Saturday 29 December 2012

Meditation is not Boring


Meditation has been regarded as ‘very difficult’ and ‘boring’ by few crazy souls on this planet. Spirituality has been touted as the sole baby of long bearded, seriously looking apparently enlightened souls. But Sri Sri Ravi Shankar has said that spirituality can be achieved through celebration also. And celebrations are never boring.


Meditation is the easiest form of spirituality and relaxation where “doing nothing” approach can lead you to enlightenment. Strenuous works leads to frequent burn outs but relaxation through meditation never lets you bore. We never get bored of having food, as an element of ‘pleasure’ is involved in it. After effects of meditation are nothing but pleasure and that too long lasting. 
So think about it, how can such a beautiful thing be boring? An initial foray into meditation can be a challenging task but keeping faith can help a lot.
Sri Sri Ravi Shankar says that having belief in the unknown is faith. Let us have faith in the power of unknown and meditate. After a threshold limit, the journey would start on auto pilot mode and without meditation, life would seem boring.
Sri Sri Ravi Shankar also says, the world rocking Sudarshan Kriya was downloaded from the universe in silence and meditation. The famous ‘Aayurveda’ knowledge was blessed to the 86000 meditators who meditated in central India thousands of years ago and the same was compiled by the Rishis (sages) in a presentable form. Meditation is the process of finding answers from the consciousness and only subtle mind can do that. Meditation takes you to the subtle areas.
Pleasures through five senses of eye, nose, skin, taste and ears can lead to boredom in a day. Even moderate use of them would certainly lead to boredom because their life is limited. Limited things only can give boredom but the joy of the soul is ever lasting, pure and UNLIMITED. Unlimited things would radiate forever. Boring has got no place in this journey.  Let us start meditating now or else we would get bore by discussing the worldly things.

Know exact Meditation with Art of Living 

Wednesday 26 September 2012

What Is Meditation.....??????


Meditation is universal. It transcends all divides like religion, country and culture. It is a gift given to mankind to access the infinite sprit not limited by any identity. It is the only tool that can aid a person to return to innocence.




Modern life style has high exposure to anger, hate, fear and other negative emotions. These human emotions have a high tendency to duplicate and spread. For example, when a person gets cheated, he starts to suspect everything around him. This also has an impact on people around him. These emotions form strong impressions and opinions on an individual and social level. The result of which is an insecure individual and an unstable society.
Meditation helps an individual overcome these emotions to facilitate a calm peaceful mind and a healthy and stress free body.Upon daily practice an individual will blossom into an unshakable personality. With increase in the number of people who are calm, peaceful and healthy will facilitate a social transformation, enabling a society that is trusting, happy and content.

Some Tips for Powerful Meditation

Posture

Eyes
Focus
The Breath
Continue Your Breath
Emotions
Length
Place
Enjoyment

More Meditation Photos of Art of Living

Yoga and Meditation




Many wonder why it is necessary to meditate after practising Yoga asanas/ postures. One of the many benefits of practising yoga asanas/ postures is the fact that it allows us to slip into meditation effortlessly. Meditation being one of the main aspects of Yoga, it's essential that we sit for meditation after practising Yoga asanas and pranayama; else it is like preparing our dinner but not eating it! In meditation one delves deep into the self. There are many kinds of Yoga and Meditation though they might seem different most of them are, in essence, the same. The Panchakosha and Hari Om meditations can be experienced in the Art of Living Courses.

Panchakosha Meditation
According to ancient Indian scriptures, we consist of five sheaths or koshas – body, breath, mind, intellect and finally bliss. In this meditation we are guided from the gross to the subtler aspects of our being, finally experiencing the joy and peace that's inherent in everyone.

Yoga and Meditation

Hari Om Meditation
It is said that there are seven chakras/ centres of prana-flow (the flow of subtle life energy). In this meditation, we guide the prana to flow from one chakra to the other. Though very simple, the Hari Om meditation leads to a profound experience.

Friday 13 July 2012

Learn Meditation




First, Sit Upright

Sit upright with a straight spine, away from the back of the chair. Place your feet flat on the floor, and your arms, palms turned upward, at the joint between your thighs and torso.

Relax the Body

Do this Tense and Relax exercise to help you relax the body:
Inhale sharply through the nose, with 1 short and 1 long inhalation (double breath)
Tense the whole body until it vibrates with energy
Hold your breath and the tension for five seconds
Exhale forcibly through the mouth, with one short and one long exhalation (double breath)

As you do, throw the tension out


Repeat several times


Breathe Evenly

Inhale slowly, counting to eight. Hold the breath for eight more counts, then exhale slowly to the same count. Without pausing, inhale again — hold — exhale, each to the count of eight.

