Find a place that is relaxing, quiet, with no distractions. Find a spot that will be comfortable to sit in, along with a comfortable posture. Close your eyes gently to shut out the world. Take deep breaths and focus only on your breathing. Still the thoughts running through your head and only focus on breathing in and out. Forget about the problems that bother you. Free your awareness that is happening around you. Stay meditating for as long as you need, until you feel relieved from stress, reconnected with yourself, or relaxed. Meditating doesn't have to be connected to religion or spirituality, it can be the simplicity of reconnecting with oneself. In the dictionary the definition for meditate is “To think deeply or focus one's mind for a period of time, in silence, or with the aid of chanting, for religious or spiritual purposes or as a method of relaxation.” Meditation has been around for over 5,000 years that we can really date. Meditate comes from the Latin word root of “meditatum” which translates to “to ponder”. “Hāgâ” is also used and comes from the Hebrew language meaning sigh or murmur and meditate. Scholars have found that meditation in contemporary time would be the same to contemplation. The earliest records we have of meditation go back to the fifth and sixth centuries, developed in …show more content…
Meditating could be helping with stress. Meditation could be used to relax after a long day. Meditation can be used to reconnect with yourself. Meditation doesn't have to include religion but you certainly can. We are in a time where there is constantly something going on; electronics, work, relationships, etc.. Sometimes it is just nice to have a moment to still your thoughts. I think more people should relook at meditation without religion is they are interested. I think many people still overlook meditation and the power of simply being connected with yourself and only yourself for some
However, meditation is not as common within Buddhism as most believe. There is a large assumption “that Buddhism and meditation go hand in hand”, but the majority of Buddhists have focused on “cultivating moral behavior, preserving the Buddha’s teachings (dharma), and acquiring good karma”(Braun 2014, p.1). Meditation and Buddhism are often assumed to be one and same, but this is also not true. As Buddhism has gained popularity among lay people it’s practices have changed Buddha’s teaching of the middle path has adapted to meditation being “possible in the city” rather than with monks in jungles and caves (p.4). As seen in Burma, in less than 75 years Buddhism and meditation were able to grow “from a pursuit of the barest sliver of the population to a duty of the ideal citizen” (p.5). While meditation is not the core of Buddhism it has encouraged the growth of Buddhism as it’s practice of mindfulness has been inspiring an approachable model (p.6). Meditation and mindfulness are easily manipulated to secularization, but still have significance in Buddhism and following the patterns of your
Sharon Salzberg provides different kinds of meditation in her book on real happiness in order to help people transform their lives through this practice. Some of the various kinds of meditation in her book include concentration, mindfulness and the body, mindfulness and emotions, and cultivating compassion and true happiness. One of these meditations that I pursued as outlined in Salzberg’s 28-day program is concentration through breathing and the art of starting over. The main elements of this kind of meditation include breathing, hearing, and letting go of thoughts. However, it requires the selection of an appropriate time, place, and posture before commencing with the meditation process. In essence, the ...
Meditation allows for you to relax, slow down, and become more aware of yourself and your environment. By meditating in a quiet place with no distraction, you are able to greatly limit the information that is constantly entering into our brains. This information gives us a train of thought that is very difficult to be halted, because it is in the nature of our brains to analyze any information that we have coming in from our senses like what things we are seeing with our eyes and what we are hearing with our ears. By limiting the amount of information that is entering into the brain, we are able to separate ourselves from the mind that is analyzing all of that information and to become aware of it.
In Eastern cultures, meditation has been practiced for over two thousand years. Through this training a culture has developed in which an individual is empowered to engaged in preventative behaviors, which reduce stress and morbidity, resulting in a general state of wellbeing, with stability and mental peace in the face of everyday challenges (Richardson and Lutz, 2008). Over the last half-century, the western-scientific community has begun to evaluate the efficacy of the eastern methods of meditation. In the modern western world there is an over abundance of stress, pressure and over stimulation. These conditions often result in stress-related morbidity, high levels of anxiety and mental illnesses. This cause and effect relationship is well established, and typically emphasis is placed on symptom control and less on preventative behavior modification. There are clinically documented see table 1, meditation practices that can be taught over a short period of time to an individual which have been shown to have positive results. Meditation can be used preventatively in supporting immune function and during illness as a method to aid healing and wellbeing for nominal costs. This paper will make an literary examination of a variety of studies of which examine the role of meditation training in regards to promoting immune function in athletes, recovering cancer patients, in addition to reducing stress and promoting well being in business professionals, cancer patients and seasoned meditation practitioners.
