Buddhism Meditation. Who else could represent it better than Buddha himself? Here is his story.

One happy morning, while he was deeply absorbed in meditation, unaided and unguided by any supernatural power and solely relying on his efforts and wisdom, he eradicated all defilements, purified himself, and, realizing things as they truly are, attained Enlightenment (Buddhahood) at the age of 35.

He was not born a Buddha, but he became a Buddha by his own striving. As the perfect embodiment of all the virtues he preached, endowed with deep wisdom commensurate with his boundless compassion. he devoted the remainder of his precious life to serv humanity both by example and precept, dominated by no personal motive whatever.After a very successful ministry of 45 long years the Buddha, as every other human being, succumbed to the inexorable law of change, and finally passed away in his 80th year, exhorting his disciples to regard his doctrine astheir teacher.

The Buddha was a human being. As a man he was born, as a man he lived, and as a man his life came to an end. Though a human being, he became an extraordinary man (Acchariya Manussa), but he never arrogated to himselfdivinity. The Buddha laid stress on this important point and left no room whatever for anyone to fall into the error of thinking that he was an immortal divine being. Fortunately there is no deification in the case of the Buddha. It should, however, be remarked that there was no Teacher, “ever so godless as the Buddha, yet none so god-like.”

The Buddha is neither an incarnation of the Hindu God Vishnu, as is believed by some, nor is he a savior who freely saves others by His personal salvation. The Buddha exhorts his disciples to depend on themselves for their deliverance, for both purity and defilement depend on oneself. Clarifying His relationship with His followers and emphasizing the importance of self-reliance and individual striving, the Buddha plainly states: “You should exert yourselves, the Tathagatas are only teachers.”

Buddhism Meditation
First of all, it must be mentioned that there are not petitional or intercessory prayers in Buddhism. However much we may pray to the Buddha we cannot be saved. The Buddha does not grant favors to those who pray to him. Instead of petitional prayers there is meditation that leads to self-control, purification and enlightenment. Meditation is neither a silent reverie nor keeping the mind blank. It is an active striving. It serves as a tonic both to the heart and the mind. The Buddha not only speaks of the futility of offering prayers but also disparages a slave mentality. A
Buddhist should not pray to be saved, but should rely on himself and win his freedom.

How to Do Buddhism Meditation

Be still and peaceful.
Recite three times – Nammo Buddhaya – (Honor to the Buddha)
Recite three times – Araham – (The pure one)

Recite:
Budddham saranam gacchami – (I go to the Buddha for refuge)
Dhamman saranam gacchami – (I go to the Dhamma for refuge)
Sangham saranam gacchami – (I go to the Sangha for refuge)

Think thus:
My mind is temporarily pure, free from all impurities, free from lust, hatred and ignorance, free from all evil thoughts.
My mind is pure and clean. Like a polished mirror is my stainless mind.
As a clean and empty vessel is filled with pure water I now fill my clean heart and pure mind with peaceful and sublime thoughts of boundless loving-kindness over-flowing compassion, sympathetic joy and perfect equanimity.
I have now washed my mind and heart of anger, ill will, cruelty, violence, jealousy, envy, passion and aversion.

Think ten times:
May I be well and happy!
May I be free from suffering, deisease, grief, worry and anger!
May I be strong, self-confident, healthy and peaceful!

Think thus:
Now I charge every particle of my system, from head to foot with thoughts of boundless loving-kindness and compassion. I am the embodiment of loving-kindness and compassion. My whole body is saturated with loving-kindness and compassion. I am a stronghol, a fortress of ling-kindness and compassion. I am nothing but loving kindness and compassion. I have sublimated myself, elevated myself, ennobled myself.

Think ten times:
May I be well and happy!
May I be free from suffering, deisease, grief, worry and anger!
May I be strong, self-confident, healthy and peaceful!

