Meditation How To: Chakra Meditation

Do you have just 10 minutes a day to devote to yourself? If the answer is no, then you have a wonderful opportunity right now to create that special space for yourself. Here are some suggestions to help you find that precsious 10 minutes that can mean the difference between a stressfilled day and one that just seems to flow with the rhythms of the Universe:

• Could you rise 10 minutes earlier?
• Watch 10 minutes less television this evening?
• Start your before bed routine 10 minutes before usual?

These are all good times to give yourself the gift of meditation. What you do doesn’t have to be elaborate. Where you sit doesn’t have to be anything other than comfortable and private. What you wear doesn’t have to be anything other than warm and comfortable and what you do doesn’t have to be anything more than what we have previously discussed here at Meditation How To Blog.

With that in mind, I’ve found a lovely video on YouTube that gives you a guided Chakra Meditation, you can sit by your computer, comfortable with headphones or on speakers and listen and watch this simple process or you can close your eyes and just listen to the words as they are of themselves enough to help you visualise the different colours.

I hope you enjoy!

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For many people the issue of not having enough time to meditate is the first roadblock to meditation.

• The book I’m currently reading aims to address that problem directly and one thing I have picked up over the years is that behind this roadblock is the eronious belief that meditation is going to take hours each day. Wrong!
• You can develop a sustaining and enjoyable meditation practice in as little as 5-15 minutes per day. You heard correctly there, if you meditate for around 10 minutes a day you will develop the habit of meditation, the relationship with your inner world and many of the benefits of meditation.
• Do you have 10 minutes a day that you can offer to your health and wellbeing, your peace of mind, your inner self through meditation? I bet you have! Give it a try, just 5- 10 minutes today, this morning, right now!

For other people it is the chattering mind that causes them to stop meditating or never to try in the first place.

• Once again, there is a “mis” belief behind this roadblock. Many people think that when they sit down to meditate, there should be silence. They think that their chatterbox will just wait patiently for them to rejoin the throng and throws of life, they think that their mind will willingly take a back seat and leave them alone for even 30 seconds. Wrong!
• Whilst stillness and silence in the mind is the ultimate goalpost for many, it is not a prerequisite condition to developing a sustaining and joy filled meditation practice. You may be one of the lucky people who is able to create that sacred, silent space within quickly and easily but for most people it will be a long road to nirvana.
• Instead of quitting, getting frustrated or even angry at the thoughts that invade your meditation space, just remember to accept the mind for thinking and let those thoughts pass through your space without giving them any undue attention.

The third common thing people wonder about and that may become a roadblock for them is that they think they must be doing it wrong.

• There may be many reasons for this, perhaps they can’t sit still, perhaps they can’t quiet their mind for even one inbreath/outbreath sequence, perhaps they just can’t find that 10 minute period to support their desire for peace in their lives.
• This is not about perfection folks. This is about turning up, tuning into your inner world, creating a space for peace to enter your life.
• So what if your nose itched or the doorbell rang. So what if all you could think about was dinner with friends, or the harsh words you spoke to your love. So what if you only managed one moment of total focus, of quiet mind, of gentle relaxation.

The mere act of actually sitting in meditation with the intention to provide yourself with a few minutes in which to create that special place for peace to reside in your life…. means you have succeeded. You can only fail if you don’t do it, if you fail to make the time or you give it a half hearted attempt.

There is no-one but you keeping score, and anyway meditation is not a competition. There will be days when you will wish you had more time to continue in your relaxed and peaceful state. There will be other days when you really have to work hard to make the time to sit and meditate. But each day that you show up, each day that you take the time, each day that you commit and respond to your intention to meditate and bring peace into your life, you win.

My advice? Do it first thing in the morning, begin your day at the top of the mountain. Give yourself the give of peace, clarity and relaxation at the beginning of your day and the rest of the day will be so much better than it might have been.

Don’t worry that you are doing it wrong. Know that most roadblocks to meditation are based in false beliefs and just keep turning up. Your level of self awareness, peace and your connection to your inner true nature will be strengthened each time you do.

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However, if you are anything like me, I used to be well into my “stress response” before I even remembered about meditation. This lovely movie is centred around anxiety - which is a stress - and I thought it a timely reminder at this time of year. I hope you enjoy.

If you would like to visit the original post directly click on the link above or find it at this address: http://manifestcreations.wordpress.com

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We have also looked at how to gain some control over your body and your mind in preparation for creating a sustaining, fulfilling and worthwhile personal meditation practice. Now it’s time to put them all together!

These are the basic building blocks of meditation:

• a still, relaxed body
• a calm mind
• and an awareness of your breath

You are ready to begin your meditation practice because you now have an understanding of and a pathway into your inner world.

I have created a short, gentle guided meditation for you to follow that incorporates all of the elements we have covered so far in this Meditation How To Series. It is only 10 minutes long and from the feedback I have received, if you master this meditation you will be well on your way.

I highly recommend that you devote a minimum of one 10 minute session every single day… yes that is correct, every single day.  Ideally you will increase both the time and the frequency as your connection to meditation increases and you begin the notice the incredible benefits in your life.  For now though, committ to one session - either morning or evening whichever you feel serves you better.  I hope this guided meditation downloadable file will assist you in honouring your intention to create more peace, calm, relaxation and awareness in your life.

