Different Forms Of Meditation

There are no special tricks to meditating; no special posture or breathing rhythm is required. Once you have gotten the knack of it you can meditate anywhere during any activity. Some readers have succeeded in reaching this altered state of conscious while reading about my sand meditation, perhaps you too may realize this transformational state of consciousness as you read on…

Sometimes meditation opens a door into the mysteries of creation. If we allow ourselves to pass through this door there is no telling what we may encounter on the other side. Do not become discouraged if you have tried to meditate in the past and not gotten any remarkable results. Meditation is a mystical process and it may take awhile to learn how to quiet your mind and open yourself to all the present moment has to offer you.

My meditation began while sitting on a beach. My hands were sandy. I rubbed my thumb and forefinger together feeling the grains of sand between them slipping away until only a single grain of sand remained. I could feel the shape of the grain of sand distinctly as I rolled it back and forth between my thumb and forefinger.

The longer I rolled the grain of sand about the more defined my awareness of the grain of sand became. The more detailed my experience of the grain of sand became the larger it appeared to be.
While I could clearly feel the tiny grain of sand trapped between my thumb and finger roll about across the grooves and ridges of my fingerprints the grain of sand appeared to be growing larger and larger as I contemplated it.

The grain of sand continued to grow, encompassing the beach and then the world. Before long the grain of sand had grown to an infinite size and it now encompassed all of creation; yet I still held the tiny grain of sand between my thumb and forefinger, rolling it about across the grooves and ridges of my fingerprints.

The tiny grain of sand was intimately connected to every part of creation and all of creation existed within it, even as it existed within my grasp. I communed with the grain of sand, aware of its infinite connectedness to everything else; through the medium of the grain of sand I became aware of my own infinite connectedness with all of creation.

The sand spoke to me of eternity. It told me tales about creation and the infinite nature of our existence in creation. From the grain of sand I learned that every tiniest part of creation is a living being experiencing creation and sharing in the process whereby creation makes everything manifest.

My meditation with a grain of sand always produced a feeling of intense bliss. It was an eternal meditation that transcended the time and place where it began to continue throughout all of creation. From time to time I would return to this meditation, engrossed by the wisdom and experience of a single tiny grain of sand.

Buddhist Meditation

Buddhist Meditation Offers the Ultimate in Tranquility

Meditation has been around for many years and is practiced by many people and many religions, with Buddhism being the major religion for meditation. Buddhist meditation is an essential part of their lives as a goal towards the realization of Nibbana. Nibbana is considered as the ultimate goal in Buddhism. It’s not a physical thing that one can see or feel. To reach the realization of Nibbana, one has reached the end of craving and suffering. Nibbana is considered the ultimate bliss and total liberation for all suffering-a total rebirth of the mind and soul.

Living the good life and being the best person they can be in not enough. Although being a good person and doing good things will make the person happy and fulfilled, it will not bring the total enlightenment they require. It is only through Buddhist meditation that they can reach the realization of Nibbana, which is the goal of every Buddhist. The Buddhist learns in explicit details the techniques of Buddhist meditation through the Buddhist scriptures. Although it’s important to understand the concept of meditation, it’s more vital that the individual learn the actual practice. Two different methods of Buddhist meditation are used in the religion. These two methods are ’samatha’ and ‘vipassana’.

Samatha means calm or tranquility, which is what the individual is striving to achieve. The beginning stages of samatha have to do with concentration of the mind as one-pointedness. Many different subjects that can be used such as water, light from a candle among many others. A very popular and widely used technique is anapanasati, which is mindfulness of breathing. The body and mind both gain their calmness from concentrating on the breath. Samatha is more than just concentration; however, they need to get rid of the five vices of anxiety, sensual desire, ill will, sloth and doubt. When this goal is reached through this form of Buddhist meditation, great happiness is gained but they still cannot reach Nibbana. This is where vipassana is necessary.

