Meditation: More Than Just New Age “Hocus-Pocus”

I often fear using the word “meditation” when talking to others, because I know that there is still a pervasive notion that meditation is “just New Age hocus-pocus.” The first time that I told my family that I was going to attend a meditation session, my mother looked at me with a patronizing smile and a pat on the head; my brother looked at me as if I my head were sprouting roots on top of it.

I soon realized, though, that “meditation” takes on many forms and can mean many things. It can be as simple as closing your eyes and taking deep breaths for a few minutes to relieve your stress. It can mean visualizing soothing images and colors to relax your mind before a big presentation or after a heated argument. It can also mean engaging in deep prayer and communion with a Supreme Being (be it God, Allah, the Buddha, or other divine presences out there). Whatever we decide to call it, we all are familiar with meditation—we just were not aware of it.

Quieting the busy mind

According to the Website 1stholistic.com, all the different meditative practices focus on one thing: “quieting the busy mind. The intention is not to remove stimulation but rather to direct your concentration to one healing element—one sound, one word, one image, or one's breath. When the mind is ‘filled’ with the feeling of calm and peace, it cannot take off on its own and worry, stress out, or get depressed.” When the mind is calm and free from worries, it becomes easier to focus and concentrate. This is why many martial arts integrate meditation into their respective practices: when a person’s energies are focused, the fighting techniques become more effective, and it becomes more difficult to break a person’s “defense barrier.” Ever wonder how a martial artist can break a stack of bricks just with his hands? It’s not actually the hands that are doing the work, it’s the mind.

Seen in this way, practicing daily meditation can bring a lot of benefits into one’s life. It can be a way to ease tension, relieve stress, lessen arguments, increase mental concentration, calm down frazzled nerves, or simply “chill out.”

As medical practitioners became more attuned to the mind-body connection, more physicians believed that meditation does have scientifically proven effects. According to Dr. Deepak Chopra, a best-selling author and one of the world leaders in mind-body medicine: “Physical impurities in cells have their equivalents in the mind: fear, anger, greed, compulsivity, doubt, and other negative emotions. Operating at the quantum level, they can be as damaging to us as any chemical toxin. The mind body connection turns negative attitudes into chemical toxins, the so-called ‘stress hormones’ that have been linked to many different diseases. Ayurveda lumps all negative tendencies together as ‘mental ama,’ which needs to be cleaned from the mind. But how?

"It is not possible to purify the mind by thinking about it. An angry mind cannot conquer its own anger; fear cannot quench fear. Instead, a technique is required that goes beyond the domain where fear, anger, and all other forms of mental ama hold sway. This technique is meditation. If properly taught and used, meditation allows a person to become unstuck from the ama in his thoughts and emotions.”

More concretely, meditation has been known have the following physiological effects:

• Decreased metabolic rate, lower heart rate, and reduced workload of the heart—all characteristics of a “deep rest” state
• Lowered levels of cortisol and lactate-two chemicals associated with stress
• Reduction of free radicals, which are believed to be a major factor in illnesses and in aging
• Decreased instances of high blood pressure
• Decreased cholesterol levels
• Improved air flow to the lungs, resulting in easier breathing and alleviation of asthma symptoms
• Younger biological age

So, if you think about it, meditation can help lower your medical bills, too—especially if you’re hypertensive or experiencing cardiovascular ailments.

Meditation must-haves

There are many forms, many ways to perform meditation. In Christianity, meditation can take the form of contemplation and prayer. In Eastern religions, it can take the form of the different yoga practices, vipassana (mindfulness) Primordial Sound Meditation, and many others. It can also take the form of Transcendental Meditation, one of the most heavily studied meditative practices in the world

A conducive environment – A space of your own, or away from others, where you can sit in silence and peace. The best places for meditation are: your bedroom, your patio or garden, in a library (just make sure the librarian doesn’t think you’re asleep!), or even your bathroom. As long as you’re away from distractions, that will do.

A comfortable seated posture – Some meditative practices, such as in Hatha Yoga or Zen Buddhism, stress the importance of using the proper postures when meditating. However, for a simple meditation exercise, it would be enough to sit down either with your feet flat on the floor or in an Indian-sitting position. Make sure that your spine is erect (but not stiffly straight) and that your posture will not make you fall asleep.

An object of concentration – Some meditation practices will require the use of mantras, or short syllables that produce a meditative tone. Others will ask you to focus on either your breathing, a space in front of you, a sound, or an object. Whatever you choose to use, make sure that it does help to focus your attention—not distract you with its shape, sound, and colors.

“Poised awareness” – This means being fully relaxed and able to detach and disengage yourself from whatever distractions may come your way during your meditation practice. Whether it’s the doorbell ringing or the neighbor’s dog barking or someone tripping on the stairs, you should be able to pay it no mind and treat it just as a sound, nothing more. (You can focus on the source of the sound later, after you meditate.)

Simple relaxing meditation

See? There is nothing “hocus-pocus” about meditation at all! For starters, you can try this simple relaxing meditation exercise for 10 to 20 minutes, then see how it helps you feel lighter and more balanced:

• Sit in a comfortable position where your spine is erect and your bottom is nicely settled and balanced.
• Breathe deeply through your nose and diaphragm (making sure that your stomach area expands when you breathe in and contracts when you breathe out) and try to sustain the breath for 3 to 5 seconds. Then, exhale through your nose, once again trying to sustain it for 3 to 5 seconds. Take 3 to 5 complete breaths.
• While maintaining your breathing, focus on your toes. Will your toes to relax. Take a couple of deep, complete breaths. Move your focus up to your ankles, then will your ankles to relax. Take a couple of deep, complete breaths, then move up to your shins.
• Continue doing this until you have focused on every part of your body (even your stomach, the back of your stomach, your eyes, the space between your eyes).
• When you reach the crown of your head (the top, middle part), take several deep, complete breaths and linger if you want to. If you feel a slight dizziness or light-headedness, don’t worry. This is completely natural because you are opening up your crown chakra.
• When you’re through, wiggle your toes to get you back to your normal state of consciousness, then open your eyes. Don’t you feel a bit better already?Ü
  

*Stay tuned for more meditation techniques and videos!

© 2007 Niña Terol