Think:
Mentally I create an aura of loving-kindness around me. By means of this aura, I cut off all negative thoughts, hostile vibrations. I am not affected by the evil vibrations of others. I return good for evil, loving-kindness for anger, compassion for cruelty, sympathetic joy for jealously. I am peaceful and well-balanced in mind. Now I am a fortress of loving-kindness, a stronghol of morality.
What I have gained I now give unto others.
Think of all your near and dear ones at home, individually or collectively and fill them with thoughts of loving kindness and wish them peace and happiness, repeating May all beings be well and happy! Then think of all seen and unseen beings, living near and far, men, women, animals and all living beings, in the East, West, North, South, above and below, and radiate boundless loving-kindness, without any enmity or obstruction, towards all, irrespective of class, creed, color or sex.
Think that all are your brothers and sisters, fellow-beings in the ocean of life. You identify with all. You are one with all.

Repeat ten times:
May all beings be well and happy
and wish them all peace and happiness.

What are the key items you need in order to start or deepen your daily meditation practice?  To help answer this question I thought it would be best if I simply shared with you my personal meditation tools and some tips that have helped me establish and benefit from a strong daily meditation practice. Below you can see the illustrations of these meditation tools straight form my meditation world.  Hope it helps you to plan and set-up your own meditation room and environment.

meditation place

1. My Meditation Space: Here is my favorite place in the Universe.  Some items worth noting from this illustration are…

Related Meditation Tips:

Lamp: I use a touch lamp which is within reach of where I sit.  It has 3 levels of illumination and really helps set a very serene and inviting atmosphere to help my mind settle down quickly to prepare for meditation.  It’s really pretty cool as it works with touch so is easy to deal with in the dark as well.

Shawl: You will also see a shawl which I drape over my legs to stay comfortable on cold mornings.

meditation cushion

Related Meditation Tips:

Meditation Smile Cushion: I also have a traditional round Zen Meditation Zafu, but, I have found the smile cushion above to be more effective for me as it gives more support to the legs.  If you are going to sit for 1 hour plus, without intermittent Kinhin (walking meditation) or other breaks, I would strongly recommend investing is a good meditation cushion.

Meditation Mat (Zabuton): I normally cover my zabuton with a towel when I sit, so I don’t have to worry about it getting dirty

often.

meditation clothing

3. Meditation Clothing: My wife was like, you are NOT going to put pictures of your self tailored pajamas on the website are you?  Well… yes I am and I am very proud of the design, which I am ultimately planning to sell it to Armani for a fortune in the near future .

Related Meditation Tips:

Meditation Pajamas: The shorts are really for the Yoga practice which I do after my meditation practice.  The custom butchered pajamas are for meditation and they serve 2 very important purposes.  First, they are cut at the upper thighs so no material bunches up behind the knees to cut off blood supply to put my legs to sleep.  Second, the waist band is not elastic, but instead uses a thread (nala), which I loosen once I sit so that my diaphragm and breathing are not impeded in any way.

3. Meditation Motivators: These are just some items which inspire me and help set the right atmosphere for spiritual work.

4. Meditation Tools: For insight meditation practice no music should be used, so the remote is much more important for theYoga & Pranayama practice, specially if you are using rhythm for the breathing exercises.  The most important item in the list above is the stop watch.

Related Meditation Tips:

Stop Watch: Make sure you have a stop watch which counts down from a particular time period.  This way you won’t have to disrupt your practice by looking at a clock to determine the length of your meditation.

Conclusion:

One item I realized I forgot is my meditation journal.  It sits right under my little table, or in my basket and any profound insights or enlightenment experiences I have I note them down there.

I hope giving you this glimpse into my meditation practice inspires and helps you with your daily spiritual work.

How to Practice Yoga Pranayama

The vast benefits of yoga pranayama, or yoga breathing exercises, are now starting to be discovered by mainstream society.  It is inevitable, to those of us familiar with this profound science, that pranayama will gain equal, if not greater, popularity than the physical yoga exercises (Hatha Yoga Asanas) have done so far.  This is because pranayama is absolutely something everyone can practice, regardless of age or physical prowess.  If you can breathe, you can do pranayama.

