Meditation in 12 Steps

How To Start Meditating

meditation tips

How To Start Meditating

meditation tips

Top 3 Benefits of Using Guided Meditations

Using Guided Meditations is the easiest way for you to begin a meditation practice or to continue a regular meditation practice. Guided Meditations come in different formats, audio and video, and are meant to help you in a huge range of issues. You can find a guided meditation in any subject ranging from decreasing anxiety all the way through to cosmic energy meditation.

The Top 3 Benefits of Using Guided Meditations

Better Focus:

People who have actually learned how to meditate and use guided meditation are able to maintain their concentration on the task at hand. They can completely relax and face the rest of their day with a focused being. Guided meditation walks you through concentrating on the object of the meditation and it forces the mind to focus on the objective and not the distractions that are normally there. By using guided meditation even for five or ten minutes a day, the mind gets a break from all of the stresses it has been under. It leaves you with a feeling of peace.

Increase in Energy:

Once you have finished your guided meditation you should be relaxed and even refreshed. You will feel as if you can face the rest of the day with assurance and look beyond the source of the stress to find a good, reliable solution. When you have achieved the level of consciousness guided meditation provides, you will be able to accomplish more and do what is needed for other people as well as yourself. You will need to train your mind from the normal, distracted one to the concentrated mind and then to the meditating mind in order to accomplish this. It takes time to work your way through these three steps but once you have mastered it, getting to the meditating mind becomes easier and easier.

Reduce Negative Thoughts:

Guided Mediation is a great way to get yourself level-headed through the day and reduce the negative aspects of stress. It only takes a few minutes and you will feel unbelievably refreshed and restored. If you have a big meeting that is making you nervous, take time for a little bit of guided meditation and you will be able to concentrate on the meeting. It can be used in other ways to regain your calm, and it can only be an asset to your life

Source: http://EzineArticles.com/2800988

Ten Steps To Mindfulness Meditation

Why Yoga Exercises Are Different From Other Forms Of Exercise

If you are thinking of taking up a form of exercise with the aim of making yourself look and feel much better you should give very serious thought to yoga exercises.

Yoga works holistically on the body and mind and so it’s positive effects can be seen in many different aspects - on our bodies, their health and how they look, and also on our minds - in how we view the world.

So how do yoga exercises differ from other forms of exercise?

Yoga exercises, also known as asanas or postures, are applied to the entire anatomy of the living body. On the other hand,

many other exercise regimes are a form of engineering applied to the muscles of the body. This means that yoga exercises are concerned with more than just the superficial development of muscles. The postures used in yoga exercises tend to normalize the functions of the entire organism.

The advantage of yoga exercises is that they can regulate the involuntary processes of respiration and help the circulation, digestion, elimination, metabolism etc. The yoga exercises also work to affect the working of all the glands and organs, as well as the nervous system and the mind. This result is achieved by doing deep breathing while the body is placed in various postures. Each of these yoga exercises creates a different totality in the functional relationship within the organism.

Hence, yoga is able to influence man physically, mentally, morally and spiritually. Yoga emphasizes the philosophy of exercise. Under its training one experiences a sense of awakening. All of one's capacities are heightened, and one achieves balance and stamina through these yoga exercises, some of which are modeled after the movements of various

animals. In yoga exercises, relaxation is taught as an art, breathing as a science, and mental control of the body as a means of harmonizing the body, mind, and spirit.

The advanced stages of yoga require many years of special preparation-practices. Today's mode of living , its tempo and surroundings, mean that this is difficult to achieve. However, practicing yoga exercises and deep breathing and relaxation techniques, with some of the time devoted to concentration and meditation is something

everyone can achieve.

Yoga exercises can have a positive effect on individuals who are suffering from disease or illness. Whilst it is not able to cure these things, practicing yoga can means that obstructions and impurities are removed so that nature can perform its healing work.

So if you are looking for a form of exercise that works positively on the body and mind, and one that is relatively easy to fit into your daily routine then why not take up yoga exercises. The growing popularity of yoga exercises means that you will likely find a yoga centre or a gym offering local classes in your area. If, however, you do not have time to attend classes there are many books and DVD’s available on yoga exercises, so you can do it at home at a time when it is convenient to you.

