FREE GROUP MEDITATION SESSIONS

February 7th - May 11th, 2017

12:30pm - 1:30pm

Room 0142

12:00pm - 1:00pm

Room 0142

12:00pm - 1:00pm

Room 2118 A

Want to meditate now?

Do you need an individual session?

Call Edie Anderson at (301) 314-9629 to schedule an appointment today!

Individual sessions are available Tuesday through Friday.

Faculty,Staff, & Visitor: $10 per 1 hour session.

There is NO CHARGE for UMD Students.

Meditation and Its Benefits

WHAT IS MEDITATION?

Meditation is a journey inward to the authentic self, the soul that is pure and whole. It is a technology that brings health and healing to mind, body and spirit. The inward journey taken through meditation, if practiced daily, will over time awaken creativity, healing and transformation. Meditation expands our internal reference point from constricted to expanded awareness allowing us to explore our essential nature and restore the memory of our pure wholeness and inner bliss. The silence we can experience in meditation helps to establish an inner quietness in our daily lives providing access to our creativity and enabling us to make more life-affirming choices. Listening to the dialogue of our thoughts quietly opens us up to an awareness of our infinite possibilities, for letting go of thoughts not needed and for allowing our transformation of intention. Meditation is an antidote to stress and a pathway to wholeness and wellness connecting in mind, body and spirit.

WHAT MEDITATION IS NOT

Meditation is not about forcing your mind and body to be quiet but to rather allow and discover our dialogue and the stillness and quietness that is already there when we choose to just let go in mind and body. Meditation is not a religious or cult based practice. Meditation like many things in life does not work for everyone. Keeping an open mind about experiencing meditation in your unique awareness will help with finding your internal peace and allow your body and mind to relax.

HOW DO I MEDITATE?

Sit comfortably with shoes removed and a pillow under your feet if possible or just sit comfortably in a safe place. Close your eyes and just follow your breath, feeling it come into your body and leaving your body with a non-judgemental and gentle awareness.

Allow yourself to let go in mind and body by hearing the vibrational sound of SOOOO as you breathe in and HUUUUMMM as you exhale. As thoughts come up just gently repeat the sound of SOOOOO and HUUUUMMM a little louder as you breathe allowing the thoughts to disappear into the background and eventually away into space. Thoughts and ideas of importance will be recaptured after time spent meditating.

For more information or to make anappointmentcall (301) 314-9629 or emaileanders3@umd.edu

The University Health Center Group Meditation Program is a free service to University of Maryland students, staff and faculty. It is not open to the general public.

Individual sessions are free for students; the faculty, staff and visitor fee is $10 per session.

Faculty and staff Group Meditation Sessions arefee-based and available upon request. Please call (301) 314-9629 for pricing and reservations.

More here:

Meditation Spring 2017 | University Health Center

In the beginning, I found thatguided meditationswere appealing. They literallywalked methrough the meditation.I didnt have to do anything but just sit there and let it happen. This seemed simple enough for a guy like me who cancomplicate things.

After scouring countless meditations, Ive collected thebest guided meditations on YouTube. Each oneillustrates fun mindfulness exercises and approaches.Whether for sleep, anxiety, chakra-clearing, or binaural beats, these are worth listening to.

I like this guided meditation because it has sounds of ocean waves in the background. This is nice because it puts me into a calm state by itself. Also, there is a wonderful integration of breathing exercises that sooth and relax. You may find yourself feeling weightless at some point, which is quite nice.

This YouTube videois effective for beginners and experienced meditators alike.

Even though there arent any instructions with this guided meditation, the music and imagery work well. This is the best YouTubevideosI can think of to start with.Want deep, restful sleep? Read this article ondeep sleep meditation.

Manymeditations tell us to breathe deeply, but what does that mean?

I like the way this begins by simply demonstrating what deep breathing means. The meditation guides you to put one hand on your stomach and the other on your chest. This shows the correct method of diaphragmatic breathing, which increasesthe amount of oxygen that goes into your lungs.

Beyond that, this meditation does a nice job of guiding you through imagery to stillness. You are then given about 10 minutes without a guiding voice to allow you to floatin silence. The Seat meditation is an effective way to connect with your breath and find a place of stillness inside.

This guided meditation is designed to alleviate anxiety. This is forthose of you who have emotional vampires in your life and want torelieve stress.I like its brevity (about 10 minutes) and general helpfulness for those new to meditation.

When just starting, many people prefer having a voice to guide them for the duration of a meditation. Soft speech combined with the flute and strings in the background of this video are soothing.

The voice directs you in following your breath and also involves some guided imagery with nature.

This may be better for those open to an Eastern conception of the body involving chakras. However, I also find it to be universal and digestible for anyone with an open mind.

If youre unfamiliar with chakras, this meditation explainsalong the way. Itdirects you to breathe in healing and positive energy and breathe out negativity. This has the effect of shifting your mindset to be more positive.

The progressive scanning up the body after feeling a connection with the Earth is pretty sweet. It also creates a physical relaxation similar to that felt in a body scan. If you seekto gain clarity with all areas of life, this guided meditation is powerful.

For those who use meditation to get in touch with intuitive guidance in life, this may be for you. It uses a unique sound/technology calledbinaural beats.Binaural beats are a series of tones and sounds that physically affect our brain wave states.

This meditation does require headphones (preferably ear-covering ones). The tones induce theta waves, which represent deep relaxation. It also can be considered the space between sleep and being awake.

This video combines the binaural tones with contemplative questions (written on the screen). This integrationhelps you listen to your own intuition on what to do in life. Big questions are asked, some without an answer: Who are you?

The binaural tones combined with the contemplation can lead to profound insights. Especiallyif youre at a crossroads with a job, relationships, or direction at work.

I recommend this for those who tend to be contemplative or just want to experiment with binaural meditation. Keep a journal handy to record any major insights that may come.

This list wouldnt be complete without a video produced by yours truly (Chris Willitts, founder of Mindful Muscle). Itisnt a guided meditation per se. It is more of an instructional video about how to start a meditation practice.

If youre just getting started this should get you going in the right direction.Want more tips on how to get started? Heres the article that goes with the YouTube video above:How to Meditate: 5-Minute Mastery.

Summary

Meditation can dissolve stress and help us find inner peace. Some say it is the most effective tool we have to harmonize our emotional self. Its really difficult to learn how to meditate without a teacher, a guided meditation presents an attractive method.

Sleep meditation isall the rage, be sure to check out our resource below

*UCLA has free guided meditations worth checking out.

Read the original post:

7 Best YouTube Guided Meditations - Mindful Muscle

Introduction

Scripture declares of Gods thoughts,

For My thoughts are not your thoughts, Neither are your ways My ways, declares the LORD. For as the heavens are higher than the earth, So are My ways higher than your ways, And My thoughts than your thoughts (Isa. 55:8-9).

We are also told to be of the same mind toward one another which means essentially that we must develop and maintain the mind of Christ or Gods thoughts. We are to stand firm in one spirit, with one mind striving together for the faith of the gospel (Rom. 12:16; Phil. 2:5; 1:27). But if my thoughts are contrary to Gods, then I must exchange my thinking with Gods and for that process, He has given us His inspired, inerrant, and authoritative Word. So what is our need? We are to study the Scripture, but for that to be effective, we also need to develop the art of biblical meditation.

Joshua 1:8 This book of the law shall not depart from your mouth, but you shall meditate on it day and night, so that you may be careful to do according to all that is written in it; for then you will make your way prosperous, and then you will have success.

Psalm 1:2 But his delight is in the law of the LORD, And in His law he meditates day and night.

Psalm 4:4 Tremble, and do not sin; Meditate in your heart upon your bed, and be still.

If I were the devil (please, no comment), I would do my best to divide and fragment the thinking of the church of Jesus Christ. I would try to get Gods people confused as to who they are and why they are here. I would try to get them preoccupied with other things. I would try to get them to live independently, to think like the world thinks, to think like the natural man thinks in the futility of his mind (Eph. 4:17-18). In other words, I would like to keep people away from serious involvement with the Word of God. I would want to keep their relationship to Gods Word superficial and secondary. Someone has said that the Adversary majors in three things: noise, hurry, and crowds. But he also has a number of cultural values or belief systems, actually illusions and snares, that he uses to confuse and manipulate the church so that it must, of necessity, fail in its calling and purpose whenever it operates under these illusions.

Each of these are opposed to and work against developing and maintaining the mind of Christ through studying and meditating on the Word. They are designed to keep us out of the Word which is so essential to our ability to avoid the delusions of Satan and the world system and to hear and respond to the call of God on our lives.

The first question we must consider concerns the meaning of meditation and what meditation involves. This is particularly important to the Christian because of the great and growing emphasis on meditation in eastern religions. Transcendental meditation, as it is often called, is not biblical meditation. It is dangerous and actually opens up ones mind for Satanic attack as it is found in New Age thinking. My purpose here is to deal only with the meaning and blessing of biblical meditation and to point out that eastern forms of meditation and biblical meditation are miles apart.