The beauty with yoga breathing is that simple meditation techniques can bestow terrific benefits and that learning and practicing these techniques is something well within reach of us all.  Whether you are a beginner or advanced yogi, pranayama is something you will find to be a powerful tool to help you with your spiritual evolution.  That being said, there are certain guidelines and recommendations that you  should follow with regard to pranayama practice, and in this article I would like to provide those to you.

If you are an advanced yogi, from the point of view of Hatha yoga practice, and you have not done much pranayama, then you should approach this science with the same respect as a beginner would.  This is because prana, or life-force, is the vast energy of atoms, and the body’s capacity to handle such energy should be built up gently and systematically over time.  Rushing pranayama practice can create imbalances in the systems and other problems, that could easily have been avoided if an intelligent approach had been embraced.

Beginner’s Guide to Yoga Pranayama Practice

1. Clothing: Clothing should be loose, specially around the abdomen.  This will ensure that the natural movement of the diaphragm is not impeded when doing the breathing exercises.
2. Diet: You should not have eaten any heavy meal at least 2-3 hours prior to practicing pranayama.  The stomach should be empty.  It is fine to sip some water though during the practice to stay hydrated, specially when doing heat generating vigorous exercises.  If your diet can consist of light, fresh food that will help the cleansing process as well.
3. Time: Dawn is a terrific time to practice yoga and meditation, but this is more so for pranayama practice.  This is because the early morning air is fresh and at this time the air contains the most amount of prana.  Practicing at this time, will bestow benefits faster.  Of course, if this is not feasible, no worries, practice when you can.  Here is an article on How to Help You Become an Early Riser.
   
4. Posture: Always sit with your back as straight if possible.  In addition, keep the chin slightly tucked in so that the back of the neck is aligned with the spine.  This will help the flow of energy up and down the spine and up into the brain region.  In addition, this will prevent you from getting dizzy during vigorous exercises.
5. Illness: Whether you are a beginner or an advanced practitioner, do not practice any advanced pranayamas while you are unwell.  Do the beginner versions of the breathing exercises or choose easy pranayamas to do instead.  It is also fine to stop entirely until you have recovered fully.
   
6. Effort: Again, regardless of if you are a beginner or advanced yogi you should never strain when practicing yoga.  This is especially true when doing the breathing exercises.  As indicated above, pranayama, which means the expansion and control of prana, deals with the nuclear energy of atoms and progress should be made gently and systematically. This is even more applicable for any pranayama that requires you to hold your breath in or out for prolonged periods of time.  If at all you feel uncomfortable while practicing a pranayama, stop, take a break and restart again when you feel ready.
7. Cautions: Don’t practice any heat generating pranayamas while sitting directly under the hot sun.  This can aggravate the heat in the system (pitta).  Similarly, choose pranayamas according to conditions and state of your health.  In other words, don’t practice Sheetali Pranayama if you are suffering from a cold or chest congestion, etc.  The following Overview of Ayurveda can be a helpful guide to you on this topic as well.
8. Location: Try to practice is a well ventilated room with plenty of fresh air.

Summary

Yoga Pranayama is perhaps the best part of yoga.  All the various types of yoga have contributed to this profound science and the following link should give you plenty of meditation techniques to incorporate into your daily practice.

If you are just beginning your yoga practice, definitely incorporate pranayama into it, if you are an adept yogi and have not indulged in pranayama, then it’s overdue that you take advantage of this warehouse of profound wisdom.

In our stress-filled world meditation comes as a great tool to ease our mind. This technique of bringing mind/soul into perfect balance with your body has been around for thousands of years. Meditation has provided humans a way to learn how to co-exist and face the difficulties in this world. Meditation is an art and a wonderful technique to keep you focused, free of stress and in good health and spirit.

Everyone would like to achieve peace in life and keep away stress/sorrowful thoughts. Meditation is the best way to improve one’s physical and mental condition. The person becomes more conscious about his health, well being, and good things in society and harnesses the positive energy. It increases creativity, eliminates negative thoughts and helps to gain confidence. This can be done through easy yet powerful excercises – and you don’t have to be an expert to do so! You only have to find the right source! For starters, why don’t you check out these Free Meditation Videos?

