Many people are interested in meditation as a means to achieve relaxation and to relieve stress. Meditation helps to clear and still the mind. When the mind is at peace, the body will be at peace as well. The body follows the mind. The body will right itself if the mind is at peace. There is a natural in-built power toward health in each and every one of us. Still the mind and you will find it. Yet, stilling the mind may not be such an easy task. There are many habits built up over years that will struggle to reassert themselves. This takes time. You have to begin somewhere. Begin where you are.
If you take a moment and look at your mind, just watch it for a few moments, you will find that thoughts cascade through it in a kind of haphazard fashion. First there is the grocery store, maybe there is a business appointment, perhaps something with the children or mate, the car, the home, people at work, the boss, the job, health, on and on it goes, from one thing to the next. This is tiring for the body because the body will respond to each thought with matching hormones and blood pressure changes. If the mind keeps jumping from one thing to the next, the body has a hard time keeping up and a person feels the effects of stress and tiredness. If the thoughts are coupled with emotional upsets then the body's work is compounded. The purpose of meditation is to give the body a mini-vacation from the cascading thoughts and attendant emotions by focusing the mind onto a single topic. The breath. Following the process of breathing is the easiest form of meditation. It is also a bit difficult to accomplish because the mind will still want to jump around. There is no failure to meditate if this happens. In fact, the process of meditation is simply then to bring the mind back to the centralizing thought. When ever the mind wanders off onto a tangent, simply bring it back. That is the process of meditation. Near the end of this article I will give you a very powerful meditation comprised of a philosophical thought and sound upon which to focus. But, first, learn to follow the breath. That is primary.
To follow the breath simply become aware of it. Don't try to change it. Just watch it. Tich Naht Hahn, a Zen Buddhist monk from Vietnam currently living at Plum Village in France has a very wonderful meditation for following the breath. He says, "Breathing in, I know I'm breathing in. Breathing out, I know I'm breathing out." That's it. Just become aware of when the in-breath takes place and when the out-breath takes place.
Sometimes the body is really stressed from the events of the day. And, the mind may be running helter skelter with adrenaline pumping through the blood stream. It may be a bit difficult to sit in this state and say, "Breathing in, I know that I am breathing in. Breathing out, I know that I am breathing out." Sometimes you need to help the body calm down a bit. There are a couple of simple breath techniques that can be done at the beginning of the session that will help to calm the central nervous system down so that you can enter into and more readily enjoy a few moments of simple Zen-like sitting.
The first of these is called Alternate Nostril Breathing. It is just what it's name implies. This exercise is wonderfully efficient at bringing the central nervous system back into alignment and calming stress reactions out of the body system. I tested this one out on an EEG brain wave monitor and found that I was able to lower high stress register gamma brain waves by 20% simply by concentrating lightly on this kind of breathing. Basically the exercise is to simply breathe in while paying attention to the sensation of the breath in the right nostril and then, when you breathe out, pay attention to the sensation of the breath through the left nostril. The cycle continues. On the in-breath this time, focus on the sensation of air coming into the left nostril and when you breathe out, focus on the sensation of air coming out of the right nostril. Back and forth. Back and forth. You switch attention while breathing normally. Breathe in, attention to the left nostril, breathe out with attention on the right nostril. Then, breathe in with attention on the right nostril and as you breath out, switch your attention to the sensation of breath coming out of the left nostril. Here it is again in a list form:
To clarify.
1. In through the right
2. Out through Left Nostril
3. In through Left.
4. Out through Right
5. In through the right (you can see we are starting over so, return to 1. above and proceed)
Just use your mind to switch attention to the sensation of the breath. I like to feel my consciousness shift across the frontal lobe from left to right and from right to left as I focus on one nostril or the other. I think it is this shifting of consciousness across the two lobes of the brain that actually lowers the EEG stress waves. As you use your mind the air will be able to come in through both nostrils, however, if you focus your attention on one nostril and then the other and really feel the breath as it is coming in and going out through one or the other, you will achieve the desired effect of stress reduction. After a few cycles of Alternate Nostril Breathing, if the body still has not completely calmed down, then you can try this process:
Breathe in for a count of 4. Hold your breath for a count of 4, then exhale for a count of 8. Do this for only four cycles. It does not need more and should not be done for an extended period of time. Four breaths in and four breaths out should be sufficient. The purpose being to have the exhale be twice as long as the inhale. Take four long, slow, deep breaths holding the breath briefly on each, then exhale twice as long as it took you to inhale.
