This mini-guide will give you a brief introduction to meditation.

For further information, please visit our website HowToMeditateProperly.org.

your body and mind as well as improve the quality of your consciousness.

What Meditation is not!

Only in meditation can we truly experience our full being, beyond all habitual patterns as it is a way of bringing ourselves back or awaken in us the nature of the mind. Meditation can improve the quality of life and decrease healthcare costs as it is an effective form of stress reduction, and help achieve a state of thoughtless awareness to neutralize stress without reducing effectiveness and alertness. Authentic meditation is a profound, deep peace that will enable you to focus on the present rather than dwelling on the past or the future and it can be done while doing your days labors or while sitting in a lotus posture on the top of a mountain. Before knowing about meditation, you have to familiarize yourself with its practices and beliefs which are often considered a meditation but are not meditation at all. Meditation is just one form of concentration. While concentration is constantly projecting your attention towards a particular activity or task, in meditation dont need to choose anything to concentrate upon. Concentration is important for learning meditation but it is not meditation. Meditation is NOT Relaxation. Meditation will make you relax but meditation is not relaxation because while relaxation makes you calm as well as gives you serenity, the natural outcome of relaxation is meditation. Meditation is NOT a religious practice Meditation is not a ritual or a particular exercise and anybody can do it. It is a quality of your existence and the awareness of your true self. It is not connected with any specific ritual or religion but requires genuine effort of your part to learn meditation. Meditation is NOT a state of mind A meditative state is not meditation, it is the state of mind in meditation and many gadgets in the market promise to take you to that meditative state. Meditation is the awareness of your true self. While in the meditative state you become still, calm, and tranquil, in meditation you remain aware of the present moment where no gadget can create that true awareness. Meditation is NOT self-hypnosis While an initial period of concentration is required in both meditation and self-hypnosis, in hypnosis you enter into a state of semi-conscious trance and become unaware of the moment while in meditation you maintain awareness and stay conscious of the meditative process.
1

What is Meditation?
Meditation means different things to different groups of people. To grossly over-generalise, in the West, it tends to mean a concentrated state of mind in serious reflection while in the East, it tends to mean fixing the mind in a spiritual ideal and to be one with it. Meditation is a proven alternative method of therapy and can be classified as a mind-body medicine. There are people who consider meditation as a prayer or worship but meditation is all about awareness and what you do with awareness is meditation, like listening to the birds or music as long as its done to free your mind from distractions. Meditation is like training the mind to keep it healthy just like physical exercise to keep the body fit as through meditation it is possible to develop a positive and clear state of mind. Its not only about thinking good thoughts. Its all about bringing the best in yourself, and your thoughts, as well as your emotions. Meditations are a way of life and a way of reducing anger, stress and other negative emotions around you and to grow in consciousness to help you become a compassionate, loving, and productive person. Interestingly, a growing number of medical practitioners in various specialties prescribe meditation as a way for patients to lower their blood pressure, improve physical performance for people with various ailments, including cardiovascular disease. They also recommend it to people who suffer from asthma to help them breathe easier during an asthma attack. It is even recommended for relieving insomnia and for general relaxation because it is known as a safe and simple method for balancing the emotional, mental and physical states of a person. Using meditation in healing has been used for as long as religion was first conceived as meditative techniques have been a product of diverse cultures rooted in the traditions of the worlds great religions. All religious groups practice some kind of meditative ritual and they value meditation as a way for promoting healing and alleviating suffering, especially in impoverished nations. Meditating is different from having a good rest or sitting pretty because silence without spiritual aspirations is unproductive. Being aware of inner silence is hard to achieve and can be confused with being dull or soporific, which are clearly not objectives of meditation. However, by learning the regular series of balanced techniques, you will be able to liberate

Meditation is NOT thinking Meditation is the process of transcending the thought process because we realize that we are not just our mind and body but there exist an awareness independent of any kind of thought which is what meditation is all about.

Meditation Techniques
Meditation techniques range from easily learned to those that require some training. Enumerated here are meditation techniques according to degree of difficulty from the easiest to the hardest procedures. Please take note that if you are a beginner, it is a good idea to be under the guidance of a qualified practitioner as many people undergo some discomfort from the initial psychological impact because repressed memories are revived. Simple Meditation is good for inducing the relaxation response and is ideal before breakfast. Walking Meditation is a technique where you must focus on both feet as each touches the ground. Concentrate on your two feet and do not let anything distract you. This exercise forces you to attend to the action of walking and helps to improve your power of concentration and mindfulness. Transcendental Meditation otherwise known as TM, is the most thoroughly researched meditation technique. You will be given a word or phrase to be your personal mantra and you will repeatedly say this to enable your mind to focus. Research has shown that TM results in heightened awareness and a deeper state of relaxation, it increases psychological adaptability and physical stability, improve creativity, intelligence and comprehension ability. It is also one of the most effective techniques for reducing alcohol and drug abuse as it decreases anxiety. Mindfulness isalso known as insight meditation or Vipassana in Buddhism. This means fully experiencing what is happening around you. Mindfulness helps in turning down all the troubles in our minds like anger, doubts, guilt, etc. and focuses your thoughts on the good things around you. It helps in improving the effectiveness of your response to any situation. There are 2 types of mindful meditation. There is the formal type, such as the yoga and tai-chi, and the informal mindfulness, which involves mindfully focusing on all daily activity, no matter how trivial. Journey Meditation is a technique thatcombines images and visualization for achieving a state of meditation. An example would be imagining oneself in a peaceful place. You start by finding a peaceful place to sit either on a chair or on the floor with your back against a wall and imagine yourself in a peaceful place. Vibrational Meditation - is also known as sounding meditation. Here, repeating a word or sound is the point of focus and releasing noise and sound is a way to release stress. This technique aims to clear the tightness in the muscles when you are feeling tense. Movement Meditation Like yoga, this technique combines breathing with flowing movements to achieve a meditative state. It is most appealing for people who like to have a meditative state of mind through bodily movement. Body Scan Meditation is similar to a formal type of mindfulness meditation technique, but is done outside a formal tai chi or yoga class.

