Post by Mysti on Jul 7, 2007 11:58:34 GMT -5
5. MEDITATION TECHNIQUES -1
THE SECRETS OF MEDITATION
Quieting the Mind
The first secret to successful meditation is to quiet or to still the mind so that it is not thinking about this, thinking about that, then thinking about something else. Your mind becomes passive, just quietly listening, seeing and accepting whatever impresses itself on your consciousness without the mind jumping on it and trying to analyze the impression. When the mind is quieted, it is not grabbing at any thought or at any feeling that presents itself, the mind is just passively accepting what comes. You can think of prayer as speaking to God or to the Higher Power-you are "asking" or "telling" or "thanking," the Universal Source. Meditation, on the other hand, is or becomes the "listening," listening for answers and instructions from that Higher Source-and for messages from spiritual levels.
If you are not sure of your path, you will want to take the issue of your path, your spiritual direction, your calling, into meditation and see what you get from that. In this case, in your early meditative practice, you will be going into meditation with a "seed question." Specifically, this seed question will be: "What is my true spiritual path?" But the techniques I give here will be used for other purposes later, so bear with me if you already have a firm grasp on your own true path and your own meditative technique.
So, to meditate, you find a comfortable chair with arm rests, a quiet time when no disturbances are likely. Allow yourself a period of about thirty minutes a day for meditation. Now meditation requires a stilling of the mind, a stilling of the mind's thought flow. It is allowing whatever comes to you to flow through your mind without the mind reaching out to that flow. It is keeping the mind from grabbing at the image or thought and analyzing it, the mind is just accepting of it and recording the impressions for analysis and consideration later, when you are no longer in the meditative state.
Room Lighting
Be sure that the room is dimly lit or dark, not brightly lighted. Bright light will impinge on your eyelids and disturb your efforts to quiet your mind. Actually, in an earlier residence, I had to have my bedroom window blacked out because of a street light which was positioned at the window level of my apartment. If I didn't, my bedroom would be as bright as the Sahara Desert at midday. Some will find that lighting a candle in an otherwise pitch black room helps. For some, the faint awareness of the flicker can be helpful. But for myself, the flickering can be a distraction. See if the light from one of those 25 watt blue or red "party" light bulbs works well for you or try a 5 watt or 7.5 watt night light.
Picking a Meditation Time
It is important to pick a time for your meditations when you are not apt to be interrupted and not apt to be disturbed by outside noises. Be sure to pick a time when you won't be bothered, when it is quiet and when there are no distractions like garbage trucks collecting garbage. If you are unfortunate enough to live next to a police station or a hospital emergency entrance, then do your best. Many rabbis on the mystical path awaken at midnight to begin their studies for the new day. They say that the time just after midnight is on God's side of Mercy. I understand that many Roman Catholics with devotions to the Blessed Virgin Mary will actually find themselves awakening up at about three a.m. with the strong urge to perform their devotions. Actually, the night hours from midnight on are the best for meditation. The world around you is quiet and peaceful. The churning ocean of human thought is subdued. For some, doing the daily meditation in the early morning after a good night's rest works well. But, pick what works for you. Don't be afraid to experiment; do try out several different times.
And here's a tip: There are tapes and recordings that have an ocean surf sound, or the sound of rain coming down, the wind blowing in a forest, etc. One of these tapes may help to quiet the mind. But if you play a tape of the sound of rain drops or of the surf, be sure to play it very, very softly so that it is not distracting.
When you do an affirmation or a mantra, you put your energy and emotion into it. And, we'll get to mantras and affirmations. But, now, as to meditative techniques, you will want to do the opposite. You want to remove emotional attachments to whatever comes to you while you are in the meditative state. The closest I can come to explaining the meditative state is that it's much like when you take a drowsy nap on a hot summer day. You are not fully asleep-you are not quite awake, not quite asleep. You are distantly aware of sounds and such, but they don't disturb you. A car might toot its horn, but you don't think "Oh, that's the car next door" or some such, you are just distantly aware of the toot.
