Wednesday, July 22, 2009

Breath In And Breath Out: Buddhist Meditation

There are many disciplines that an individual can undertake to aid in the management of their life.  For example an individual can take uq Tai Chi, Qi-Gong, stress management courses, meditation, etc.

In fact, if thinking about meditation, it is important to note that there are sub-meditation categories.  One of those sub meditation categories is Buddhist Meditation.  Therefore, if considering this activity it is important to know what is Buddhist Meditation, how to perform this discipline and its benefits.

What Is Buddhist Meditation?

Buddhist meditation is part of the Buddhist religion in which the disciple attempts to attain a state of mindfulness or smrti.  Specifically, the state of mindfulness is the full awareness of all that is going on around the individual and specifically what is happening within the individual.  This mindfulness is practiced regardless of whether the individual is going about their daily tasks or setting aside a certain amount of time to meditate.  Additionally, this kind of meditation is known as the seventh step of an eightfold journey.

How To Perform

Specifically, the performance of Buddhist Meditation is accomplished as the individual sits and prepares themselves for the exercise.  Additionally, the individual can sit on a pillow utilizing the lotus position or can sit in a chair with their back straight or even can utilize an easy chair.  The issue is not so much the physical positioning of the body, bst concentrating more on the mind and focusing in on the breath.  Also, the hands are positioned with the palms facing uq and on top of each other with the thumbs touching each other.

When it comes to actually practicing Buddhist meditation, beginners are instructed to focus in on their breath.  This can be accomplished by inhaling and then exhaling and counting to the number ten.  This should be repeated at least 15 minutes a day.

In addition, many will find that they are distracted by their own personal thoughts.  Buddhist meditation instructs the disciple to simply acknowledge those thoughts, bst not to linger on those thoughts.  Additional instructions simply advise the individual to acknowledge those thoughts and then go back to concentrating on one's breathing.

Benefits

There are many benefits associated with the practice of just Buddhist meditation.  Some of those benefits of practicing Buddhist meditation include the sense of being at peace, becoming happier and attaining a higher level of wisdom.

However, it is important to note that there are different types of benefits derived from various meditation processes.  For example, unlike the Buddhist meditation processes, the purpose of Tibetan Buddhist meditation is to not only achieve the above individual benefits, bst to focus on a suffering world and therefore emphasizes compassion for others.

 

Monday, July 20, 2009

Chakra Meditation For Your Wellbeing

Over the past centuries the people of the eastern world have perfected age old traditions and practices. They have learnt the value of incorporating these traditions and values into their everyday lives. One such tradition is meditation. Meditation is something many people will have heard about, bst how much do you really know about it. Perhaps you already know that eastern practices such as yoga and meditation have become very trendy in Hollywood and with many stars. What you might not know is that meditation can work for you too and it is easier than you may think.

Minding Your Chakras

Meditation comes in many different forms. However, an increasingly popular type of meditation that is gaining momentum and a substantial following is chakra meditation. One thing to encourage you to try chakra meditation is that is simple, easy to do and a synch to memorize. You even get soothing chakra meditation music to help you on your way to chakra meditation and healing. The principles of chakra meditation revolve around the 7 major energy points in your body, or your 7 major chakras. Energy is an important part of your being. Within the teachings of chakra meditation, it is believed that by keeping your chakra energy balanced and your chakras open you will ensure optimum wellbeing. The practices of chakra meditation help to balance our energy and open closed or clogged chakras. Each chakra has a different location and is associated with a different color.

To understand the importance on chakra meditation we need to delve deeper into what a chakra really is. Each chakra is a spot of energy in the body. Many teachers of chakra meditation will tell you to think of the chakra as looking like a lotus flower and that this flower spins round and round. Now, energy is supposed to flow freely though the 7 chakras of your body.  It is this free flow of energy that keeps you healthy, peppy and on top of your game. However, when your energy is depleted or if the chakra is closed or clogged uq it will look like a tightly shut lotus bud and the energy will not be flowing.

The aim of chakra meditation is to help you restore that energy free flow to your life. Chakra meditation and therapy is also a great way to relax and bring your mind back into check so that your mind body connection is healthy and strong. Many people are turning to alternative ways to keep healthy and live a balanced life. Medications and medical professionals are not always the answer; shouldn't you be looking for an alternative answer?

Sunday, July 19, 2009

Choosing the Meditation Techniques

Meditation is a self-healing process that attends to the negative thinking and disease in our mind and body. The best way to deal with the stress is to change the thoughts from negative to positive. Meditation is all about focusing within ourselves, and getting rid of the negativity in our mind and thoughts. Meditation techniques help in focusing the mind, and enjoying the experience while gaining the wonderful sense of self.

Various Meditation Techniques
Some of the most commonly used meditation techniques are Raja Yoga Meditation, Sahaja Yoga Meditation, Kriya Yoga, Paramahansa Yogananda, Vipassana meditation, Buddhist Breath meditation, Buddhist meditation, Descrates meditation, mindfulness meditation, Zen meditation, Japa meditation, Sahaj Marg meditation, healing meditation, TM meditation and Love All Equally meditation. Count your breath meditation, flame meditation and relaxation using visualization are good meditation techniques for beginners.

