Understanding Meditation

When I started to meditate in 1993 I was of the understanding that meditation was all about calming the mind and enjoying the natural high. Now, many years have passed and during these years I've lived and practiced meditation in numerous monasteries round the world. For a period of three and a half years I also practiced intensively on my own. In this article I will share my understanding on how and why you should practice meditation.

Buddhism Or Anthroposophy?

I started out with buddhist insight meditation also called vipassana, then I spent a few years practicing antroposophical meditation founded by Rudolf Steiner. Later on, I was into Tibetan as well as zen buddhist practices. I've also done several mahasi retreats which stems from buddhist traditions in Burma.

Why try so many types of meditation, why not stick to one? For many of us it takes time to find the right tradition or technique that feels right and fits your hand like a glove. Once you've found the right school or technique you can focus wholeheartedly on the meditation practice itself.

Eckhart Tolle And Ajahn Sumedho

These days I find most of my inspiration in Eckhart Tolle's and Ajahn Sumedho's teachings. Search for these names in google and you will find many video clips and mp3 talks. So, why these two meditation masters? What is it that makes them stand out? To me, and this is only my personal opinion, they stand out with their clear and easy-to-follow teachings. In my experience, they are both quite experimental. What I mean by experimental is that they discover techniques or ways if you like that work for them and then they share these in their teachings.

Of course, as a theravadin monk in the Thai forest tradition, Ajahn Sumedho follows his tradition - however, his teachings are refreshing and non-orthodox.

The Purpose Of Meditation

Why meditate in the first place? I can recall spending hundreds of hours on the meditation cushion enduring physical pain as well as boredom. So, what's in it for you? We can talk about the purpose of meditation on several levels, let's start from the bottom and build upward.

Meditating For Health

Meditation has many overall health benefits and health professionals speak very highly of it. Meditation helps lowering the blood pressure and it effectively dissolves physical and mental stress just to mention a few of its health benefits. So, for anyone who's living a busy lifestyle, meditation calls forth mental stillness and a break away from the hustle and bustle.

As an introduction to meditation, I recommend my guided meditation called Learning To Relax that can be downloaded free of charge. Guided meditation is easy to learn and can be saved on your mp3 player or pda for ultimate flexibility. Which makes it possible to meditate anywhere and anytime - while commuting, during coffee breaks or even in nature.

It's advisable to meditate regularly, for example 3-5 times a week. This way you'll make steady progress and will benefit the most from your meditation practice. Mind you, 10 minutes is all you need. What matters here is not quantity but quality.

When we meditate the mind becomes calm and one of the beauties with meditation is that this mental stillness can have very positive effects on our everyday lives...

Dedicated Meditators

You may get hooked on meditation and spend a few weeks a year in meditation retreat or perhaps living in spiritual communities. Intensive practice away from the tension and pressures of modern life make for much faster progress than occasional meditations at a meditation center or at home.

Group Practice Versus Solo Practice

An advantage of practicing in a group, is that the group generates a lot of mental energy which makes it easier to meditate. Another bonus is that you always got someone to ask for help which is especially helpful in the beginning.

With group meditation it's also much easier to find the motivation as opposed to meditating at home, all alone. I suggest that you combine the two to get the best of both worlds. Meditating in a group can be a great boost but it also has its downsides with distractions such as coughing as well as hearing other meditators changing their sitting postures. Some meditators will argue that these distractions are useful in the way that you can become aware of them and learn to let them go, as a result you're able to meditate in any surroundings no matter how noisy or discomforting it may be.

At home it's often quieter and you got more freedom when it comes to your body posture. Sit on a chair, on your sofa, on your bed, on the floor, stand up, lie down or even do walking meditation.

Misunderstanding The Meditation Practice

I used to think that meditation was separate from other activities. This is a common misconception. For example, if you go swimming, you're likely to look at the swimming as something that's confined to the swimming pool. It's quite natural that our minds divide activities in this way.

Now, meditation doesn't stop as we part with the meditation cushion, like swimming does as we get out of the water. Meditation can become a part of our lives in the form of relaxed attention.

Attention And Awareness

The purpose of meditation is to think less and to become increasingly aware of the present moment. It's helpful to understand that we're conscious whenever we're awake and that thinking and awareness are forms of consciousness.

Now, most of the time our minds think about what we've done in the past and what we're going to do in the future. The compulsive thinking is ongoing and our attention is hardly ever in the present.

By being aware of the present moment our minds are grounded or anchored in the present if you like and this is a form of meditation.

A common misunderstanding is that meditation is synonymous with strong concentration. It can be, but here we're concerned with relaxed attention which is a natural state of mind unlike deep concentration which is a created mind state that depends on tranquil surroundings.

Conscious Living

Whatever you do let your mind be with the activity. If you're washing dishes, only wash dishes. If you're driving, only drive. Invite relaxed attention to become part of your daily activities and see for yourself how you can benefit from it. Give yourself ample time to develop these skills though, as it takes time to break old habits. Patience and a forgiving attitude help a lot. So, bring awareness into your life and share your good and bad experiences with me...

Best of luck!