Positions for Meditation
There is first the position you take for meditation. In the East one normally sits in the Lotus Position. In the West, most common is the "Egyptian God-Form Sitting Posture." Most of you have seen pictures of the guru or chela sitting in the cross-legged position-in the Lotus Position. And, perhaps, you remember pictures of an Egyptian God or ruler sitting upright in a chair with arms. But, whatever position you use, whether one I give you here or one of your own, be sure you are comfortable-you can't meditate while your leg is cramped or you feel a muscle strain in your neck.
The Wilted Lotus Position: Most of us from western cultures could never sit in a position like the Lotus position for very long without becoming very uncomfortable from leg-cramps and muscle fatigue. Since we have not grown up from our childhood sitting in the crossed-legs position, we can't take that position without developing some pain and strain. But, if you are drawn to use the Lotus position, you may try what I call "The Wilted Lotus Position." This is a cross-legged position taught by a well-known Sufi master. In this position, you elevate your buttocks to about three to five inches from the ground using pillows or a small stool. Your legs then slope downward to the ground. Find the height of the stool that is most comfortable for you. You'll find that with the buttocks elevated the Lotus position becomes immeasurably more comfortable. Doing some sort of stretching exercise before and after sitting in the Lotus Position may help as well.
The Egyptian God Sitting Position: Now, the position advocated in the Golden Dawn and in several other Western disciplines is what is called the Egyptian God-Form Sitting Position.
You, perhaps, remember pictures of the Egyptian gods sitting upright. That's it. The Egyptian god, when sitting, sits erect, feet flat on the floor, his arms resting on and along the arms of his chair. Some authorities encourage the hands to be open with the palms up as if to receive whatever might be placed in the palms. The idea is this: That, while sitting erect, if you start to snooze, your head will fall forwards, waking you up. The palms-up position of the hands is a sign of being open to receive meditative results. I personally don't think that having the palms up is that important, but some people say that they get much better results with their palms up and open. Everyone is different and what works for me might not work for you and vice versa. Some ancient pictures show the God-Form with one arm or hand upraised. But, you can't hold an arm up for very long and still be comfortable.
The Lazy God Lounging Position: Anyway, my thought is this: Whatever position you take for meditation must be comfortable for you. No cramped legs or painful strains. So I give you the Lazy God Lounging Position. I use a lounge chair that can lean all the way back almost to a bed-like position. But I don't want to sleep, so I push it back just enough so the foot rest is still down but the back is inclined backwards maybe ten or fifteen degrees from the vertical or upright position. As I am rather tall, I have a contour pillow which I put behind me as a headrest at the top of the lounge chair. The pillow's contours hold my head from slipping sideways. I put the pillow in a vertical position so there is a bulge on both sides of my head. Also, there is just enough support for my neck. You may need to add another pillow behind your back or your buttocks to achieve a comfortable position. A rolled up towel behind your neck may help to remove neck muscle strain. The most important thing is comfort. If any part of your body is strained or stressed, you will not easily be able to get into the meditative state nor will you be able to stay in the meditative state. You will probably find that keeping your feet on the floor works best. You may also want to put some sort of riser under the front legs or crossbar of the chair so that the chair tilts back a bit and your legs are comfortable.
Many authorities say that you are supposed to sit so that, if you tend to dose, your head will flop forward and your neck will bend and this happening will bring you back to alertness. But I think a relaxed comfortable position is more important than using your neck muscles to hold your head up. So often, just when you get into some real meditation, your head falls and, whiz bang, you have lost that meditative state. It is better, in my opinion, to fall asleep than to never be able to get into a deep meditative state because your head keeps falling. But, to each his own. If you tend to fall asleep, choose a time during the day (or night) for meditation when you are not sleepy. Some will deliberately wake up at 2:00 or 3:00 A.M. for a meditation period, then go back to bed. Others like to meditate at dawn. But, it's up to you to find what time works best for you and then to stick to that time on a daily basis. You might want to get a cooking timer or similar timer and set it for the time you want to be in meditation if you find you have a tendency to spend too much or too little time in the meditative state.
