Meditation Articles

Though practiced around the world by people of all faiths and abilities, Meditation is seen by many beginners as a difficult practice to do. In truth, the art of meditation can take many forms, but many of them are simple and suited just for beginners, as the 10 steps below testify. The first step is to give yourself the gift of time. 1. Ensure you won’t be disturbed.

I’ve counseled many people from every background and ledworkshops and lectures about self-empowering topics forabout 25 years. Over that time, I saw a need. Everyone wassearching. What they were looking for was unclear, manytimes. But the search was on. While I could meet many oftheir immediate ...

Have you found your perfect meditation cushion yet? You know, a mediation cushion that lets you sit for hours at a time, staying focused and alert and concentrated, with no back pain or any numbness in your legs? The type of meditation cushion that gives you a straight spine with no effort at all? Of course you haven’t. Such a magical cushion doesn’t exist. I’ll always remember when I was invited to participate in a free meditation group taking place in Kathmandu, Nepal. I arrived a little early. The room was very small, maybe big enough to hold twenty students at the most.

Sangham is a Sanskrit term for a community of devotees, who gather to chant, have scriptural discourses, recite texts, and meditate. This support system is vital during all stages of sadhana, spiritual disciplines. However, the unfortunate reality is satsang--associating with God-inspired persons--is not always possible. Thanks to the magnificent world of high technology, connecting people with shared interests from all parts of the world is now possible through numerous networking sites, such as Myspace, Facebook and Friendster.

In a word, yes! Transcendental Meditation brings about a deep inner calm that is both relaxing and revitalising. The unique Transcendental Meditation process actually dissolves the stress and fatigue trapped in the body, promoting happiness, health and clear thinking. Many hundreds of ...

They say “practice makes perfect.” When it comes to meditation however, the rule doesn’t seem to apply. “After twenty years,” warned a Zen master, “you can finally say you’ve begun to learn how to sit.” Practice skill in meditation (and associated benefit) is slow to develop. Indeed, you can get even less effective with practice! How is this possible? As a research psychologist interested in skill learning, the paradox drew me. I gave meditation a critical look and discovered the root of the problem.

Sounds like a new Rock Band. Now Playing, "Pluto and the Plutoids". There are some new kids on the planetary block in our solar system. They are the plutoids not to be confused with dwarf planets, and moons of Pluto. Just to be clear. Charon is a moon of Pluto. Pluto is a dwarf and a Plutoid, ...

Tibetan Buddhist meditation has a long history, but not as long as the history of meditation itself. Buddhism was a branch of Hinduism and so meditation was practiced in Hinduism before it was practiced in Buddhism. Buddhist thought is that there are three things one must accomplish before ...

I talk and write about the ‘Awakening’ process and subjects related pretty often… If you’ve been through the process yourself you won’t need further explanation of ‘why’ I may refer to it so often; and if you’re not sure what an ‘awakening’ is, you may have a better idea after reading this short note… I’m aware that many people have already gone through the ‘Cocoon’ themselves, and may also know about the dark night of the soul and its profound implications with its new insights and higher awareness that are usually gained during the entire process.

There comes a time in most people’s lives when they look back. Perhaps after the kids are gone, or when their faculties are almost gone! Or when they are more inclined to surrender rather than put up the good fight anymore. We all have to surrender, eventually. We might long for a sense of freedom from it all after we have courageously fought our battles. Battles that we cannot even remember but seemed so significant and meaningful at the time. And we fought so bravely, against tyranny, oppression, enslavement.

Mindfulness meditation is free. There are no health insurance premiums, drug costs, or expensive therapies. And it works! But first you have to understand the authentic instructions, and secondly you must practice diligently. If you do this, mental and physical problems will melt away. Try it! How can you lose?

All in heaven, the House of God is immeasurable, indescribable and immeasurable. The name and symbol of the faith of God are different in immeasurable and invaluable Wisdom of thought. Dealing with the pure calm of God is precious and priceless. To listen to the real name of faith is immeasurable in thought. It reached the mental faculties that can not be expressed in words. The lords, gods and prophets are the dealers of the oneness of God and immeasurable are a peaceful thought on them.

