Discover How To Meditate
A lot of friends and Facebook fans have questions about meditation.
Most do not know where it came from, what it is, the benefits, and the different ways how to experience meditation. So, I thought I would try and shed some light on it below.
According to WebMD, meditation is a simple technique that, if practiced for as few as 10 minutes each day, can help you control stress, decrease anxiety, improve cardiovascular health, and achieve a greater capacity for relaxation.
Scholars have found meditation difficult to define, as practices vary both between traditions and within them.
Where Did Meditation Come From?
According to Wikipedia the English word meditation is derived from Old French meditacioun, in turn from Latin meditatio from a verb meditari, meaning “to think, contemplate, devise, ponder“. The use of the term meditatio as part of a formal, stepwise process of meditation goes back to the 12th-century monk Guigo II.
Apart from its historical usage, the term meditation was introduced as a translation for Eastern spiritual practices, referred to as dhyāna in Hinduism and Buddhism and which comes from the Sanskrit (an old Indo-Aryan language) root dhyai, meaning to contemplate or meditate. The term “meditation” in English also refers to practices from Islamic Sufism, and other traditions such as Jewish Kabbalah and Christian Mysticism.
What Is Meditation?
Meditation is a practice where an individual uses a technique – such as mindfulness or focusing the mind on a particular object, thought, or activity – to train attention and awareness, and achieve a mentally clear and emotionally calm and stable state.
It is significant that meditation refers to a “state of consciousness.” That state of consciousness is associated with aligning with your Higher or Supreme Self. As such meditation brings you to awareness of your spiritual nature and the aspects of your being that are often called your higher self or Soul.
It is significant to note that meditation has roots, as a practice, in every religion spanning every major world religion over thousands of years. Although meditation can be a spiritual practice that is as old as time and spans every religion, it belongs to no particular religion and can be practiced by anyone. That meditation is a practice is an important distinction. Ultimately, I believe that meditation is about listening to the wisdom of your Higher Self.
Several other definitions of meditation have been used by researchers on meditation:
US National Center for Complementary and Integrative Health (2016): “Meditation is a mind and body practice that has a long history of use for increasing calmness and physical relaxation, improving psychological balance, coping with illness, and enhancing overall health and well-being.”
Walsh & Shapiro (2006): “Meditation refers to a family of self-regulation practices that focus on training attention and awareness in order to bring mental processes under greater voluntary control and thereby foster general mental well-being and development and/or specific capacities such as calm, clarity, and concentration“
Cahn & Polich (2006): “Meditation is used to describe practices that self-regulate the body and mind, thereby affecting mental events by engaging a specific attentional set…. regulation of attention is the central commonality across the many divergent methods“
Jevning et al. (1992): “We define meditation… as a stylized mental technique… repetitively practiced for the purpose of attaining a subjective experience that is frequently described as very restful, silent, and of heightened alertness, often characterized as blissful“
Goleman (1988): “the need for the meditator to retrain his attention, whether through concentration or mindfulness, is the single invariant ingredient in… every meditation system“
The Benefits of Meditation
Some studies have found that regular meditation can reduce chronic pain, anxiety, high blood pressure, cholesterol, and the use of health care services.
– WebMD
Although meditation has been practiced for thousands of years, the meditative technique called the “relaxation response” was pioneered in the U.S. by Harvard doctor Herbert Benson in the 1970s. The technique has gained acceptance by physicians and therapists worldwide as a means of relieving symptoms of conditions ranging from cancer to AIDS.
When our bodies are exposed to a sudden stress or threat, we respond with a characteristic “fight or flight” response. The ”adrenaline rush” we experience is a result of the release of the hormones epinephrine (adrenaline) and norepinephrine. They cause an increase in blood pressure and pulse rate, faster breathing, and increased blood flow to the muscles.
Using meditation for deep relaxation allows for the opposite bodily reaction from the “fight or flight” response — a state of relaxation in which your breathing, pulse rate, blood pressure, and metabolism are decreased. Training our bodies on a daily basis to achieve this state of deep relaxation can lead to enhanced mood, lower blood pressure, improved digestion, and a reduction of everyday stress.
Even more important, in my mind, is meditation helps you learn to quiet your mind so you can obtain higher states of awareness.