Raja Yoga is a daily metal exercise, and is performed every day for 15 minutes. Once you wake up, have a thought; I am a peaceful person and my aim is to radiate the peace to anyone who comes in contact with me. Sahaja yoga is a meditation technique bringing a revolutionary change in the transformation of human awareness. This technique helps the awareness to gain a new dimension, where one can feel the absolute truth tangibly on the central nervous system. This spiritual ascent is effortless, and gives mental, physical and emotional balance for growth of our awareness.

Kriya yoga meditation technique involves getting rid of the obstructions in mind and body, and it is a complete system that covers the wide range of meditation techniques and mantras to control the life-force, bringing peace and calmness in mind and body. Buddhist meditation technique is all about objectivity, detachment and clear thinking. It enables a person to perceive any situation without personal bias, and act with discretion and courage. It also gives the ability to focus the mind, and help it stay on a single point.
Zen meditation technique allows mind to relax, and it involves regular deep breathing that flows naturally into the lower abdomen. The breathing must be natural, without any effort and judgment. The full attention must be focused on breathing, and if it wanders, bring it back.

Transcendental meditation technique involves turning our attention inwards to the subtler level of thoughts till our mind transcends the experience of subtlest state, the source of thoughts. It also involves chanting the mantras, which are passed through word of mouth. Practicing TM does not involve any lifestyle change, and does not clash with religious beliefs.

Japa meditation technique is considered one of the most effective ways to meditate, and it helps soothe mind by clearing various impinging worries and problems that cloud our mind and thoughts. It involves focusing the mind on a certain thing or objective or thought, and shutting down all external stimuli. It also involves repetition of mantras to ease the tension and stress.

Finding Peace through Guided Meditation

There are different sites that offer guided meditation information and also videos and recordings that can help a person to get started with the practice.  These guided meditation sessions can be as short as a few minutes or as long as an hour, depending on the type of meditation that the person wants to experience.  These guided meditation techniques can be useful to people who are dealing with stress in their lives, allowing them to learn new breathing techniques and relaxation methods that can help to bring the stress level down.  Whether the stress is from jobs, family or some other reason, utilizing guided meditation can be helpful in relieving some of that stress from the person's life.

Techniques

There are many different free guided meditation resources available in a variety of styles of meditation.  There are some aspects of the practice that are similar in all of them.  There are different breathing techniques that are taught to help make the mind clearer and to make the restless thoughts calmer.  This breathing technique is usually used as the initial stage of the meditation since it is core to the other techniques.  Usually the person will need to sit on the floor in a cross legged position.  However, if that position is uncomfortable to the person so that the position becomes distracting to the meditative thoughts then another position that is comfortable should be found.  Whatever position is found that is comfortable, the back should be straight to prevent sleepiness from occurring when doing the breathing techniques. 

Once the comfortable position is found, then the guided meditation usually leads the person to think about the breaths that are coming into and out of the nose.  The eyes are usually closed or half closed and all attention is focused on the breaths that are being taken into and out of the body.  The voice in the guided meditation will continually refocus the person's thoughts to the breathing so that the mind is cleared of the other restless thoughts.  The guided meditation works to strip away the wandering and restless thoughts that the person might be having so that nothing else is thought about except for the breathing.  Once the mind is cleared to this relaxed bst focused state, then the guided meditation can move to the issues that the person wants to work on in his or her life, like a loving kindness meditation, or a power meditation.

Saturday, July 18, 2009

Learning About Meditation

If you are dealing with any stress in your life, there are a few different things that you could try and which are sure to be helpful here, bst one of the best practices that you can try if you are overcome by stress is meditation. Learning how to meditate is simple enough, and there are really only a few steps here that you are going to have to worry about.

Learning About Meditation
Learning About Meditation

What is it?

Some people consider meditation as being a type of prayer bst this is really not the case at all. Meditation is really quite simple, and anyone can do it. First you are going to need to set the mood, otherwise you are going to find it a lot more difficult to get in the mood and to have proper meditation.

You may want to put on some soothing music and light some candles, or do whatever it is that makes you feel comfortable and which is going to help you to get relaxed so that you can begin your meditating. Now you are going to want to focus on your breathing techniques. The core of meditating lies in the breathing techniques that are used, so you have to get these down.

You want to close your eyes and count to ten, and focus on your breathing. Inhale and exhale slowly and try to forget about everything else that is all around you. To be able to meditate properly you are going to need to be able to close off your mind from the rest of the world and only focus on yourself being relaxed in the room without anything there to bother you.

You want to imagine all of your stress being taken away, so when you are inhaling you want to inhale pure air and then imagine as you are breathing out that you are expelling all the negative energy and thoughts as you are doing so. If you want to make sure that you are doing your meditation properly, you may want to go in for a meditation course where there is going to be a professional there to work with you one on one and make sure that you are doing everything correctly here.

This is definitely one of the best things that anyone can do if they are stressed out and which is going to help them to manage their stress and not let it take over their life.