Great blog! I have been interested in meditation for a long time and try to practice it for a few minutes every day. I have the German edition of the book "...with Compassionate Understanding: A Meditation Retreat" by Rosemary & Steve Weissman. I recommend this book to anyone who wants to learn more about meditation.
A big thumbs up for your blog!
www.amazon.com/Compassionate-Understanding-Meditation-Retreat/dp/1557787697
A big thumbs up for your blog!
www.amazon.com/Compassionate-Understanding-Meditation-Retreat/dp/1557787697
Great article, but let me give you some tips from my 40 years of meditation (Kriya Yoga Meditation) experience. Warning: this, like Chess, isn’t easy, but determination is key to advancement.
The usual advice is to clear your mind of thoughts by watching your breath (Sanjay Gupta on TV). This breath technique by itself doesn’t work because, it’s boring! Our minds don’t like boring, and will quickly rebel and start thinking. Studies have shown that people (not trained in meditation) cannot clear their minds for a full second, after a half second they start thinking again. It’s only meditation when your mind is like a lake with no ripples, clear of all thought. Mindfulness meditation is like an oxymoron, if your mind is full of thoughts it’s not meditation! It’s only meditation when it goes into mindlessness!
Let’s start with what is thought. Two things, words and mental images. You can’t replace words and images with the suggestion to “don’t do that”, you have to give your mind something to actually do, to replace them. Here’s what you do, I think of them as the four tools: Sound, Light, Vibration, and finally, yes, Breath. The point is pick up a tool and use it. If you drop it and start thinking, notice that and pick up another tool. The point of the tools is not only to turn off your mind, but to bring the attention of your senses inside you, the “sense-arrows” pointing in, not out as normally. The trick is this: you can’t do two things with the same sense at the same time! So replace the words (with listening to the Sound), replace the mental images (with looking at the Light).
Sound: this can be different for different people. Did you ever notice that even in a quiet room you do hear some sound? There’s the electrical activity sound inside your head, your neurons going off, for me it’s a high-pitched whine. Then there’s a low rumbling sound of your blood circulating inside your ear canal (put your fingers in your ears, you’ll hear it)! Listen to your sound with the kind of attention of a predator about to pounce: listen, continue listening, don’t give up! This replaces the words “maybe I should get a sandwich” or whatever wants to pop in there.
Light: even in a pitch black room there is some light with your eyes closed. Your optic nerve is stimulated from the inside! You see hazy, shifting colors. Look at this light, continue looking at it as if you are hunting it, it’s your prey. The light gets brighter! This replaces the mental images (like the mental image of a sandwich), because you can’t look at the sandwich and the light at the same time!
Vibration: your spine has 7 centers or chakras. You don’t have to be a believer in anything, you can just feel them vibrating, like the purring of a cat. Coccyx, Sex Center, Abdominal, Heart, Throat, 3rd Eye (between eyebrows), Top of Head (Fontanelle). As you concentrate deeper these separate centers of vibration will become active, and this is another tool you can pick up, if you drop Sound and Light.
Finally, Breath: tool of last resort! I use this tool when I notice I’ve lost the other tools, I’m daydreaming, and need to get back to concentrating on Sound, Light and Vibration.
Start by taking four or five deep inhalations. Then pickup a tool, start with Sound. Add Light. If you can do 3 tools at the same time you are doing great! The other suggestions in this blog post about morning and evening are good. If you can do 15 minutes, great, 30 minutes better!
For more info on Kriya Yoga, go to http://www.kriya.org As you all know, having a coach makes you better at anything!
The usual advice is to clear your mind of thoughts by watching your breath (Sanjay Gupta on TV). This breath technique by itself doesn’t work because, it’s boring! Our minds don’t like boring, and will quickly rebel and start thinking. Studies have shown that people (not trained in meditation) cannot clear their minds for a full second, after a half second they start thinking again. It’s only meditation when your mind is like a lake with no ripples, clear of all thought. Mindfulness meditation is like an oxymoron, if your mind is full of thoughts it’s not meditation! It’s only meditation when it goes into mindlessness!
Let’s start with what is thought. Two things, words and mental images. You can’t replace words and images with the suggestion to “don’t do that”, you have to give your mind something to actually do, to replace them. Here’s what you do, I think of them as the four tools: Sound, Light, Vibration, and finally, yes, Breath. The point is pick up a tool and use it. If you drop it and start thinking, notice that and pick up another tool. The point of the tools is not only to turn off your mind, but to bring the attention of your senses inside you, the “sense-arrows” pointing in, not out as normally. The trick is this: you can’t do two things with the same sense at the same time! So replace the words (with listening to the Sound), replace the mental images (with looking at the Light).
Sound: this can be different for different people. Did you ever notice that even in a quiet room you do hear some sound? There’s the electrical activity sound inside your head, your neurons going off, for me it’s a high-pitched whine. Then there’s a low rumbling sound of your blood circulating inside your ear canal (put your fingers in your ears, you’ll hear it)! Listen to your sound with the kind of attention of a predator about to pounce: listen, continue listening, don’t give up! This replaces the words “maybe I should get a sandwich” or whatever wants to pop in there.
Light: even in a pitch black room there is some light with your eyes closed. Your optic nerve is stimulated from the inside! You see hazy, shifting colors. Look at this light, continue looking at it as if you are hunting it, it’s your prey. The light gets brighter! This replaces the mental images (like the mental image of a sandwich), because you can’t look at the sandwich and the light at the same time!
Vibration: your spine has 7 centers or chakras. You don’t have to be a believer in anything, you can just feel them vibrating, like the purring of a cat. Coccyx, Sex Center, Abdominal, Heart, Throat, 3rd Eye (between eyebrows), Top of Head (Fontanelle). As you concentrate deeper these separate centers of vibration will become active, and this is another tool you can pick up, if you drop Sound and Light.
Finally, Breath: tool of last resort! I use this tool when I notice I’ve lost the other tools, I’m daydreaming, and need to get back to concentrating on Sound, Light and Vibration.
Start by taking four or five deep inhalations. Then pickup a tool, start with Sound. Add Light. If you can do 3 tools at the same time you are doing great! The other suggestions in this blog post about morning and evening are good. If you can do 15 minutes, great, 30 minutes better!
For more info on Kriya Yoga, go to http://www.kriya.org As you all know, having a coach makes you better at anything!
@odoaker2015 said in #2:
> A big thumbs up for your blog!
Thank you so much odoaker2015
@ccardona54 said in #3:
> Great article, but let me give you some tips from my 40 years of meditation (Kriya Yoga Meditation) experience. Warning: this, like Chess, isn’t easy, but determination is key to advancement.
thanks for your perspective ccardona54. I have home cooked the style of guided meditation as I have recorded with techniques from different traditions and find that this mix works well with players.
> A big thumbs up for your blog!
Thank you so much odoaker2015
@ccardona54 said in #3:
> Great article, but let me give you some tips from my 40 years of meditation (Kriya Yoga Meditation) experience. Warning: this, like Chess, isn’t easy, but determination is key to advancement.
thanks for your perspective ccardona54. I have home cooked the style of guided meditation as I have recorded with techniques from different traditions and find that this mix works well with players.