Wednesday, March 16, 2011

Why to Meditate?

Every human being in this world aspires for peace and happiness. Happiness is a state of mind. Meditation enables a person to attain such a state of mind, where external interference on the brain is almost reduced to nil, mind and body attain absolute peace and the person reaches a state of equilibrium. Meditation is a source of peace and happiness.

Meditation takes you from

Tension to Attention
Stressfulness to Gracefulness
Restlessness to Tranquility
Dullness to Sharpness
Ageing to Youthfulness
Illness to Health
Selfishness to Selflessness

Mind is like a wave in the ocean of Consciousness (Chetna).The balance between a focused mind and expanded Consciousness can bring perfection.
In the state of Ultimate consciousness (Maha Chetna) a person can even touch the unseen, unheard depths of the brain. All this is possible through Yoga and Meditation.

As soon as the brain goes to an extremely relaxing state, the adrenalin secretion in the hypothalamus region is greatly reduced, the heart beat gets regularized and as a result of this there is an immediate fall in the blood pressure and glucose levels. The muscles get relaxed and more of alpha waves are produced by brain which is responsible for peace & happiness.

There are two kinds of meditation techniques-Concentrative and Mindfulness.

During Concentrative Meditation attention is focused on a single sound, an object or one’s breath to bring about a calm, tranquil mind.

During Mindfulness Meditation, the mind becomes aware of but does not react to the wide variety of sensations.

Components of Meditation
• Quiet Atmosphere
• Comfortable Posture
• Passive Attitude
• Follow the Theme

Themes of Meditation
• Earth Elements : Black Dot, Statue of God
• Water Elements : River,Lake,Sea
• Sound Elements : Word,Mantra,Japa,Bhajan
• Fire Elements :Lamp, Candle
• Nature Element :Blue Sky, Dense Forest, Moon, Ice Peaks, Sea Waves
• Body Elements :Sharir (Organs),Limbs ,Breathing
• Psychic Centre :Kundalini
• Colours :Orange, Green, White
• Thoughts :Anupreksha

Even in ancient Chinese and Japanese culture, meditation has been practiced as “Zen”,”Sufi”,Reiki” & “Tai-Chi”.
Meditation has been laid stress upon by all religions. The meditative state of mind is declared by the Yogis to be the highest state in which the mind exists. Hindu religion’s prime God Shiva is always depicted sitting in a meditative state.

Types Of Meditation
• Vipassana Meditation
• Yoga Nidra Meditation
• Buddhist Meditation
• Transcendental Meditation
• Kundalini Meditation
• Zen Meditation
• Brahma Kumari Meditation
• Preksha Meditation
• Ananda Marga Meditation
• Meher Baba Meditation
• Tibetan Meditation
• Sangha Yoga Meditation
• Turiya Yoga Meditation
• Osho Meditation
• Now Faith Meditation
• Art Of Living Meditation


Brain scans show that putting negative emotions into words calms the brain’s emotional centre. That could explain meditation’s purported emotional benefits, because people who meditate, often label their negative emotions in an effort to ‘let them go’. These findings were put up by two scientists, Matthew Lieberman and David Creswell, in Psychological Science.


“These findings may help explain the beneficial healthful effects of mindfulness meditation & suggest for the first time, an underlying reason why mindfulness meditation program improve mood and health.” - David Creswell in Psychosomatic Medicines.

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