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.

Centering Meditation

Focus on your inner center to create the changes you desire

One of my favorite methods of meditation is Centering Meditation.
This is a simple method that makes positive use of the energy contained within the body in order to create affirmative changes within the mind and the body.
Whenever stressful or challenging periods are encountered, centering allows the self to quickly overcome potentially difficult situations and prevent negative and detrimental effects from occurring. Anxiety is released, the muscles of the body relax, and breathing slows down, promoting clarity of thought.

Method
If possible, sit in a comfortable position with the legs folded so that your body makes a triangle shape from both knees to the crown of the head with the spine as a conduit for energy to travel from base of spine to crown of head.

Draw awareness inward to the belly and focus on the flow of the breath
Notice the rate and rhythm of the breath
Slow the breath down until it becomes slow, steady, and even
Inhale with a deep breath, feeling the abdomen expand
Exhale, breathing all the way out by drawing the navel to the back of the spine to assist with the exhalation
Let the abdominal muscles relax before beginning your next inhalation

Continue with this deep breathing technique for about 30 breaths, staying focused on the flow of the breath into and out of the center of the body

Breathe away any tension in the body
If the mind wanders, simply return to the flow of the breath and the center of the body

As you maintain steady focus on this deep centering breathing, the body continues to relax from the base of the spine to the crown of the head

Now, with each inhale, draw peace through whole body and feel stillness and serenity flow effortlessly through you as obstacles release via the exhalation

Continue until you feel completely relaxed, peaceful, with no attachment to troubles or tension.

This meditation method hones the mind away from stressful situations while releasing toxins via the flow of the breath. Oxygenated air passes into the deepest parts of the lungs where it replenishes the body.
Try it at bedtime to experience a restful sleep, and in the morning for heightened intuition and expanded awareness.
Combining pranayama techniques with meditation in this manner strengthens, balances, and increases energy in both your body and mind.

POSITIVE AFFIRMATIONS

POSITIVE AFFIRMATIONS

Affirmations Tuesdays and Thursdays)

To maximize the effects of affirmations, it is important to identify the core values that lie deep within you. These embedded ideas and deep-seated beliefs can either nurture you and produce good feelings or promote a mind-set of unworthiness.

Through regular meditation and self-inquiry each one of us can discover who we really are and what we truly need. We will slowly peel away the layers so that we can accept who we are without judgment and uphold the values that benefit ourselves and the world around us.

The two are interconnected, like a parent and offspring, as how we think and act affects not only our personal life but all that we come in contact with. We do not know how deeply our actions will affect another yet if we are knowledgeable about what lies at our very core, we can attract more of what we enjoy into our lives.

Promote clear and positive feelings by seeing yourself as honest, kind, and compassionate in all that you think, say, and do.
Thoughts have their own unique energy. Use the power of your words to create only that which is positive for you.

See yourself feeling strengthened and invigorated as you awaken in the morning. Smile and embrace the start of this new day.
Hear yourself welcoming the potential that this glorious day will bring.
See yourself succeeding in whatever tasks you need to fulfill.

“I am successful in all that I do.”

MEDITATION, MANTRA, CLARITY

CLARITY
There are times when we experience a mental "blockage" and struggle with finding a solution to a problem or a creative idea. This can occur because we are unconsciously holding on to outdated ideas or past beliefs and meditation enables each one of us to obtain clarity of mind by gently stripping away obstacles and confusion layer by layer, revealing our connection to the source of all creation.

MENTAL BLOCKAGES

Fr. Thomas Keating of The Contemplative Outreach Center in New Jersey Resist wrote the following words in 1998:

"Resist no thought, retain no thought, react emotionally to no thought, and when you notice you are thinking about some thought,
return ever so gently to the sacred word.
One does not think about whether to return to the sacred word or not.
One simply returns to it when thoughts are attracting one's awareness
to a particular object."

Awareness rarely emerges when forced. It comes into being when you cease the struggle and clear a path for it to flow. Concentration and heightened awareness develop with practice and carry with them additional advantages such as:

• being more receptive to listening rather than asking
• being rather than doing
• increasing your faith
  

The past can leak into the present when we least expect it, but by taking charge of the dominant brain and leading it on a spiritual path you encounter fewer obstacles and instead invite calmness, the right people, and unexpected opportunities into your life that will guide you forward instead of holding you in a place that you have outgrown.