Meditation means the act of focusing ones thoughts: to ponder, think on, muse. Meditation consists of reflective thinking or contemplation, usually on a specific subject to discern its meaning or significance or a plan of action.

Some synonyms would be contemplation, reflection, rumination, deep thinking, or remembering in the sense of keeping or calling something to mind for the purpose of consideration, reflection, or meditation. Compare for instance the following verses of Scripture:

Psalm 63:6 When I remember Thee on my bed, I meditate on Thee in the night watches,

Psalm 77:11 I shall remember the deeds of the LORD; Surely I will remember Thy wonders of old.

Psalm 78:42 They did not remember His power, The day when He redeemed them from the adversary,

Psalm 143:5 I remember the days of old; I meditate on all Thy doings; I muse on the work of Thy hands.

In Eastern forms of meditation as in TM there is an attempt to empty the mind. Biblical meditation, however, is an attempt to empty the mind of the wrong things in order to fill it with what is right and true according to the index of Gods inspired Word.

All Eastern forms of meditation stress the need to become detached from the world. There is an emphasis upon losing personhood and individuality and merging with the Cosmic Mind Detachment is the final goal of Eastern religion. It is an escaping from the miserable wheel of existenceIt is merely a method of controlling the brain waves in order to improve your psychological and emotional well-being.1

Biblical meditation involves becoming detached from the controlling and hindering influences of the world and attached to the living God through Christ that we might, through faith and transformed values, experience the sufficiency of the Savior and reach out to a hurting world in need of the living Christ.

Biblical meditation is object oriented. It begins with reflective reading and rereading of the Word and is followed by reflection on what has been read and committed to memory. In Scripture, the word meditate is generally found with an object (God, His Word, or works, etc.) or in a context where the object of meditation is understood.

In Scripture it does not mean to sit and ponder infinity or to empty the mind so some force can fill it by repeating some chant or mantra. Such is dangerous and opens the mind to demonic attack. Meditation in the Bible means reflective thinking on biblical truth so that God is able to speak to us through Scripture and through the thoughts that come to mind as we are reflecting on the Word, but that must also be filtered by the Word.

The goal of Christian meditation is to internalize and personalize the Scripture so that its truth can affect how we think, our attitudes, and how we live, our actions.

(1) WorshipIt is designed to focus on the Lord and His works (Ps. 27:4; 77:12). It is a place and space in our lives for communion with God. It is a means of elevating the spiritual over the material world and the world of activity: the world of hustle and bustle and coming and going.

(2) InstructionIt is designed to improve our understanding of the Word and Gods ways as it applies to our lives (Ps. 49:3 [i.e., understanding comes from the meditations of his heart]; 119:27, 97f). In meditation we exchange our thoughts with God's.

(3) Motivation or EncouragementIt is designed to motivate and inspire us in service and courage for the works God has called us to do (Josh. 1:7-8)

(4) TransformationIt is designed to transform and change our lives. This would apply to all the above (Ps. 4:4; 19:14; 119:15; Rom. 12:2; Col. 3:1f).

In Joshua 1:8, God promised Joshua success as part of the fruit of his meditation on the Word, but this has nothing to do with the prosperity mentality of the positive thinking and eastern meditation that is so present today in New Age thinking where, through positive thinking, one is able to control his or her destiny. Rather this is the success of obedient and godly living which experiences Gods provision and deliverance from the enemies of this life. It is not a guarantee against trials and pain.

(1) At prescribes times set aside for Bible study and thinking on the Word (Gen. 24:63; Ps. 4:4; 27:4; 63:6; 77:6; 119:148). It means making space in a special place for God and spiritual values.

(2) At all times throughout the day and night, as we face the varied situations of life. It involves the constant application of the Word through remembrance and reflective thinking (Josh. 1:8).

(1) Because of what the Bible isRevelation from God. In the Bible God has spoken and through this book God reveals Himself, reveals who and what man is, and what His plan for man consists of. (Cf. Ps. 19:7f; 2 Tim. 3:16; 2 Pet. 1:20-21; Isa. 55:8f.)

The Bible was given to us by God to be read and meditated on. An unread Bible is like food that is refused, an unopened love letter, a buried sword, a road map not studied, a gold mine not worked.2

(2) Because of what man is and needsReconciliation to God and one another. The nature of man and the nature of the world and Satan constitutes a great need for personalizing the Word: cf. Eph. 4:16f; 5:15f; 2 Cor. 4:4; etc. Because man is a holistic being, his spiritual, psychological, and physical faculties are complexly intertwined. Dr. Paul Meier writes:

To prepare myself as a Christian psychiatrist, I undertook college studies, an M.S. degree in human physiology, an M.D. from medical school, psychiatric residency training in two different programs, and theological course ware from two evangelical seminaries. During those years I was equipped with many techniques and shortcuts for bringing human beings relief from anxieties, depression, phobias, fears, insecurities, and other kinds of emotional and physical pain. Among the many tools I learned to use, by far the one that has been most valuable in helping people attain spiritual well-being is Scripture meditation.3

Meditation affects mans whole being. Another reason is the fact man does not innately contain Gods thoughts and ways. Again Meier writes:

Man is a totally depraved being, possessing selfish and ultimately self-destructive thought patterns and behavior. Show me a natural man, untaught in Gods principles and Ill show you a natural man who suffers from emotional pain. Ill show you a man who experiences the guilt and discomfort of a God-vacuum. Ill show you a man who is unconsciously fighting and struggling for a sense of significance, using worldly ways (e.g., sexual fantasy, materialism, power struggles, and prestige) in a vain attempt to attain significance all of which will fail. The ways of the world bring temporary relief, like bandaids on open flesh wounds, but not ultimate relief from mans inner awareness of his insignificance apart from God.4

(3) Because of what the meditation doesReformation of the mind and life. Using the words meditate and remember which is sometimes used as a synonym for meditate (Ps. 63:6; 77:5-7; 119:55-56; 143:5-6), lets note from Scripture some of the reasons we should meditate on the Word.

May we join the Psalmist who, rather than use the methods of the world to deal with his pain, declared his commitment to meditation when he wrote:

Psalm 119:78 May the arrogant be ashamed, for they subvert me with a lie; But I shall meditate on Thy precepts.

How to Profit From Biblical Meditation

Biblical meditation is the art of reflection, of pondering and going over a matter in ones mind. It is important that we recognize we cannot divorce meditation from all the processes by which we learn and apply the Word. It is intricately tied to Bible study in all its forms.

Concerning one of the chief Hebrew words used for meditation, hagah, Herbert Wolf says, Perhaps the Scripture was read half out loud in the process of meditation.5

Biblical meditation involves the whole process of reading and observing a portion of Scripture in order to seek both its meaning and application. Though we generally think in terms of the final aspect in which one reflects on his observations and understanding of a particular text or concept of the Word, reading the text of Scripture reflectively is a part of the process of biblical meditation.

The point is this. We cant effectively reflect on and respond to a portion of the Word or a biblical truth without the whole process of careful Bible study. Just as meditating in a vacuum or to empty the mind as it is done in eastern religions is dangerous and may open the mind to demonic attack, so meditating on error drawn from a misunderstanding of a passage can lead to unhappy results.

There are three things that must go together in biblical meditation: READING, REFLECTING, and RESPONDING. The ultimate purpose of these three are the three great purposes of Bible study:

Careful reading for observation comes first. The word read or reading occurs 80 times in Scripture, 34 times in the New Testament. This involves the following:

(1) Read Reverently, ever mindful that you are reading the Word of God. The Bible is God breathed and each word and sentence has a purpose and function. This means reading deliberately, slowly, and alertly, not mechanically or legalistically.

(2) Read Repeatedly, going over and over the passage to observe more and more knowing that you do not exhaust the meaning of any verse even when it becomes familiar and you think you know it. There are always new observations to be seen or mined as a miner searches for silver or gold (Prov. 2:4).

(3) Read Creatively, visualizing yourself in the time, history, and situation of the passage as much as possible to experience a feel for what the author and the people of his day were experiencing. Precisely because God chose to speak in the context of real human history, we may take courage that these same words will speak again and again in our own real history, as they have throughout the history of the church.6

(4) Read With Study Tools In Hand, with paper and pen and Bible study helps at your finger tips to help you observe and answer your questions. Howard Hendricks use to tell us in class something like, A pencil, gentlemen, is the crow bar of the mind and understanding. You wouldnt go mining for silver or gold without tools would you? Of course not. So we need to use tools like a CONCORDANCE, COMMENTARIES, BIBLE DICTIONARY, ATLAS, and WORD STUDY HELPS like Vines Expository Dictionary of New Testament Words, Revel, or New Testament Words, by William Barclay, SCM Press, or A Treasury of New Testament Synonyms, by Stewart Custer, Bob Jones University Press.

(5) Read to Understand, purposely, to make observations of the text that will help you understand its meaning. This means asking questions like our six important friends in Bible study, who, what, when, where, why, and how.

