A little Meditation goes a long way
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Posted by Girlosophy on Wed 2 November 2011
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Training your brain is relatively easy. By training it, I refer to controlling what the Indian’s call the ‘monkey’ – meaning the thoughts that are darting here and there, unruly and as uncontrollable as a wild monkey. Such unruly thoughts can lead to unfocused outcomes at work or even in your hobbies.
5 minutes of stillness can have deep effects. If you just sit still for a minute and concentrate. Try this exercise:
See yourself sitting behind a waterfall of thoughts. Let it flow. What is the thought behind the thought? Can you see behind someone else’s thought? Is the essence of the thought pure? If not, reject it outright. Let it fall away into the pool below.
Move away from negativity. Move towards the positives. Recognize that each of these forces has a role to play in helping you to grow and manifest things in your life for the better. One does not exist without the other. There can be no light without darkness, and there is always an opportunity for growth and awareness, no matter what.
Awareness grows in silence. This is where your spirit takes shape.
To control the mind and not be ruled by aimless or unfocussed ‘thought drift’ is a challenge for almost everyone. Too much mental activity can cause stress, and when this is added to the pressures of life you can end up feeling like you’re on an emotional rollercoaster. With so much information and thought from external sources coming into our conscious minds, there is more than ever a need to stem the influx and reduce stress.
Happily, you can help reduce stress through meditation. Meditation is an ancient practice that aims – through deep concentration, breath observation and relaxation of the conscious mind – to reach a state of calmness and ‘thoughtlessness’ that lies between consciousness and deep sleep.
By training your mind to be still, meditation also allows you to go beyond thought to an awareness of the real you. Modern living can be savage and you may feel a weird sense of being disconnected from your true self. Meditation reconnects you to your spirit, and is essential for your ongoing development and for understanding who you are and who you might become.
It’s not a competition, though. Meditation is an intensely personal, private and individual thing. No two minds are the same and therefore no one’s meditation is like another’s.
There are many different ways to meditate. You could learn it in a course or from a book, but the easiest method is breath observation. Breathe through your nose with your mouth closed. Your eyes can either be closed or half open. Your body can be in any position, but it is sometimes better to be sitting because it’s all too easy to drop off to sleep if you are lying down! Go with whatever is comfortable. Use a cushion on the floor if you need to or sit on a chair with your feet flat on the floor.
Then, once you are ready, begin to breathe.
“Listen to your breathing and let go any thoughts that arise as you gently return to your focus on your breath.”
Don’t follow any train of thought; gently return to the rise and fall of your breath.
Do it for as long as you can. It may be just a few minutes to start with, and then you may work up to longer periods. Some people use an alarm clock; others do it until they feel like looking at their watches. It’s a personal choice. But try to do it regularly.
A little meditation goes a long way.
Photographer: Anthea Paul