Zen Vipasshyna
After doing alternate nostril breathing and the elongated exhale processes, breathe naturally and normally and just watch the breath. Don't try to "do" anything. Just notice the inhalation and exhalation of breath. This is the basic form of Zen Vipasshyna meditation. Many other religions and spiritual masters have also taught this same practice. It works. I like to think "Truth is truth no matter what clothes it is wearing."
Centering Prayer
Similar to Zen, this is a Christian practice but you do not have to be Christian to do it.
Sit quietly. Breathe naturally. Notice the feeling of breath coming in and going out. Look into your heart and find that inner part of yourself that does not change. That feeling of selfness that you have always known. Fr. Dave calls it "That soft center in your heart." Continue breathing and hold a feeling of universal love in your heart as you dwell uninterruptedly in the space of inner awareness that is your primal self. Fr. Dave suggests setting a buzzer of some sort to awaken you because you can go very deeply and stay this way for a long time. He recommends a half an hour.
If I have a problem I am trying to solve I go to this space and hold the problem to the side of my awareness. Very often inspiration comes and a solution presents itself.
This process of centering prayer is similar to the Tibetan Buddhist meditation practice called "calm abiding" where you simply sit and breathe. Any thoughts that arise in the natural mind come and go, you do not attach to them. You watch them arise and pass away while remaining in a state of peace and spaciousness.
Chi Gung
This is an ancient Taoist practice and also good for destress. The first meditation in one tradition of chi gung is to imagine blue water gently falling on your head, washing through your body, taking with it all dark thoughts, cares and worries, down, washing out through the feet and into the earth. The earth will transform the energy. Sit for a minimum of ten minutes and breathe naturally, following the breathe with attention in and out, in and out. While following the breath imagine the gentle rain of soft blue water washing your body clean. You can finish by imagining your cleansed body being filled with pure white or gold light from the Divine.
4 Minute meditation
If you have a clock with a second hand on it, you can try this delightful process. It's called the 4 Minute meditation. One of the people I have studied with laughs when he introduces it and says that he doesn't like to teach things that are too difficult, long or hard for his students to do. A 4 minute meditation is just the right length of time for a busy person to try. Anyone can do it.
Minute 1: Love. Follow the breath in and out for a short time, just breathing naturally. Then look at the clock and for one minute concentrate on the feeling of Love. Repeat the word "Love" at the end of exhalation. Breathe in and out repeating the word for one minute.
Minute 2: Kindness. Breathe in, breathe out and repeat the word Kindness calling to mind and heart the feelings you have of kindness or how it felt to receive kindness from someone else and to be kind to others. Breathe in and out repeating the word for one minute.
Minute 3: Compassion. Fill your heart with Compassion. Breathe in and breathe out. Say "Compassion" at the end of exhalation. Breathe in and out repeating the word for one minute.
Minute 4: Joy. Create a feeling of a golden glow of Joy in your heart. Create a joyful feeling of bliss radiating from your heart center throughout your entire body. Breathe in, breathe out, say "Joy" and focus on all of the feelings of joy you can inmagine or invoke.
After the four minutes are over, follow your breath in, and then out for a couple of minutes. You need not do more than this. It is enough.
4 Minute Meditation recording on YouTube -
As time goes on, perhaps something will stir in you that wishes to go further and learn more. There are many processes of deeper contemplation and meditation that can be engaged in.
Many people have probably heard of the famous Transcendental Meditation ("TM") teachings. Scientifically, this process of meditation has been called the Relaxation Response and you can find it written about in a book by that same title, "The Relaxation Response". Transcendental Meditation, or the Relaxation Response builds on the basic Zen practice by adding the vibration of a word at the end of the exhale and before the beginning of the inhale. Breathe in, breathe out, say a word. Repeat. The mantras used in TM are simply truncated Hindu mantras that are thousands of years old and the process of TM is the same form of meditation used by the ancient desert hermits who lived near the Dead Sea.
