What is Meditation?

Components of meditation

Meditation is a group of mental training techniques which can be used to improve mental health and capacities, and also to help improve physical health.  Some of these techniques are very simple. Some can be learnt from a book or an article while others require guidance by a qualified meditation teacher.

Most meditation techniques include the following components:

1. Sit or lie in a relaxed position.
2. Breathe regularly. You breathe in deep enough to get enough oxygen. When you breathe out, you relax your muscles so that your lungs are well emptied, but without straining.
3. Stop thinking about everyday problems and matters.
4. Concentrate your thoughts upon a sound, a word you repeat, an image, an abstract concept or a feeling. Your whole attention should be directed at the object you have chosen to concentrate upon.
5. If your mind begins to wander, you just stop it, and return to the object of meditation.

The different meditation techniques differ according to the degree of concentration, and how foreign thoughts are handled. In some techniques, the objective is to concentrate so intensely that your mind does not wander at all. In other techniques the concentration is more relaxed so that foreign thoughts easily pop up. When these foreign thoughts are discovered, one stops these and returns to the pure meditation in a relaxed manner. Thoughts coming up will often concern things you have forgotten or suppressed, and allow you to rediscover hidden memory material. This rediscovery will have a psychotherapeutic effect.

The effects of meditation

Meditation has the following effects:

1. Meditation will give you rest and recreation.
2. You learn to relax.
3. You learn to concentrate better on problem solving.
4. Meditation often has a good effect on blood pressure.
5. Meditation has beneficial effects upon inner body processes, such as circulation, respiration and digestion.
6. Regular meditation will have a psychotherapeutical effect.
7. Regular meditation will facilitate the immune system.
8. Meditation is usually pleasant.

The difference between hypnosis and meditation

Hypnosis may have some of the same relaxing and psychotherapeutic effects as meditation. However, when you meditate you are in control yourself; but in hypnosis you let another person or a mechanical device control you. In addition, hypnosis will not have a training effect upon the ability to concentrate.

A simple meditation

Below is a simple form of meditation:

1. Sit in a good chair in a comfortable position.

2. Relax all your muscles as well as you can.

3. Stop thinking about anything, or at least try not to think about anything.

4. Breath out, relaxing all the muscles in your breathing apparatus.

5. Repeat the following for 10 to 20 minutes:

• Breath in so deep that you feel you get enough oxygen.
• Breath out, relaxing your chest and diaphragm completely.
• Every time you breathe out, think the word “one” or another simple word inside yourslf. You should think the word in a prolonged manner, and so that you hear it inside you, but you should try to avoid using your mouth or voice.

6. If foreign thoughts come in, just stop these thoughts in a relaxed manner, and keep on concentrating on the breathing and the word you repeat.

As you proceed through this meditation, you should feel steadily more relaxed in your mind and body, feel that you breathe more effectively, and that your blood circulation throughout your body becomes more efficient. You may also feel an increased mental pleasure throughout the meditation.

The effects of meditation on diseases

As any kind of training, meditation may be exaggerated so that you get tired and worn out. Therefore you should not meditate so long or so concentrated that you feel tired or mentally emptied.

Meditation may sometimes causes problems for people suffering from mental diseases, epilepsy, serious heart problems or neurological diseases. On the other hand, meditation maybe of help in the treatment of these and other conditions.

People suffering from such conditions should first check what effects the different kinds of meditation have on their own kind of health problems before beginning to practice meditation, and be cautious if they choose to begin to meditate. It may be wise to learn meditation from an experienced teacher, psychologist or health worker that use meditation as a treatment module for the actual disease.