MeditationMania.com » Meditation Techniques

ZEN MEDITATION

Wed, 21 Jan 2009 13:36:05 +0000

Zen Meditation focuses on opening the eyes to see the “true nature” of a person for enabling him or her to live a truly awakened life. Zen Meditation gets us in touch with the pure “being” of a person. It opens a person to the realization of “emptiness.”
In Zen Meditation, some people consider 10 minutes to be an enough length of time while others prefer 20, 30, or even 40 minutes or more. It depends on an individual to find a time that works for him best. As the confidence and experience grows, a person may lengthen the time for sitting.For some people, early morning hours work best and for some, evenings are good.
It can be noticed often that while sitting, the feet sleeps, or aches or cramps are experienced in the back and legs. So, the body should not be forced to endure serious pain. A person should know his/her limits and the body should not be forced past them. The endurance builds with the continuous meditation.

It is advisable to wear loose clothing while meditating. It is not advisable to meditate after a big meal. Meditating with a full stomach can really create discomfort.

Items like a bell, an incense, or a “ringing” bowl to signal the beginning and the end of a meditation period are used with Zen Meditation. Incense is most commonly used by many practitioners to time the meditation periods. Incense sticks are widely used – short sticks last for twenty-twenty five minutes and long sticks last for forty-fifty minutes.

The Technique:

The place for meditation should not be too hot or too cold and not too bright nor too dark. A cushion is placed on the floor, (it is better if it rests on a thin pad like a carpet or blanket). Cushions specifically made for meditation are easily available for this purpose.
The sitting postures in Zen Meditation are:

The Full-lotus posture.
The Half-lotus posture.
The Quarter-lotus posture.
The Burmese posture.
The Seiza posture.
While sitting in a chair.

With all the above-mentioned postures, it is advised to keep the spine straight, the buttocks are thrust out and the chin is tucked in. The hands are held close to the body, where the left hand rests on top of the right, with palms open and up. The joints of the both the two middle fingers rests on top of the other. Tips of the thumbs touches lightly. The nose and ears is in line with the naval and shoulders respectively. The belly is relaxed and allowed to “hang out” slightly. The eyes should be half-closed, and the gaze should be at about a 45-degree angle to the body.

If agitation begins with the meditation, it might be started with the eyes closed completely for helping the mind get calm. If a person becomes sleepy during meditation, he might open the eyes wide to help himself wake up. The head should be pointed at the ceiling. The knees should rest. Between the sitting surface and the knees, there should be no space.

While sitting in a chair, the body should be positioned on the front edge of the chair with the back erect. The feet should rest while the legs should be held apart slightly.

After achieving the correct sitting posture, rock back and forth a few times in order to establish the balance point and a relaxed stability feel.

A few deep breaths should be taken, it allows the lungs to expand fully, and then exhale. As the breath settles back to normal, breathe should be taken, with the tongue touching lightly the palate behind the teeth.

If a person has never meditated before, it is advisable that he follows the breaths or count the breaths. Let all thoughts pass. If any kind of thoughts arise, they should bet treated like “clouds passing by.” Rather they should be acknowledged and then passed. The whole attention should be focused on the breath or on the counting. Breathing can be counted from one to ten after exhaling.

Buddhist Meditation

Tue, 30 Dec 2008 14:04:01 +0000

Buddhist meditation comprises a variety of techniques, which develop concentration, insight and mindfulness. The followers of Buddhism pursue meditation as part of the life path toward enlightenment. Though, it is called Buddhist Meditation, but it does not necessarily mean that only Buddhist people follow this kind of meditation. People who do not follow Buddhism also use these meditation techniques for the pursuit of physical and mental health.

Buddhist meditation techniques can also be used in conjunction with the other meditation methods. Buddhist meditation focuses on visualizing the breathing air traveling in through the nose, down the throat, filling the lungs, leaving the lungs passing back through the throat, and back out the nose.

This process is considered as fundamental to give life. Each time when a person intakes breathe, he symbolically takes in the whole world, and as he releases the air, he trust that it will eventually come back. It is a process of trusting the life with it.

