Posted 1/23/09 (By Travis)
1/23/08 Neoperspectives.com
Meditation/prayer, offers great opportunity to calm the mind, increase happiness, knowledge and wisdom, and become successful, with success being self defined. In fact, without regular practice of this in some form or another it is likely that extensive spiritual/religious advancement and the above benefits in plenty may be unattainable. A scientific examination and literature review of the benefits of meditation will (hopefully) be forth coming in the near future. However, if one accepts the benefits of prayer/meditation or at least is willing to give it a shot, how does one start?
First, the position. Any position where one is comfortable and able to focus will do. Any standard position of prayer, if one is coming from a particular religious background is fine. The classic position is to sit on a pillow cross legged, hands can be folded in ones lap, draped over respective knees or one can place them in the 'chin mudra' position on the knees with palms facing up and thumb and index fingers touching.
One can lay down, supine, sort of spread eagle on the ground, but be wary of a wandering mind, plus falling asleep! A spread eagle supine position is probably best as a fallback pose after body discomforts mount after a long sitting meditation.
The first step is to close the eyes and focus on the breath and general relaxation of the body and mind. Breathing should be through the nose with deep slow abdominal breaths. Spend a minute or so just focusing on the breath.
My personal preference is to begin meditation by total body relaxation through segments. In this method you start with one of your toes and feel and relax each toe, moving to the foot, feeling different parts of the foot and relaxing it, then relaxing the whole foot. Moving onto the leg in the same way and then the other foot and leg. Then feel and relax both lower extremities. Do the same for all parts of the body, with special intention to internal organs. The face is the hardest to relax, pay special attention to the eyes. Besides the general relaxation benefit, you are also igniting normally dormant neural pathways, which if activated over time can result in increased general perception of ones body even when one is not meditating.
After all parts of the body have been relaxed, try to relax the brain itself, the skull, the blood vessels in your brain, and finally your mind, so that one is completely calm and relaxed, both physically and mentally. Complete this process at your own speed, but generally this 'warm-up', if you will, should take between 5-10 minutes. You can spend another minute or two just working on relaxing the mind and then return and spend a few minutes focusing on the breath, so that the entire awareness consists of nothing but soft and gentle breathing. Sometimes focusing on the tip of the nose, as the air goes in and out can be beneficial. Alternatively one can focus on the body in general or heart beat. Spend as much time as comfortable in this state and then take another minute slowly coming out of the meditation, wiggling the extremities etc..
Another exercise worth trying is to clear the mind of all thoughts entirely, even of the breath, or even of thoughts of relaxation. Thinking 'of nothing' is quite hard to do, with success measured in the seconds. This is indicative of the control the lower thought processes have over us and how little free will we actually have. With practice it is possible to think 'of nothing' for longer. One can also try to fill the mind with thoughts of God and/or Joy/Love.
It is important to monitor how one feels immediately after a meditation. You should feel relaxed, clear headed, less anxious, and more motivated. If you are able to meditate like this once in the morning right after getting up and once in the evening before bed, for an entire week, you might notice significant differences in your everyday experiences at work, personnel life, and even sleep patterns. It is probably advisable to start slow, without excess ambition, try to meditate like this for a week to give it a fair shot, and then you can decide if it's worth doing regularly or deepening your practice.
This beginners guide is just a recommendation. Any beginner can skip this and start with the more advanced (forthcoming) meditative exercises instead.