Vipassana is an entirely different approach of Buddhist meditation than samatha. This method rather than concentrating on other things is based on seeing things as they are without any aversions or attractions. Each thing that we do we need to acknowledge. If you are dusting the wall, you need to take note in your mind that you are dusting the wall. This first stage of vipassana is called bare awareness. Bare awareness goes with an insight of our inner lives. This method of Buddhist meditation is used with breathing meditation and can take one to the realization of Nibbana. Many use a combination of vipassana and samatha.

Meditation Using Your Body And Brain

There is a constant two-way communication going on between your body and your brain.Do you remember a time when you may have thought of something that was just terrible or maybe you had a “sinking feeling” in your stomach area? That is the kind of communication that goes on between your brain and your body.Meditation can help relax your mind so it can help train your body to relax and your brain to be clear.

Recent research has found that not only does your brain communicate with your cells,but your cells will also communicate with your brain and also with other parts of your body.In fact,scientist have recently discovered that we think with not only are brain but our bodies as well.Meditation can help us to also understand about our brain.It is not inaccurate to look at your entire body as being part of your brain.

That may be a new fact that may startle you,but do not reject it.Many scientists are now starting to believe that we are actually a “bodybrain”.You can communicate with your body and brain through meditation.A key part of your body’s incredible communication system involves your cells’ receptors.This means every call in your body can have millions of receptors on it’s face,and each cell has perhaps seventy different types of receptors.

While meditating as I learned more I discovered that in the early 1970s,Candace Pert,PhD.D, was the first scientist to prove that the existence of these receptors with her own discovery of the opiate receptor.This receptor molecules float on the cell’s oily outer part of the membrane and also have roots that can reach deep inside the cell.I’m sure that Dr.Pert had to do a lot of meditating as she wrote her wonderful book The Molecules Of Emotion,Dr.Pert says that “the life of a cell,what it is up to at any moment,is determined by which receptors are on its surface,and whether those receptors are occupied by ligands or not.

A ligand is described as a small molecule that will bind itself to a cellular receptor.Still using mediation to keep my mind clear I learned that there are three chemical types of ligands. They are the neurotransmitters,the steroids,and the ones that we are most interested in at this time,the peptides. According to Dr.Pert,as many as 95 percent of all ligands may be peptides.

The receptors and their ligands have come to be seen as “information

Achieving Happiness Through Meditation

There is only one way to achieve happiness.That way is to simply be happy.You are probably thinking right now how do i get to be happy.” “Things just don’t work like that, It doesn’t take into consideration the times that I am miserable because of problems or mishaps that come up in my everyday life,not to mention the tragedies.” At this point I have to stop and meditate. Meditation can be done many different ways, just find the one that works best for your purposes.

Being happy much more of the time than you have been is an incredibly difficult task to accomplish-not in the doing of it once you know how and then in keeping aware of what you have discovered.Yet,I still say that with meditation you can do it.The path that you have chose that led you to your current situation was not a few days or months in the making,but a long and strenuous path that has spanned through many years.

In reality it has taken you as long as you have been alive to become the way you are today.It has also taken you that long to achieve what you have achieved, to possess,and to arrive at your current condition.By taking the time to meditate and think about who you are,and what you have in your life is truly what you want,If you are completely satisfied with the way your life is going, congratulations do more of what you have been doing and you will get more of what you already have in your life.

But if who you are,what you want,what you have,and your current conditions are less than what you want or perhaps are different from what you want,you have to start meditating about some basic changes you will need to make in your life.Failure to make those changes will find you continuing to seek the things you really would like in your life as the years pass by.

Because some of this that you are reading will seem impossible,ridiculous,or to you maybe even foolish and it may at first offend you,causing you to ridicule what you are reading and maybe even cause you to reject what you have read. I really want to suggest to you that before you may reject how meditation can help you through your life,ask yourself whether or not you want it to be true-then for your benefit please give yourself the chance to see it as true.

In this day and time with all the things we have to deal with in our lives it is very hard to stay on a positive level and be happy all the time,But just taking a few minutes a day just meditating by yourself will help you keep things in perspective where instead of being unhappy about the situation you are in you can find a way to find the happy part of being unhappy.