The Art of Meditation

The best thing I have ever done for myself is learning to meditate. I love it! It quiets my mind, helps me to concentrate and relieves stress. Meditation is very simple in concept, yet it takes time to learn to focus and relax the mind.

The simple part of meditation is sitting and being quiet. I told you it was simple. The hard part is learning to quiet your mind. You brain is constantly thinking. It’s going over the events of the day. It’s thinking about what to cook for dinner, the meeting with the accountant, the noisy neighbors, the bills, money, work, the boss, the kids, the dog, the cat, who’s knocking at the door, the phone is ringing… See what I mean.

The hardest part of meditation for anyone just starting to meditate is learning to quiet the mind and ignore sound disturbances. At first, you will think that your mind just refuses to be quiet. You may find that when you meditate, your thoughts become loud, intrusive and flow rapidly. This is true only when first starting meditation. With practice, you will find that your brain will learn by repetitive patterns that you are getting ready to meditate and will automatically quiet the mind and relax the body. It will not run pell-mell through the day’s events. Thoughts will continue to pop up, but you will notice that your thoughts are softer, less intrusive and less frequent.

You may find that every time you sit down to meditate, everyone and everything in the world wants or needs your attention at that very moment. It seemed that way for me. I had to learn to ignore sound disturbances and realize that the only thing that required my immediate attention was a true emergency. Again, with practice, you will find that you will ignore sounds and other disturbances.

Catch the Wave

The best meditation is when your brain waves are at Alpha level. Brain waves are electrical impulses created by various states of arousal in the brain. You can literally put yourself into any brain wave level. Don’t think so? What do you think happens when you dream? Sound sleep is delta brain waves, but dreaming changes the brain waves according to what you're dreaming about. See!

When I first started meditation, I tried to meditate without music, just the ambient sound around my home, but then I stumbled upon an article on brain wave therapy for ADHD which I researched. I found that ambient music played over alpha waves helped people who meditate to reach alpha level brain waves and enjoy a deeper level of meditation. I bought a CD and tried it. It was great! I later tried a CD for Theta brain waves and I liked it much better for meditation. Should you decide to try brain wave entrainment, use whatever helps you attain the level of meditation that you enjoy.

After three months of meditation, I realized that I could just sit down in my favorite place to meditation, take three deep breaths and say to myself, “Relax” and I would instantly go to theta level. The process of sitting, breathing and saying “relax” over a period of time had become physical and mental cues to my brain that I was getting ready to meditate and it would instantly go theta brain waves. I had trained my brain!

Meditation is a great way to relax, focus, concentrate, become centered and create contentment in your life. People who meditate every day have fewer problems, stay calm and focused in times of stress, sleep better, feel better and have more energy. Many people meditate with calm, peaceful music playing while burning incenses or candles. I say do whatever makes you comfortable and enhances the experience. Sit in a chair, on the floor, on the bed, on the beach or lie down. You do not have to fold yourself into a prezel to meditate. You do have to feel and be comfortable, so find what works best for you.

Diet and Meditation

There is a school of thought that in order to meditate, one must eat a vegetarian diet and fast. I don’t know of any proof that eating a vegetarian diet will help anyone meditate better. Several years ago, I went on a dietitian supervised vegetarian diet. I was very disappointed. I did not feel well from the beginning. I became very ill and it all pointed to the vegetarian diet. My cholesterol, blood sugar and blood pressure which all had been normal before the diet, had become alarmingly high.

A vegetarian diet was just not for me. I literally dropped vegetables and fruit from my diet for a month, eating only whole meats. I slowly added back certain veggies to my diet. I am a meat eater and my body functions very well on a protein diet. I know one thing for certain, when I eat too many carbs, I can’t focus and my meditation suffers. You may find you are just the opposite.

You need to do what is right for you. If you find that your body and mind works well on a vegetarian diet, then that is what you need to do. There is not one diet in this world that is perfect for everyone. Each of us is different, our nutritional needs are different; therefore, our dietary needs are different.

Fasting

I have found that fasting is a great way to cleanse my body and it does bring about a wonderful sense of focus, concentration and awareness. Fasting is not for everyone. If you’ve never fasted, it could be a very unpleasant experience. Fasting detoxifies the body and the detox process can cause headaches, muscle aches and flu like symptoms. These symptoms will subside in about five to ten days, but for most folks that is too long and too uncomfortable.

If you decide to fast, talk to your doctor, but I will tell you, most doctors are against it. I literally had to research it on the Internet. I took it very slowly and decided to do a juice fast on the first five days of every month. I bought V8 vegetable juice. I know every fasting guru will probably have a fit over the fact that I use store bought juice, but buying a juicer and all the veggies is very expensive. I found V8 worked very well.

