Meditation – As an aid to activating your Unconscious Mind

To Meditate is described as the practice of self-regulating the mind and body, repetitively practiced for the purpose of attaining an experience that is described as very restful, silent, and of heightened alertness or being blissful.

Meditation is not particular to any single religion or belief. Every religion in its own beliefs and methods offers for practicing meditation.

Meditation is indeed a personal practice. This is NOT something that is practiced in the middle of the living room with your family watching TV around you. Instead the practice is more calm, cool, secluded and focuses on a state of mind where everything stands still.

Why Meditate?

The first and foremost advantage of regular meditation practice is ‘controlling emotions’ or in other words ‘reaction to any activity or incident’.
Constant practice allows your mind to better control the thought patterns, whereby the brain first thinks & reacts next. It is the lack of this sequence that is a prime source of many unwanted behaviors through-out the world.
Before starting to Meditate

Choosing your location – The location you choose to meditate should be free from any disturbances. I prefer some dim lights and have a good air circulation in the room. You can also choose to meditate in nature if you can get access to it every day.

Choosing the time to meditate – Your meditation time should be the same every day. If you want your mind to be in your control, follow this. Today you cannot meditate at 4 am, tomorrow at 7am and the next day at 5pm. Try and see if you can meditate early in the morning between 4 and 6 am. This is known as ‘Brahma Muhurtham’ in Hindu mythology and the best time when you can offer prayers or meditate to god. And it is best if you follow this routine before your morning coffee or breakfast. Understand that this is similar to your physical workout first thing in the morning. But this works on your mind.

Accessories for Meditation – These are optional in my opinion, but some do use them. You can choose to use them a couple of time a week.
1. A nice fragranced incense stick, kept in the corner of a meditation room. This way the aroma in the room is regulated and helps you focus.
2. A timer – If you have a time constraint, I suggest you use a low sounded timer, may be a nice small beep sound to bring you the conscious world
3. Rosary or beads if you would like to meditate mantras by count
4. Some nice meditative music. Sometimes I have seen that this music is needed for me to back up my focus.

How to Meditate?

 Sit down in ‘Padmasana’ or cross legged posture with your spine erect, nice and long.
 Take some deep breaths inhaling through your nose and exhaling through the mouth.
 Now, focus your concentration on every part of the body. Start from the top. Focus on the top of your head, forehead, eyes, nose, mouth, chin, neck, shoulders …. All the way down to your toes. As you gently focus, release the pressure or stiffness in your body. This bit goes on for up to a minute.
 Slowly move your focus to in between your eyebrows and just see or follow your thoughts, whatever your mind goes behind. Don’t argue if it is good or bad. Allow your mind to wander around. But during all this time, have in the back of your mind that you are meditating and concentrate on your breathing pattern. Long inhalations followed by long exhalations. Focus on the lungs getting filled with air and then getting emptied out. Allow this process for a good 5 minutes to go thru.
 This step of creative visualization is to be included if you are using this meditation process to be a part of Achieving success to your goal statement.
o Bring your vision statement or goal to the front of your mind. Visualize yourself as already having achieved that success. Visualize your happiest mind after that huge success. People congratulating you, interviewing you, your bank account getting filled with money. After about 2 – 3 minutes of this visualization, visualize at what stage you are in the process of such achievement and allow your mind to focus on the next steps needed. This clarity will help you to take strong, bold moves needed for that goal to be accomplished. Instruct your mind to automate these steps.
 If you are not using this type of visualization for conquering your goals you may now envision how the rest of the day is going to be for you. You may shut all negative emotions at this stage. Only allow everything positive to occupy your entire brain at this point in time. Think of your manager offering a promotion, think of you child enjoying her play time with you, think of a check being delivered in mail or a old friend calling you after a long time.

Feel your mind responding to these positive thoughts. Assure your whole self to reverberate this joy while focusing on breaths.

Slowly remove all thoughts from your mind. Bring your focus between brows while trying to control your thoughts. Keep your mind still for a few minutes.

With a deep long inhalation, open your eyes when the timer beeps. Feel the fresh energy you have gained from meditation to permeate through your body and get ready for a day filled with joy and success!

Just put your foot forward and start your enticing journey of meditation. Your mind will thank you for that!