"The most important thing is practice in daily life; then you can know gradually the true value of religion. Doctrine is not meant for mere knowledge, but for the improvement of our minds. In order to do that, it must be part of our life. If you put religious doctrine in a building and when you leave the building depart from the practices, you cannot gain its value." -- His Holiness the Dalai Lama, from ' A Policy of Kindness'

Meditation is a mental discipline by which one attempts to get beyond the conditioned, "thinking" mind into a deeper state of relaxation or awareness. There are many different meditation methods.

At the core of meditation is the goal to focus and eventually quiet your mind. As you progress, you will find that you can meditate anywhere and at any time, accessing an inner calm no matter what's going on around you. You will also find that you can better control your reactions to things as you become increasingly aware of your thoughts (letting go of anger, for example). But first, you have to learn to tame your mind.

Many people discover it quickly becomes more essential and helpful than a good breakfast or 'the first cup of coffee' in the morning. In the evening, it can be a good way to stop the worries of the day and go to sleep in a comfortable state of mind. People who have problems getting to sleep may discover that with an evening meditation just before going to bed, the mind becomes much calmer and getting to sleep is no problem anymore. Ultimately, meditation can become a continuous state of mind, but that obviously takes a lot of training/habituation.

Before starting meditation, ideally we need to take care of a few things:

- A quiet place (using music is nice for relaxing, but not really meditation), switching off the phone will help.

- make sure you are not too tired, early morning is generally said to be the best time.

- Sit comfortable; most people like a cushion under their behind, the room is best not too warm or cold.

- wear loose, comfortable clothing.

- try to create continuity in time and place to become habituated to the circumstances of meditation.

The Body:

- keeping the back straight, in whichever posture you meditate is most essential.

- try to be comfortable and physically relaxed, and avoid moving too much.

- keep the head straight, slightly bent forward; keep the teeth slightly apart, the tip of the tongue against the upper pallet.

- The eyes are best kept half-open (without really looking), but many beginners find that too distracting and close them.

- The shoulders should be relaxed and the hands can be put in one's lap.

- The legs can be in the full lotus (which not many Westerners manage), but also simply crossed. In fact, other positions like sitting on one's knees or on a bench are good as well. If all of these are too difficult, you can also use a chair, but remember to sit only on the front half of the seat, not leaning against the back rest to avoid a bent back, and keep the feet flat on the floor. Keeping the knees warm may help to avoid numbness of the legs.

- try belly-breathing; not breathing with the chest, but from the navel.

- Always remember that the posture should enhance meditation, not be an obstacle! The Buddha even taught one of his disciples, who had many problems with his posture to lie down with his back on a bed, and then he quickly made progress; however, most people tend to fall asleep - so it will not be suitable for everyone...

The Mind:

- be relaxed but at the same time awake and attentive: finding your balance here is not easy!

- be a careful observer of your own mind and thoughts; sometimes called the 'little spy inside':

From Ani Tenzin Palmo, Reflections on a Mountain Lake: Teachings on Practical Buddhism:

"As we begin to develop awareness of the mind, the mind itself appears to divide into two. A new aspect of the mind arises. This is referred to variously as the witness, the seer, the knower, or the Observer. It witnesses without judgment and without comment. Along with the arrival of the witness, a space appears within the mind. This enables us to see thoughts and emotions as mere thoughts and emotions, rather than as 'me' and 'mine.' When the thoughts and emotions are no longer seen as 'me' or 'mine', we begin to have choices. Certain thoughts and emotions are helpful, so we encourage them. Others are not so helpful, so we just let them go. All the thoughts and emotions are recognized and accepted. Nothing is suppressed. But now we have a choice about how to react. We can give energy to the ones, which are useful and skillful and withdraw energy from those which are not."

The Session:

1. Try and set yourself a minimum time that you want to meditate and try to stick to that as a minimum, but also stop before you get completely tired.

2.  Motivation - to know what you are doing, most Buddhists will start with a refuge prayer, generating bodhicitta (for example using the prayer of the four immeasurable) and the seven-limb prayer (this contains the aspects of respectfulness towards the teachers, making (mental) offerings, admitting one's past mistakes, rejoicing in positive actions, asking the teachers to remain, requesting them to teach and dedicating the practice to full enlightenment). See the example meditations for a set of these prayers.