Appearances can be deceptive. Sitting meditation looks like restfully doing nothing at all. Meditation is, however, a task of extreme difficulty, and chances are the sitter is not performing well. Meditation’s task is paying attention. All forms of meditation involve attention focused on various things (mantras, movements, breaths, etc.). Good attention is necessary for success. Most meditation benefits follow from enhanced awareness attention creates.

Are you motivated to stop smoking? If so, how are you going to do it? No doubt you’ve tried to use the willpower method and probably various other methods too. But this time you’re going to do it. So let’s look at the pros and cons – starting with some gloomy predictions as to whether you stand any chance of ‘giving up’ (a term I never normally use as it implies that you are making a huge sacrifice.

One of the most powerful weapons in the world is compassion. The least powerful is control. The two are surely at odds with each other, and it certainly seems that power and control would trump wimpy compassion any old day. But in actuality, compassion, a weapon of least distraction, is not only one of the most powerful, but the weapon of lasting peace. And this is the secret of its power. When we strive to control things, we set ourselves up for some angst. Do we not?

Last week in meditation group we discussed just how easy it is to gradually let your meditation or yoga practice slip away, untilnone day there is nothing left! It could be that you stop practicing at your scheduled time. Demands of the holidays start taking over. Or maybe you are just plain ...

While there are many differences among the various religions of the world, there are some aspects of similarity among them as well. This can be commonly seen in the prevalence of prayer beads worn or employed in the worship of various religions. Prayer beads are incorporated in the worship of Christianity, Judaism, Islam, and Buddhism. Why are prayer beads so common and what is there significance? The reasons for this are well worth looking at… First, one needs to clearly understand what prayer beads are.

Clarity Through Your Sixth SensernA Sacred Moment Opening to nature’s mysterious wisdom is a valuable way to create a sacred moment that allows the brilliance of your sixth sense to emerge. Dedicate time to feel centered with a posture of open awareness to experience the day with a “Beginner’s Mind”. When you do begin the day with a “Beginner’s Mind”, you’ll learn exactly what you need because of your state of receptivity. Without this essential precondition,

There’s an old saying how a young man has no past so he drives fast cars to catch his future - and an old man has no future so he sits in his rocking chair trying to hold onto his past. This has some truth to it. There comes a time when we get beyond the stage of reliving our past in actuality, and only relive it in memoirs. We either lack the energy, the money, or the interest to actually do it all over again, so we sit back and remember the good times. It’s amazing how the mind erases the bad ones.

The human mind does not want to experience God, but to catch it by becoming a specialist in religion and spirituality. All believers of religion and spirituality are because God is one. However, the perception of God's name, logo and technology differ according to the religion of faith and understanding of God.

No matter how stressed you get, no matter how life tests you or what challenges come up in your life, you can always find peace within. Everything you experience is teaching you something about yourself. You are being stretched to evolve your conscious awareness to its highest expression. Life ...

If you feel “awake,” try these self-tests. They may open your eyes to something surprising. Enlightenment (or “awakening”) is a state of full awareness. While most people feel they are aware, everyday awareness is very low. Measure yours here and gauge your enlightenment. rn(1) Can You See What’s Before Your Eyes? Look at the face of a clock. Both the minute and hour hands are moving. Odds are you can’t see them move. It’s easy to see the fast movement of the second hand. This requires little awareness.

A direct experience of spiritual insight will change your life, a fact which is irrefutable and well documented.

What is your focus? What is the main focus in your life? Is it finding a job, orkeeping the one you've got, just to pay the rent everymonth? Or is it always searching for that special someonewho can make you happy? Society has evolved a way of believing, that keeps us alwayslimited to the ...

Spiritual Fasting accelerates the growth of spiritual thoughts on the Lord to faith, Allah, the unity of God. It is used by all the great believers of the faith - Christianity, Islam and Hinduism. However spiritual program of fasting, food and a recipe for spiritual fasting, days and hours of fasting is different, so are their spiritual needs and objective thoughts. But the spiritual fasting is different from fasting for health. The program of spiritual fasting is different from fasting to lose weight. Underweight and overweight people respect the same rules on spiritual fasting regime.

