What is meditation?

Meditation is a practice that quietens the mind and relaxes the body. It is an altered state of consciousness characterised by a range of physiological changes, including lower metabolic rate, normalised blood pressure, changes in brain wave patterns and lowered cholesterol levels.

Meditation has been practiced for thousands of years in many cultures throughout the world. Not surprisingly, there are many different ways to practice. Some of these techniques are discussed under ‘Meditation Made Easy’ .

These various techniques are all designed to lead the individual towards a peaceful inner experience by learning to disengage from thoughts and the usual mental chatter of our ‘monkey mind’.
During meditation thoughts come and go but they are not engaged with judgement or direction. Rather we become an observer and simply watch the passing show. Even if certain thoughts are unpleasant they are less likely to trigger an emotional response while we maintain this ‘disengaged’ state.
In this sense there is no such thing as a good or a bad thought. Whatever crosses the mind is observed with the simple response, “It’s just another thought”.

Personal experiences of meditation vary greatly. Mostly these experiences are extremely pleasant and very relaxing. As the practice deepens, thoughts become wispy and dream-like until ultimately there can be spaces where there is no thought. Sometimes people report seeing swirls of colours or even images of people and events. At other times, while deeply relaxed, people report extraordinary clarity and creativity as ideas and solutions seemingly arise out of nowhere.
Occasionally experiences verge on the transcendent and have a mystical quality. These experiences cannot be ordered up, but arise spontaneously – often when least expected!

Meditation enables us to use other, deeper aspects of our mind. Our usual sense of reality, including our sense of self, comes from our conditioned mind.
In meditation we can step outside of this perspective and experience a more pure stream of consciousness, uncontaminated by the hurts of the past or the fears of the future. Beyond the conditioned mind lie those aspects of creativity, connection, spirituality, love, our sense of beauty and much more.

A regular meditation practice changes our daily experience of life. We react differently to challenges, we become more patient, more compassionate, enjoy greater mental clarity and so on. Which, conveniently, leads us onto the next page where we discuss some of the benefits of meditation.

 

 

Next page: Benefits of meditation