Of course, such reading requires constant reflection and pondering over the text you are reading. This brings us to our next point in the process of meditation, reflection.

Irving Jensen writes, Reflection is the mind and heart at work, thinking over and concentrating on what the eyes have seen Reflection in Bible reading should have the intensity of meditation, whereby the soul has the desire and intention of obeying Gods Word.7

So, how can we read the Bible like this? Jensen suggest the following which I have summarized as follows:

(1) Reflect Purposely, to fulfill the biblical objectives of meditationworship, instruction, motivation, transformation. As the Psalmist who prayed: I will meditate on Thy precepts, and regard Thy ways (Psa. 119:15), and again, Make me to understand the way of Thy precepts, So I will meditate on Thy wonders (vs. 27).

(2) Reflect Imaginatively, visualize the setting and put yourself there. Try to feel the burden, the concern, the fear, the love, etc. Seek to taste and feel every word you read.

(3) Reflect Humbly, realizing that you are not reading just a book, but that which is the very Word from God, God-breathed and authoritative, alive and powerful. It should truly humble us to know that in the Bible, the Holy One who is also the Almighty One, has spoken to us in the Bible.

(4) Reflect Prayerfully, trusting the Spirit of God to open up your eyes and heart to see, understand, and respond to the Word. Again, read as the Psalmist who prayed: Open my eyes that I may behold wonderful things from Thy law (Ps. 119:18). This is also the position of humility and respect. Gods Word is a spiritual book requiring spiritual perception.

(5) Reflect Patiently but expectantly, waiting on the Lord to teach you and show you. Time and patience are important elements to effective meditation and examination of the Word. Again remember that the great enemies of meditating on the Word are noise, hurry, and crowds. Thus, the Psalmist, looking for insight to Gods Word and direction in his life prayed, Lead me in Thy truth and teach me, For Thou art the God of my salvation; For Thee I wait all the day (Ps. 25:5).

Concluding his section on reflection, Jensen writes:

The purpose of reading and reflecting on Scripture is response, responding and applying the passage to our own lives. So we naturally turn to the third aspect of meditation and the ultimate purpose of the Word. The call to reflection in Bible reading is expressed in Samuels plain words to Saul, Stand here thou still a while, that I may shew thee the word of God (1 Samuel 9:27, KJV).8

Responding is the process whereby we make personal application of our observations and understanding of the text. Through meditation we internalize that we may personalize.

(1) The focal point of application: You are the focal point in application. This is not selfish or self-centered. 2 Tim. 3:16 makes this clear. You are meditating on the Word as part of your search for spiritual help, direction, and food. The Bible is addressed to each of us personally.

(2) The key spheres of application: (see diagram).

(3) Important questions for application:

(4) Three vital responses for application:

First, the response of confession: The Word of God is like a sword (it penetrates), like a mirror (it reveals), and like a critic of the heart (it judges and reproves or exposes our attitudes and actions). Whenever we read the Word, it should be with an open heart that is ready to acknowledge sin and confess it. So David prayed, Search me, O God, and know my heart; try me, and know my ways, and see if there be any wicked way within me (Ps. 139:23-24a; cf. 1 John 1:7-9; walking in the light).

Proverbs 28:13 He who conceals his transgressions will not prosper, But he who confesses and forsakes them will find compassion.

Second, the response of faith: One of our reasons for meditating on the Word is to develop and build our faith. Faith comes by hearing and hearing by the Word of God, (Romans 10:17 brick by brick). We must mix faith with what we read and hear. In other words, we must act by faith in what God has shown us from His Word or our hearts can become hardened (cf. Mk. 6 and Heb. 3:7f).

Hebrews 4:2 For indeed we have had good news preached to us, just as they also; but the word they heard did not profit them, because it was not united by faith in those who heard.

Third, the response of obedience: When we obey the Word we are demonstrating the reality of our love for the Lord and how much we really believe what we have seen and learned. It demonstrates our faith and just how serious we are in our relationship with Jesus Christ.

1 Sam. 15:22-23 And Samuel said, Has the LORD as much delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices As in obeying the voice of the LORD? Behold, to obey is better than sacrifice, And to heed than the fat of rams. 23 For rebellion is as the sin of divination, And insubordination is as iniquity and idolatry. Because you have rejected the word of the LORD, He has also rejected you from being king.

In his excellent book, Pathways to Power, a book written in the early 1950s, Dr. Unger wrote:

Meditation upon Gods Word is fast becoming a lost art among many Christian people. This holy exercise of pondering over the Word, chewing it as an animal chews its cud to get its sweetness and nutritive virtue into the heart and life, takes time, which ill fits into the speed of our modern age. Today most Christians devotions are too hurried, their lives too rushed.9

If that was true in the early fifties, how much more is it not true todayforty years later in an age that has become even more activity oriented, materialistic, and consumer minded. Unger goes on to say:

But holiness and hurry never did suit well together. Prayer and preoccupation have always been strange bed-fellows. A head knowledge of the Word may perhaps be consonant with the scurry of the age, but not a deep heart experience of its preciousness. A deep knowledge of spiritual things can only come by the way of unhurried reflection upon Gods truth and by prayer.10

Speaking of Satan and his activity, someone has said our adversary majors in three things: noise, hurry, and crowds. What we need is a time for quiet, stillness, and solitude for the purpose of meditating on the Word.

Listen to these words from the Psalms:

Psalm 19:14 Let the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart Be acceptable in Thy sight, O Lord, my rock and my Redeemer.

Psalm 104:34 Let my meditation be pleasing to Him; As for me, I shall be glad in the Lord.

From these verses it is clear that our meditation can be unacceptable and displeasing to the Lord. What does this mean? What are the implications of this? In what ways can my meditation be unacceptable and displeasing to the Lord? There are obstacles, dangers or hazards, and hindrances to meditation.

Writing to the Corinthian church the apostle wrote,

2 Corinthians 10:5 We are destroying speculations and every lofty thing raised up against the knowledge of God, and we are taking every thought captive to the obedience of Christ,

(1) Speculations is the Greek logismos, calculation, reasoning, reflection, thought and in this context it refers to wrong thinking or reasoning and is connected to those thinking processes and attitudes that usurp Gods viewpoint and stand against the knowledge of God and what that should do to and in our lives.

(2) We see that Paul and his co-workers were committed to destroying and dealing with any such thinking in their lives because it was so destructive to their ability to wage war against the enemy and carry out Gods purpose as soldiers of the cross. The suggestion is that this is a daily battle, an ongoing process without which we are unable to obey and serve the Lord. He uses a military term, taking captive (aichmalotizo) plus the present tense which point to this as a continual struggle and warfare.

(3) The battle concerns our minds in both the content of our minds and in the way we think with our minds, the human devices of our minds which are so often influenced by Satan. Thoughts is the plural of noema, mind, thought, purpose, device, design. It is used of the schemes or devices of Satan in 2 Corinthians 2:11 and of the effects of his work on the minds of men (blinding, in 4:4).

(4) Finally, we see that this affects our obedience to Christ. If we do not bring our thoughts captive, control them and order them according to the Word, the mind of Christ, we cannot live in obedience. The goal and result of every thought captive is obedience to the Lord.

So, meditating on the Word, internalizing and personalizing the Scripture, is a crucial part of the Christian life. It becomes part of the means by which we can bring every thought captive to Christ.

The importance of this is further seen in the Psalms, particularly, Psalm 119. Six times the Psalmist prays for understanding and three other times he speaks of the understanding which comes from the Word:

Psalm 119:27 Make me understand the way of Thy precepts, So I will meditate on Thy wonders.

Psalm 119:34 Give me understanding, that I may observe Thy law, And keep it with all my heart.

Psalm 119:73 Thy hands made me and fashioned me; Give me understanding, that I may learn Thy commandments.

Psalm 119:125 I am Thy servant; give me understanding, That I may know Thy testimonies.

Psalm 119:144 Thy testimonies are righteous forever; Give me understanding that I may live.

Psalm 119:169 Let my cry come before Thee, O LORD; Give me understanding according to Thy word.

Why does the Psalmist pray like this?

Thus, eight times in this Psalm, we read of him meditating on the Word that he might better understand the Scripture and apply it to his life (vss. 15, 23, 27, 48, 78, 97, 99, 148).

But listen to these words from the Psalms:

Psalm 19:14 Let the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart Be acceptable in Thy sight, O LORD, my rock and my Redeemer.

Psalm 104:34 Let my meditation be pleasing to Him; As for me, I shall be glad in the LORD.

See more here:

Biblical Meditation | Bible.org

Meditation ... Its Benefits Meditation : an enrichment to your soul

While a meditative state is the natural outcome of yoga and the spiritual benefit of meditation is supreme bliss or enlightenment, these words are unlikely to be understood by many.

