Meditation technology 0.1
You can become meditation. But you can never do meditation.
Meditation is here for thousands of years and has been even before unknowingly or combined in different types of practices with the same goal to align mind, body and soul.
I am writing this as a diary that can help me to understand this habit and explore its possibilities. I have only been studying and practicing meditation for 1 year so there is nothing of deep insight here.
Whether benefits of meditation can be proven scientifically or not, taking time for yourself is healthy and important, especially in a world that has no time for doing “nothing”.
I like to tell myself that my brain deserves some vacation at least 20-30 minutes a day. So far it seems as a very promising method from what I have learned about it and until it proves to be ineffective within my personal experience, I hope to sustain this practice.
Try to ask yourself. When is the last time you did absolutely nothing for 10 whole minutes?
Not texting, talking or even thinking? Mindfulness expert Andy Puddicombe describes the transformative power of doing just that.
Refreshing your mind for 10 minutes a day, simply by being mindful and experiencing the present moment. No need for incense or sitting in strange positions.
How to send brain on daily vacation?
during meditation.. our brains stop processing information as actively as they normally would. We start to show a decrease in beta waves, which indicate that our brains are processing information, even after a single 20-minute meditation session if we’ve never tried it before.
In the image above you can see how the beta waves (shown in bright colors on the left) are dramatically reduced during meditation (on the right)
There are for sure more important effects on all known types of diseases when practicing meditation. Still many of them explained only through experiences which can’t be easily transferred and understood with my current abilities.
When exploring the “boundless” natural state of body, meditators are unable to find words to describe what it feels like to experience that state.
The benefits of meditation are almost invariably experiential.
What is meditation?
Meditation is about consciousness. Not about exact rituals, be it posture, special clothing or place. In my practice I found it best to not force anything.
For sure, following anything which makes you more comfortable, relaxed, be it specific place or time or any other ritual will definitely help in meditation. But it isn’t necessary.
If you want to lie down, do it. Some are against this posture during meditation, but my guess is that better to meditate lying down than doing nothing.
Everyone’s different. Just experiment with what works best for you. I don’t need to be yogi from India and sit in cave for several years without waking up from Meditation. I do not have that determination. So I like to keep expectations from one meditation to another very low.
How often you need to meditate?
Do it when you have time.
Do it every day.
When you want to stop doing it? Do it anyway.
Or if you find out this isn’t for you now, do what ever frees your mind and spirit. Whether it is running, singing, painting, writing, playing an instrument or being in nature. Do what frees you and make that your practice. But be absorbed in that activity.
MEditation goals?
Bob Sharples, said in his book, Meditation: Calming the Mind.
“Don’t meditate to fix yourself, to heal yourself, to improve yourself, to redeem yourself; rather, do it as an act of love, of deep warm friendship to yourself. In this way there is no longer any need for the subtle aggression of self-improvement, for the endless guilt of not doing enough. It offers the possibility of an end to the ceaseless round of trying so hard that wraps so many people’s lives in a knot. Instead there is now meditation as an act of love. How endlessly delightful and encouraging.”
In the end, we can live longer if we can reduce the number of breaths we waste daily. So it may be worth a try.
Chartist.
originally posted: Right to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.