Meditation has spiritual physical values too. People who meditate properly have been found to have lower cholesterol level, good blood pressure, healthier heart, better physical condition and simply just mentally stronger. Beside the physical benefits of meditation (reduced heart beat, better hand-eye coordination, weight stabilization, lessened menstrual pains) there are mental benefits as well:

• Stronger ability to learn, retain what you have learned
• Decreased levels of anxiety and stress
• Decreased irrirtation and mood swings
• Increased productivity
• Increased self-confidence
• More developed feelings of compassion, gratitude and love

Meditation is not only important to individuals but also to society. Modern scholars and sociologists say that meditation is a must for the present world where people are so busy and are under extreme stress. It will actually help not only overcoming the physical and mental difficulties but also in building a happier and stress-free society where there is less crime and more hapiness.

Meditation techniques for beginners

If you are new to meditation there are plenty of good resources to start with. The problem with most of them that they are either too complicated or too expensive. Finding the best source can be a chore, but it’s definitely worth the effort! Once you experienced the wonderful world of meditation and yoga, you won’t believe how you could live without it. But to do so, you have to learn the proper techniques; otherwise you would be simply wasting your time and energy! What is more, if you start off with the wrong techniques you might do more harm than good!

Mindfulness of Breathing. This technique helps you to relax your body and release the pain and stress. Just concentrate on your breathing, in and out, in and out. Don’t think, just focus on the physical existence and the essential part of it: breathing. The goal is to not to think – just ease your mind and let go the problems. Do not think.

Visualization. This is one of the easiest techniques. You simply have to think of a physical object in your mind. Visualize it, just look at it and admire it. Stop thinking about other things just dedicate all your attention to this chosen object. You will be able to enter a state where you become one with the world around you – you are the object!

Concentration. Concentrating means being at the centre, focusing only on a single point. All you have to do is shut off your thoughts apart from the one that you are focusing on. When you do that properly you don’t sense time – because time doesn’t exist. Only you and your chosen point. To practise concentration all you have to do is to look at a physical scene then close your eyes and recreate the picture mentally. See every little detail, feel every move! Exclude all other thoughts just live in the picture! This technique will help you to develop mental imagery and you will be more focused. Try to practice this every day for at least a few minutes!

Transcendental meditation. This type of meditation is an ancient Vedic technique introduced by Maharishi Mahesh yogi in 1958. This is a simple yet powerful process – just sit comfortably with eyes closed and look inward. In this silent and peaceful level of consciousness your body gains deep rest and gives you inner energy.

As you can see these techniques are easy to do, even for those who have never practised meditation or yoga. What tends to be difficult though is making the time to actually do it. But knowing the proper techniques is essential since chasing wrong methods can lead to a state where you do more harm than good! Find a good and reliable source!

Flame Mediation

In this method, light and place a candle at eye level in a semi dark room.

Prior to focusing on the candle, sit down close your eyes and do deep breathing like in the previous methods.

Next, open your eyes and focus on the flame while breathing deeply.

Do not think of anything but the flame.

Now, close your eyes and visualize the flame for as long as you can conveniently.

When the image of the flame disappears while your eyes are closed, open your eyes and focus on the flame again.

Visualization Method of Meditation (Essentially for tension and stress)

In this method, sit down, close your eyes and start breathing like in the previous form. Now, start visualizing your each breath going in through your nose, filling up your lungs and as it goes out.

Start to visualize all the positive thoughts coming in and the negative thoughts going out with each breath.

Then visualize an image or situation that instills a feeling of calmness and serenity in you.

Gradually visualize all your senses like smell and touch.

The human body is a biological internal combustion engine which enables us to perceive the physical universe and to take actions driven by our thoughts. For example now that I’m writing I’m using my fingers to type and also my eyes to see the screen. We can say that the body is an interlink between the “inner us” and the “outer world”.

What is the proper body like?