Within only a few days of performing yoga exercise it is possible to feel revitalized and stronger. Continued practice of yoga exercises can make us healthier and happier.,

Source: http://EzineArticles.com/443828

The Mighty Powers Of Meditation

Yoga - Not Just Fitness

Over the past few decades, a very common misconception has taken root in the minds of people. There is a belief that Yoga, is all about fitness and exercise. An added misconception is that Yogasanas (or Asanas) are simply body movements and poses that are complex to perform but make the body supple.Yes, asana or postures do make the body supple. Just like stretching and other forms of body movements do. But Yoga and yogasanas are so much more than just fitness tricks.In the West, somewhere around the 19th Century and 20th Century, Yoga was introduced by Indians to the people, so that they too may benefit from it. As expected it was a great success. But there began a commercialization of yoga, in order to make it more appealing to the public. Yoga went from being an art, to a training session.This is something we need to understand, is extremely dangerous. Yoga isn't something that should be performed with the wrong ideas or intentions. It has consequences of its own.Yoga is a way of life. It is not a ritual to be performed, it is a habit that one makes a part of life. The ultimate aim of Yoga is to achieve liberation or Moksha. But yoga has a huge impact on our day-to-day lives.

Five basic principles of Yoga

• Asana (postures)

• Pranayama (Breathing control)

• Shavasana (Relaxation)

• Sattvic (Right Diet)

• Dhyana (Meditation)

It is only when these 5 basic principles are followed that one can call himself a practitioner of Yoga. When a person performs yoga, he surrenders himself to the universe and becomes one with the universal energy. It is a very potent source of life and should not be treated lightly.

Let us now look at some more important facets of yoga.

Schools of Yoga

In Hinduism, there are the following types of Yoga, which are to be practiced. Please note, here Yoga doesn't talk about postures. Yoga is in fact a practice. As I mentioned earlier, it is a way of life. These schools of yoga were thus, part of life.

1. Jnana Yoga

Jnana means 'knowledge' in Sanskrit. In the ancient times, when there was a system of 'Gurukul' (students stayed with teachers and gained knowledge), this was the initiation of the student into education and the realm of knowledge. The teachings included information about everything under the sun. This Jnana yoga became the foundation for yogic understanding and knowledge.

2. Bhakti Yoga

Bhakti or devotion, is an essential aspect of yoga. Through this form of yoga, one expressed love and devotion towards God. Here God is the Supreme Being. It does not refer to any symbolic God, simply universal energy. The idea was to move the yogi, towards spiritual awakening.

3. Karma Yoga

Karma means Duty in Sanskrit. In the Hindu religion, the importance of performing ones duty or Karma, was of the highest importance. Disciplined actions and all duties had to be performed with great reverence. It is said to be the most effective way to progress in spiritual life.

4. Laya Yoga or Kundalini Yoga

It is the form of yoga performed by way of regular practice of meditation, pranayama, chanting mantra and yoga asana. It is called the yoga of awakening. One becomes aware of oneself and more conscious of the surrounding. It focuses on compassion to others and healing of the body, mind and soul.

5. Hatha Yoga

It is a system of physical techniques supplementary to a broad conception of yoga. There is a belief that Lord Shiva himself was the creator of Hatha Yoga.

This school of yoga is what deals with physical exercise and asana or postures. Hatha yoga is more known as a physical exercise in the world.

Benefits of Yoga

Yoga has physical benefits, is something which is common knowledge. But the real power of yoga is seen through its benefits on the mental and other aspects of human life.

Following are some of the major benefits of yoga.

• Perfects your posture

Yoga helps make you stand up straighter and walk taller. The whole slumped shoulder problem goes away. Also, it makes you look far more graceful and toned.

• Control of emotions

Yoga helps the body relax, which in turn helps you control your emotions. Very often, an excess of anger or any negative emotion, gets directed towards the wrong person. This happens when we can't really control our thoughts and emotions. Yoga helps to control our mind and also makes us patien

• Makes you happier

Practising yoga, even simple breathing exercises or pranayama, helps to pump more endorphins and dopamine into the system. These are some hormones that make you feel happier. The more yoga you practice, the higher your chances of feeling happy and uplifted.