Learning to meditate provides techniques of learning to find the quiet mind so you can ultimately open to the promptings of your Higher Self (or as some call it, your Soul).
Legend tells us a story of the Buddha that speaks to why to meditate that I would like to share with you. Someone once asked the Buddha skeptically,
“What have you gained through meditation.”
The Buddha replied, “Nothing at all.”
“Then, Blessed One, what good is it.”
“Let me tell you what I lost through meditation: sickness, anger, depression, insecurity, the burden of old age, the fear of death.”
Now, the Buddha lived a long time ago, and, like many famous leaders, Shakespeare, Benjamin Franklin, and many others, the quotes used may or may not have ever been said by the one to whom the quote is attributed. However, I like this quote because it gives an expression of the benefit of meditation.
The relaxation response that is accomplished by meditation works with your physiology, your psychological triggers and helps restore the balance between the dynamic relationship between your mind and your body. The relaxation response integrates your body with your mind, emotions, and also your more spiritual self.
Breath is an integral and essential part of meditation. There are many meditation tools that focus on breath control as a portal to the meditative experience. Likewise, the content of your mind, the nature of your thoughts and the power of your creative mind and imagination can be harnessed to enhance your meditative experience.
Two of my relaxation meditations, Relax and Release, and The Gift of Relaxation, demonstrate the benefits and efficiency of all these elements of meditation to restore balance and harmony, physically, emotionally, and mentally and of course spiritually.
What is the Best Meditation Technique or Practice?
Since meditation is a tool that has been taught over a vast array of disciplines and paths, there are many ways to meditate. In the long run, because your Soul is not directed by belief or dogma, the direction of meditation can be somewhat vague.
Because ultimately, meditation is a way of connecting with and becoming aware of the wisdom and guidance of your Soul, there are not only many ways to meditate, but there is no wrong way to meditate.
Everyone is unique and responds differently to different techniques and therefore can take many roads to gain the guidance of your Soul through meditation. This is why I offer a course “How to Why to Meditate” intermittently that is 4 hours of instruction followed by a short experience in 12 different styles and ways to meditate so you can choose what resonates and works best for you.
Even though I believe there is no one right way to meditate, I have found that the following are some meditative techniques that are the most popular and most effective.
Transcendental MeditationTM
On a February morning in 1967, George Harrison’s wife, Pattie Boyd, sat at her kitchen table and lamented to a girlfriend how she longed for something spiritual in her life. With that, the legendary party girl ripped a tiny newspaper advertisement for Transcendental Meditation classes out of the paper and, in that instant, began a ripple that would affect generations of young people across the world.
A year later, the Beatles would go to India. Out of that trip came not just the band’s epic White Album and Donovan’s ‘Hurdy-Gurdy Man,’ but a seismic shift in the popular understanding of Eastern spirituality, meditation, and music. It also was the beginning of a strange relationship between the Beatles and the meditation movement that they inadvertently popularized.
– Rolling Stones
Over 50 years ago, I was first trained in the practice of meditation by a Yogi, Maharishi Mahesh, the founder of an organization that is known as Transcendental MeditationTM.
The TM technique involves the use of a silently-used sound called a mantra and is normally practiced repeatedly for 15–20 minutes twice per day. The Maharishi learned the technique from his master Brahmananda Saraswati that he called Transcendental Deep Meditation and later renamed it Transcendental Meditation.
Since that time, I have practiced varying techniques of meditation daily all over the world. Now, 50+ years of one’s life to do anything is a long time. In that very first training and exposure to meditation, I had, in addition to the experience of meditation an understanding and epiphany, that led me to a deep understanding of not only the how, but the why of meditation.
Although the Maharishi’s technique and training in the meditation of Transcendental Meditation were both exotic and very foreign, the experience was familiar. As I left the initiation meeting, I realized that by meditating, I had gone to a place in my consciousness that I had identified as “prayer beyond words.”
Because meditation is more about a state of being or a state of consciousness, the experience of meditation offered me a portal into awareness. I resolved that I would commit to the practice of meditation and see what would be revealed from the mystery of meditation and contemplation.
Quieting the Chattering Mind
Although much younger and less experienced on that day over 50+ years ago, I had sought the wisdom and presence of my Soul even as a young child.