The Technique -

While taking each deep breath, feel the sensation of air entering and leaving the nose. The air that enters the nose feels cool, and then the air leaving the nose feels warm.
The sensation associated with this procedure is felt quite well.
The same action is done slowly 21 times, every time focusing on the feeling (and the image of Buddha if chosen). After doing it for 21 times, the process is repeated.
The whole cycle should be repeated five times…

The two common Buddhist Meditation Practices -

Anapanasati - The practice of Anapanasati technique varies. Generally it begins by sitting in a position, which is comfortable while the back and neck remain straight. It should be started with breathing naturally, without trying to change the depth or length of the breath.
Metta – This technique is considered a good way for calming down the mind for the people who find it hard to manage the anger. Metta is often referred to as an an antidote to insomnia and nightmares. People who practice Mettaa are at ease because they do not see any need to harbor ill will or hostility. Metta signifies a strong wish for others happiness. While practicing Metta meditation, a person recites some words and phrases for evoking the warm-hearted feeling without any bounds. The strength behind this feeling does not limit itself to a family or religion. Metta permits kindness and generosity of an individual to be applied to other human beings and in result, one finds true happiness in others happiness.

Important:

With Buddhist meditation, it is best to start with 1 cycle of 21. After completing the first meditation, the amount of cycles of 21 can be doubled for each sitting (for instance 1, 2, 4, 8, 16) till it reaches 10-15 minutes. After reaching the 15 minutes mark, a person can dwell on the feeling and sit there to enjoy the divine energy flowing through the body as a result.

This meditation can be done for as long as you like. It is better if it s done daily; 5 minutes a day is better than doing it for 10 minutes every 2 days. With this flow, anyone can master the breathing meditation. Patience should be there as it takes years for many people for building the discipline to accomplish twenty minutes of continuous meditation.

Meditation Techniques

Tue, 30 Dec 2008 14:03:09 +0000

In the modern age, we all suffer from stress in our daily life. Keeping the daily life routine results in big stress. While running after the fast life, we forget to take care of our body. Meditation techniques help reduce the stress and find inner peace.
Meditation brings inner peace within our self and also in the world in a positive as well as spiritual way. Within all the human beings, there is some kind of stress and tension. Therefore, it is necessary to create peaceful and positive thoughts for bringing peace to the mind. Meditation is the best technique to bring about transformation and nurture the natural qualities within one’s self.
The best to create the change is to change the thoughts from negative to positive. The positive part about meditation is that we focus within our self and become free of negativity. Meditation techniques involve a transformation of one’s self, the thoughts, and recognizing the negative thoughts, and changing them into positive and peaceful thoughts.
The key to meditation is to be patient as the mind necessarily does not want to focus always. Having a feel of expectation of positive results can really create uncomfortable pressure and it takes away the enjoyment of the whole experience. If a person practices meditation regularly, he gains a wonderful sense of the self.

Different civilizations have their own different mediation techniques, but one thing is sure that meditation is still universal. The different meditation techniques suites different kind of individualss. Some meditation techniques are concentrative that involves focusing while other techniques are expansive, which allows the free thought flow and it’s observation.

This article focuses on the use of meditation and its techniques. Below are the main Meditation techniques that are practiced widely -

1. Healing Meditation - This meditation technique is practiced sitting in a comfortable position. It is imagined that the body is filling with light slowly, starting from the feet and then slowly moving upwards. As the light moves up the body, the light is felt like is relaxing the muscles and also the mind. I feel the light moving upwards until my entire body is filled with light and every muscle of my body is feeling relaxed.
It is felt like the body of light is radiating the light out from the eyes, the light is shining like a torch is shinning out directly from the eyes. Feel that the soul is directing the light towards the body part that causes discomfort and pain, it represents as a shadow on the body. Imagine like the painful body areas have dark shadows around them. Now feel like you are attracting a healing light to the painful body area, so that the darkness is vanished.
You can feel that this healing light is returning you to health and vitality

2. Buddhist Meditation – This meditation technique comprises a variety of methods, which develop concentration, insight and mindfulness. The followers of Buddhism pursue meditation as part of the life path toward enlightenment. Though, it is called Buddhist Meditation, but it does not necessarily mean that only Buddhist people follow this kind of meditation. People who do not follow Buddhism also use these meditation techniques for the pursuit of physical and mental health.
Buddhist meditation techniques can also be used in conjunction with the other meditation methods.
Buddhist meditation focuses on visualizing the breathing air traveling in through the nose, down the throat, filling the lungs, leaving the lungs passing back through the throat, and back out the nose.
This process is considered as fundamental to give life. Each time when a person intakes breathe, he symbolically takes in the whole world, and as he releases the air, he trust that it will eventually come back. It is a process of trusting the life with it.

