Meditation is conscious withdrawal from thought world. In meditation you are not karta (doer) but you are simply an observer. In meditation silence of senses illuminates the presence of higher self within. Meditation is an effort in the beginning, later on it becomes a habit and gives bliss, joy, peace and a good health.
In meditation process, fetters are undone, internal blocks of suffering such as fear, anger, despair and hatred get removed and there is freedom from thoughts and joy.
Meditation posture
Step 1: Sit in any posture which is comfortable for you. You can choose to sit on floor or on a chair.
Step 2: Cross your legs, clasp your fingers and sit comfortably.
Step 3: Close your eyes, stop inner or outer chatter. Do not chant any mantra, just relax, totally relax. When your fingers are clasped and legs crossed, energy circles develop around you to give stability. Eyes are doors to the mind so for better meditation experience, it is better to keep the eyes closed. Mantra chanting or any other thoughts and activities of mind should be stopped.
Step 4: When body relaxes, consciousness travels to next door which is mind and intellect. As mind is full of thoughts, to transcend the mind & intellect, one has to observe the breath. Just focus your attention on natural breathing. Just observe, do not force.
Step 5: Observation is the witness of self, so just observe the breath, no conscious breathing, just observe the natural breathing.
THIS IS THE KEY.
Do not go behind thoughts, observe normal breathing, be with your breath. As you keep focusing on your breath, the density of thoughts reduces and slowly breath becomes thinner and shorter. Finally breath becomes smallest and settles like a flash in between the eyebrows, in this state one will have no breath and no thought. You will become completely thoughtless. This state is called meditative state or thoughtless state. In this state your mind’s healing power is thousand times the normal one and according to Indian Yog, you will be under the shower of cosmic energy. More meditation, more cosmic energy. This cosmic energy flows throughout the body called Etheric body that means all your chakras or energy centers are under the shower of this energy.
Sleep is unconscious meditation while meditation is conscious sleep. During sleep we get limited energy while during meditation we get abundant energy. This energy enhances power of our body, mind, and intellect. It opens the door for our sixth sense and beyond. In meditation, we travel from body to mind to intellect to self and beyond.
CHAKRA MEDITATION
Chakras are energy centers that unite mind, body and spirit. There are seven energy centers in human body and meditating on these chakras have immense health benefits. Chakras process and distribute energy that is needed for our health, well-being and vitality,
Root Chakra (Muladhar)
Located at the base of your spine, this chakra’s energetic function is to help us maintain physical health including body strength. Root Chakra has 4 lotus shape petals red in color. Meditate on this chakra and visualize these red petals are opening and shining more and more.
Sacral Chakra (Svadhisthana)
Located at your pelvis, this chakra’s energetic function is to help us regulate our emotions and desires, so as not to be driven by them. It has 6 orange color lotus shaped petals. Meditate on this chakra and visualize these petals are opening and shining more and more.
Solar Plexus Chakra (Manipura)
Located at your belly button, this chakra gives us the confidence we need to process and eliminate what does not serve us, and to let it go.
It has 10 yellow color lotus shaped petals. Meditate on this chakra and visualize these petals are opening and shining more and more.
Heart Chakra (Anahata)
Located at the center of your chest, this chakra’s energetic function is to help us tap into unconditional love. It has 12 green color lotus shaped petals. Meditate on this chakra and visualize these petals are opening and shining more and more.
Throat Chakra (Vishuddha)
Located at the base of your throat, this chakra’s energetic function is to help us find authentic self-expression. . It has 16 light blue color lotus shaped petals. Meditate on this chakra and visualize these petals are opening and shining more and more.
Third Eye Chakra (Ajna)
Located on your forehead in between your eyes, this chakra’s energetic function is to help us learn to know ourselves emotionally, mentally and spiritually. It has 2 navy blue color lotus shaped petals. Meditate on this chakra and visualize these petals are opening and shining more and more.
Crown Chakra (Sahasrara)
Located at the top of the head, this chakra helps us function in a more enlightened way, cultivate self-mastery and find a sense of connection with all. It has 1000 violet color lotus shaped petals. Meditate on this chakra and visualize these petals are opening and shining more and more.
SOHUM MEDITATION
Sohum is mahamantra and is one of the most ancient type of meditation. Sohum is sound of breathing. Sound of inhalation is SO and sound of exhalation is HUM. If you combine both it becomes SOHUM. SOHUM means I am HE higher self), so you are calling higher self, every breath becomes a prayer and adoration.