THE SECRETS OF MEDITATION
Quieting the Mind
The first secret to successful meditation is to quiet or to still the mind so that it is not thinking about this, thinking about that, then thinking about something else. Your mind becomes passive, just quietly listening, seeing and accepting whatever impresses itself on your consciousness without the mind jumping on it and trying to analyze the impression. When the mind is quieted, it is not grabbing at any thought or at any feeling that presents itself, the mind is just passively accepting what comes. You can think of prayer as speaking to God or to the Higher Power-you are "asking" or "telling" or "thanking," the Universal Source. Meditation, on the other hand, is or becomes the "listening," listening for answers and instructions from that Higher Source-and for messages from spiritual levels.
If you are not sure of your path, you will want to take the issue of your path, your spiritual direction, your calling, into meditation and see what you get from that. In this case, in your early meditative practice, you will be going into meditation with a "seed question." Specifically, this seed question will be: "What is my true spiritual path?" But the techniques I give here will be used for other purposes later, so bear with me if you already have a firm grasp on your own true path and your own meditative technique.
So, to meditate, you find a comfortable chair with arm rests, a quiet time when no disturbances are likely. Allow yourself a period of about thirty minutes a day for meditation. Now meditation requires a stilling of the mind, a stilling of the mind's thought flow. It is allowing whatever comes to you to flow through your mind without the mind reaching out to that flow. It is keeping the mind from grabbing at the image or thought and analyzing it, the mind is just accepting of it and recording the impressions for analysis and consideration later, when you are no longer in the meditative state.
Room Lighting
Be sure that the room is dimly lit or dark, not brightly lighted. Bright light will impinge on your eyelids and disturb your efforts to quiet your mind. Actually, in an earlier residence, I had to have my bedroom window blacked out because of a street light which was positioned at the window level of my apartment. If I didn't, my bedroom would be as bright as the Sahara Desert at midday. Some will find that lighting a candle in an otherwise pitch black room helps. For some, the faint awareness of the flicker can be helpful. But for myself, the flickering can be a distraction. See if the light from one of those 25 watt blue or red "party" light bulbs works well for you or try a 5 watt or 7.5 watt night light.
Picking a Meditation Time
It is important to pick a time for your meditations when you are not apt to be interrupted and not apt to be disturbed by outside noises. Be sure to pick a time when you won't be bothered, when it is quiet and when there are no distractions like garbage trucks collecting garbage. If you are unfortunate enough to live next to a police station or a hospital emergency entrance, then do your best. Many rabbis on the mystical path awaken at midnight to begin their studies for the new day. They say that the time just after midnight is on God's side of Mercy. I understand that many Roman Catholics with devotions to the Blessed Virgin Mary will actually find themselves awakening up at about three a.m. with the strong urge to perform their devotions. Actually, the night hours from midnight on are the best for meditation. The world around you is quiet and peaceful. The churning ocean of human thought is subdued. For some, doing the daily meditation in the early morning after a good night's rest works well. But, pick what works for you. Don't be afraid to experiment; do try out several different times.
And here's a tip: There are tapes and recordings that have an ocean surf sound, or the sound of rain coming down, the wind blowing in a forest, etc. One of these tapes may help to quiet the mind. But if you play a tape of the sound of rain drops or of the surf, be sure to play it very, very softly so that it is not distracting.
When you do an affirmation or a mantra, you put your energy and emotion into it. And, we'll get to mantras and affirmations. But, now, as to meditative techniques, you will want to do the opposite. You want to remove emotional attachments to whatever comes to you while you are in the meditative state. The closest I can come to explaining the meditative state is that it's much like when you take a drowsy nap on a hot summer day. You are not fully asleep-you are not quite awake, not quite asleep. You are distantly aware of sounds and such, but they don't disturb you. A car might toot its horn, but you don't think "Oh, that's the car next door" or some such, you are just distantly aware of the toot.