Though meditation is usually recognized as a largely spiritual practice, it also has many health benefits. The yoga and meditation techniques are being implemented in management of life threatening diseases; in transformation of molecular and genetic structure; in reversal of mental illnesses, in accelerated learning programs, in perceptions and communications beyond the physical, in solving problems and atomic and nuclear physics; in gaining better ecological understanding; in management of lifestyle and future world problems. Some benefits of meditation are:

Benefits of meditation on Women's health and Pregnancy:

Women begin life as someone's daughter, and then someone's lover, wife, someone's mother. Yes, but who am I- who am I really? Not only does a woman need an understanding of her body but also needs to connect with the essence of her true self. A true self, which is an identity beyond everyday change- beyond gender, beyond fluctuations of hormones, beyond family expectations and other superimposed personality patterns. Discovering this true self is not as easy. Just when you know who you are , it all changes again.

The process of self discovery involves, stripping off false layers of identity, going back through all the conditionings , realizing- "I am not that, and not that, and not that", an emptiness out of which arises the realization - "Ah ha! I am that".

Meditation can help to resolve the deepest of neuroses, fears and conflict which play their part in causing stress and ill health.

Meditation puts mothers in tune with their babies. Manta Japa is especially appropriate for pregnant women.[ See box Mantra Japa for pregnant women ] After birth, daily meditation becomes a precious time to refocus and make sense of the many new thoughts and feelings which can be running through your mind, brought about by the events of childbirth and new motherhood.

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Meditation - Benefits of Meditation - Health And Yoga

The rest in meditation is deeper than the deepest sleep that you can ever have. When the mind becomes free from agitation, is calm and serene and at peace, meditation happens.

The benefits of meditation are manifold. It is an essential practice for mental hygiene. A calm mind, good concentration, clarity of perception, improvement in communication, blossoming of skills and talents, an unshakeable inner strength, healing, the ability to connect to an inner source of energy, relaxation, rejuvenation, and good luck are all natural results of meditating regularly.

In today's world where stress catches on faster than the eye can see or the mind can perceive, meditation is no more a luxury. It is a necessity. To be unconditionally happy and to have peace of mind, we need to tap into the power of meditation.

Sahaj Samadhi Meditation is a mantra-based meditation where a sound vibration (mantra), when used in a specific way, gives you deep relaxation and also keeps you alert. It effortlessly allows the conscious mind to settle down. And when the mind settles down, it lets go of all tension and stress and centers itself in the present moment.

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Meditation | The Art of Living

Set amidst lush green fields Rishi Chaitanya Ashram is the hermitage of Sadgurudev Anandmurti Gurumaa. This aesthetically designed sanctum is a perfect place to unwind and take a break from the insane frenzy of the material world. It is a temple of learning where seekers from all around the world gather to learn and evolve under the guidance of Sadgurudev.

Beautifully landscaped gardens, well-tended verdant luxuriant lawns and pretty ponds mark the picturesque beauty of the Ashram. So does the spectacular array of blooming flowers. Life-like sculptures of sages and deities are dotted around the campus adding to the spiritual ambience. Another highlight is a temple housing a strikingly captivating idol of Shiva and just sitting near the sanctum sanctorum imparts such a profound sense of peace and quietude.

And above all, the invigorating presence of the Sadgurudev entails that the entire area reverberates with her vibrant, transcendental energy, pervading and suffusing the very air one breathes in. It is the presence & guidance of the master that inspires to seek, explore and passionately pursue the path with wisdom & practice. And to catalyse the growth & wellbeing of the seeker numerous retreats and body rejuvenation programs are offered in the Ashram.

Every glade of grass in the Ashram emanates vibrancy, grace and grandeur, attuning the seeker with the pervasive divinity. All the natural delights notwithstanding, the Ashram is nevertheless, well equipped with all modern amenities and thus offers clean, well-furnished accommodation in single/double rooms & dormitories, nutritious and hygienically cooked food using organically grown local produce and a well-stocked cafeteria.

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Rishi Chaitanya Ashram in India : Meditation Retreats ...

Ashram Living Experience at Siddhayatan

Siddhayatan Tirth is in the process of becoming one of the largest ashrams in North Texas. The founder of Siddhayatan, Acharya Shree Yogeesh, has developed multiple active and successful ashrams in New Delhi India, near Los Angeles, California, and Estonia, Eastern Europe. Siddhayatan is in its early stages of development of what it will eventually become. This is one of the unique reasons, among many, to come to Siddhayatan to be part of the critical beginning. The most distinctive feature of Siddhayatan Tirth is that an enlightened master and spiritual leaders are at the heart of the center. No other ashram presently has an enlightened master. Gurus and spiritual teachers, yes, but not an enlightened, self-realized and awakened one. Acharya Shree Yogeesh has been leading a spiritual movement since the age of fourteen when he first became a monk. He is an advocate of non-violence, promotes spirituality and soul awakening, teaches the tools and process to help you grow and transform, and encourages seekers to be spiritual, rather than religious. His mission is to plant seeds of awakening which lead to soul liberation. While at Siddhayatan, you will experience his powerful presence, kindness, humor, and unforgettable wisdom.

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Ashram Living Experience Program | Siddhayatan Spiritual ...

Christian meditation is a form of prayer in which a structured attempt is made to become aware of and reflect upon the revelations of God.[1] The word meditation comes from the Latin word meditr, which has a range of meanings including to reflect on, to study and to practice. Christian meditation is the process of deliberately focusing on specific thoughts (such as a bible passage) and reflecting on their meaning in the context of the love of God.[2]

Christian meditation aims to heighten the personal relationship based on the love of God that marks Christian communion.[3][4] Both in Eastern and Western Christianity meditation is the middle level in a broad three-stage characterization of prayer: it involves more reflection than first level vocal prayer, but is more structured than the multiple layers of contemplative prayer.[5][6][7][8] Teachings in both the Eastern and Western Christian churches have emphasized the use of Christian meditation as an element in increasing one's knowledge of Christ.[9][10][11][12]

Christian meditation involves looking back on Jesus' life, thanksgiving and adoration of God for his action in sending Jesus for human salvation.[13] In her book The Interior Castle (Mansions 6, Chapter 7) Saint Teresa of Avila defined Christian meditation as follows:

"By meditation I mean prolonged reasoning with the understanding, in this way. We begin by thinking of the favor which God bestowed upon us by giving us His only Son; and we do not stop there but proceed to consider the mysteries of His whole glorious life."[14]

Quoting the Gospel of Matthew[11:27]: "No one knows the Father but only the Son and anyone whom the Son wants to reveal him" and I Corinthians[2:12]: "But we have received the Spirit who is from God so that we may realize what God has freely given us", theologian Hans von Balthasar explained the context of Christian meditation as follows:

"The dimensions of Christian meditation develop from God's having completed his self-revelation in two directions: Speaking out of his own, and speaking as a man, through his Son, disclosing the depths of man.... And this meditation can take place only where the revealing man, God's Son, Jesus Christ, reveals God as his Father: in the Holy Spirit of God, so we may join in probing God's depths, which only God's Spirit probes."[15]

Building on that theme, E. P. Clowney explained that three dimensions of Christian meditation are crucial, not merely for showing its distinctiveness, but for guiding its practice. The first is that Christian meditation is grounded in the Bible. Because the God of the Bible is a personal God who speaks in words of revelation, Christian meditation responds to this revelation and focuses on that aspect, in contrast to mystic meditations which use mantras. The second distinctive mark of Christian meditation is that it responds to the love of God, as in I John [4:19]: "We love, for he first loved us". The personal relationship based on the love of God that marks Christian communion is thus heightened in Christian meditation. The third dimension is that the revelations of the Bible and the love of God lead to the worship of God: making Christian meditation an exercise in praise.[3]

Thomas Merton characterized the goal of Christian meditation as follows: "The true end of Christian meditation is practically the same as the end of liturgical prayer and the reception of the sacraments: a deeper union by grace and charity with the Incarnate Word, who is the only Mediator between God and man, Jesus Christ."[16] While Protestants view salvation in terms of faith and grace alone (i.e. sola fide and sola gratia) both Western and Eastern Christians see a role for meditation on the path to salvation and redemption.[17]Apostle Paul stated in Epistle to the Romans 9:16 that salvation only comes from "God that hath mercy".[18] The path to salvation in Christian meditation is not one of give and take, and the aim of meditation is to bring joy to the heart of God. The Word of God directs meditations to show the two aspects of love that please God: obedience and adoration. The initiative in Christian salvation is with God, and one does not meditate or love God to gain his favor.[19]

In Western Christian teachings, meditation is usually believed to involve the inherent action of the Holy Spirit to help the meditating Christian understand the deeper meanings of the Word of God.[20][21] In the 12th century, decades before Guigo II's the Ladder of the Monk, one of his predecessors, Guigo I, emphasized this belief by stating that when earnest meditation begins, the Holy Spirit enters the soul of the meditator, "turns water into wine" and shows the path towards contemplation and a better understanding of God.[22]

In the 19th century, Charles Spurgeon affirmed this belief within the Protestant tradition and wrote: "The Spirit has taught us in meditation to ponder its message, to put aside, if we will, the responsibility of preparing the message we've got to give. Just trust God for that."[23] In the 20th century, Hans Urs von Balthasar paraphrased this teaching as follows:[21]

The vistas of God's Word unfold to the meditating Christian solely through the gift of the Divine Spirit. How could we understand what is within God and is disclosed to us except through the Spirit of God who is communicated to us?