I am looking for God - the friend of silence Sounds of Silence deep total. Sounds of Silence deep Total is my Lord, my faith. I feel the end of life achieved while circulating through the silent sound of total silence of God. Sounds of silence inside Feelings become impulsive in me and I can feel it in a crowded area and before loud sounds of televisionr If we lose our inner connectio Sounds of Silence, dead silence, all, we are in tension, sadness, hostility and talk about selfishness. To live life with happiness, filled with silence is the key

We all seek power. We try to push ourselves up and in the process, many times attempt to push others down. It might begin with a feeling that we have been wronged, which means that our ego has been hurt, and in order to right things we might begin a verbal confrontation with the offending party. ...

I'm lucky.nnWhen I was fifteen, I was the sole survivor in one of those horrific car accidents involving a bunch of teens, lots of alcohol, and late-night fast driving. While the driver and other passengers were killed instantly when our car hit a tree on a drizzly summer night, I had the most powerful experience of my life. nnI felt myself being lifted lightly, and it seemed as though I was actually caressed by a loving presence. I nremember feeling soothed, comforted, and c

These six major steps weave in and around each other, and there are many others, all revealing a transition between materiality consciousness and heightened consciousness, or between an outward emphasis (thinking, remembering, body and mind), and an inward emphasis (the replacing of thought and memory by a spiritual fullness devoid of body and mind). Therefore, the materially minded, dependent upon thinking and memory, and believing strongly in body and mind, will not be able to relate, from an experiential standpoint, to the heightened mind.

Spiritual enlightenment is the knowledge that comes naturally himself, while the growth of religious art, and the growth of human sciences must be learned by others, civilization or university. Spiritual Enlightenment refers to the self-realization within the self by the spiritual growth. Spiritual growth is achieved by repeated practice of concentration on his thoughts of the faith of the Lord.

There are countless meditation techniques out there,geared towards cultivating the mind and obtaining higher states of consciousness.We can divide these techniques into the following general categories: A) Meditation involving concentration, or focus on a selected object of thought.The object of focus can be anything-it can be one's breath,the flame of a candle,a picture,a sound,etc. B) Meditation involving observation without concentration on an object-observing the thoughts

It was the year of the Partridge Family, eight cent postage stamps and blue jeans with bell bottoms. That was 1971 and I was an under achieving senior in a middle American High School when I saw a funny looking poster on the way to my American History class. It had a large black and white picture of Maharishi Mahesh Yogi on it and a lecture on Transcendental Meditation® was announced for the next day in the school auditorium. I was intrigued and showed up to check it out. Th

A couple of weeks ago our second vehicle died. We had gotten a lot out of our 1991 Honda Civic, and we were probably on borrowed time. It was a great opportunity for me and my wife to practice moving gracefully with this unexpected turn, rather than focusing on frustration or helplessness. We ...

Are you curious about learning to meditate but concerned it is a technique involving a lot of time, patience, and practice in order to be effective? If so, you might be interested to know about meditation music and binaural beats as adjunct methods for increasing the effectiveness of meditation and reducing the amount of time it takes to learn and gain from meditation’s beneficial effects. Meditation is a method developed thousands of years ago for calming the mind and brin

Endings are inevitable. There is nothing in physical reality that always stays the same. It is impossible. Some endings are wonderful and some are not so pretty, but they always mean the same thing—something new must be started. If endings are truly viewed as beginning, there is more happiness around the ending when you are in the midst of it. Sometimes you might feel that an ending is unfortunate, be it a relationship, a business, or some other situation you wanted to continue to hold on to, especially if it gave you joy, stability or simply was familiar.

Here are four scientific reports about the practical benefits of meditation, the first three being about Breath Meditation specifically:

Each day you wake up to a new beginning. Each day you turn the page of your life story and can begin to write whatever you want. Stories change and what makes any book interesting is reading how the hero makes a transition, has an epiphany, or saves the day. What’s the story of your life? ...