What I learned in that very first training in the techniques and tools of meditation is that your Soul is always available when you calm your mind, open your heart, and invite it into your consciousness. I have also learned that the connection to your Soul only becomes possible when you can transcend the chattering mind of your ego or personality and enter into the silence. The practice of learning to quiet your mind of the chatter is, among every practice of meditation, paramount.
Another quote often attributed to the Buddha that I think describes well the mind is “like a bunch of drunken monkeys.” Quieting the mind is not easy and it seems that almost all of the tools and techniques that are taught at most meditation centers on helping one meditate try to accomplish this most important task.
There are many techniques that are taught as meditation. Done regularly as a practice to listen to and access the wisdom of your own Higher Self (your Soul), all are effective.
Quieting the distraction of what is sometimes among those who meditate called “the monkey mind” is a crucial and for almost everyone who begins to meditate a challenge. It is a challenge that every technique or school of meditation has developed techniques or tools to overcome. To open your consciousness to your Soul (Your Higher Self) you begin a journey of mastery over the unbridled chatter of fears.
Within the content of your mind chatter is much of what creates the problems and sorrows that the above quote from the Buddha says meditation freed him from. The peace and power of gaining mastery over your chattering mind through the practice of meditation can have a profound impact on your life.
It affects you on every level of your being, physically by impacting how you respond to stress, emotionally, and mentally. However, I believe it is how it opens you to the wholeness of your being that is the most empowering and profound.
TM uses a mantra or mantras repeated over and over in the mind, even repetitive chanting often in ancient languages such as Sanskrit (the oldest language known to man), to create seed thoughts as entrees in your meditation.
Wise perspectives of consciousness or guided meditation all serve as a way of shifting your awareness from your random earthly mind chatter to a state of being that is a calmness of mind and openness of heart that brings an awareness of your Higher Self (the Light of your Soul).
For this reason, I use for every guided meditation I offer to the world, both written or recorded the opening phrase: “Calm your mind, open your heart, and invite the Light.” This phrase declares your intention and, in my experience, helps you leave behind your mind chatter and enter into an openness to start to experience your Soul.
I have had those who have told me they use that simple phrase above as a mantra to enter the silent and receptive state of meditation.
Meditating In A Group
After several years of a daily practice of Transcendental Meditation, I began to explore what else I could learn from meditating. I discovered the writings of Alan Watts who has written more than 25 books and articles on religion and philosophy, introducing the emerging hippie counterculture to The Way of Zen (in 1957), one of the first bestselling books on Buddhism.
The consciousness described in my studies of Zen appealed to me so I found a Zendo and was accepted to meditate with those who practiced Zen meditation, a practice I engaged in early every morning for the next span of my meditative life.
Part of what I learned from that experience is that there is something very empowering about meditating in a group. Even though there was in the Zendo no social engagement or interaction the unity of purpose to open our consciousness was empowering. It supported us both individually and collectively.
That special experience explained to me why in the history of meditation people would often live in communities and gather together to meditate. In the Western world, meditation is most often deprived of the energetic empowerment of meditating as a group. There is something special that happens energetically when you join in a group to expand your awareness. The group experience supports you in a way that is both mystical and magical and enhances all who join and engage.
As we have found recently in times of crisis, group meditations can be conducted in today’s world effectively over telephone connections, internet connections, or in-person groups.
If you wish to join with a group meditation experience I would encourage you to pay attention to the identified purpose of the meditation and make sure you are comfortable and willing to be aligned with the stated purpose of the meditation.
To experience the feeling of a group meditation check out any of my New Group of World Servers guided group meditations that I created.
Zen Meditation
Zazen is considered the heart of Japanese Sōtō Zen Buddhist practice. The aim of zazen is just sitting, that is, suspending all judgmental thinking and letting words, ideas, images, and thoughts pass by without getting involved in them.
The discipline required of Zen meditation works very effectively to master the distractions of “the chattering mind” by encouraging the student to focus on the “No Thing”, the place in your consciousness that is not, in any way material.
The techniques and discipline required for sitting ZaZen are very different from what Western society seeks.