As a biblical basis for this teaching, von Balthasar referred to 1 Corinthians 2:9-10: "these are the things God has revealed to us by his Spirit. The Spirit searches all things, even the deep things of God".:[21]

Christian meditation is different from the style of meditations performed in Eastern religions (such as Buddhism) or in the context of the New Age.[3][4][24][25][26] While other types of meditation may suggest approaches to disengage the mind, Christian meditation aims to fill the mind with thoughts related to Biblical passages or Christian devotions.[27] Although some mystics in both the Western and Eastern churches have associated feelings of ecstasy with meditation, (e.g. St. Teresa of Avila's legendary meditative ecstasy),[28][29] St. Gregory of Sinai, one of the originators of Hesychasm, stated that the goal of Christian meditation is "seeking guidance from the Holy Spirit, beyond the minor phenomenon of ecstasy".[30]

Modern Christian teachings on meditation at times include specific criticism of the transcendental styles of meditation, e.g. John Bertram Phillips stated that Christian meditation involves the action of the Holy Spirit on Biblical passages and warned of approaches that "disengage the mind" from scripture.[31] According to Edmund P. Clowney, Christian meditation contrasts with cosmic styles of oriental meditation as radically as the portrayal of God the Father in the Bible contrasts with discussions of Krishna or Brahman in Indian teachings.[24] Unlike eastern meditations, most styles of Christian meditations are intended to stimulate thought and deepen meaning. Christian meditation aims to heighten the personal relationship based on the love of God that marks Christian communion.[3][4] According to E. P. Clowney it is the search for wisdom, not ecstasy, that marks the path of Christian meditation, a wisdom sought in the "Christ of Scripture and the Scripture of Christ".[32]

A 1989 document generally known as Aspects of Christian meditation set forth the position of the Holy See with respect to the differences between Christian and eastern styles of meditation. The document, issued as a letter to all Catholic bishops, stresses the differences between Christian and eastern meditative approaches. It warns of the dangers of attempting to mix Christian meditation with eastern approaches since that could be both confusing and misleading, and may result in the loss of the essential Christocentric nature of Christian meditation.[33][34][35] The letter warned that euphoric states obtained through Eastern meditation should not be confused with prayer or assumed to be signs of the presence of God, a state that should always result in loving service to others. Without these truths, the letter said, meditation, which should be a flight from the self, can degenerate into a form of self-absorption.[36]

In the Old Testament, there are two Hebrew words for meditation: hg (Hebrew: ), which means to sigh or murmur, but also to meditate, and s (Hebrew: ), which means to muse, or rehearse in one's mind. When the Hebrew Bible was translated into Greek, hg became the Greek melete which emphasized meditation's movement in the depth of the human heart. Melete was a reminder that one should never let meditation be a formality. The Latin Bible then translated hg/melete into meditatio.[37]

The Bible mentions meditate or meditation about twenty times, fifteen times in the Book of Psalms alone. When the Bible mentions meditation, it often mentions obedience in the next breath. An example is the Book of Joshua[Joshua 1:8]: "Do not let this Book of the Law depart from your mouth; meditate on it day and night."[38]

During the Middle Ages, the monastic traditions of both Western and Eastern Christianity moved beyond vocal prayer to Christian meditation. These progressions resulted in two distinct and different meditative practices: Lectio Divina in the West and hesychasm in the East. Hesychasm involves the repetition of the Jesus Prayer, but Lectio Divina uses different Scripture passages at different times and although a passage may be repeated a few times, Lectio Divina is not repetitive in nature.[39][40]

The progression from Bible reading, to meditation, to loving regard for God, was first formally described by Guigo II, a Carthusian monk who died late in the 12th century.[41] Guigo II's book The Ladder of Monks is considered the first description of methodical prayer in the western mystical tradition.[42]

In Eastern Christianity, the monastic traditions of "constant prayer" that traced back to the Desert Fathers and Evagrius Pontikos established the practice of hesychasm and influenced John Climacus' book The Ladder of Divine Ascent by the 7th century.[43] These meditative prayers were promoted and supported by Saint Gregory Palamas in the 14th century.[11][39]

The methods of "methodical prayer" as taught by the Devotio Moderna group in northern Europe had entered Spain and were known in the early 16th century.[44] The book The Imitation of Christ which was known in Spain as Contemptus mundi became known in Spain, and while Teresa probably did not initially know of Guigo II's methods she was likely influenced by its teachings via the works of Francisco de Osuna which she studied.[44] Teresa's contemporary and collaborator, John of the Cross continued the tradition of Guigo II and taught the 4 stages of Lectio Divina. By the 19th century the importance of Biblical meditation had also been firmly established in the Protestant spiritual tradition.[23]

During the 18th and early 19th centuries, some components of meditation had started to be de-emphasized in some branches of Western Christianity.[45] However, the early part of the 20th century witnessed a revival and books and articles on approaches such as Lectio divina aimed at the general public began to appear by the middle of the century.[45]

In 1965, one of the principal documents of the Second Vatican Council, the dogmatic constitution Dei verbum (Latin for Word of God), emphasized the use of Lectio divina and on the 40th anniversary of Dei verbum in 2005 Pope Benedict XVI reaffirmed its importance.[46]

A number of saints and historical figures have followed and presented specific approaches to Christian meditation. Both Eastern and Western Christian teachings have emphasized the use of meditation as an element in increasing one's knowledge of Christ. The Spiritual Exercises of Ignatius of Loyola use meditative mental imagery, with the goal of knowing Christ more intimately and loving him more ardently.[9] In The Way of Perfection, St. Theresa of Avila taught her nuns how to try to get to know Christ by using meditation and mental prayer.[10]Hesychastic prayer and meditation continues to be used in the Eastern Orthodox tradition as a spiritual practice that facilitates the knowing of Christ.[11][47]

The Spiritual Exercises of St. Ignatius of Loyola (14911556), the founder of the Jesuits, contain numerous meditative exercises. To this day, the Spiritual Exercises remain an integral part of the Novitiate training period of the Roman Catholic religious order of Jesuits.[48]

The exercises are intended as notes to guide a spiritual director who is leading someone else through an experience of Christian meditation. The entire experience takes about 30 days and often involves a daily interview with the director. The process begins with a consideration of the purpose of one's life and the relationship with the rest of creation. It is followed by a week of meditation about sin and its consequences. Next comes a period of meditating on the events of the life of Jesus, and another for thinking about his suffering and death. The final week is to experience the joy of the resurrection, and in conclusion to reflect on God's love and the response of love for God.[49]

The exercises often involve imagery in which one enters a biblical scene. For example, the practitioner is encouraged to visualize and meditate upon scenes from the life of Christ, at times asking questions from Christ on the cross, during crucifixion.[50]

St. Teresa of vila (15151582) a Doctor of the Church, practiced contemplative prayer for periods of one hour at a time, twice a day. St. Teresa believed that no one who was faithful to the practice of meditation could possibly lose his soul.[52] Her writings are viewed as fundamental teachings in Christian spirituality.[53][54]

St. Teresa taught her nuns to meditate on specific prayers. Her prayers described in The Way of Perfection involve meditation on a mystery in the life of Jesus and are based on the faith that "God is within", a truth that Teresa said she learned from St. Augustine.[55]

In her Life, she wrote that she taught herself from the instructions given in the book, The Third Spiritual Alphabet - by Francisco de Osuna - which relates to Franciscan mysticism.[56][57][58] Her starting point was the practice of "recollection", i.e. keeping the senses and the intellect in check and not allowing them to stray. In her meditations, one generally restricts attention to a single subject, principally the love of God. In The Way of Perfection she wrote: "It is called recollection because the soul collects together all the faculties and enters within itself to be with God".[59] She would use devices such as short readings, a scene of natural beauty or a religious statue or picture to remind her to keep her focus. She wrote that in due course, the mind naturally learns to maintain focus on God almost effortlessly.[60][61][62]

St. Theresa viewed Christian meditation as the first of four steps in achieving "union with God", and used the analogy of watering the garden. She compared basic meditation to watering a garden with a bucket, Recollection to the water wheel, Quiet (contemplation) to a spring of water and Union to drenching rain.[28]

Saint Francis de Sales (15761622) used a four-part approach to Christian meditation based on "preparation", "consideration", "affections and resolutions" and "conclusions":[63]

Saint Thomas Aquinas (12251274) said that meditation is necessary for devotion, and the Second Vatican Council called for "faithful meditation on God's word" as part of the spiritual formation of seminarians.[65]

Saint John of the Cross (15421591), a close friend of St. Teresa of Avila, viewed Christian meditation as a necessary step toward union with God, and wrote that even the most spiritually advanced persons always needed to regularly return to meditation.[66]

Saint Padre Pio (18871968), who was devoted to rosary meditations, said:[64]

"The person who meditates and turns his mind to God, who is the mirror of his soul, seeks to know his faults, tries to correct them, moderates his impulses, and puts his conscience in order."