• Helps you focus

Whenever you find yourself incapable of focusing, try practicing yoga and meditation. Meditation makes you concentrate and brings to you an increased observation power.

• Improves Balance

What yogasanas do mainly, is that they direct your body's energy in a particular direction. Practicing yoga and doing the correct postures, helps direct more energy into various directions. This helps improve your balance.

• Relaxes muscles

If you are someone prone to muscle tension or pulling of muscles (hamstring, shoulder, etc.) then yoga can help make your body supple. Your flexibility naturally improves and you can do more activities with ease.

There are many more medical benefits too. However, there are few tested proofs that can be stated. For example, people suffering from asthma and bronchitis, are told to practice pranayama as it helps to control their breathing, which improves lung capacity. These are tested facts.

But there is no evidence to suggest that Yoga can cure terminal diseases or act as a pain reliever. So we must get the facts before following any practice.

Another essential point to bear in mind is that Yoga should only be performed, after attaining some initial training from a yoga guru or instructor. This is because we may try to do some postures and end up causing serious injuries, if they aren't done appropriately.Lastly, it is always best to read books and other resources that can clearly define what Yoga really is, before going and enrolling for a class. If you have some knowledge to begin with, you will feel a lot more connected to the activity itself.

Source: https://yogaandmeditationtechniques.wordpress.com/2016/08/12/yoga-not-just-fitness/

Yoga Benefits

Using Guided Meditation for Reducing Stress

http://www.livebeingfit.com/our-approach-mindset/Guided meditation truly is a remarkable tool for reducing stress and helping you connect with your inner peace and spirituality. While people use guided meditation for everything from healing and clearing anger to managing chronic pain and learning to forgive, we'll focus here on reducing stress with guided meditation audios.

Meditation takes us to a calm, serene place to eliminate harmful stress from the body. Meditation truly has the ability to restore and heal the mind and body. If you struggle to deal with stress from your daily life and work, you may feel like it's just impossible to actually let go and relax in meditation. That's how guided meditation, or guided imagery, helps you discover this inner peace on your own.

While traditional meditation involves stilling your mind and body, guided meditation is about going on a visualized journey. With a guided imagery meditation, a guide directs you through the process to bring you encouragement, peace and other tools for success in your life by talking you through the process in a smoothing voice with imagery to assist you.

You simply listen to your guide and let his or her words and images guide you through the meditation process and let your imagination follow along. In many cases, meditation music is included, or nature sounds, which aid in the relaxation process. As you focus, the regular world will slowly fade away, calming your mind and helping you slip into a state of deep relaxation.

Guided meditation is especially helpful for reducing stress as this journey gives you a temporary escape from your daily worries and recharges your mind and body, preparing you for a new day and giving you the inner calm you need to face the world with light and joy.

To get the most benefit from any guided meditation CD you choose, it's best to go somewhere comfortable where you can sit in peace for 15 minutes. Make sure all distractions like the television and phone are turned off then relax in your favourite chair. It's best to use headphones while listening to a guided imagery CD so you can focus on the journey, rather than any minor distracting noises in the room. Close your eyes and breathe deeply for a few minutes before your guide helps you enter that state of relaxation.

There are many benefits to using this effective form of relaxation program which, by the way, is currently being used to help firefighters manage one of the country's most high-stress careers.

1. Guided Meditation  programs offer the benefits of meditation to you with convenience and comfort in your own home. You gain a personal guide who helps you navigate into a deep state of peace and relaxation at any time you like. This is especially important given how busy our lives can become.

2. Guided meditation CDs are often seen as the best way to learn meditation for beginners because you have an experienced healer bringing you powerful images to help your mind relax and transport your imagination to another realm.

3. Guided imagery is also very easy to use, whether you've never tried meditation before or you've been doing it for years. It's especially helpful if yu have trouble focusing because the audio guide keeps your mind engaged. This helps your subconscious slip into that peaceful state necessary for true relaxation and healing.

Source: http://EzineArticles.com/7526649

Meditation Techniques That Anybody Can Use

Meditation Technique #1 - It's all in the breathing.

