Design a Custom Meditation Plan
Be happier, healthier, more relaxed, more intelligent and more prosperous, not to mention longer-living, through meditation. We've all heard the claims, right? Usually it's from someone trying to sell us a guide to their tried and true meditation program or claiming these are the benefits of their particular religion or pseudo-religion.
The fact is, meditation does provide all these benefits and more. Scientific studies using magnetic resonance imaging have verified that meditation creates slower, more beneficial brain waves and in turn very beneficial brain chemicals that encourage calm, concentration, health and longevity. But you don't need to change your religion or spend hard-earned cash to use meditation to improve your life. You can meditate in any way you like and - surprise! - get the same fabulous results.
With a regular daily meditation of any type, you will experience increased energy and less illness, clearer focus and sharper mental capabilities, more sense of satisfaction with life and more sense of connected-ness to the world around you as well as a deeper sense of spirituality in line with your own religious beliefs.
Meditation is any period of mental calm and stillness that allows your brain to produce alpha waves, and eventually delta and theta waves, instead of the beta brainwaves that we produce during our normal daily functioning. The alpha waves move at a slower frequency and help us to relax, focus and rejuvenate. In very deep meditation, brainwaves actually slow to delta and theta waves, the type of brain activity experienced as we fall asleep and remain deep asleep. It is also the state in which religious masters through the ages have attained visions and transcendence. The goal of meditation is to create these types of brain waves in a waking state, allowing us to relax, focus and release fear to better achieve all we attempt in life.
There are many ways to achieve this and the guidelines below should give you some ideas of how flexible your practice can be. There are really only two musts in meditation. You must control the breath to a slow, deep rhythmic pattern and you must slow the beta waves by letting go the busy, stressful thoughts that run through your mind constantly.
Preparing for Meditation
There are only two things you need for successful meditation: a time and a place.
Find a room in your house where you can be completely alone and spared distractions like telephone and television as well as barking dogs, attention-seeking children and assistance-seeking spouses and bosses. Furnish this spot with a comfortable chair you can lean your head back on or a folded blanket where you can sit or lie comfortably on the floor.
You may wish to use dim lighting or relaxing music, or to light candles or incense. These aren't necessary, but help many people to relax and signal their minds that it is meditation time, creating a mental suggestion that the brain responds to after repetition. Make your meditation space comfortable and pleasing to you.
Set aside one hour daily if you can, and 30 minutes at the minimum. People that claim to be able to meditate in 15 minutes have been meditating for a very long time. Most mere mortals take significantly longer than that to reach actual meditative states, particularly at the beginning of their practice. Masters often meditate for four to six hours a day to reach states of spiritual bliss.
You may rise an hour early while the house is still quiet, wait until the kids go to bed, or grab an hour for yourself right after work to help relax and transition to leisure or home time. Whichever hour you choose, try to meditate at the same time every day to help train your mind that you expect it to slow down at this hour.
If mundane thoughts keep distracting you, just notice the thoughts and let them pass. Don't try to fight it or analyze it. Just notice each thought and let it go. The thoughts will gradually fade as long as you don't resist them.
Progressive Relaxation
This very simple method of entering a meditative state is highly effective and has no religious overtones. It can also be used as a prelude to other types of meditation. In fact, if you are having trouble relaxing or slowing down your mind, I recommend starting any other type of meditation with this technique.
Sit comfortably in your chair with feet on the floor, or lie flat on your back with your arms at your side, palms facing up. Close your eyes. Breathe in through your nose and out through your mouth slowly and rhythmically, very naturally. Let your breathing grow slower and deeper, letting your abdomen expand on the inhale.
Beginning with your toes, imagine all the energy in your toes forming into spinning balls. You may visualize this energy as fuzzy bright-white balls of light, as electrical current, fluid, or any other visualization that symbolizes energy to you. Feel the energy collecting and moving up into your feet to form larger balls, slowly moving into your calves, knees, thighs, hips and belly, growing larger, until you reach your abdomen. Visualize the balls of energy in each part of your limbs. Feel each part of your body relax and go limp as the energy collects and moves up out of each area.
Starting now from your fingertips, use the same process to collect the energy and move it slowly up your arms, into your head and neck, and down into your shoulders and chest into the abdomen until it meets with the first ball of energy in your solar plexus. Concentrate on the energy in the center of your torso. Feel it warming you, empowering you and allowing you to relax.
You may take the entire hour to breathe and visualize this process, or you may do it in a few minutes before you move on to a more specific form of meditation. Be sure to allow sufficient time for your mind to slow and your body to become very relaxed. This technique will work a little faster each time you use it.
Mantras
A mantra is any word or group of words you repeat to yourself during a meditation. Repeating and concentrating on the mantra can help slow and focus your mind by giving it something to grasp rather than fleeting thoughts.
While some religious groups may chant prayers, the names of Gods, or secret key-words of transcendence, you can use a word as simple as love or peace, repeating it to yourself with the same results. However, longer phrases tend to be more effective at slowing the flow of mundane thoughts. You can repeat to yourself, I feel peace and power, I let go of my mind to allow god control, or Every day in every way I get better and better. Affirmations that apply to your current life goals or favorite short prayers also make excellent meditation mantras.
Visual Focus
If you prefer to meditate with your eyes open, a visual focus point can really help keep your mind focused. Concentrating on the flame of a candle is excellent for this. The Hindu meditative tradition also uses mandalas, which are pictorial representations of each of the seven energies of the body. You can find mandalas in any book on chakra meditation. You might also use a favorite calming or spiritual picture of any kind, or you can make your own mandala.
Draw a circle and fill it with colors, designs and symbols that represent the purpose of your meditation, your life goals or your self. As you meditate with your mandala, let your eyes take in the whole picture and then the details, continuing to breathe deeply, slowly and rhythmically and focusing on the concept your mandala represents.
Another method of visual meditation is to close your eyes and simply concentrate on a color. Pick your favorite or one that seems right for the situation. For instance, to bring more calm feelings into your life you may choose a light blue. For healing you might focus on a melon pink.
All of the options above are exactly that: a choice of tools to help your mind slow and focus. Mix and match any of the methods above to create a meditative routine that is right for you, and stick with it, making minor adjustments along the way. The two biggest keys to successful meditation are regularity and controlled breathing. With regular daily practice, you will enter a meditative state more quickly each day and each day experience more of the calm, happy health and focus that meditation delivers.