FINDING YOUR SACRED WORD
Affirmations are useful when you are beginning meditation or need to train the mind to think more positively.
A Mantra or Sacred Word or Phrase however, has special significance and energy in part because it originates from sacred text, sacred music, or sacred tradition.
It is extremely powerful and while a whole posting can be written to describe its importance, you can begin using a word or phrase that has special meaning to you by reading a scripture and finding a passage that resonates with you. As you consider the text, read slowly and a word or phrase will stay with you, drawing your attention to it again and again.

Once you have settled into your meditation, allow the word to flow unimpeded through your mind's awareness. Focus on the word, its energy, how it feels, what it says to you. Feel its vibrations.
After your meditation session is complete notice how you feel, what your perspective is like, how relaxed your mind is, and how clear your thoughts have become.
Release attachment to the past and remain focused on the present. Cultivate sacred words and carry them with you and notice a deepening spiritual awareness and connectivity to the source of all creation.

CULTIVATING PEACE

Peace and stillness flows through the mind like a river.

"There is nothing in all creation so like God as stillness."

Meister Eckhart (1260-1328)

Elusive Peace
Noise is everywhere; in the streets, in shops, even inside your head when you keep replaying past conversations. Sometimes the internal noise drowns out the external so that someone has to repeat what they have said to you in order for you to hear them. Sounds impact each one of us whether we are aware of them or not. Laughter, crying, shouting, and music can each affect our mood even when they are in the background and we are not aware of paying it very much attention.

The constant bombardment of noise on the senses can reach the point where life gets so hectic and fast paced that you say to yourself, “I just want a break. I need some peace.”

So where do you go to find it?
A spa? A sacred place of worship? A stroll in the park or by the ocean? A library?

A Moment for Meditation
Where does true lasting peace exist? Certainly not in an external place, no matter how tranquil or spiritual the place is. However, a beautiful scenic filled with the sights and sounds of nature, or a romantic atmosphere, can promote short acting peace and provide both a positive memory to return to within the mind's awareness and a stepping-off point to begin developing lasting peace.

It takes no special skills, simply practice and the belief that peace DOES reside within you.

Awareness of lasting peace is cultivated over a period of time, provided it is given the right environment so that you can first recognize it, and then enable it to deepen its roots and strengthen over time.

It is through meditation that you experience serenity and tranquility. You create a memory for it within your mind and body.

Your Meditation
As you prepare for this meditation, know that you are going to focus on the peace within you.
Even if you don't feel particularly peaceful, know that you will release stress and unhappy feelings and replace this revealed inner space with feelings of peace.

You allow tranquility to flow effortlessly in the way that a river flows unimpeded when boulders are rolled away to permit an even and steady passage of water.
Your own energy will flow in such a way that while it may be a trickle at first, it will steadily increase until anxiety and stress no longer have a chance of taking a hold again as the current of peace sweeps it away.

Your body and mind will desire staying in a peaceful state and through regular meditation you learn how to experience serene feelings and deep happiness. In doing so you calm the mind and the body, creating a situation that promotes calmness and freedom from worry.

You will return to a peaceful way of living with increased frequency until peace becomes your natural way of being.

Breathing Meditation

A breathing meditation helps the lake of the mind remain calm and still

Meditation has numerous applications and there are a variety of methods that you as a practitioner can use depending on your needs.

A breathing meditation serves as a single-pointed focus and both calms the mind and develops internal peace.
You can choose whether to concentrate solely on the breath prior to entering your meditation practice, or to stay with the breath and actually meditate upon it during your entire practice.

Breathing Meditation

Sit in a comfortable position with the spine erect. Your chosen place for meditation should be free from distractions including being too hot, cold, drafty etc as it’s not only noise that can be annoying.

With the eyes gently closed, draw the attention inwards to the breath. Keep the eyes still in this inner eye gaze.

Follow the breath from the tip of the nose into the base of the lungs.
Follow the breath all the way out in a steady stream

Keep the lips closed and the facial muscles relaxed
Allow the breath to flow effortlessly into and out of the body without your input or control

Continue following the breath as it enters and leaves the body until you feel the body and mind relax and the breath becomes slow and steady

Note the sensation of the breath as it passes through both nostrils, over the back of the throat and into the base of the lungs
Never force the breath

Deepen and lengthen the breath
Feel the breath flow into the body, permeating every cell

Maintain awareness on the sensation of the breath
Concentrate on how the breath feels

If any thoughts enter the mind’s awareness, simply allow them to pass on by.
Don’t follow a train of thought.
Remain focused on the breath and all the impressions that it leaves.