I am reminded of my very first meeting with the Zen Master of the Zendo where I meditated. As he explained the tools and techniques of Zen meditation, he told me that in his experience there was only one thing that Westerners needed to transcend to practice Zen meditation and that was the concept of the pursuit of happiness. Then he left me to ponder upon and meditate upon that.
It is significant to note that throughout the annals of time Zen Masters have used Koans or brief stories upon which a student is encouraged to ponder to reveal a deep truth about consciousness. In the history of Zen Koans, there are a large variety of Koans that provide “teaching moments”. I have one example published on my website of such a Koan, “The Parable of a Cup of Tea”.
The training and experience of my time at the Zendo was, I believe enlightening as it led me, in my consciousness to what was not material and helped open me to experiencing the eternal aspects of my being that are Spiritual. I am and have been since my time studying at the Zendo extremely grateful to the Zen Master and the group of monks who were my group brethren for how my experience of meditating with them enhanced and empowered my meditative and spiritual life.
Mindfulness Meditation
Mindfulness Meditations are some of my favorite meditations!
According to Wikipedia, “Mindfulness is the psychological process of purposely bringing one’s attention to experiences occurring in the present moment without judgment, which one develops through the practice of meditation and through other training.”
Mindfulness derives from sati, a significant element of Buddhist traditions, and is based on Zen, Vipassanā, and Tibetan meditation techniques.
Mindfulness in meditation refers to becoming aware of what is. Mindfulness in meditation enables you to expand your consciousness. Expanding your perception is essential as perception influences perspective. Expanding your perception opens you to awareness of what is beyond the limitations of time or space opening you to what is eternal, the energy of Love, the awareness of Light, and Creative power.
A part of the experience of mindfulness in meditation is a comprehension of Self, and an understanding of yourself in relationship with the world around you, not only others but nature, not only your sentience but the sentience of all of life.
– Genevieve Gerard
Mindfulness in meditation is empowering. It enables you to gain mastery over the challenges of your life by addressing your relationship with the world.
With mindfulness, you can establish yourself in the present in order to touch the wonders of life that are available in that moment.
– Thich Nhat Hanh (Zen Master)
I have found that meditation can influence and improve everything. I am often teased by those who know me that my answer to a myriad of life problems is to say, “I have a meditation for that.“
Indeed, I have found meditation is what connects me with Source, grounds me in life, and fills me with Love. It is for me an always open portal to joy and my Soul.
I have several Mindfulness Meditations that are guided to be incorporated into the activities of daily life that are part of what I call Meditations for Daily Joy.
I have included links to some of these meditations below in my recommended meditations section.
I encourage you to experience meditation fully and open your heart and your mind to the awareness of your Soul.
Mindfulness has been proven to have a myriad of health benefits. Indeed, there is a great deal of scientific research on the benefits of Mindfulness meditation.
The amazing thing about Mindfulness is that it only requires “being aware of what is” to be effective. The enhanced awareness of being mindful has a profound impact on empowering you to utilize the world that surrounds you to achieve peace and serenity. Mindfulness is a portal to joy, which is beyond simple happiness and in that way is both enlightening and empowering.
Keep reading below to find links to some of my mindfulness guided meditations for you to experience.
Rāja Yoga
As in this post, I have shared much about my personal quest to learn how meditation can transform and enhance your life, I would be remiss if I did not mention one other school or technique of meditation that I have found to be of great value. That is Rāja Yoga, also called the yoga of the mind.
Whereas Mindfulness is an exploration of what is in the material world, and Zen Meditation is an exploration of what is available and open beyond the material world, Rāja Yoga teaches how to transmute, transform, and ultimately transcend issues that limit your possibilities and potential.
Rāja Yoga comes from the teachings of the Ageless Wisdom and finds its roots in the practice of Tibetan Buddhism.
Rāja means “chief, best of its kind” or “king“. Rāja yoga thus refers to “chief, best of yoga“.
Based on historical Sanskrit texts, Rāja yoga was both the goal of yoga and a method of attaining it. The term also became a modern name for the practice of yoga, when in the 19th-century Swami Vivekananda equated raja yoga with the Yoga Sutras of Patanjali (where the Hindu scholar Dattatreya explains in 334 shlokas, principles of four yoga: Mantra yoga, Hatha yoga, Laya yoga, and Raja yoga.)
