present with your dog or cat!

Four, meditate while driving! Now, of course, do NOT close your eyes and meditate while driving. But you can be completely present while driving, with your eyes open. While driving, notice the aliveness in your hands as you touch the steering wheel. Or at a stop sign or in traffic, notice your breath.

These are simple ways you can incorporate meditation into your daily life without taking ANY time out of your current schedule. If we all did these simple things, we’d have a daily meditation practice!

Obstacle #2: Lack of Self-Discipline

The second biggest obstacle people face in incorporating meditation into their daily life is lack of self-discipline! Meditation takes discipline. I know many of us start out with great intentions to meditate daily or to exercise daily and we might do it for a couple of weeks, but then we lack the discipline necessary to continue.

That’s why life coaches, personal trainers and other professions have been created! To hold us accountable and to keep us focused!

So if you lack self-discipline, find a meditation partner! Ask your spouse, partner, friend, coworker to join you in incorporating meditation into your daily life. Hold each other accountable.

Or even if you can’t find someone that wants to meditate with you, tell your spouse/friend/partner/coworker of your intention to meditate daily and ask him/her to check in with you and ask you how you are doing.

Just as an exercise partner is beneficial and productive, a meditation partner can be too!

Obstacle #3: Not having the right place or space to meditate

The third biggest obstacle people mentioned is NOT having the right place or space to meditate! This is a “perceived obstacle.” You can literally meditate anywhere; while driving a car or walking through a crowded mall.

People often use not having a special place or specific area as an excuse to NOT meditate. If we continually wait for the right circumstances to meditate, we’ll never meditate.

I give people a meditation assignment: to meditate in a public place! They can walk through the wall and notice people and places, while observing their breath or noticing the aliveness in their feet.

Obstacle #4: Falling Asleep

The fourth most common obstacle to meditation is falling asleep. And yet many meditation CD’s say that it’s okay if you fall asleep because you are still receiving the benefits of meditation…The only benefit you’re receiving is a peaceful sleep! And yet, that is a benefit too! Meditation is awareness. It’s being fully present in the moment. When you’re asleep, you’re asleep, not meditating.

Here are some tips if you fall asleep while meditating:

*Don’t meditate at night before bed. So often many of us want to meditate daily but don’t think about it until we are in bed or getting ready for bed and then we try to meditate. Of course we’ll fall asleep.

*Try meditating in the morning or mid day when you are alert.

*Meditate in small increments throughout the day. Again, notice your breath for a couple minutes while brushing your teeth or showering.

Obstacle #5: Too many distractions

The fifth most common complaint from people is that there are too many distractions to meditate. Yet distractions don’t have to be distractions.

For example, during one of my meditations, my cat Vinnie came up to me and started meowing. He wouldn’t stop either. He wanted my attention. Now to most people, this would be a distraction and a reason to stop meditating. Instead, I opened my eyes, sat down on the floor with him and petted him while noticing my breath. I incorporated my cat into my meditation. Instead of allowing him to become a distraction, he became my meditation!

If you are meditating and a distraction happens. Just notice it. Allow it to be. If it’s something that needs your attention, tend to whatever needs to be done, while still observing your breath!

Obstacle #6: Not knowing how to meditate

So many people feel that they don’t know how to meditate. We make meditation more complicated than it really is! Again, meditation is about being present in the moment. It’s really about finding what works for you!

Again, you can incorporate meditation into your life without taking time out of your schedule. Your life can become a meditation. It is those moments throughout the day that we are fully present in the moment that matter. And through meditation, we discover the bliss of being that we are!

Lisa Hepner is an author, speaker and meditation facilitator. She is the creator of the international “Don’t Wait-Meditate” campaign which gets people to pledge to convert their waiting time into meditating time. She is the creator of Project Meditate whose goal is to help people develop a daily habit of meditation.

Sign the official Don’t Wait-Meditate pledge and receive a FREE report on the “7 common misconceptions about meditation” and access to a FREE video library of 17 videos on all aspects of meditation, go to: http://www.projectmeditate.com

Author: Lisa Hepner
Article Source: EzineArticles.com
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