This is called the Measured Breathing Exercise. Repeat it three to six times.

You can vary the count according to your lung capacity, but always keep it equal during inhalation, holding, and exhalation. Finish your practice by inhaling deeply, then exhaling completely.

Hong-Sau Technique of Concentration

Now wait for the next breath to come in of its own accord. When it does, mentally say Hong (rhymes with song). This time, don’t hold the breath, but exhale naturally. As you do, mentally say Sau (rhymes with saw).
Hong-Sau is an ancient Sanskrit mantra (a mantra is a word, syllable, or group of syllables, which can convey spiritual power when pronounced correctly, often with repetition). It means “I am He” or “I am Spirit.” Try to feel that your breath itself is silently making the sounds of Hong and Sau.
Make no attempt to control your breath. Simply observe it as it flows in and out naturally.

In the beginning you may be mostly aware of the physical manifestation of the breathing process as your diaphragm and chest expand and contract.

As your breath grows calmer, however, try to become aware of its flow in the nostrils, then gradually transfer your awareness higher and higher in the nasal passages.

With the eyes closed, turn your gaze upward to the point midway between the eyebrows within your forehead. Concentrate there. This is the seat of spiritual consciousness in the body, also called the spiritual eye, or Christ Center. In time, try to feel the flow of the breath near the spiritual eye within your forehead.
Keep your gaze steady at the point between the eyebrows throughout your practice. Don’t allow your eyes to follow the movement of the breath. If you find that your mind has wandered, gently bring it back to an awareness of the breath and the mantra. 

Finish your practice of Hong-Sau by inhaling once through the nose, then exhaling three times through the mouth.
 
More Meditation : Art of Living

Thursday 12 July 2012

Meditation Benefits

There are so many advantages to meditation. When I first originally thought of this post, I indeed wanted to make it 100 benefits long (think big right!), however, I wasn’t sure I could find more than perhaps 20-25 benefits. Well, I made it happen! Meditation is as powerful as I thought it would be. Here is the definitive list of benefits that meditation can provide you with:




Here we go for benefits of meditation.

1- It lowers oxygen consumption.
2- It decreases respiratory rate.
3- It increases blood flow and slows the heart rate.
4- Increases exercise tolerance.
5- Leads to a deeper level of physical relaxation.
6- Good for people with high blood pressure.
7- Reduces anxiety attacks by lowering the levels of blood lactate.
8- Decreases muscle tension
9- Helps in chronic diseases like allergies, arthritis etc.
10- Reduces Pre-menstrual Syndrome symptoms.
11- Helps in post-operative healing.
12- Enhances the immune system.
13- Reduces activity of viruses and emotional distress
14- Enhances energy, strength and vigour.
15- Helps with weight loss
16- Reduction of free radicals, less tissue damage
17- Higher skin resistance
18- Drop in cholesterol levels, lowers risk of cardiovascular disease.
19- Improved flow of air to the lungs resulting in easier breathing.
20- Decreases the aging process.
21- Higher levels of DHEAS (Dehydroepiandrosterone)
22- prevented, slowed or controlled pain of chronic diseases
23- Makes you sweat less
24- Cure headaches & migraines
25- Greater Orderliness of Brain Functioning
26- Reduced Need for Medical Care
27- Less energy wasted
28- More inclined to sports, activities
29- Significant relief from asthma
30- improved performance in athletic events
31- Normalizes to your ideal weight
32- harmonizes our endocrine system
33- relaxes our nervous system
34- produce lasting beneficial changes in brain electrical activity
35- Cure infertility (the stresses of infertility can interfere with the release of hormones that regulate ovulation).

Meditation is also completely FREE! It requires no special equipment, and is not complicated to learn. It can be practiced anywhere, at any given moment, and it is not time consuming (15-20 min. per day is good). Best of all, meditation has NO negative side effects. Bottom line, there is nothing but positive to be gained from it! With such a huge list of benefits, the question you should ask yourself is, “why am I not meditating yet?”

