Frustrations with Meditation……..

The first time I sat down to meditate, “Frustration”.  How do you shut your mind off, relax your body and go into a bliss of meditation…..?????
Well that was years ago, I soon learned to start with understanding meditation and utilize guided meditation. There is no exact right or wrong, there is only “what works for you” This article will give you some insight and direction on Meditation.
Meditation can help you become a loving, compassionate, blissful, productive person who enjoys every second of life. I am confident that everyone has the potential for true mystic experiences, good health, calmness, and the love of life.

It is rare to find a way to learn this valuable information without having to become involved with a cult or religion. This is your opportunity. It is unlikely that any one meditation method is right for everyone; I would like to share with you a system that shares many different techniques.
The Diagrams will give you a visual of the three step process in the descriptions below explaining meditation.

Normal Mind

Meditation is a three step process that leads to a state of consciousness that brings serenity, clarity, and bliss. Our “normal” state of mind can actually be quite abnormal. When you receive information (using all your senses) and react in a completely uncontrolled way (although you tell yourself you have great control); you may bounce from one thought to another followed with emotional and physical reactions. The same thought can bring about opposite reactions at different times…
For instance, ……….you may see a dog and start a thought process that reminisces about a pet dog you had and loved. Emotionally, you then start feeling all warm and cuddly; physically, you feel very relaxed. Another time, depending on “how” you experience “dog” you may see the same dog and fear it may attack you and start thinking paranoid thoughts, get fearful and uptight physically.

Concentrating Mind

The second illustration demonstrates Concentration. This is the first step in Meditation and is the start of gaining controls over the mind and thereby life. The procedure is deceptively simple and seems like it would be very easy to do, but you may want to gentle with yourself and give yourself time and practice. The idea is to pick an object/subject to place your attention on and then to focus exclusively on it without diversion.
An example of this would be if you decided to focus on love. To start, you would relax your body, sit in a comfortable position, calm your emotions and begin repeating the word “love” over and over. The situation is that your mind has been your master your whole life and won’t easily relinquish its position. It will attempt to trick you back into old behavior and wondering thoughts.  Your mind may divert your attention, often by giving you a tantalizingly and interesting distractions. It usually goes something like this: You’re sitting there repeating love, love, love when your mind suddenly adds…

“I love candy; they sell the candy I love at the 7-11 up the road. I can get into my car and drive there and get that candy. I know it will be delicious when I bite into it …”

And so there you are — instead of concentrating on love, you’re eating an imaginary candy bar at the 7-11. Witness your being distracted and return to concentrating on the object of your meditation.

Meditating Mind

The third illustration depicts Meditation. Here you have unbroken attention. The classic description of the difference between Concentration and Meditation is given in the example of pouring oil from a bottle into a bowl. At first the oil drips out a drop at a time. This is concentration. Then the oil comes out in a steady stream. This unbroken pouring out is Meditation. If you really examine the process closer, you would notice that when the oil was coming out drop by drop, each drop caused a splash and the droplets of the splashing can be considered comparable to the distractions that interrupt your concentration. Once the stream starts becoming steady, it flows effortlessly.

Similarly, when Concentration flows into Meditation, the attention paid to the object of Meditation becomes deeper and deeper effortlessly and spontaneously, true knowledge about the object presents itself.

Using love as the example again, you would concentrate on love, love, love, love. You might then find your mind filling with thoughts of love — motherly love, fatherly love, and love of country, love of money, puppy love. Every feeling of love, every sensation, every thought; everything in the universe is relative to everything else; ultimately your meditation on “love” will connect you to everything.

At this point, the unity of the object of your meditation and your mind, as illustrated in the fourth illustration, occurs.

Contemplating Mind

This is the state of Contemplation and is the ultimate state of consciousness. Where you usually are only conscious of your body and ego and consider yourself apart from the rest of the universe.  With the experience of Contemplation you become conscious of the cosmos and know yourself to be a part of it and realize your unity with all of it. This is Realization, Cosmic Consciousness. It is your birthright and destiny to know this exquisite state first hand and enjoy the Truth, Consciousness, and Bliss that is your eternal true nature. Take the time and justification in expending whatever energy is necessary to learn to meditate. Begin to make Meditation an important part of your life.

Guided Meditation

A guided meditation is when your imagination is lead on a particular journey with the purpose of achieving healing and realizations through purposeful contemplation and reflection.  Generally; a hosting Reiki Master Teacher will open Reiki Circles with a guided meditation.  You could have someone speak or read a guided meditation to you, listen to a CD or read your own onto a recorder and play it back to yourself.  The idea is to let go of any thought you may have and allow your subconscious mind to follow the words that are spoken.

Many people prefer guided meditation, even if you fall asleep you will still benefit from it subconsciously.