It may seem ridiculously easy but much of the fuss about meditation technique is all about breathing. You may have already noticed that as you get more upset or excited or agitated, your breathing becomes shorter and you breathe faster. When that happens, you get less oxygen to your blood, your heart beats faster and your mind, with less blood, gets upset more easily.

So by slowing down your breathing, you can reverse the effect. You take the outcome and make it the cause. Instead of letting your breathing react to how you feel, you control your breathing to change how you feel. It is as simple as taking a few moments and closing your eyes and concentrating on breathing ten or so deep breaths in and out.

As you do so, think about those breaths and nothing else for a moment. Think about the air going in and then going out again. It is as though you are breathing on purpose. The outcome of this meditation technique will be your heart will slow down, your blood will get more oxygen and before long, you are calmer and able to react to things much more serenely. You have taken control over the situation.

Meditation Technique #2 - A moment of peace and quiet.

Life has a way of taking over and running us instead of us running it. Work gets hectic, family life full of joys and challenges and you have days where everything seems to go crazy all at once. There is another simple meditation technique you can use to return control of the day to you.

The gurus who use the advanced meditation techniques know that they should have a place where they can retreat to enter into a more contemplative state of mind. So too, you can start to look around your various environments and select a place where you can get a moment of peace and quiet to do your breathing and gather yourself to get control over the chaos that sometimes your day turns into. While in that quiet place, don't just reflect on how bad things are, slow your breathing, use your ability to reflect and calm yourself and slowly get back to that inner tranquility that will give you control. One meditation technique that people use is to imagine a quiet lake inside their soul. You want that lake to be still, the surface quiet, the air pure and cool, the environment serene and at rest. Then when the world around you is going mad, your tranquil lake is never disturbed.

Meditation Technique #3 - Self Talk

You are what you think. And how you talk to yourself when you are using your meditation techniques can bring you up and calm you if you know what to say. Now don't panic at the idea of talking to yourself. Self-talk is a long established meditation technique that you too can use to get your composure in the midst of your busy world.

Again, as we mentioned above, you have to let that self-talk be positive and reassuring. Remember the good of your life and your feelings when you were in control. There are other key meditation techniques that you can use that fall under the category of self-talk that can calm you and put you in a serene state of mind fairly quickly. Remember a time when you had perfect control and try to become that person. Have a common location that is always serene for you and go to that place in your mind for a moment and gather your thoughts there. Reflect on the things in your life that give you power and self worth. Let those things talk to you. Slowly this positive self-talk can do its magic and lift you back to a stable place and give you peace.

Now this is not to say that formal meditation techniques are not of value. They certainly are. As you take advantage of these down to earth meditation techniques we have talked about here today, you will start to feel the benefits in how you sleep, how you react to stress and even in your health.

If you enjoy those benefits, then you are on your way to a lifetime of meditation. Then you can start to look into some more formalized Meditation Techniques that will take the simple steps and take you to the next level. Who knows, maybe one of these days you will be that white haired guru on the mountaintop. I bet the view is great from up there.

 Source: http://EzineArticles.com/533185

Four Meditation Techniques New Meditators Should Know to Help Their Meditation Voyage

These four meditation techniques cover different aspects of your life. For example one of the techniques I will cover include Deep-Breathing Meditation which you use to help you to relax and to prepare your mind for meditation and Affirmation Meditation allows you to reprogram your mind from being negative to positive.

Meditation Techniques

Whilst this is a simplistic view of these two meditation techniques, it highlights the issue that there are varying meditation techniques you can use to improve your life. Lets look at the four basic meditation techniques all new meditators should learn to help you in your meditation voyage.

Technique 1 - Deep-Breathing Meditation Techniques

Deep-Breath Meditation is the first technique that all new meditators will be shown. This meditation technique involves learning how to breathe and to control your breath during meditation. This technique is sometimes called the Stillness meditation technique.

Learning to use the Deep-Breath Meditation technique will teach you how to control your heart rate, your breathing and also your ability to maintain control over your mind. All of us suffer from brain-chatter where we talk to ourselves. Apart from just controlling our breathing, we start off using this technique to get control of our mind and body. Once you have mastered this technique it allows you then to use other Meditation Techniques to improve yourself. Other meditation techniques you can use are the affirmative meditation technique and walking meditation technique.

