"When you are inspired by some great purpose, some extraordinary project, all your thoughts break their bonds: Your mind transcends limitations, your consciousness expands in every direction, and you find yourself in a new, great, and wonderful world. Dormant forces, faculties and talents become alive, and your discover yourself to be a greater person by far than you ever dreamed yourself to be.” ~Patanjali ~
Part I in a 5 part series on the Five Basic types of Meditation:
Concentration meditation increases your ability to focus. 20th Century Psychologist William James said that the average person has about a four second attention span. Concentration meditation gives you the ability to lengthen your attention span and the ability to bring your wandering mind back to your desired focal point. The concentrated mind provides us intuitive insight into the meaning of life. As concentration matures we being to experience a sense of connectedness. During concentration meditation you can use a mantra or phrase, or you can simply focus on the breath.
A Simple Meditation Focusing on the Breath:
Designate the amount of time your wish to dedicate to your practice. For beginners 3 minutes may be all you can stand. However you will benefit more from your meditation practice when you can spend a minimum of ten minutes, 3 times per week in your practice. Clarify your intent to begin this practice. When I practice concentration or focus it's because there are too many things going on in my life and I feel fragmented. So my intent is to cultivate stability of my attention. Find a safe place to sit comfortably with your eyes closed. It is suggested that you do not lie down as this can trigger your delta waves which are for sleeping! Sit in a chair, cross legged on the floor or if you are further along in your practice you can try lotus position. Set your timer so that you feel more comfortable leaving your eyes closed. Begin by telling yourself to relax, say this three times. The first breath you want to do is for centering, do the following breath ten times. Don't worry if you loose count, just go back to the last breath or continue until you feel like you've reached the 10th one. Begin to breathe deeply in through your nostrils, taking in about 90% of your breath and mentally say to yourself, "hold, hold, hold", now slowly as if you were letting the air out a balloon release 100% of the breath out through your mouth. The 10% variance in the inhalation and exhalation is because you are releasing toxins! After your have done this centering breath take three deep breaths in as if the Doctor had just asked you so that he can listen to your breathing with a stethoscope. Now mentally say to yourself relax your mind, relax your body...relax, relax, relax. Now just begin to breath normally in and out through your nostrils. Following the breath in your minds eye. The only thing you want to focus on is your breath. As your minds wanders, simply bring it back to your breathe. It's as gentle as putting a baby who's crawled off back onto it's blanket. Simply bring your focus back to your breathe. Breathing in and out. Gently and smoothly. Remember when your time is up to open your eyes very slowly and do not stand up too quickly. Meditation reduces your blood pressure and heart rate and if you stand too fast you could become dizzy! It is suggested that you practice one particular meditation for a minimum of six weeks in order to see the benefit. But for this week I will be blogging a different meditation daily so that you can try them out and see which one you can stick with!
Blessings.