Different words have different vibrational effects. In TM one is given a mantra specifically geared to enhance and develop the mind. The TM words were taken from the longer Saraswati mantra. Sound is vibration. The human body is mostly composed of water. Water will resonate to sound. The mind and body respond to vibrations. A word or mantra that resonates with the particular developmental state of an individual can have the effect of moving the individual forward in their spiritual quest.
Scientists who have dissected TM say that the word is irrelevant, only the process of saying a word is important to the creation of the Relaxation Response in the body. The TM teachers say that the word is of primary importance because of the vibration it creates. I do not know if the scientists or the TM practitioners are correct. I have found, however, that there are various words from ancient languages that do have extremely powerful effects when coupled with intellectual understanding and visualization.
The most powerful word I have come across to date is from the ancient Aramaic language as translated by Neil Douglas-Klotz in his wonderful book "Prayers of the Cosmos." The word is "ABWOON." On the surface it is an invocation of the vibration of the original creation of the entire universe and is composed of archetypal phonemes. AHHHHHH is the original all one consciousness. AB signifies father. ABW signifies mother. OOOOOOO is the process of vibration. NNNNNNNNN is formed consciousness and being. Taken together it reads "All One. Great consciousness of the cosmos. Father and mother or our life. You are sound taking form." Another way of saying it would be "Universal undivided consciousness, through the duality of the mother and father, your vibration takes form."
The meditation with this ancient mantra goes like this:
Breathe in, breathe out, say the word ABWOON. Or, breathe in, and during the out breath chant or intone "ABWOON." (It sounds very much like OM and may indeed be a variant of that word, which is another universal mantra that comes from India.) Now, bring the intellect into this process of following the breath and chanting. Do not force the breath. Please be calm and happy. Any emotion you are feeling will be magnified. Focus on objective love. That is the very best.
The following is very powerful.
As you sing or chant Abwoon softly to yourself, follow time backwards. Go back to before you were born. Go back to before there were human beings on the earth. Go back to before the earth was formed. Go back to the instant of creation and then, in a breath, imagine pure consciousness in the empty void of the cosmos before any part of creation began. Say "Hello," and keep breathing and chanting. Contemplate the very beginning of time and then realize that here, today, you are a part of the great creation. It is still going on today.
There is the idea from science of the "big bang" which gives people the notion that creation took place eons ago and has nothing significant to do with us here and now. There is another way of looking at the idea. Imagine that creation is still taking place. We are actually still in the middle of the bang part of the big bang. Every second is new. Each moment an unfolding connected directly to the very beginning. All a continuous unfoldment and the perception in the moment now is directly connected to that original inception of creation out of the great vastness of the pure consciousness in the void right into the present moment.
This is a very powerful meditation. If you try it, don't be surprised if you have some kind of insight leap into your consciousness. By the same token, don't expect anything very exciting to happen either. I have done it many times and have had no great insight happen. And then on one or two occasions, incredible transcendental grace flowed into me. You never know what will happen. The purpose of doing the process is just to do the process and have no expectation, ever, no matter how many times you do it. Sometimes things happen, and sometimes they don't. Practice "non-attachment" to the outcome. Considering the power of the word and the nature of the contemplation, generate love in your heart and, sometimes, insights may arise. Just appreciate them and let them go. Do not hold onto them.
The Desert Fathers in the first century C.E. had similar meditations and breath work practices to the one described above. They would use the name of Yeshua as a mantra. It was called the "Jesus Prayer". Breathe in, breathe out, say "Yeshua". If you are not Christian and wish to do this process, choose from your tradition. Moses. Mohammed. Buddha. Abraham. Saraswati. Maha Lakshmiyea. Ormasda. Eloheem. Rama. Krishna. Archangel Gabrielle. Archangel Michael. Archangel Raphael. Archangel Uriel. (I must share a humorous note here. Not very many people in the world today have heard of Archangel Uriel. He is the Archangel of Wisdom. Sad to say, but also, very telling, that the angel of Wisdom is not much known.)
I have heard it said that the repetition of a sacred word creates angels in the upper realms. Without a doubt continuous and repetitive dwelling on an idea creates a thought form in the aura. Practicing peaceful meditation creates a focus of peace in the vibrational body and is the beginning of a practice of healing by vibrations. In this case, the vibrations are being created by your voice and, if practiced silently, by your mind.
Abwoon. Yeshua. Love. Peace. Om. These are all good words to dwell on.
Pat can be contacted at PatPreble@aol.com