The other key advantage of mastering the deep-breathing meditation technique is that once you understand how to breath effectively using deep breaths to get control of your stress and emotions, you can use the techniques outside of meditation to quickly get control in a stressful situation. The more you practice the deep-breath meditation technique the better you will get at it.

Technique 2 - White-Light Meditation Techniques

The White-Light meditation technique is an extension of the Deep-Breath Meditation Technique in that you will use Deep-Breath Meditation to get control of your mind and body and then step into a second stage where you will use objects in your minds eye to maintain control of your brain chatter.

Buddhist Monks have been know to teach their young monks this technique by getting them to focus on counting however you can use any object to help you gain and maintain focus. Essentially what this technique does is to get the meditator to start by focusing on the number one as they breathe in. Then in your minds eye you then focus on the next number, which is the number 2 and maintain that focus as you breathe out and then breathe in again. You then change the number to number 3 as you breathe out and in again. You continue counting through the number system until you loose control and focus. For example, if for one moment you think about the dinner you are going to have, then you must start from the number one again.

You keep following this process during each meditation session. Once you have mastered this technique you will find it is easier to get focus during a meditation session as you will not allow your mind to wander.

Technique 3 - Affirmation Meditation Techniques

Affirmation Meditation is a technique that allows the meditator to slowly train there own subconscious to follow a different attitude. For example, how many times a day to you say negative things like "That will never work" or "I will never get that job."

When you are in a state of calm and focus gained by using the Deep-Breath Meditation Technique and White-Light Meditation technique your subconscious can be more easily manipulated to change those inbuilt negative attitudes. Whilst you can certainly change your attitude and response to situations using your conscious mind, quite often you will find that little things will penetrate though.

The objective of the Affirmation Meditation Technique is to slowly reprogram your subconscious so that you can overcome those negative attitudes with more appropriate responses. Like all meditation techniques this can sometimes take a long period to conquer but is certainly worthwhile.

Technique 4 - Walking Meditation Technique

Walking Meditation involves learning to walk whilst meditating. I can hear it now, how are you going to close your eyes whilst walking. Well whether you realise it or not many monastic communities have regularly used walking meditation interspersed with traditional seated meditation to help break up the long periods of meditation.

The walking meditation works by getting you to first control your breathing using the Deep-Breath Meditation Technique and then to use the White-Light Meditation Technique to help learn to control your mind. Just like I mentioned earlier with the counting technique, if you mind starts to wander whilst walking due to mind chatter, you simply stop the counting process and simply start again.

One of the other aspects you need to consider with this technique is to focus on your body and the connection your body has with its path. For each step during the walking mediation technique, you need to feel the path and each step that you are taking. For example you need to be focusing on the feeling in your feet, your ankles, your legs, your arms and so forth.

The Walking Meditation technique is one of those ones you can practice anywhere and you will probably find that it will take you some period of time to conquer this technique without your mind wandering. Make sure that you do not punish yourself if your mind does wander or start to chatter. Simply acknowledge the wandering and bring the mind gently back into the meditated awareness and continue on your way.

Most people when they first think about meditation simply see it as a way to relax however your mind is an incredibly powerful tool and you can utilise meditation to change many aspects of your behaviour, the way you speak and present yourself and the vast professional meditation practitioners will help you to develop these techniques to improve yourself. These four techniques are the first you will learn as you begin to unleash the power meditation can provide as food for your body, mind and soul.

Look the bottom line is that there are many techniques that you can use to meditate however when you are first starting out these four techniques is a great way to get started. To finish off let me reiterate the four meditation techniques you can try as a new meditator -

Technique 1 - Deep-Breathing Meditation Techniques

Technique 2 - White-Light Meditation Techniques

Technique 3 - Affirmation Meditation Techniques

Technique 4 - Walking Meditation Techniques

Source: http://ezinearticles.com/?Four-Meditation-Techniques-New-Meditators-Should-Know-to-Help-Their-Meditation-Voyage&id=271014