A simple guided meditation will help you to achieve deep relaxation and release negative emotions or beliefs that are preventing you from being further enlightened. When you enter into deep relaxation with such great deliberation you can touch on experiences and feelings that are usually hidden in unreachable parts of your mind.  By allowing your conscious mind to sleep, experiences come forward to be acknowledged and released from your subconscious.  This enables you to become more positive in your contemplation and reflection relating to past experiences you have had, and you can also replace negative programming with confidence and high self esteem

Example

An excellent basic guided meditation script you can start with goes as follows: you may want to record and listen/meditate later…

“Begin by sitting in a comfortable position with your head bent slightly forward.  Cup your hands together in your lap and with your eyes closed, take a moment to check that each part of your body is completely comfortable; your feet, your lower legs, your knees, your upper legs, your buttocks, your pelvis, your lower back and abdomen, your middle back and solar plexus, your chest and upper back, both shoulders, neck, upper arms, elbows, lower arms, wrists and hands.  Also ensure you have relaxed your facial muscles and your scalp muscles.

“Now become aware of your breathing. Simply observe how you are breathing. Is it shallow or deep, quick or slow? Are you breathing through your mouth or nose?  Gently close your mouth and begin to breathe in through your nose and out through you mouth, still in your own rhythm.

“If you need to make any adjustments to your posture, now is the time to do so.  Remember to keep your head tilted slightly forward.  Now you are going to go deep into relaxation. Open your eye lids halfway and at the same time, look downward as far as you can. It may feel uncomfortable, but remain focused on half open lids and down-turned eyes.   Your lids will want to open or close completely, but don’t let them, and continue to look down further and further as your eye muscles relax. (This part of the guided meditation should last for a minimum of thirty seconds)

“Now close your eyes and relax your eyeballs. Breathe deeply, inhaling, then holding your breath for a count of four then exhaling.  Repeat, breathing in deeply… holding for four… and breathing out.  Continue to breathe like that for a moment…… (Silent pause for ten seconds).  Make this one your last breath…….  (This part of the guided meditation should last for a minimum of thirty seconds)

“Carefully open your eyes, one quarter of the way this time, but don’t squint.  Looking down as far as you can, keep your eyelids open only a quarter-way.  They will want to close and may even sneak shut for a moment without you noticing, but do your best to keep them a quarter of the way open and look all the way down as though you are trying to see your feet as best you can.  (Pause for five seconds) Keep looking down. Make sure your eye lids are still open that quarter way… (This part of the guided meditation should last for a minimum of thirty seconds)

“Now close your eyelids and allow your eyes to relax. Return your focus to your breathing, observing your natural breath.  Don’t force your breathing or try to slow it down, simply relax and breath however and whenever you want to.  You are going deeper into relaxation, becoming more relaxed than ever before.

“Using your imagination, picture yourself rising up out of your body to a point above you where you can see yourself sitting in the chair.  See a beautiful white light more pure than you have ever seen before surrounding your body.  It is filling every inch of your body, cleansing every chakra and overflowing to a few feet around you.  This white light attracts any discomfort, negativity, hurt, pain, illness, anger or fear into its outer rim where it is dissolved.  Imagine all your past hurts, physical problems and mental barriers being drawn out into the light where they dissipate forever. (Long pause for visualization) Picture the white light slowly turning into golden light from your center outwards.

Imagine and visualize- the golden light is flowing through you, up high beyond the sun and stars and back down deep into the core of the earth.

“You are so drawn to this golden light; you can’t resist returning to your body.  As you imagine yourself slipping back in, you smile ever so slightly as you feel a beautiful, warm, glowing sensation all over.  Feel the healing, and you are free!  You let go even further, going deeper, and deeper.  Sit in the golden light, and focus. Take slow, occasional breaths.

(Pause for as long as you want the guided meditation to continue)

“Taking a breath in, start to wiggle your fingers and toes, gradually followed by your ankles and wrists.  Lift your arms and legs up and down a little and lift your head.  When you feel ready, move a little more and then open your eyes slowly.  Take your time, stretch, and get up whenever you feel ready.”

This is a guided meditation that encourages healing and will help you reach a state of deep spiritual remuneration.  If you don’t like the idea of hearing your own voice on tape ask a friend to read it for you, and remember to keep it slow in pace and soft in pitch and tone.  When you begin practicing your guided meditation regularly you will feel more relaxed, be able to cope with stress easily, build a stronger immune system and connect with your inner, spiritual self and creator.  Take into consideration how much time you spend thinking, worrying, rushing and working. It seems only natural to balance it all out with deep relaxation, and guided meditation is an effective way to achieve this. Even if you are new to meditation and the healing art “Reiki”; you can learn at your own pace through The Secret of Reiki Home Study Course.

Do you have a meditation or affirmation you would like to share, or a question?  Just leave your comment to share with others.

Relax, Breathe, Meditate and Rejuvenate through Reiki

Sharing with Love n Lite,
Kimberlee Cusumano
Reiki Master Teacher
1-800-553-0269