The Catechism of the Catholic Church encourages meditation as a form of prayer: "Meditation is above all a quest. The mind seeks to understand the why and how of the Christian life, in order to adhere and respond to what the Lord is asking" (Catechism section # 2705) and that Christians owe it to themselves to develop the desire to meditate regularly (# 2707). Emphasizing union with God, it states: "Meditation engages thought, imagination, emotion, and desire. This mobilization of faculties is necessary in order to deepen our convictions of faith, prompt the conversion of our heart, and strengthen our will to follow Christ. Christian prayer tries above all to meditate on the mysteries of Christ, as in lectio divina or the rosary. This form of prayerful reflection is of great value, but Christian prayer should go further: to the knowledge of the love of the Lord Jesus, to union with him" (#2708).[67] Meditative prayer is different from contemplative prayer (See CCC 2709- 2724).

Christian meditation performed along with Eucharistic adoration outside of Mass has been associated with a large amount of Catholic writings and inspirations specially since the 18th century. The Eucharistic meditations of the two Saints Pierre Julien Eymard and Jean Vianney (both promoters of the Eucharist) were published as books.[68][69][70]

Saint Thrse of Lisieux was devoted to Eucharistic meditation and on February 26, 1895 shortly before she died wrote from memory and without a rough draft her poetic masterpiece "To Live by Love" which had composed during Eucharistic meditation.[71][72]

Significant portions of the writings of the Venerable Concepcion Cabrera de Armida were reported as having been based on her adorations of the Blessed Sacrament.[73] Similarly, in her book Eucharist: true jewel of eucharistic spirituality Maria Candida of the Eucharist (who was beatified by Pope John Paul II) wrote about her own personal experiences and reflections on eucharistic meditation.[74][75]

Meditation is an integral part of the rosary. This mode of meditation is the process of reflecting on the mysteries of the rosary. With practice, this may in time turn into contemplation on the mysteries.[76] The practice of meditation during the praying of repeated Hail Marys dates back to 15th century Carthusian monks, and was soon adopted by the Dominicans at large.[77] By the 16th century the practice of meditation during the rosary had spread across Europe, and the book Meditationi del Rosario della Gloriosa Maria Virgine (i.e. Meditations on the Rosary of the Glorious Virgin Mary) printed in 1569 for the rosary confraternity of Milan provided an individual meditation to accompany each bead or prayer.[78]

Saint Teresa of Avila's meditative approach of focusing on "the favor which God bestowed upon us by giving us His only Son" can be viewed as the basis of most scriptural rosary meditations.[14] In his 2002 encyclical Rosarium Virginis Mariae, Pope John Paul II placed the rosary at the very center of Christian spirituality.[79] Emphasizing that the final goal of Christian life is to be transformed, or "transfigured", into Christ he stated that the rosary helps believers come closer to Christ by contemplating Christ. He stated that the rosary unites us with Mary's own prayer, who, in the presence of God, prays with us and for us.[80] and stated that: "To recite the rosary is nothing other than to contemplate with Mary the face of Christ."[81]

During the Byzantine Empire, between the 10th and 14th centuries, a tradition of prayer called hesychasm developed, particularly on Mount Athos in Greece, and continues to the present. St. Gregory of Sinai is considered by most to be the founder of the hesychastic approach to prayer.[82] This tradition uses a special posture and breathing rituals, accompanied by the repetition of a short prayer (traditionally the 'Jesus Prayer') giving rise to suggestions that it may have been influenced by Indian approaches. "While some might compare it [hesychastic prayer] with a mantra, to use the Jesus Prayer in such a fashion is to violate its purpose. One is never to treat it as a string of syllables for which the 'surface' meaning is secondary. Likewise, hollow repetition is considered to be worthless (or even spiritually damaging) in the hesychast tradition."[83] Rather, it is to be in the spirit of a true mantra. This style of prayer was at first opposed as heretical by Barlam in Calabria, but was defended by Saint Gregory Palamas.[11][47] Coming from hesychia ("stillness, rest, quiet, silence"), hesychasm continues to be practiced in the Eastern Orthodox Church and some other Eastern Churches of the Byzantine Rite.[84] Hesychasm has not gained significance in the Western churches.[85][86]

In hesychasm, the Jesus prayer, consisting of the phrase: "Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy on me" is repeated either for a set period of time or a set number of times. Hesychasm is contrasted with the more mental or imaginative forms of Christian meditation in which a person is encouraged to imagine or think of events from the life of Jesus or sayings from the Gospel. Sometimes hesychasm has been compared to the meditative techniques of oriental religions and it is possible that there were interactions between Hesychasts and Sufis, but this has not been proven.[87]

John Main OSB (19261982) was a Benedictine monk and priest who presented a way of Christian meditation which used a prayer-phrase or mantra. This approach was then used by groups which then become the World Community for Christian Meditation.[88]

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Christian meditation - Wikipedia

Ok, so you know that meditation has dozens of benefits, and everybody is doing it. You look forinformation online or on a bookstore,and see that there are a LOT of different ways of doing meditation, dozens of meditation techniques, and some conflicting information. You wonder which way is best for you.

This article will help you navigate the sea of different practices of seated meditation, briefly explaining each of them, and pointing to further resources. There are literally hundreds if not thousands of types of meditation, so here I will explore only the most popular ones.

You can also check my walking meditation guide, for more dynamic meditation techniques. Or, if you already have some experience with meditation, you might enjoy reading about the meditation experiments I was doing while writing this post.

At the bottomof this page you will find a button to download aFREE PDF copy of this post, for easy reference.

The advice regarding the posture of meditation is very similar among the different styles of seated practice, so I will go into more detail about it only once, when talking about the first technique (Zen meditation).

I have strived to include a Is it for me? section, with general observations about each practice. Keep in mind these are tentative; they are there to give some direction, and potentially any person could feel attracted to any of these modalities.

This article does NOT tell you which isthe best type of meditation because there is no such thing, and Im not here to create controversy. Also, I have here focused more on meditative practices; I may write another article on other similar practices, that are more about relaxation or contemplation.

If you are a beginner, you may also enjoy the post on meditation tipsand meditation for beginners how to build the habit.

Scientists usually classify meditation based on the way they focus attention, into two categories: Focused Attention and Open Monitoring. Id like to propose a third: Effortless Presence.

Focusing the attention on a single objectduring the whole meditation session. This object may be the breath, a mantra, visualization, part of the body, external object, etc. As the practitioner advances, his ability to keep the flow of attention in the chosen object gets stronger, and distractions become less common and short-lived. Both the depth and steadiness of his attention are developed.

Examples of these are:Samatha (Buddhist meditation), some forms of Zazen, Loving Kindness Meditation, Chakra Meditation, Kundalini Meditation, Sound Meditation, Mantra Meditation, Pranayama, some forms of Qigong, and many others.

Instead of focusing the attention on any one object, we keep it open, monitoring all aspects of our experience, without judgment or attachment. All perceptions, be them internal (thoughts, feelings, memory, etc.) or external (sound, smell, etc.), are recognized and seen for what they are. It is the process of non-reactive monitoring of the content of experience from moment to moment, without going into them. Examples are: Mindfulness meditation, Vipassana, as well as some types of Taoist Meditation.

Its the state where the attention is not focused on anything in particular, but reposes on itself quiet, empty, steady, and introverted. We can also call it Choiceless Awareness or Pure Being. Most of the meditation quotes you find speak of this state.

This is actually the true purpose behind all kinds of meditation, and not a meditation type in itself. All traditional techniques of meditationrecognize that the object of focus, and even the process of monitoring, is just a means to train the mind, so that effortless inner silence and deeper states of consciousness can be discovered. Eventually both the object of focus and the process itself is left behind, and there is only left the true self of the practitioner, as pure presence.

In some techniques, this is the only focus, from thebeginning. Examples are: the Self-Enquiry (I ammeditation) of Ramana Maharishi; Dzogchen; Mahamudra; some forms of Taoist Meditation; and some advanced forms of Raja Yoga. In my point of view, this type of meditation always requires previous training to be effective, even though this is sometimes not expressly said (only implied).

Zazen ()means seated Zen, or seated meditation, in Japanese. It has its roots in the Chinese Zen Buddhism (Chan) tradition, tracing back to Indian monk Bodhidharma (6th century CE). In the West, its most popular forms comes from Dogen Zenji (1200~1253), the founder of Soto Zen movement in Japan. Similar modalities are practiced in the Rinzaischool of Zen, in Japan and Korea.

It is generally practiced seated on the floor over a matand cushion, with crossed legs.Traditionally it was done in lotusor half-lotus position, but this is hardly necessary. Nowadays most practitioners sitlike this:

Or on a chair:

Images courtesy of Zen Mountain Monastery

The most important aspect, as you see in the pictures, is keeping the back completely straight, from the pelvis to the neck. Mouth is kept close and eyes are kept lowered, with your gaze resting on the ground about two or three feet in front of you.

