Meditation

Meditation is the practice of focusing your attention to help you feel calm and give you a clear awareness about your life. It’s a precise technique for resting the mind and attaining a state of con- sciousness that is totally different from the normal waking state. It is the means for fathoming all the levels of ourselves and finally experiencing the center of consciousness within. In meditation, the mind is clear, relaxed, and inwardly focused. When you meditate, you are fully awake and alert, but your mind is not focused on the external world or on the events taking place around you. Meditation requires an inner state that is still and one-pointed so that the mind becomes silent. When the mind is silent and no longer distracts you, meditation deepens.

The goal of meditation is to go beyond the mind and experience our essential nature, which is described as peace, happiness and bliss. It is a way of training the mind so that you are not distracted and caught up in its endless churning. But as anyone who has tried to meditate knows, the mind itself is the biggest obstacle standing between ourselves and this awareness. The mind is undisciplined and unruly, and it resists any attempts to discipline it or to guide it on a particular path. The mind has a mind of its own. That is why many people sit for meditation and experience only fantasies, daydreams or hallucinations. They never attain the stillness that distinguishes the genuine experience of deep meditation. Meditation usually involves slow, regular breathing.

Meditation is not a part of any religion; it is a science, which means that the process of meditation follows a particular order, has definite principles, and produces results that can be verified. Some people use the word meditate when they mean thinking or contemplating; others use it to refer to daydreaming or fantasizing. However, meditation (dhyana) is not any of these.

Eastern philosophies have recognized the health benefits of meditation for thousands of years and is now widely practiced in the West, with the belief that it has positive effects on health. The practice benefits cardiovascular and immune health, relieve anxieties from long-term (chronic) conditions such as HIV and cancer. The benefits are endless, including:

• Reducing stress and slowing aging.
• Improving concentration and increasing self-awareness.
• Encouraging a healthy lifestyle and increasing happiness.
• Meditation increase acceptance.

The two meditation techniques most commonly used are: Concentrative and Mindful. Concentrative Meditation, such as transcendental meditation (TM), focuses on a single image, sound or mantra (words spoken or sung in a pattern) or on your own breathing.

Mindful Meditation, such as mindfulness-based stress reduction, does not focus on a single purpose. Rather, you are aware of all thoughts, feelings, sounds or images that pass through your mind.

Eustachian Meditation

Eustachian Meditation is a technique which is related to Eustachian canal of the ears. By performing Bhramari Pranayama, it creates the vibration to relax the nerve; whereas Ardhakati Chakrasana makes the balancing system of the ears more efficient. It is these stimulation that gives deeper relaxation to the middle and internal ear.

Eustachian Meditation – 8 Steps (** All movements have to be slow)

Step 1 – Chanting

• Stand in Tadasana, feet and knees close together
• Hands along the thighs, with fingers stretched out
• Legs, trunk and head aligned in a straight line
• Eyes closed and relax the whole body
• Start with the following chanting
  “Karmanye vadhikaraste Ma Phaleshu Kadachana, Ma Karmaphalaheturbhurma Te Sangostvakarmani”

Step 2 – Centering by feet

• Lean forward and feel the weight of the entire body on the toes; and then slowly return to center
• Lean backward and feel the weight of the entire body on the heels; and then slowly return to center
• Lean to the right and feel the weight of the entire body on the right edge of the right foot; and then slowly return to center
• Lean to the left and feel the weight of the entire body on the left edge of the left foot; and then slowly return to center
  ** The weight of the body is equally distributed throughout the soles of the feet.

Step 3 – Centering by feet with Chanting A-kara, U-kara and M-kara

• Lean forward, chanting A-kara and feel the weight of the entire body on the toes; and then slowly return to center
• Lean backward, chanting U-kara and feel the weight of the entire body on the heels; and then slowly return to center
• Lean to the right, chanting M-kara and feel the weight of the entire body on the right edge of the right foot; and then slowly return to center
• Lean to the left, chanting M-kara and feel the weight of the entire body on the left edge of the left foot; and then slowly return to center

Step 4 – Centering by feet with OM Chanting

• Lean forward, chanting OM and feel the weight of the entire body on the toes; and then slowly return to center
• Lean backward, chanting OM and feel the weight of the entire body on the heels; and then slowly return to center
• Lean to the right, chanting OM and feel the weight of the entire body on the right edge of the right foot; and then slowly return to center
• Lean to the left, chanting OM and feel the weight of the entire body on the left edge of the left footand then slowly return to center

Step 5 – Maintaining pressure in Eustachian Canal

• Inhale and press your hands on the ears; then exhale and release the pressure
• Inhale and press your hands on the ears and chant Bhramari
• Inhale and press your hands on the ears and chant OM

Step 6 – Balancing pressure from Head to Spine

• Bring the hands behind your back, make a fist of the right hand and hold the right wrist with the left hand; shoulders relaxed
• While inhaling, bend backwards from the waist and opening up the chest
• While exhaling slowly, chant OM and bend forward from the waist bringing the forehead on to the ground in front of the knees
• Then inhaling slowly come up to the vertical position

Step 7 – Make Resolve

• Dwell in total silence
• Resolve with positive thoughts (9 times)

Step 8 – Ending Prayer

• Om Shantih, Shantih, Santhihih….