Benefits of Meditation
Meditation is for everyone and the benefits of practicing it regularly are vast. Meditation is a concentrated communion with nature and with everything around you but there is so many different ways to meditate because there are also many types of personalities and a form of expression that satisfies one person will not necessarily satisfy another. The best thing about meditation is that anyone can do it and it can be learned at almost any age and incorporated into your daily life. Meditation can help you in a multitude of ways and you can practice it either in the comfort of your own home or with a meditation group. There are two main types of meditation. First, there is concentrative meditation which focuses attention either on an image, a sound/word, phrase or the rhythm of breathing to calm the mind for the emergence of greater clarity and awareness. For instance, when someone is angry, anxious, fearful or distracted they tend to breathe in a shallow, rapid and uneven manner. Whereas when somebody is calm, composed and focused, they tend to breathe slowly, deeply and in a regular manner. Focusing on a continuous rhythm of inhaling and exhaling provides an object for meditation. As awareness is focused on breathing, the mind is absorbed into listening to the inhaling and exhaling rhythm, which results in breathing deeper and slower and a more aware but tranquil state of mind. The second main type of meditation is mindfulness meditation, which involves focusing attention on becoming aware on the continuous passing of a multitude of images, feelings, thoughts, smells and sounds without becoming deeply involved with these. This could help in gaining a calmer, collected and non reactive mind set. This type of meditation can be compared to a wide angle lens as opposed to a regular lens. It is like being aware of the entire field instead of just seeing a specific object. Through these types of meditations you learn to acquire the relaxation response, be aware of your mind and how your attitude can produce stress. A meditation, by quieting the mind, gets you in tune with your inner physician and allows your bodys inner wisdom to be utilized. In modern days, you may have forgotten the origins of meditation and its purpose because of the bustle of the modern life and the very fascinating and more understandable world of science. But, meditation is not just for gaining the meaning of life but for learning about your true self.

Instant Calming Sequence is most useful when you are in a crisis as it helps lessen the negative effects from a stressful situation. All these meditation techniques have one thing in common to produce a calming effect and the technique you use is a matter of personal choice.

of these methods as each have its own unique requirement you have to follow.

Basic Requirements for Meditation

When talking about meditation, we are referring to a method that helps us in relaxing our bodies and minds. In the past, different techniques have been used by different religions for their respective spiritual traditions. Nowadays, meditation is a common activity for individuals who want to improve their physical and mental well being. Here are the five basic requirements for meditation: Practical Idealism. You must believe in what you practice. Meditation must not be a hypocritical act and must be supported by a philosophy which guides your actions, attitude, motivations, relationships and restraints. A suitable place. If you are a beginner, find a place conducive to sitting or lying down to relax your body muscles with minimum distractions. As your concentration prowess develops, you will be alb to meditate just about anywhere and anywhere you want, even in the noisiest and busy environments. A comfortable posture. Ensure that your mind and body is comfortable, as it has been proven that postural realignment can affect your state of mind. The mind can meditate only if the body is totally free from pain so complicated postures, such as the lotus posture, are merely symbolic and not ideal for meditation. Therefore, the spine should be structurally sound and normally kept erect and the body weight is distributed around it. Ideally, a sitting position is better for meditation because lying down could easily lead you to sleep. A semireclining position is only recommended if you are a person who does not easily go to sleep during the day. Relaxed disposition. Meditation is never an ego trip or any sort of competition. It should be a relaxed attitude which is the most essential element of meditation where alertness and relaxation must be in perfect balance. Distractions from environmental sounds are inevitable but if you slip away, just make sure to bring your awareness to the meditation object. Eventually and with practice these moments of deep restfulness and calm during the meditative state will be more frequent. Methods constituting the practice of meditation. These are the fifth requisite element in meditation and you could choose your preferred method. For example, while in some meditation methods the subject has to close their eyes to make relaxation easier to induce, others involve looking at an object with open eyes. There are those who prefer the use of mantra because for them single thought sound has the effect of quietening the mind while awareness of breathing is also used as a single meditation method to promote relaxation. Remember that you must have knowledge and understanding
3