As to the mind aspect of it, its usually practiced in two ways:

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Zazen is a very sober meditation style, and you can easily find a lot of strong communities practicing it, as well as plenty of information on the internet. There is a lot of emphasis in keeping the right posture, as an aid for concentration. It is usually practiced in Zen Buddhist centers (Sangha), with strong community support.

In many of them you will find it coupled withother elements of Buddhist practice: prostrations, a bit of ritualism,chanting, and group readings of the Buddha teachings. Some people will like this, others wont. Personally, I practiced zazen in a Buddhist group for 3 years, and I found that those elements and a bit of formality can also help create a structure for the practice, and in themselves they are also meditative.

Vipassana is a Pali word that means insight or clear seeing. It is a traditional Buddhist practice,dating back to 6th century BC.Vipassana-meditation, as taught in the last few decades, comes from the Theravada Buddhist tradition, and was popularizedby S. N. Goenka and the Vipassana movement.

Due to the popularity of Vipassan-meditation, the mindfulness of breathing has gained further popularity in the West as mindfulness.

Ideally, one is to siton a cushion on the floor, cross-legged, with your spine erect; alternatively, a chair may be used, but the back should not be supported.

The first aspect is to develop concentration, throughsamatha practice. This is typicallydone through breathing awareness.

Focus all your attention, from moment to moment, on the movement of your breath. Notice the subtle sensations of the movement of the abdomen rising and falling. Alternatively, one can focus on the sensation of the air passing through the nostrils and touching the upper lips skin thoughthis requires a bit more practice, and is more advanced.

As you focus on the breath, you will notice that other perceptions and sensations continue to appear: sounds, feelings in the body, emotions, etc. Simply notice these phenomena as they emerge in the field of awareness, and then return to the sensation of breathing. The attention is kept in the object of concentration (the breathing), while these other thoughts or sensations are there simply as background noise.

The object that is the focus of the practice (for instance, the movement of the abdomen) is called the primary object. And a secondary object is anything else that arises in your field of perception either through your five senses (sound, smell, itchiness in the body, etc.) or through the mind (thought, memory, feeling, etc.). If a secondary object hooks your attention and pulls it away, or if it causes desire or aversion to appear, you should focus on the secondary object for a moment or two, labeling it with a mental note, like thinking, memory, hearing, desiring. This practice is often called noting.

A mental note identifies an object in general but not in detail. When youre aware of a sound, for example, label it hearing instead of motorcycle, voices or barking dog. If an unpleasant sensation arises, note pain or feeling instead of knee pain or my back pain. Then return your attention to the primary meditation object. When aware of a fragrance, say the mental note smelling for a moment or two. You dont have to identify the scent.

When one has thus gained access concentration, the attention is then turned to the object of practice, which is normally thought or bodily sensations. One observes the objects of awareness without attachment, letting thoughts and sensations arise and pass away of their own accord. Mental labeling (explained above) is often use as a way to prevent you from being carried away by thoughts, and keep you in more objectively noticing them.

As a result one develops the clear seeing that the observed phenomena is pervaded by the three marks of existence: impermanence (annica), insatisfactoriness (dukkha) and emptiness of self (annata). As a result, equanimity, peace and inner freedom is developed in relation to these inputs.

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Vipassana is an excellent meditation to help you ground yourself in your body, and understand how the processes of your mind work. It is a very popular styleof meditation. You can find plenty of teachers, websites, and books about it, as well as 3~10 days retreats (donation based). The teaching of it is always free.There are no formalities or rituals attached to the practice.

If you are completely new to meditation, Vipassana or Mindfulness are probably good ways for you to start.

Mindfulness Meditation is an adaptation from traditionalBuddhist meditation practices, especially Vipassana, but also having strong influence from otherlineages (such as the VietnameseZen Buddhism from Thich Nhat Hanh).Mindfulness is the common western translation for the Buddhist term sati. Anapanasati, mindfulness of breathing, is part of the Buddhist practice of Vipassana or insight meditation, and other Buddhist meditational practices, such as zazen (source: Wikipedia).

One of the main influencers for Mindfulness in the West is John Kabat-Zinn. His Mindfulness-Based Stress Reductionprogram (MBSR) which he developed in 1979 at theUniversity of Massachusetts Medical School has been used in several hospitals and health clinic on the past decades.

Mindfulness meditation is the practice of intentionally focusing on the present moment,accepting and non-judgmentally paying attention to the sensations, thoughts, and emotions that arise.

For the formal practice time, sit on a cushion on the floor, or on a chair, with straight and unsupported back. Pay close attention to the movement of your breath. When you breath in, be aware that you are breathing in, and how it feels. When you breath out, be aware you are breathing out. Do like this for the length of your meditation practice, constantly redirecting the attention to the breath. Or you can move on to be paying attention to the sensations, thoughts and feelings that arise.

The effort is to not intentionally add anything to our present moment experience, but to be aware of what is going on, without losing ourselves in anything that arises.

Your mind will get distracted into going along with sounds, sensations, and thoughts. Whenever that happens, gently recognize that you have been distracted, and bring the attention back to the breathing, or to the objective noticing of that thought or sensation. There is a big different between beinginside the thought/sensation, and simplybeing aware of its presence.

Learn to enjoy your practice. Once you are done, appreciate how different the body and mind feel.

There is also the practice of mindfulness during our daily activities: while eating, walking, and talking. For daily life meditation, the practice is to pay attention to what is going on in the present moment, to be aware of what is happening and not living in automatic mode. If you are speaking, that means paying attention to the words you speak, how you speak them, and to listen with presence and attention. If you are walking, that means being more aware of your body movements, your feet touching the ground, the sounds you are hearing, etc.

Your effort in seated practice supports your daily life practice, and vice-versa. They are both equally important. Learn more:

For the general public, this is perhaps the most advisable way to get started with meditation. It is the type of meditation that is most taught at schools and hospitals, as far as I am aware.The mindfulness movement as practiced nowadays in society at large, is not Buddhism, but anadaptation of Buddhist practices due to their benefits ingood physical and mental health and general wellbeing.

For most people, Mindfulness Meditation may be theonly type of meditation they will like, especially if their focus is only the physical and mental benefits of meditation, as it is usuallytaught dissociated from several of the easternconcepts and philosophies that traditionally accompaniedthe practice. And for that it is great it willbring many good thingsto your life.

If your focus is a deeper transformation and spiritual development, however, then mindfulness meditation may be just an initial step for you. From here you can then move into Vipassana, Zazen, or other types of meditation.

Mettais a Pali word that means kindness, benevolence, and good will. This practice comes from the Buddhist traditions, especially theTheravada and Tibetan lineages.Compassion meditation is a contemporary scientific field that demonstrates the efficacy of metta and related meditative practices.

Demonstrated benefits include:boosting ones ability to empathize with others;development of positive emotions through compassion, including a more loving attitude towards oneself; increasedself-acceptance; greater feeling of competence about ones life; and increased feeling of purpose in life (read more in our other post).

One sits down in a meditation position,with closed eyes, and generates in his mind and heart feelings of kindness and benevolence.Start by developing loving-kindness towards yourself, then progressively towards others and all beings. Usually this progression is advised:

The feeling to be developed is that of wishing happiness and well-being for all. This practice may be aided byreciting specific words or sentences that evoke theboundless warm-hearted feeling, visualizing the suffering of others and sending love; or by imagining the state of another being, and wishing him happiness and peace.

The more you practice this meditation, the more joy you will experience. That is the secret of Mathieu Richards happiness.

For one who attends properly to the liberation of the heart by benevolence, unarisen ill will does not arise and arisen ill will is abandoned. The Buddha

In this article, Emma Seppl, Ph.D explores the 18 scientifically proven benefits of Loving-Kindness meditation.

Learn more:

Are you sometimes too hard on yourself oronothers? Or feel like you need to improve your relationships? Loving-kindness meditation will help you. It is beneficial both for selfless and self-centered people, and it will help increase your general level of happiness. You cannot feel loving-kindness and depression (or any other negative feeling)at the same time.

It is also often recommended, by Buddhist teachers, as anantidoteto insomnia, nightmares, or anger issues.

A mantrais a syllable or word, usually without any particular meaning,that is repeated for the purpose of focusing your mind. It is not an affirmation used to convince yourself of something.

Some meditation teachers insist that both the choice of word, and its correct pronunciation, is very important, due to the vibration associated to the sound and meaning, and that for this reason an initiation into it is essential. Others say that the mantra itself is only a tool to focus the mind, and the chosen word is completely irrelevant.

Mantras are used in Hindu traditions, Buddhist traditions (especially Tibetan and Pure LandBuddhism), as wellas in Jainism, Sikhism and Daoism (Taoism). Somepeople call mantra meditation om meditation, but that is just one of the mantras that can be used.A more devotion oriented practice of mantras is calledjapa, and consists of repeating sacred sounds (name of God) with love.