3a. Calming and clearing the mind - often using a simple (but often not easy) breathing meditation - see below.

3b. Optional for an analytical meditation: take specific object or technique and stay with that - avoid excuses to change the subject.

4.  Conclusion and dedication - to make impression on the mind

In short: meditation is a method to transform ourselves into the person we would like to be; don't forget what you want to be like; therefore we need to set the motivation which gives perseverance in the practice. Keep relaxed, don't push yourself and don't expect great experiences. A dedication at the end directs positive energy towards results.

The Tibetans traditionally advise the '6 Preparatory Practices' prior to the first traditional meditation session of the day:

1. Sweep and clean the room and arrange the altar.

2. Make offerings on the altar, e.g. light, food, incense, water bowls, etc...

3. Sit in a comfortable position and examine your mind. If there is much distraction, do some breathing meditation to calm your mind. Then establish a good motivation. After that, take refuge and generate the altruistic intention by reciting the appropriate prayers.

4. Visualize the 'merit field' in front of you with your Teachers, Buddha’s, bodhisattvas, etc. If this is too difficult, visualize Shakyamuni Buddha alone and consider him the embodiment of all Buddhas, Dharma (teachings) and Sangha (community).

5. Offer the seven limb prayer and do the mandala offering by reciting the prayers.

6. Make requests to the lineage teachers for inspiration by reciting the requesting prayers. It is also good to review the entire graduated path to enlightenment by reciting for example, "Foundation of All Good Qualities". This helps you to understand the purpose of the particular meditation that you will do in the overall scheme of training the mind in the gradual path. It also plants the seed for you to obtain each realization of the path.

100 Benefits of Meditation

Physiological benefits:

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 vigor.

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).

Psychological benefits:

36- Builds self-confidence.

37- Increases serotonin level, influences mood and behavior.

38- Resolve phobias & fears

39- Helps control own thoughts

40- Helps with focus & concentration

41- Increase creativity

42- Increased brain wave coherence.

43- Improved learning ability and memory.

44- Increased feelings of vitality and rejuvenation.

45- Increased emotional stability.

46- improved relationships

47- Mind ages at slower rate

48- Easier to remove bad habits

49- Develops intuition

50- Increased Productivity

51- Improved relations at home & at work

52- Able to see the larger picture in a given situation

53- Helps ignore petty issues

54- Increased ability to solve complex problems

55- Purifies your character

56- Develop will power

57- greater communication between the two brain hemispheres

58- react more quickly and more effectively to a stressful event.

59- increases one’s perceptual ability and motor performance

60- higher intelligence growth rate

61- Increased job satisfaction

62- increase in the capacity for intimate contact with loved ones

63- decrease in potential mental illness

64- Better, more sociable behavior

65- Less aggressiveness

66- Helps in quitting smoking, alcohol addiction

67- Reduces need and dependency on drugs, pills & pharmaceuticals

68- Need less sleep to recover from sleep deprivation?

69- Require less time to fall asleep, helps cure insomnia

70- Increases sense of responsibility

71- Reduces road rage

72- Decrease in restless thinking

73- Decreased tendency to worry

74- Increases listening skills and empathy

75- Helps make more accurate judgments

76- Greater tolerance

77- Gives composure to act in considered & constructive ways

78- Grows a stable, more balanced personality

79- Develops emotional maturity

Spiritual benefits:

80- Helps keep things in perspective

81- Provides peace of mind, happiness

82- Helps you discover your purpose

83- Increased self-actualization.

84- Increased compassion

85- Growing wisdom

86- Deeper understanding of yourself and others

87- Brings body, mind, spirit in harmony

88- Deeper Level of spiritual relaxation

89- Increased acceptance of oneself

90- helps learn forgiveness

91- Changes attitude toward life

92- Creates a deeper relationship with your God

93- Attain enlightenment

94- greater inner-directedness

95- Helps living in the present moment

96- Creates a widening, deepening capacity for love

97- Discovery of the power and consciousness beyond the ego

98- Experience an inner sense of “Assurance or Knowingness”

99- Experience a sense of “Oneness”

100- Increases the synchronicity in your life

Tags: Meditation Yoga Mental Physical Stress