BTW, certain vegetables are said to be negative calorie, meaning it takes more calories to burn them than the calories they contain. I don’t know if it is true or not, but when I do a veggie juice fast and drink V8, I do seem to lose weight rather quickly. The main negative calorie veggies are tomatoes, lettuce, carrots, celery, chives, cilantro and beets and V8 has most of those veggies.

Beginners Fast

Day one: Breakfast – drink 8 oz V8, Lunch – eat normally, Dinner – eat normally, drink a total of 64 oz of water for the day. That is 8 – 8 oz glass of water a day.

Day two: Breakfast – drink 8 oz V8, Lunch – drink 8 oz V8, Dinner – eat normally, drink a total of 64 oz of water for the day. That is 8 – 8 oz glass of water a day.

Day three: Breakfast, Lunch and Dinner – drink 8 oz V8, drink a total of 64 oz of water for the day. That is 8 – 8 oz glass of water a day.

Day four thru however long you wish to do the fast: Breakfast, Lunch and Dinner – drink 8 oz V8, drink a total of 64 oz of water for the day. That is 8 – 8 oz glass of water a day.

Next time you fast, you may be able to go straight to a full fast without having to eating lunch and dinner. It all depends on how much junk you eat and drink.

Beginners Meditation

The best meditation for beginners is focusing on their breath.

1. Sit anywhere where you are comfortable and where it is quiet. On a chair, the couch or the floor. (I sit on the floor.)

2. Try to always sit in the same place.

3. If want to listen to music or use a brain wave CD, turn it on now.

4. Close your eyes.

5. Take three deep breaths very slowly. Inhale and exhale slowly.

6. When exhaling on the third breath say, “Relax.” Or you can use any word that helps you to calm your mind. You may want to say, “calm” or “peace.”

7. Focus on your breathing. Breath normally (no deep breathing). Inhale and on the exhale say, “One.” You are counting your breaths, so on the next exhale, you will say, “Two” and so forth until you reach “Ten.” Once you reach “Ten,” start over with the number “One.”

8. When thoughts or sounds interrupt your meditation, gently push them away and return your focus to your breathing.

9. Repeat numbers 7 and 8 above for fifteen to thirty minutes.

10. Slowly open your eyes, feeling refreshed, relaxed and calm.

Meditating for fifteen minutes once a day is good, twice a day is great and three times a day is excellent! Thirty minutes is even better!

Guided Meditation

Guided meditation is great for deep relaxation. You can use your own visualization or use a guided meditation on CD.

1. Sit anywhere where you are comfortable and where it is quiet. On a chair, the couch or the floor.

2. Try to always sit in the same place.

3. If want to listen to music or use a brain wave CD, turn it on now.

4. Close your eyes.

5. Take three deep breaths very slowly. Inhale and exhale slowly.

6. When exhaling on the third breath say, “Relax.”

7. This is my own personal guided meditation. As you visualize, you will, to yourself, talk slowly, pausing to feel what you are visualizing. The "..." are cues for you to pause to feel what you are visualizing.

Imagine you are on a beach. You are barefoot and are wearing your favorite loose comfortable clothes. You feel the cool sea breeze on your skin… hear the waves on the beach… the sound of the palm trees in the breeze… the sand beneath your feet is soft and warm.

The warmth of the sand warms and relaxes the muscles in your feet and toes. The warmth slowly moves up your ankles…calves…knees…and thighs… relaxing the muscles of your ankles…calves…knees…and thighs.

The warmth continues to move into your buttocks…lower back…stomach… spine…upper back…shoulder blades…and chest… relaxing the muscles of your buttocks…lower back…stomach…spine… upper back…shoulder blades…and chest.

The relaxing warmth moves into your upper arm…elbows…forearms…hands… and fingers… relaxing the muscles in your upper arm…elbows…forearms… hands... and fingers.

The warmth continues up through you neck…over scalp… forehead…eyes… cheeks… lips…tongue… and your lower jaw… relaxing the muscles of your neck… scalp…forehead… softening and relaxing your eyes… cheeks…lips…tongue… and your lower jaw.

Your body is completely and totally relaxed.

8. Focus on your breathing and count your breaths.

9. When thoughts or sounds interrupt your meditation, gently push them away and return your focus to your breathing.

10. Repeat numbers 8 and 9 above for fifteen to thirty minutes.

11. Slowly open your eyes, feeling refreshed, relaxed and calm.

There is no right or wrong way to meditate. It’s whatever works best for you. Create your own meditation that helps you relax, become centered and focused.

Enjoy meditation and change your life!