According to 12th Century Shaiva Yoga text, “Amanaska”, it states that Raja Yoga is so named because it enables the yogin to reach the illustrious king within oneself, the supreme self. Raja yoga is declared as the goal where one experiences nothing but the bliss of the undisturbed, the natural state of calm, serenity, peace, communion within, and contentment.
Just as with salt dissolved in water becomes one with it, so the union of Atman and Manas (mind) is denominated samadhi. When the breath becomes exhausted, and the mind becomes Praliyate (still, reabsorbed), they fuse into a union called samadhi. This equality, this oneness of the two, the living self and the absolute self, when all Sankalpa (desire, cravings) end is called samadhi.
I believe it is interesting to note that meditation is not a religion, but a practice. And because it is not a religion it does not require belief. It is just a practice. It is a practice that focuses upon connecting you with your own Soul nature, the spark of Divine Light that is within each and every human being.
Making this discrimination between meditation and religion is significant. When you meditate you are invited to explore and experience all aspects of the Divine, directed only by the wisdom of your Soul and what is available and enlightening to your spiritual journey. As such you can gain insight and mastery over your whole being, physical, emotional, mental, and spiritual.
Your Soul is aligned with every part of the spiritual aspect of life that is included and incorporated into every world religion. Your Soul is the seat of your consciousness and as such, has access to all that is Divine, The Creator, The Father, The Son (the Christ), The Divine Mother, and the Angels.
You can, in your consciousness boldly explore all that is spiritual and gain both insight and mastery over the aspects of yourself that are physical and therefore enhance healing. You can also impact and influence the parts of you that are focused emotionally and learn to master the strong influence of your emotions. Likewise, meditation can empower your mind to influence and transform energy.
This is a key element in the wisdom that “energy follows thought.” Within that truth is the awareness that whereas you can not destroy energy, you can change its form. That is a defining principle of the tools and techniques of Raja Yoga.
Changing the form of energy is a central tenant of the evolution of consciousness that is central to all of life and all of the religions practiced by and known to humanity. The practice of meditation involves the wholeness of your being, a wholeness that is vast and encompassing more than we are aware of. It is through the practice of meditation in its diversity of tools and techniques that you can increase your awareness on many energetic levels.
Within the school of Raja Yoga are tools and techniques that enable you to manage energy to gain mastery over your emotions. Among these are ancient techniques for transmuting negative emotions. Check out my simple but powerful guided meditation called I Am Feeling Free where I have passed on one of these techniques so you can learn how to calm strong emotions and transmute fears and doubts in just moments every day of your life.
Likewise are ways of enhancing and empowering your connection and cooperation with others through the technique of triangles (heart-mind-soul). My meditations for daily joy guided meditations called Mindful Meeting, Heart of the Family, Flowing Freeway, and On the Wings of a Silver Bird are examples of how to use and experience the powerful technique of energetic triangles.
You can also use the ageless wisdom that has been passed down over the years to protect and cleanse yourself from negative outside influences by experiencing my Cleansing Vortex Meditation and, soon to be released Wheel of Fire guided meditation.
Guided Meditations
Despite the benefits of meditation, many people feel overwhelmed at the thought of learning how to meditate. This is why all of the meditations I have created, whether they be for Life Skills, Life Awareness, or Life Mastery are “guided meditations“. Guided meditation makes it easier to get started because it takes a lot of the mental legwork away from you.
As the name implies, guided meditation simply allows you to be guided by someone else in one of the techniques of meditation. You just listen to my voice as I take you on a guided journey that I have been on with thousands of people, just like you, many, many times before.
I may help you visualize some specific mental imagery, or I may walk you through a series of breathing exercises or mantras to help you practice meditating in a simple, flowing, step-by-step process. Then, you can concentrate on relaxing, meditating, and getting insight, rather than worry about your technique or your form.
If you would like to calm and comfort yourself I would suggest my guided meditation called The Gift of Love that helps turn and tune your awareness to Love, especially the Love of your Soul that is offered to you freely without limitation.
What Can I Get Out Of It
All-in-all meditation can help you overcome the life challenges of anger, depression, insecurity, and the fear of death. Or it can expand your awareness from the temporal to the eternal. It is a technique that you can use at will as you practice it and disregard unless or until you chose to use it again.