A proper body works and functions in a way that one doesn’t really notice. It doesn’t create a problem for its owner (in the form of sickness), it doesn’t go off (injury) and it lasts for a long-long time. Basically it helps us so that we can do our own things in this world and don’t have to pay attention to it. But still we need to take good care of it if we want it to work properly. Plus a beautiful body brings some aesthetics into the world.

What do you need for this?

So we have to take good care of the body and we have to provide everything that it needs. We need to
please it by giving it everything that it needs. And by everything we mean everything it needs not what we think it needs. There is a big difference here. Unfortunately there are a lot of misconceptions about this topic. The human body is fairly resistant but if we don’t give it what it needs then it starts to do funny things then it breaks down and we can’t use it anymore. Plus it gets ugly!

What are the needs of the body?

The body has a lot of needs. We almost deal with it the whole day – whether we want to or not. Sleeping, resting, excercising, eating… We spend 2/3 of our life in bed. Apart from the fact that we need spiritual freshness we also have to provide enough rest for our body. When we don’t feed it or dress it, we go to work to make money in order to buy more “fuel” or clothes, to build a home so that it can rest.

What do you need to have a proper body?

Over the past few years I came to realize that the most important thing is to understand the needs of the body. And also to understand what it doesn’t need. This is not an easy job since our world is full of different concepts and misconceptions – who knows what is best? Well the bad news is that you actually have to find it out for yourself. Of course there are certain things that are essential (healthy food, vitamins, excercise, sleeping) – but are you willing to provide these for your body? I suggest to start digging on the internet to find out what is good for you and just stick to it! It’s your life it’s your body.

Counting your Breaths

This is perhaps the simplest meditation technique for beginners.

Concentrate on your each breath that goes in and out. This helps you tap its rhythm, it is in fact but natural to find it hard to concentrate. So, do not be disappointed and start tapping the rhythm of your breath again. Do not stress your mind by trying too hard to regulate your breath.

Try breathing initially without counting for a few minutes and when you believe your breathing is at a regular pace and cycle, then start counting it.

Set targets on the basis of the duration or number of breaths and gradually increase them.

Important Note: After you are done, the process of opening your eyes, accepting the surroundings and getting up should be slow and gradual.

Jiddu Krishnamurti (writer and speaker on philosophical and spiritual subjects) once said, “Man, in order to escape his conflicts, has invented many forms of meditation. These have been based on desire, will, and the urge for achievement, and imply conflict and a struggle to arrive. This conscious, deliberate striving is always within the limits of a conditioned mind, and in this there is no freedom. All effort to meditate is the denial of meditation. Meditation is the ending of thought. It is only then that there is a different dimension which is beyond time.”

So you have heard about meditation. But what is meditation exactly? Why is it good?

- Meditation can cease psychosomatic illnesses
- It can resolve the mental barricade that is responsible for sorrow and unhappiness
- Meditation creates harmony, brings balance to your life and gives inner peace
- It can increase your awareness about life, goals, other people and happiness
- Makes you look younger
- Lowers blood pressure

What is the goal of meditation?

- Releasing stress
- Easing the mind
- Creating a state where you are free and happy

The advantage of meditation
The biggest advantage of meditation – especially breathing meditation – that you can do it anytime, anywhere. Even at your workplace, before an important meeting, on the street, in a traffic jam, etc.

Physiological effect
If you live a stressful and busy life your brain produces more electrical tension – the problem of our era: the headache arises. Meditation reduces significantly the electrical tension in our brain, so it can rest for a few minutes and heal itself. You will feel much more alive, clean and fresh after a few minutes of relaxation.

Research shows that during sleeping and meditation metabolism also slows down. Metabolism indicates the inner balance of your body. If it’s slow then it needs more time to convert food into energy therefore using less oxygen.

The deep and real relaxation activates the healing power of the body which starts certain processes that make you look younger. The metabolism slows down so the body can focus on healing and renewing itself.

During sleep our metabolism slows down by 8% after 4-5 hours. When you meditate it slows down by 20% in just half an hour therefore it gives you quality rest. Warning: meditation cannot be a substitute for sleep!

Stress contracts the vein walls and that causes high blood pressure. Meditation eases up the veins and creates a better way for the blood flow.