Mi Om es Su Om

We’ve all been told by our yoga instructors,  life coaches, and therapists from A to Z that meditation is key to reducing stress and helping us relax. But exactly how does one meditate? And is it really all that good for you?

Everyone will tell you something different, but the underlying themes revolve around four basic steps:

1. Find a place that will let you be completely relaxed. This place should have very few noises and distractions (yes, that means you’ll have to turn off your cell phone). This also means eliminating as many noises and distractions from your mind. This is your personal time to temporarily get amnesia to forget about daily stresses – to concentrate your energy on you.

2. Get comfortable. Meditation can be done in any position but make sure you pick a position that ,  allows you to relax and release. My favorite position is lying down on the earth with my arms and legs so relaxed that they sort of limp outward. Remeber to keep your spine properly aligned above your hips and to not fall asleep.

3. Keep your thoughts steady. As I said before it’s important to clear your mind of distractions and white-noise. Instead of thinking about errands, concentrate on one thing. I don’t mean one errand. Rather, pick one element of the moment you’re in to focus on. Whether you focus on breath, color, an image, calm music, or a mantra (like om), select something that has a calming and positive effect on you.

4. Be fluid. By fluid I mean allow the peace, harmony, love, or gentle steadiness to flow throughout your inner being. If find this is difficult to apply, imagine it as a color. If peace is completely flowing through you imagine it as a soft hue (e.g., an iridescent light) embracing you and emanating from every pore in your body – you are iridescence- you are peace. And your are so filled by the serenity of peace that you cannot hold it in and it just pours forth from your soul. You are so absorbed in peace that nothing can faze you. The dog barks to be let in and you simply hear it with indifference, you remember a deadline and recognize the thought informally. For these few minutes of your day, nothing has a hold over you except your object of focus. You have finally learned “to let it go.”

The more you meditate the easier it becomes to release your thoughts. And remember to be kind to yourself! It’s okay for your thoughts to wander, it’s natural to become distracted. Just slowly return your energy to the sound, image, or place you’re focusing on.

Getting in the regular practice of meditating is crucial. Just like with diet and exercise, you won’t see any changes if you do it once a month or, worse, a year. When beginning try to start with five minute sessions twice a day and then gradually build up to ten minutes or twenty or more.

Meditation is a wonderful vehicle for you.  Mindful meditation has been found to help you with memory, blood flow, muscle tension, chronic diseases, healing, immune system, anxiety, and the list just goes on. The key to it’s restorativeness lies in lableing your emotions.

We’ll be posting a new technique and meditation music every week to guide you on this quest towards mindfulness. Good luck and namaste.

Technique of the week:

“Sit in the position of comfort that you have come to know is best for maintaining meditation. Relax your mind, body, and emotions. Attain a rhythm of effortless breathing. Refocus your attention on your breath if you get distracted from your meditation. In your mind’s eye, visualize your Deity. If it is one that has no human form, see the holy, infinite, all-powerful pure energy that represents the divine. If your Deity has a form, see it in as great detail as possible.

For instance, if it is in a human male form, see its body, face, hair, eyes, hands, robe, all, as clearly as you can. See yourself in front of and facing your Deity, in a sitting, standing, or prostrating position. Visualize yourself covered with many, many layers of ultra fine energy, much like the layers of skin on an onion. Each of these layers were created by the process of labeling your actions as sins. In reality, nothing you’ve ever done has been either “good” or “bad”. They have just been things that occurred in your life. If they could be labeled or judged, what they would be are opportunities to appreciate your universal identity and oneness with the divine. Misinformation and inappropriate conditioning has caused you to have the illusion that you have sinned by your physical, mental, or emotional actions and have acquired layers of negative energy that now cover and soil your pure Real Self.

Realize that with every breath you receive, the Highest Power, your Deity, sends you forgiveness and blessings. Know that every interaction you have had with anyone else that you may have thought caused them to suffer, had the potential to help them become a stronger person and evolve in consciousness. Most importantly, acknowledge that not everything you were conditioned to believe was a sin, was one, and that the conditioning itself may have been the sin.

See your Deity remove your guilt and convert your so-called sins into love. Visualize your guilt coatings melting off and the forgiveness and blessings of the Divine cleansing and healing the wounds and pain they caused. As they peel off, you may remember specific things that you have been carrying within your subconscious. Witness the events and the suffering they represent fade away and dissolve forever.

As the final layers are peeled away, you realize that there is nothing left within and thus no separation from the Deity who is all powerful, present infinitely and eternally, all knowing and all love. Just like a bird that has escaped its shell, with no more guilt to bind you, you are forever free to soar the heavens and swim in the universal ocean of bliss.”

(Image credits: ichiro kishimi, Gini~, and Kukasz Strachanowski)