3. Japa Meditation – Japa Meditation is the best meditation technique for easing the stress and tension in the life. If it is practiced correctly, Japa Meditation makes life calm, peaceful and at the same time it also evokes happiness from within one’s self, both from soul and mind.
A majority of people find it easy or preferable to silent repetition of mantra. Some people like to begin outwardly chanting, which progresses to an internal repetition. (In one session).
For chanting, a word should be chosen that uplifts one’s self. Many people use their God’s name. 108 times is believed to be a very powerful amount of times for chanting the word. Prayer or mala beads are generally used for this reason. The rule is simple – one bead for each time the word is chanted. Or it can be done comfortably – anything up to twenty minutes.
People enjoy Japa Meditation on their own. Also some people like to practice this in a group. The effect of Japa Meditation multiplies dramatically with more practitioners.
Japa meditation in a group is great, whether a person choose to whisper the word or say it loudly, it just blends in with every one else. Some people believe that Japa meditation in group allow deeper relaxation and spiritual refection because the group’s energy amplifies and deepens rumination.

4. Chakra Meditation - Within the human body, there are focal points of energy, which we use - consciously or unconsciously. These focal points are knows as Chakras. The Chakras affect reality and allow us to experience and realize the events, which unfold before us.
The Chakras are located in the important body areas like head or heart. Any body organs within the reach of these focal points are used to control. Therefore, they are directly affected by the properties of that Chakra. There are 7 different Chakras located throughout the human body, each with unique characteristics and attributes.
The Procedure – Chakra Meditation can be done while sitting or lying. Let the breath relax, deeply and slowly, but it should not be controlled. Awareness is brought to the spinal passage like the breath’s awareness is from bottom to top. A few minutes should be spent establishing the inner breath pattern up and down. It ascends with inhalation and descends with exhalation. Before finishing the process, go with the sound of the breath, and then names. The mantra ‘Om’ should be chanted three times.

5. ZEN MEDITATION – Zen Meditation focuses on opening the eyes to see the “true nature” of a person for enabling him or her to live a truly awakened life. Zen Meditation gets us in touch with the pure “being” of a person. It opens a person to the realization of “emptiness.” In Zen Meditation, some people consider 10 minutes to be an enough length of time while others prefer 20, 30, or even 40 minutes or more. It depends on an individual to find a time that works for him best. As the confidence and experience grows, a person may lengthen the time for sitting.For some people, early morning hours work best and for some, evenings are good.
It can be noticed often that while sitting, the feet sleeps, or aches or cramps are experienced in the back and legs. So, the body should not be forced to endure serious pain. A person should know his/her limits and the body should not be forced past them. The endurance builds with the continuous meditation.
It is advisable to wear loose clothing while meditating. It is not advisable to meditate after a big meal. Meditating with a full stomach can really create discomfort.

6. Mantram Meditation – Mantram is a meditation technique that is done by chanting out loudly till the body calms down and the atmosphere around is serene and pleasant to meditate. Then the meditation is started and the divine force starts withdrawing inward from chanting to whisper. The prana, the life force, which lies in the body, is harmonized and balanced. In fact, it prepares a way for a deep state of serenity. And also for the balance of emotions and mind.

The whisper chanting is dissolved easily and the life force moves deeply within as we enter the mental phase of chanting. The Mental chanting can be practiced as long as the thoughts occurs in he mind. In a distracted mind, the mantram is simply chanted in the very area, where the distraction occurs. The mantram meditation always benefits, if it is practiced truly.
As the mantram frees the mind from all thoughts and dissolves distractions, it then begins to reach the border of super consciousness. The process of Chanting becomes really effortless. No effort is needed. It becomes a real pleasure. The mind is full of peace and gentle joy.