As most type of meditations, it is usually practiced sitting with spine erect, and eyes closed. The practitioner then repeats the mantra in his mind, silently, over and over again during the whole session.

Sometimes this practice is coupled with being aware of the breathing or coordinating with it. In other exercises, the mantra is actually whispered very lightly and softly, as an aid to concentration.

Read more:

23 Types of Meditation - Find The Best Techniques For You

The Sri Aurobindo Ashram is a spiritual community (ashram) located in Pondicherry, in the Indian territory of Puducherry. The ashram grew out of a small community of disciples who had gathered around Sri Aurobindo after he retired from politics and settled in Pondicherry in 1910. On 24 November 1926, after a major spiritual realization, Sri Aurobindo withdrew from public view in order to continue his spiritual work. At this time he handed over the full responsibility for the inner and outer lives of the sadhaks (spiritual aspirants) and the ashram to his spiritual collaborator, "the Mother", earlier known as Mirra Alfassa. This date is therefore generally known as the founding-day of the ashram, though, as Sri Aurobindo himself wrote, it had less been created than grown around him as its centre.[1]

Sri Aurobindo Ashram has only one location. It does not have any branches. (Sri Aurobindo Ashram Delhi Branch is a separate organization, with its own administration.) Many other organisations in Pondicherry and elsewhere include Sri Aurobindo in their name, but they are not part of Sri Aurobindo Ashram. The most important organisation also inspired by the vision of Sri Aurobindo is Auroville, an international township founded by the Mother and dedicated to human unity.

Life in the community that preceded the ashram was informal. Sri Aurobindo spent most of his time in writing and meditation. The three or four young men who had followed him to Pondicherry in 1910 lived with him and looked after the household. Otherwise they were free to do as they wished. The Mother and French writer Paul Richard met Sri Aurobindo in 1914 and proposed that they bring out a monthly review; but after the outbreak of World War I, they were obliged to leave India, and Sri Aurobindo had to do almost all of the work on the review himself, helped a little by the young men who were living with him. In April 1920 the Mother returned to Pondicherry, and soon the community began to take the form of an ashram, more because the sadhaks desired to entrust their whole inner and outer life to the Mother than from any intention or plan of hers or of Sri Aurobindo.[2] After the ashram was given formal shape in 1926, it experienced a period of rapid growth, increasing from around 24 in the beginning of 1927 to more than 150 in 1934.[3] The membership leveled off in 1934 owing to a lack of suitable housing.

During these years there was a regular routine. At 6:00 every morning the Mother appeared on the ashram balcony to initiate the day with her blessings. Sadhaks would have woken very early and completed a good portion of the days work including meditation and then assembled under the balcony to receive her blessings.[4]

As the ashram grew, many departments came up and were looked after by the sadhaks as part of their sadhana: the offices, library, dining room, book/photograph printing, workshops, sports/playground, art gallery, dispensary/nursing home, farms, dairies, flower gardens, guest houses, laundry, bakery, etc. The heads of the departments met the Mother in the morning and took her blessings and orders. She would meet the sadhaks individually again at 10 am and, in the evening at 5:30 pm, she would conduct meditation and meet the sadhaks.

In addition, four times a year Sri Aurobindo and the Mother used to give public Darshans (spiritual gatherings where the guru bestows blessings) to thousands of devotees gathered to receive grace.

Once confined to a few buildings in one corner of Pondicherry, the Ashrams growth has caused it to expand physically in all directions. Today Ashramites live and work in more than 400 buildings spread throughout the town. The central focus of the community is one group of houses including those in which Sri Aurobindo and the Mother dwelt for most of their lives in Pondicherry. This interconnected block of houses called the Ashram main-building, or more usually just the Ashram surrounds a tree-shaded courtyard, at the centre of which lies the flower-covered Samadhi. This white marble shrine holds, in two separate chambers, the physical remains of Sri Aurobindo and the Mother.

Today, Pondicherry has become an important destination for spiritual seekers as well as tourists. Thousands of visitors from all over the world come to the ashram.

The visiting hours for the visitors are from 8 am to 12 noon and then again from 2 pm to 6 pm.

The Ashram, according to Sri Aurobindo, has been created with another object than that ordinarily common to such institutions, not for the renunciation of the world but as a centre and a field of practice for the evolution of another kind and form of life which would in the final end be moved by a higher spiritual consciousness and embody a greater life of the spirit.[5]

The practice of Integral Yoga, Sri Aurobindo explained, does not proceed through any set mental teaching or prescribed forms of meditation, mantras or others, but by aspiration, by a self-concentration inwards or upwards, by self-opening to an Influence, to the Divine Power above us and its workings, to the Divine Presence in the heart, and by the rejection of all that is foreign to these things.[6]

There are many things belonging to older systems that are necessary on the way an opening of the mind to a greater wideness and to the sense of the Self and the Infinite, an emergence into what has been called the cosmic consciousness, mastery over the desires and passions; an outward asceticism is not essential, but the conquest of desire and attachment and a control over the body and its needs, greeds and instincts are indispensable. There is a combination of the principles of the old systems, the way of knowledge through the minds discernment between Reality and the appearance, the hearts way of devotion, love and surrender and the way of works turning the will away from motives of self-interest to the Truth and the service of a greater Reality than the ego. For the whole being has to be trained so that it can respond and be transformed when it is possible for that greater Light and Force to work in the nature.

The complete method of Integral Yoga aims to transform human life into a divine life. In Sri Aurobindo's yoga, the highest aim is the state of being one with the Divine, without the renunciation of life in the world. For such a fulfillment of the consciousness, the urge for perfection must not be confined to a few individuals. There must be "a general spiritual awakening and aspiration in mankind" as well as "a dynamic re-creating of individual manhood in the spiritual type."[8] This would lead eventually to the emergence of a new type of being, the gnostic being, which would be the hope of a more harmonious evolutionary order in terrestrial Nature.[9]

Sri Aurobindo Ashram is the primary publisher of the works of Sri Aurobindo and the Mother. As of January 2015 it keeps some 200 publications in English in print, of which 78 are books by Sri Aurobindo, 44 books by the Mother, 27 compilations from their works, and 47 books by other authors. These books are printed at the Sri Aurobindo Ashram Press, which has been in operation since the 1940s. They are distributed by SABDA, the Ashrams book distribution service, which has been in operation since the 1950s. SABDA also carries books relating to Sri Aurobindo, the Mother, and their yoga brought out by other publishers, making the number of English books on their list more than 600. The Ashram also publishes books in 17 other European and Indian languages, for a total of more than 550 publications. SABDA carries these and other non-English titles: in all there are 1678 titles in 23 languages.

The Complete Works of Sri Aurobindo are being issued in 37 volumes, of which 34 have been published. The Collected Works of the Mother have been issued in 17 volumes.

The Ashram publishes a number of journals relating to the philosophy and yoga of Sri Aurobindo and the Mother. These are currently printed at the Sri Aurobindo Ashram Press, though several were earlier brought out in other cities. Some of Sri Aurobindos works first appeared in these and other journals, among them The Advent, a quarterly, which has recently ceased publication. The most important journals in English are:

The Ashram press also prints several journals published by other organizations. These include:

During the early years of the community Sri Aurobindo and the Mother imposed very few rules on the sadhaks, because they wished them to learn to direct their lives by looking for the divine guidance within. After 1926, written rules were circulated. The main rules were an absolute prohibition of alcohol, drugs, sex and politics.There were also a number of guidelines for the smooth functioning of the collective life of the community. These rules were collected in Rules and Regulations of Sri Aurobindo Ashram, copies of which are given to all members.

The Sri Aurobindo Ashram Trust was established in 1955 to administer the community and its assets. The trust board consists of five Trustees, the first of whom were chosen by the Mother herself. After her passing in 1973, the trustees have chosen replacements by consensus.

The main ashram departments are overseen by department heads who report to the Trustees.

The Ashram, a public charitable trust, is open to all. No distinctions of nationality, religion, caste, gender, or age are observed. Members come from every part of India and many foreign countries. A large number of devotees from Pondicherry and Tamil Nadu visit the Ashram every day, and support the activities of the Ashram in various ways. Many say that they have benefited from the teachings of Sri Aurobindo and the Mother.[10] However, some feel that there is little mingling of ashramites and local people. According to a senior Ashram official, the practice of silence observed by the ashramites may have been misunderstood as rude behaviour.[11]

In compliance with the Central Government's Sexual Harassment of Women at Workplace (Prevention, Prohibition and Redressal) Act, 2013, the Sri Aurobindo Ashram Trust constituted an Internal Complaints Committee in April 2014.[12]

In 2001, a female member was expelled from the ashram for violating a "mandatory rule".[13] Thereafter she filed charges of sexual harassment against various members. These charges were dismissed by committees and government agencies, all of which found the charges false.[14][15][16][17] The then chairperson of the National Commission for Women added that there "appeared to be malicious planning behind the complaints".[18]

Originally posted here:

Sri Aurobindo Ashram - Wikipedia