Technique:
Sit in a comfortable posture and relax. Close your eyes and ears, command mind to be silent and calm, relax your body with no tension on any muscle, just relax. A very light meditational instrumental music at the background is ok.
Focus on sound of breath. While inhalation observe sound SO and during exhalation observe sound HUM. Keep repeating this for 20 minutes. Observe one breath after another, feel how we are rewarded with one breath after another.
NON EXPRESSION OF NEGATIVITY Meditation
Practice in your daily routine not to say or think anything negative , either be positive or neutral.
AUM or OM Meditation
OM is a universal sound energy. It is within everyone and everything. When you chant OM, all universal energies and their vibrations connect with you. With practice, your energy merge with universal energies and you receive healing energies. Om meditation controls your breath with more involvement of parasympathetic nervous system, decreasing your blood pressure and balances your body, mind and intellect.
Technique: Sit in a comfortable position and relax whole body. Breathe in to full capacity and while exhaling chant OM slowly and deeply, exhale deep and completely with OM, the more time you take for exhalation, the better it will be.
Do it for 20 minutes and you will feel relaxed with feeling of joy, more energetic and stiffness and tensions in muscles gone with relief in pain.
CELLULAR HEALING Meditation
Nature has given all of us a great power of healing. Healing starts the moment we bring our mind’s attention to that place. Healing starts the moment we believe it will occur. The moment your mind buys into it, your body make it happen.
Procedure:
Sit comfortably and relax body and mind with few deep breathings and close your eyes. Now focus and see from your mind’s eye the following:
- Watch damage cells changing into healthy cells and becoming free from injuries. Visualize all cells as completely healthy. Maintain natural breathing.
- Watch your protector cells within your body attacking and killing damaged or infected cells and replacing these diseased cells with the normal ones.
- Your defensive cells eating all threatening cells and your body is free of dangerous cells. Visualize groups of healthy cells combining and replacing damaged cells of the body. Visualize healing energies filling you.
- While inhaling, visualize healing air flowing through lungs to all the cells and removing pain and stiffness. If you sincerely wish healing to take place, believe in it.
This is a good meditation technique, who have compromised immunity and fall sick easily. This meditation technique is useful for cancer patients and patients suffering from severe infections.
PAIN HEALING Meditation
Procedure:
- Sit comfortably, relax your mind and body. Take few deep breaths with focus on breathing.
- Visualize your body is slowly filling with light, starting from feet and slowly moving upwards, relaxing and healing everything coming its way.
- Visualize diseased or painful areas as dark circles and your body of light is radiating light from your eyes like a torch. Direct this light from your eyes towards dark circles represented by disease or pain and they are healed and removed.
- Affirmation to say quietly: I radiate this light to my body to heal. And after healing my body and mind, I radiate this light to the whole world. I am radiating this healing light from my body to my room to my city to my country to the whole world. Let the whole world be healed with this healing light.
- This light is blessing me with health and vitality. Perfect health is available to me now.
OUT OF THE BODY Meditation:
- Sit comfortably, relax your mind and body. Take few deep breaths with focus on breathing.
- Visualize stepping out of body and feel being above the body looking down to self. From here, radiate and send a golden healing light to your own body.
- Focus and radiate this golden light to your body, healing all parts with rejuvenation and positive feeling. This light is detoxifying my body and cleansing away toxins including toxin thoughts. Affirm: I am healthy and happy.
- Now focus this light to heart and arteries for healthy circulatory system.
- Radiate this light energy to abdomen area, now this light is absorbed in the body and becomes energy. From here the whole body is filled with energy and healing every part of it.
- Now radiate blue light to your body and visualize blue and golden light all over the body. With this golden and blue light all over the body, say this affirmation silently: I show my gratitude to you as you are the chariot of my soul. I heal you and these golden and blue lights will take away all negative energies and remove all toxins making you pure and healthy.
UNLOCKING THE THIRD EYE Meditation
Indian Traditional Yog has given importance to the third eye and meditating on the third eye for health.
We have two eyes which are part of the physical body. There is an energy center in between the two eye brows which is also known as third eye. This is a point where you can focus and meditate and with practice this energy center becomes activated and at this point your body stops giving orders to you and instead it starts to obey your orders. Such person becomes the master of his body, mind and senses. The more you concentrate on this point and remember this center, the more you become master of yourself.
Attention is food for third eye, pay attention to it and it becomes activated with enhanced healing power of the body.
Principles to follow for better results in meditation practice:
- Visualize universal energy everywhere.
- Be non-reactive
- Be non-judgmental
- Either be positive or neutral to all
- Live in present moment
- Be non-logical
- Un-conditional love