The New Age paradigm shift we’ve all been waiting for is already here. It is in the birthing process while the old paradigm is in the death process. Many call this the end times, or the end of the world, but I call it the new times, the new beginning. As the old ends, the new begins. Those who are already awake to these changes will be there to help others when they are ready to listen. It will get worse before it gets better because humans are slow to wake up and unite. However, these adversities will drive us together.

You are not alone. We are all here together and all you have to do is reach out to others and they will be there for you. You'll have to make yourself available to others or you won't be able to have "right fellowship." Go to the spiritual circles in your area, go to events and gatherings where you think you'll find the kind of friends you would like to have. You cannot sit in your house and still accomplish having friends. If you don't want to be alone, then you have to get out more!

"To be honorable in thoughts, sincere in words, good in deeds is to have the heart of a Buddha."* There are several qualities of Buddha that many people, even those who are not Buddhist or who are quite secular, admire and aspire to emulate. As we approach the holidays, it may be a good time ...

When you say to someone, not of your religion, that "because your good book says it is true, therefore it must be true," don't you ever notice that the person, instead of falling down in worship, rolls their eyes? Do you smugly continue to be a "work in progress," and proud of it, justifying your careless actions by pointing out that sinners have no chance to improve themselves? . . . Convenient. Are you peaceful, calm and loving, or are you ever trying to make something happen in your faith.

Calming Meditation for the Mind – Imagery Exercise rnVisualization meditation is a good technique to use at time when you feel worried and just need some time alone to calm your mind and find a moment of peace. In this type of exercise you will make use of your ability to visualise to create beautiful pictures in your mind. You will also utilize your other senses to completely experience the environment in every way that you can. So if you are feeling like you long for a sh

This article presents a very simple and easy to understand message for all who wish to escape any medical problem. How many of average humanity have the awareness that every medical symptom is a sign post or message from life. All the clinical symptoms of every degenerative disease will reveal the underlying dysfunction. What is the medical professions usual approach to these messages? Take these messages away or shoot the messenger of course!!! However what do we see when this approach is adopted?

Do you believe in the existence of guardian angels? What do you believe they are? Well, many people have different ideas on what guardian angels are. Some believe they are actually angels from the Bible sent to help humans in trouble. While others believe they are your higher-self/subconscious mind that helps you with any problems you may have. It must be remembered that guardian angels a different from spirit guides - spirit guides are what medium use to help them to communi

If you had a computer, but no internet connection, you would be limited to only what is stored on your hard drive. You could access your documents and compose some stuff, but if you wanted to reach out and touch the world, that couldn’t happen. In the same way, we can describe the part of our ...

There are many forms and traditions of meditation, as well as various ways or positions in which a person may meditate (usually a part of a particular tradition, although often simply the way an individual finds it easiest to relax and meditate through/ in). The one thing they all have in common is the focus on relaxing and quietening the mind. The goal is not simply to remove any kind of stimulation to the mind, but to direct the concentration of thoughts onto one single, h

Sitting quietly, doing nothing, what a waste of valuable time, right? You could be on the computer or cell phone talking with friends, or doing something really productive or fun. Why sit quietly? In life, two things separate successful people from ordinary people: creativity and energy. People with no college degrees or credentials whatsoever have made it to the highest ranks of corporate America, and if you look carefully at their attributes, you will find energy and creativity standing out head and shoulders above anything that they have learned in the past.

As I opened my eyes and returned from a deep meditation —I noticed the soft breeze on my face. I could hear the gentle lapping of the ocean waves in the distance, as the sun cast a golden glow and sank into the holy hour. After my friends and I finished meditating, they decided to go for a swim while I lay on the beach. After a few minutes of the small waves splashing over my feet I decided to join my friends in the water. I took off my bathing suit cover up and noticed I w

My favorite thoughts of spiritual meditation continue to fight to mind the question of how my life is dependent and correlated with the utmost subtle world. It continue to have problems every time my spiritual self asks where the world comes, why I'm here again, or what happens when I die. Favorite thoughts of spiritual meditation continue to values such as patience, contentment, humility, beauty, love, or creativity that feels beyond our visible world.r

This article explains how awareness may be utilized differently during meditation practice when compared with the Goenka reported Vipassana Meditation doctrine.