Positions for Meditation
There is first the position you take for meditation. In the East one normally sits in the Lotus Position. In the West, most common is the "Egyptian God-Form Sitting Posture." Most of you have seen pictures of the guru or chela sitting in the cross-legged position-in the Lotus Position. And, perhaps, you remember pictures of an Egyptian God or ruler sitting upright in a chair with arms. But, whatever position you use, whether one I give you here or one of your own, be sure you are comfortable-you can't meditate while your leg is cramped or you feel a muscle strain in your neck.
The Wilted Lotus Position: Most of us from western cultures could never sit in a position like the Lotus position for very long without becoming very uncomfortable from leg-cramps and muscle fatigue. Since we have not grown up from our childhood sitting in the crossed-legs position, we can't take that position without developing some pain and strain. But, if you are drawn to use the Lotus position, you may try what I call "The Wilted Lotus Position." This is a cross-legged position taught by a well-known Sufi master. In this position, you elevate your buttocks to about three to five inches from the ground using pillows or a small stool. Your legs then slope downward to the ground. Find the height of the stool that is most comfortable for you. You'll find that with the buttocks elevated the Lotus position becomes immeasurably more comfortable. Doing some sort of stretching exercise before and after sitting in the Lotus Position may help as well.
The Egyptian God Sitting Position: Now, the position advocated in the Golden Dawn and in several other Western disciplines is what is called the Egyptian God-Form Sitting Position.
You, perhaps, remember pictures of the Egyptian gods sitting upright. That's it. The Egyptian god, when sitting, sits erect, feet flat on the floor, his arms resting on and along the arms of his chair. Some authorities encourage the hands to be open with the palms up as if to receive whatever might be placed in the palms. The idea is this: That, while sitting erect, if you start to snooze, your head will fall forwards, waking you up. The palms-up position of the hands is a sign of being open to receive meditative results. I personally don't think that having the palms up is that important, but some people say that they get much better results with their palms up and open. Everyone is different and what works for me might not work for you and vice versa. Some ancient pictures show the God-Form with one arm or hand upraised. But, you can't hold an arm up for very long and still be comfortable.
The Lazy God Lounging Position: Anyway, my thought is this: Whatever position you take for meditation must be comfortable for you. No cramped legs or painful strains. So I give you the Lazy God Lounging Position. I use a lounge chair that can lean all the way back almost to a bed-like position. But I don't want to sleep, so I push it back just enough so the foot rest is still down but the back is inclined backwards maybe ten or fifteen degrees from the vertical or upright position. As I am rather tall, I have a contour pillow which I put behind me as a headrest at the top of the lounge chair. The pillow's contours hold my head from slipping sideways. I put the pillow in a vertical position so there is a bulge on both sides of my head. Also, there is just enough support for my neck. You may need to add another pillow behind your back or your buttocks to achieve a comfortable position. A rolled up towel behind your neck may help to remove neck muscle strain. The most important thing is comfort. If any part of your body is strained or stressed, you will not easily be able to get into the meditative state nor will you be able to stay in the meditative state. You will probably find that keeping your feet on the floor works best. You may also want to put some sort of riser under the front legs or crossbar of the chair so that the chair tilts back a bit and your legs are comfortable.
Many authorities say that you are supposed to sit so that, if you tend to dose, your head will flop forward and your neck will bend and this happening will bring you back to alertness. But I think a relaxed comfortable position is more important than using your neck muscles to hold your head up. So often, just when you get into some real meditation, your head falls and, whiz bang, you have lost that meditative state. It is better, in my opinion, to fall asleep than to never be able to get into a deep meditative state because your head keeps falling. But, to each his own. If you tend to fall asleep, choose a time during the day (or night) for meditation when you are not sleepy. Some will deliberately wake up at 2:00 or 3:00 A.M. for a meditation period, then go back to bed. Others like to meditate at dawn. But, it's up to you to find what time works best for you and then to stick to that time on a daily basis. You might want to get a cooking timer or similar timer and set it for the time you want to be in meditation if you find you have a tendency to spend too much or too little time in the meditative state.