There is no exact way to meditate. Different people meditate in different ways. However, there are many similar guidelines or ways that people go about meditating. First, put your expectations aside. Don’t expect to all of a sudden have your consciousness altered. Be open to meditation but don’t try to force something to hap...
Meditation is a way to open up all areas of the body and release anything that may be toxic to the spirit. Channeling the spirit through meditation is another familiar practice due to the fact that is believed that the spirit is never dead, only the shell. Through meditation, people believe that they are able to channel their minds so that they might have a more intimate experience with God. People who practice the religion believe that there are more ways to reach God than through Jesus alone. Yes, Jesus is the central avenue but when a soul sees God in all things then they are able to experience the euphoria that comes with being one with
Steps for concentrative meditation, (1) find a quiet place, (2) sit in a comfortable position upright, (3) find an object to dwell on, for example your breathing, or on a particular word that is repeated, (4) a passive attitude, meaning do not get upset when distracting thoughts
In today in America we live in a fast pace society where people take on a lot of responsibilities. Taking on too much can lead to stress and physical illnesses. There are a number of things people can do to reduce stress like exercise and eating healthy. Practicing meditation can be influential on both a person’s physical and mental health.
Although meditation practitioners have acknowledged the benefits of meditation for hundreds for years, it is only now that shows that scientific research is starting to prove that meditation has a positive effect on everyone on a physiological level. Meditation is believed to help lower stress level, calms the section of the brain that triggers anger and fear. Recent studies have found that the brain has the ability to change its function and structure. Happiness, enthusiasm and self-control are form of positive emotions due to a high level of brain activities.
The purpose of meditation, and mindfulness meditation as mentioned in this course, is to increase awareness while calming the normal thought processes that often overcrowd the mind with ideas that are deemed not-true by Buddhism. These brain scans clearly show that the purpose of meditation is achieved in doing so.
Meditation aims to develop and master mindfulness, insight, and equilibrium. It allows its followers to obtain indifference to worldly attachments, experience the mind as it is and its original nature. The mind continuously engages with internal and external stimuli, constantly at work. Meditation is a way in which one can gain control over this constant flow of stimuli, by focusing the mind. Within the practice of Theravada Buddhism, meditation is seen as the most crucial way of reaching enlightenment, escaping samsara, and gaining the full understanding of what nature is. Whereas Mahayana buddhism utilizes mantras and incantation as a form of buddhism that also allows its practitioners to use this form of meditation to reach enlightenment. Despite its origination in religious practice, it has been loosely defined as a self regulating technique of having control over one's physical and mental
Meditation is an age-old practice that has renewed itself in many different cultures and times. Despite its age, however, there remains a mystery and some ambiguity as to what it is, or even how one performs it. The practice and tradition of meditation dates back thousands of years having appeared in many eastern traditions. Meditation’s ancient roots cloud its origins from being attributed to a sole inventor or religion, though Bon, Hindu, Shinto, Dao, and later, Buddhism are responsible for its development. Its practice has permeated almost all major world religions, but under different names. It has become a practice without borders, influencing millions with its tranquil and healing effects.
It is well known and proven that over time the benefits of meditating on a regular basis promotes the development of inner calmness, connectedness, focus, flow, a clear clarity of mind, a focused and more stable grounded concentration, along with coherency of thought, increased creativity, being more open and receptive to receive insights, solutions to problems and new ideas, a balanced and harmonious centred inner equilibrium, a relaxed happy body, mind and spirit, which in turn assists as a preventative tool that creates and maintains positive overall vibrant health and wellbeing.
Meditation is not a time devoted to thinking or reflecting about oneself, but a time to redirect one’s thoughts and emotions away from the outside world and onto something simple, such as the wind or one’s own breathe. By learning how to meditate, an individual can learn how to react appropriately to “the circumstances one finds oneself in, i...
Meditating on a daily basis is crucial to our overall health and well-being. The World Health Organization defines health as, “The absence of illness or maladies but also as a psycho-dynamic state consisting of people 's physical, mental, social and spiritual aspects.” Oshita, D., Hattori, K., & Iwakuma, M. (2013) Studies have shown that regular mediation sessions reduce high blood pressure and stress. Another wonderful side effect of meditating is feeling an overwhelming sense of peace and happiness. Everyone should meditate!