Within the vast array of ways that you can meditate there are a wide breadth of ways to meditate. You can choose and experiment and explore from the vast collection of techniques without fear when you affirm that your purpose is to open to the insights of your Higher Self (your Soul).
The result you desire can inform your choice of which meditation is best for you at any given specific time or situation in your life. I suggest you explore and experiment at different times and circumstance in your life with different meditations.
You have available a wide variety of tools and techniques that you can apply prescriptively to your life situations and challenges. Do not be afraid to experiment and explore the vast array of tools and techniques that are available. You may want to use different meditations for different purposes in your life. Be brave and bold. Meditation is available to enhance and empower you.
The more you meditate the easier it becomes. With meditation, you are building a bridge in your consciousness between the different parts of yourself that help you gain mastery and wisdom. As you calm your mind, open your heart, and invite the Light you are opening yourself and your world to the opportunity to explore joy, peace, and empowerment beyond your imagination.
The rewards for meditation are ongoing. You can meditate at any time in your life from very young to very old and at each stage of life receive benefits and blessings. You can use meditation to enhance and explore your wisdom and understanding as well as to gain mastery. You can use it to overcome problems and provide both enlightenment and joy. Whatever time you give meditation to whenever you choose to meditate there are positive benefits available for you.
The amazing part of the practice of meditation, no matter which tool or technique you choose is that when you “Calm your mind, and Open Your Heart and Invite the Light” you have invited your Soul to begin enlightening your awareness of more. How you choose to practice meditation and what you choose to believe are all only steps upon an ongoing journey that is amazing.
I hope I can be a guide on your journey to enlightenment.
You, as a human being are a miraculous merger of matter and spirit. You are both a physically temporary form and eternal in nature. That you can have these two very different and diverse aspects of what you identify in your consciousness as yourself is both magical and miraculous. How much of that truth you choose to explore, and experience is totally within your control for as long as you walk the world in your life.
Bridging Spirit and matter is the experience of human life. Where that takes you and where that guides you is totally and completely your choice. Within you as a merging of your personality and your Soul are a myriad of possibilities. None of them are wrong.
The nature of life and expression of consciousness is that you learn. You can let that thought comfort you. You can let that thought reassure you. You are on a journey that offers you an unlimited number of opportunities to learn and grow and ultimately evolve your consciousness.
Meditation, in whatever form you choose can be a portal to reduce stress or experience your Soul and connect you with your inner wisdom.
Namaste,
Genevieve Gerard
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Recommended Mindfulness Meditations
Last updated 8-4-2020
About the author:
Genevieve Gerard teaches Transformational Consciousness – from first awakening to enlightened Soul awareness. She helps you experience the joy that results from the spontaneous “touch of your soul.”
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Genevieve has a Bachelor’s Degree in Philosophy and Theology and a Master of Arts Degree in Counseling and for over thirty years has worked one-on-one with people who were recovering from devastating disabilities and chronic pain. Teaching the mastery of the mind-body relationship she was one of the early professionals trained in biofeedback, visualization, imagery, and meditation as essential techniques to help people heal their bodies, heal their emotions, heal their minds, and heal their lives.
Genevieve’s work demonstrates what she knows so well, “It is spiritual connectedness that triggers physical healing and emotional and mental well-being.” Helping people, like you, tap into your higher-self is the power she wields to guide you to heal and transform your life.
Now, with this understanding, she combines the effective techniques she developed over decades teaching mind-body mastery along with her extensive experience in meditation and spiritual development to create a synthesis of mind-body-spirit that delivers complete healing and opens the door to unlimited personal growth and an encounter with your Soul.
In addition to her current life guidance coaching sessions, and workshops performed around the world, Genevieve has produced more than 20+ guided meditations in the last eight years that are available on iTunes, Amazon, CDBaby, and her website.
It is her vision that through your experience with the techniques of awareness, visualization, and meditation, the love of your Soul will touch and transform your life through her writings and products. It is her sincere desire that the potential of a life of joy and celebration that seems to elude so many people can become a reality for you, now and forever.
Browse her life story and read the Touch of the Soul that changed her world. To contact Genevieve, visit her keep in touch page.
Copyright © 2020 Genevieve Gerard and Touch of the Soul LLC. All Rights Reserved.