More Benefits of Meditation with Art of Living 

It's All About Meditation


The term meditation refers to a broad variety of practices (like sports), which range from techniques designed to promote relaxation, contacting spiritual guides, receiving psychic visions, getting closer to god, seeing past lives, taking astral journies, and so forth, to more technical exercises targeted at developing compassion, love, patience, generosity, forgiveness and more far-reaching goals such as effortless sustained single-pointed concentration[2], single-pointed analysis[3], and an indestructible sense of well-being while engaging in any and all of life’s activities. Thus, it is essential to be specific about the type of meditation practice under investigation.
Failure to make such distinctions would be akin to the use of the word ‘sport’ to refer to all sports as if they were essentially the same. For example, the overly generic description of meditation as a mere relaxation technique12 becomes extremely problematic when one attends to the details of many practices (see 7 and Box 1 and Box 2)7,13,14. In contrast, we should think about the term “Meditation” as referring to several neighborhoods of new age mish-mosh, shamanistic lucid dreaming and astral journeying, theistic-concentration meditations, contemplation’s, visualizations, hypnotherapy, training of single-pointed attention, training in mindfulness, training in single-pointed analysis, vision questing, chi building exercises, and so on, developed for various ends.”

More about Meditation : Art of Living

Tuesday 12 June 2012

Power of Meditation




“In meditation, healing can happen. When the mind is calm, alert and totally contented, then it is like a laser beam – it is very powerful and healing can happen.” - Sri Sri Ravi Shankar

Only a healthy bud can blossom. In the same way, only a healthy being can succeed.

So,what is it to be healthy?

To attain a perfect state of health, one has to remain mentally calm, steady and emotionally stable. ‘Swasthya’ means health. It also means being in one's self. Swasthya or health is not just confined to the body and the mind but it is also connected with the consciousness. The clearer the consciousness is, the more well-being is gained.

Meditation increases prana (life energy)
Prana (the vital life energy) is the very basis of health and well being, for both body and mind. You can gain prana through meditation. When your body is alive with more prana, you feel alert, energetic, and full of good humor. A lack of prana results in lethargy, dullness and poor enthusiasm.

Dealing with illness - through meditation
It is said that the root of an illness is in the mind/consciousness. So, by attending to the mind, clearing it of any disturbances, the recovery speeds up. Illnesses can develop from:

Violation of natural law: such as over-eating
Imposed by nature: such as common cold, an epidemic
Release of past impressions or Karma
Nature itself provides a cure for these illnesses. Health and illness are a part of physical nature. By practicing meditation, the stresses, worries, anxieties drop off and gives rise to a positive state of mind, which has a positive impact on the physical body, brain and nervous system, then illnesses change.

Health and illness are a part of physical nature. You should not worry too much about it. When you worry about illness, you are giving more power to the illness. You are a combination of health and illness. When you keep that in mind and have a positive state of mind, then illnesses change.

Heal the mind – through meditation
Meditation prevents stresses from entering the body system and also releases accumulated stress.Health,happiness and a positive state of Being wells up
The practice of meditation brings a coolness to the brain, it’s like servicing the whole body-mind complex
Clear emotional pollution - with meditation
A time may come in the future, when people will be fined for being depressed, because they are creating emotional pollution! The words that you hear from people around you, affect your state of mind. They either give you peace and joy, or create disturbance (such as jealously, anger, frustration or sadness). You’re affected because the mind is not in its Self; it is not centered. Meditation is the key to control 'emotional pollution'.

Blossom with meditation
Meditation can bring about a spiritual transformation. As you learn more about life, the mystery of the whole Creation unfolds. Then the questions that arise in the mind are - What is the meaning of Life? What is its purpose? What is this world, what is love, what is knowledge...?

Once these questions arise in you, know that you are very fortunate. These questions need to be understood; you cannot find the answers in books. You have to live through them and witness the transformation. That is perfect health; you are transformed from within. And the bud becomes a totally blossomed flower.

Heal the world through meditation
Meditation purifies the environment. Meditation and Sudarshan Kriya have transformed aggression and violence in people - to compassion, love and care. For example, notice how you feel when you enter a room where someone is really angry ? It leaves you feeling the same!

Similarly, when there is a harmonious or a happy activity, you feel good. You may wonder why. Feelings are not isolated in one's body - they are all around. It is in the whole environment, because the mind is subtler than the five elements (earth, water, fire, air, ether). If there is a fire somewhere, the heat is not just in the fire, it is also radiating throughout the place.

Note: If you are unhappy or depressed, you are not the only one who is feeling it; you are spreading it to the whole environment.

In the current global situation of conflicts and disease, it's important to meditates a little every day. Through meditation, you can nullify the negative vibrations in the environment, thereby creating a more harmonious environment.

The Healing Breath and Meditation
A jewel in The Art of Living is the healing breath, known as the Sudarshan Kriya.

This unique breathing practice is a potent energizer:

Every cell becomes fully oxygenated and flooded with new life
It flushes out negative emotions from the body
It releases tensions, frustrations and anger
It clears anxiety, depression and lethargy
It gives relief to both the mind and body