If you discover that you have inadvertently allowed the mind to wander off, don’t judge yourself. Accept that this has happened and simply return to the gentle rhythmic flow of the breath.

Eventually, the deeper you concentrate on the breath, the fewer distractions that will appear as there is no room for other thoughts to enter.
With practice and dedication the mind will stay with the breath. It will be comfortable in this new attentiveness.

All distracting thoughts subside and the mind experiences deep relaxation and profound peace.

A feeling of expansiveness of body and mind will permeate your entire being.
It is not uncommon to actually lose all awareness of even possessing a physical body as the mind joins with the source of the peace.

Knowledge and understand thrives and flourishes.

Once your thoughts have melted away and awareness is only on the sensations of the breath, let the mind dissolve.

Stay in this peaceful state until you feel that your meditation is complete.

After Your Breathing Meditation Session

• Notice the different levels of relaxation that occur within the body and mind simply by following the breath and remaining with the breath.
• Excluding other thoughts enables you to stay calm and peaceful.
• You control your thoughts and the body by controlling the mind.
• Any time that you find yourself in a stress-full situation, simply return to the rhythmic flow of the breath and you will be able to bring your mind into a relaxed state.

Peaceful Meditation

Meditation promotes peace in mind, body, and actions

Mind-Body Connection
The connection between the mind and the body has been a subject of study for many decades. One hundred years ago, it was noted that when animals became distressed, they did not eat. Research then gravitated towards humans, noting the causal relationship between events that affect the psyche and consequently impact the health of the body and mind.

The connection between the mind and the body is not new knowledge though. We can go back thousands of years and see how ancient cultures treated the mind and body as one, and not as separate entities. Chinese medicine is well-known for its belief that certain organs and centers of the body represent mental or emotional conditions. This form of medicine, and practices such as acupuncture, yoga and similar Eastern techniques also believe that the body contains meridians or nadis that carry energy effortlessly through the body when there are no physical or psychological obstacles.

Stress is known to be a major factor in creating chronic health conditions. It creeps into a person’s life and festers, creating serious problems that impact the heart and blood-pressure, and also produces anxiety, fear, intolerance, anger, and other physiological changes that create a recipe for unhappiness and illness.
While short periods of stress can help an individual to accomplish a task, it is the long-term, insidious form of stress that takes hold and upsets the overall health and well-being of a person.

Happiness Factor
Researchers are now finding clinical evidence for techniques such as meditation and rhythmic breathing to alleviate the chronic symptoms of long-term stress. Meditation boosts the immune system, establishing not only a calm and peaceful mind and body, but manifests actual changes within the brain and neurological systems of the body.

When you are happy, corresponding signals travel to your brain, which in turn boosts your immune system. Your feelings impact you on a deep level whether you are aware of this or not.
Thinking unhealthy, sad, hopeless thoughts really does affect the cells of the body detrimentally; while thoughts filled with hope, kindness, and love promote health and well-being.

It actually takes less energy to be positive than it does to think and act in a negative manner.

What Meditation Will Achieve
Through self-direction, you decide whether to see the positive rather than the negative in any situation. This awareness enables you to choose to create your best life. Smiles are contagious! And so, by default, are scowls, frowns, and a cantankerous attitude.

Speak to yourself in positive language and you will increase your emotional and physical health.
Meditation affects your perception, your awareness of time, and by promoting a positive mental state enables you to be free from the negativity that creates disorder and ill-health.
It helps to forge new pathways in the brain thereby enabling you to develop new habits.

Affirmations
You can self-generate power by using positive thoughts and vibrations.
Speak a word such as “Love,” or a phrase such as “I am Healed,” or the universal sound of AUM pronounced OM.
I am responsible for my life and have the power I need to have joy.
The happier I am with people around me, the happier I am as a person.
I see my life anew.

After Your Meditation Practice

• At home, practice smiling and capture the relaxed and carefree emotions that you generate.
• Keep a comfortable internal expression to maintain a positive mood and your feelings will show externally on your face and body language.
• Become active rather than reactive to situations, e.g. thinking before you speak or act
• Carry the feeling of peace and contentment with you wherever you go and watch the responses you receive from people around you.
• Give full attention to what you are experiencing physically, and what you are feeling, thinking and doing.