Meditation with objects

 

Rocks are a solid connection to the earth.

Meditation can help you achieve self-awareness and greater insight into the world around you.
Additional benefits include relaxation, lowered blood pressure, and a reduction in stress-levels which are clinically proven to promote better health.
Meditation involves training the mind to be in the present moment and words, objects, and images all help in bringing the mind into a calm and steady state.

Maintaining single-pointed awareness occurs with regular practice and one of the easiest methods is to imagine an object that will give the mind something solid to focus on.
Meditation is pleasurable and should be free from struggle but all to often the mind wanders as thoughts intrude and people give up, thinking that they can’t meditate.

Begin slowly. Start with a few seconds, then minutes, until you find that you are able to sit still with the mind rested and enjoying the experience for as long as you need in order to complete your meditation session.

Solid State
Using your imagination, visualize a rock. It can be any shape, size, or color. The choice is yours as this is your meditation.
Using images and objects from nature are a natural organic choice as they ground you by maintaining a connection to the earth.
Focus on your imagined rock. See it; explore its shape and all its features. How shiny or dull is it. What other aspects do you see? How does it feel beneath your fingers as you imagine touching it. Is it rough or smooth, warm or cold?
Is the rock a solitary object or do you see other rocks with it?

Play around with this image as you notice the solid permanence of the rock. What is the environment that the rock is situated in; a desert, a garden, a river?

There is no right or wrong way to practice this meditation technique.
Use it for as many meditation sessions as you would like and gradually you will find that you can both enter into and remain in a state of meditation with ease.