What is Meditation?

In the ever increasing competition and power struggles in the corporate world, we make ourselves too busy with all things material and almost forget about our own well being. In such a scenario, meditation gives our minds the freedom to relax and recuperate. Meditation slows the breath and causes troubled thoughts and fears to drift away.

The word meditation has a Latin root wherein “mederi” means "to heal". Meditation is an effort to heal the afflictions of the mind by trying to understand the cause of the problem and finding a way to solve it. To meditate thus, is to deepen a state of understanding.

Requirements for Practicing Meditation:

1. Suitable place – The place should be clean and peaceful. While meditating you may optionally want to light a candle with mild incense.

2. Posture - Posture usually is an option left open to you so that you can decide in which position you feel comfortable. The ground rule though is to try and avoid postures which may cause you pain or discomfort or which can result in your legs or hands getting numb. We suggest the following two postures but you may feel free to use any other posture that you are comfortable with.

a) Cross-legged position - When sitting cross-legged, the position of the arms should be relaxed by keeping the palms facing up in the lap, optionally one over the other, or placing the hands on the knees with palm facing up or down but leaving the fingers loose and relaxed.

b) Sitting in a chair - If sitting in a chair, the feet should be kept together on the floor pointing forward with equal body weight on both.

In both the above postures though, one should keep the neck, shoulders and back in a straight line without being rigid. This helps one to breathe adequately and remain alert by keeping adequate oxygen inflow in the body during meditation.

3. A relaxed disposition - Before beginning to meditate there should neither be any fight with thoughts nor a conscious effort for trying to stop the mind from wandering. It should just be an effortless feeling of a deep, inner poise and love for what one wishes to do. No doubt, thoughts will come and go, but not getting distracted by thoughts means not identifying with them as a thought is sustained by our own involvement with it. When a thought comes, just gently tell yourself "I am not interested but detached and in peace." To begin meditation, it is necessary to compose oneself in this way for a few minutes.

4. Techniques of Meditation - Techniques constitute the main practice of meditation. They are of several kinds depending on religious or monastic or Ashram traditions. We will talk about the most common and easy one to practice in the section below.

Practicing Meditation – How to Meditate?

As discussed above, take care to sit erect, allowing for free and easy breathing. Observe your breath. Do not try to change the way you breathe, just focus on the flow of your breath. The goal is to allow the wandering thoughts in your mind to gradually fade away. As you breathe, try and relax every muscle in your body. There is no hurry in doing this, as it takes time for one to fully relax. Focus on relaxing gradually, starting at your toes and slowly working your way up to your head.

In your mind, you may like to focus on words that appeal to your linguistic style. For instance, if you are visual, you can use words that evoke pictures or if you are auditory, use words that evoke sound or if you are kinesthetic, use words that evoke feelings. You may also want to repeat these words to yourself to encourage the outcome that you desire. For instance, if your objective is to get relaxed, repeat to yourself "I am completely relaxed." Similarly, if you want to be more confident in your actions repeat to yourself “I am feeling confident”. This is called as positive reinforcement and these are the messages that you want to convey to your inner-self which ultimately judges the way you act, behave and respond.

Some people prefer listening to mantras or some soothing music while meditating to build a comfortable aura around them. You can also visualize a place that is either real or imaginary. For instance, if you want to feel relaxed, you can imagine yourself sitting on a mountain surrounded by lush green trees, listening to the chirping of birds and enjoying the picturesque and pure beauty of nature.
The best time to meditate is in the early morning, but only if one wakes up fresh. Otherwise, an appropriate hour should be chosen, but not immediately after a meal. A session of meditation will take from 35 to 45 minutes. In the beginning one may shorten it to 20 to 30 minutes and after sufficient practice, increase it up to 45 minutes or so. For most people a long meditation is not useful and may even build up tension. The quality is more important than the length of it.