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My first post in the Meditation How To series - introduced you to the power of the breath in meditation and in life. I gave some direction for you to follow to get to know how you breathe. I know that sounds strange but a lot of people give ZERO thought to their breath until something goes wrong with it.

Developing an understanding of breath in your day to day life is a good grounding skill on the path to meditation.

Second in the series: Meditation How To - First Control Your Body gave some simple and effective techniques and insights to assist you to work with your body in a constructive way that would lead to a meditation practice you would enjoy and be successful with.

Third in the series: Meditation How To - Now Control Your Mind! began with the premise that, just like the body, the mind is not used to you asserting conscious control over it’s activities and would, given the opportunity, attempt to dissuade you from your chosen activity - meditation.

This fourth post in the series continues on the theme, Now Control Your Mind. You may have discovered that you were unable to stop your mind from thinking thoughts as you sat in your meditation space, in quiet contemplation. Hooray! That makes you human and you are one step closer to a successful meditation practice.

I have already shared with you the first most useful tip I ever received about meditation and now I want to share the second most useful tip. For most people, the ’silence’ they experience in meditation lasts for a matter of seconds only. Many people who meditate will not stop their thoughts and they are still able to derive the myriad benefits awaiting them through their meditation practice.

When I first heard this from my meditation mentor I was so relieved! I had come to believe I was failing at meditation because I couldn’t stop my thoughts. The trick, I was told, was to catch myself being drawn down a pathway of thought and to bring myself back to my focus on meditation.

How on earth was I going to do that? With my breath!

Hopefully you’ve watched your breath these past couple of weeks. You may have begun to notice when you are stressed and your breath becomes shallow and quick, or when you are a little afraid or doing something particularly difficult and perhaps, like me you hold your breath. Now is the time to take this personal knowledge and apply it to meditation.

Once again, sitting upright and comfortably in your favourite meditation space, relaxed and calm, quiet your body. Once the body feels content to remain still you can place your focus on your breath. Take a couple of deep breaths and as you release them, allow your body to relax even more. Put all your focus on your breath, feel it enter your body through your nose and then gently release it, either through your nose or your mouth, whichever you prefer.

Spend a little time with this process, you will notice that as you become accustomed to it that your breath will relax along with your body. Do not force it, allow it to flow naturally, becoming calmer and quieter just like your body.

Your mind will begin to attempt to attract your attention. Do not fight it. That’s right - to fight it is to give it your attention. As you notice that you are thinking thoughts just bring your focus back to your breath. Gentle breath in, gentle breath out and amazingly, the thoughts recede back from whence they came.

Of course, there are many tools you can use as a focus for your meditation. Candles, incense, music, affirmations, prayers, mantra and even a guided meditation such as the one available for purchase on this site. Master this breath meditation practice and a whole world of possibility will open for you. Perhaps you will become one of those who can transcend thought and reach that place of absolute silence within. Perhaps you will be one of the many who manage to quiet their mind and for a few sweet seconds catch a glimpse of the divine within.

The combination of body, breath and mind can bring you into that wonderful place of meditation. Practice each day until it becomes something you look forward to. Another teacher of mine gave me this wonderfully uplifting advice: Just by turning up, you win. Even if you are unable to settle your body or your mind and you feel frustrated today, that you were unable to reach that meditative state to which you aspire. Do not despair, you turned up today for your meditation practice and that makes you a winner every time.

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This step builds on the previous post - Meditation How To: First Control Your Body.

• Once you have a measure of control over your body - if you can come to some arrangement with it to be able to sit quietly, comfortably, upright, eyes closed and relaxed for just 5 minutes then you are to be congratulated! Well done. Any progress in this area is to be acknowledged and just stick with it until your body trusts you enough to just go with the flow for as long as you decide. Now that is real Power!

The mind is our next target on our journey to creating a sustaining, enjoyable meditation practice.

• Most people are almost unaware of their mind. Of course, we all realise that we think, solve problems, have ideas and all that kind of stuff but have you ever really stopped and had a listen to what is going on in there?

• The statistics for how many thoughts we each have everyday is mind blowing. The last figure I read was that we each have more than 60,000 thoughts each and every day! According to the research many of these are the very same thoughts we had yesterday, and the day before yesterday and the day before that! What a waste of such an incredibly powerful resource.

So today, I thought I would suggest that you spend two or three minutes with your body, building trust in the meditative process, getting relaxed and still physically and then when you think peace has decended upon your physical form, turn your attention to what is happening in your mind.

• Now you don’t have to “do” anything at all. This is one of the joys of the Meditation How To series, nice and easy, gentle steps forward both in understanding and in practice.

• Just turn your attention to what is going on in your mind. It is important at this point, to merely observe your thoughts. No need to try to stop them, no need to try to control them in any way, just observe what it is you are thinking about. You may be surprised.

• I will recommend that you try hard not to buy into the thoughts that are running through your consciousness. Don’t get into conversation with yourself, don’t begin to worry about stuff, don’t plan your shopping list or to do list … just observe.

Your mind is doing just what your body was doing in the First Step in this Meditation How To Series. It’s not used to you ‘watching’ it, so it will pull every single dirty little trick it can manage to get your attention and stop you in your attempt to observe it.

• Your mind is quite happy to help you solve problems, quite happy to indulge your fear, doubt and worry thoughts and scenarios, it is delighted when you daydream and let it wander around a topic at will.

• What it is not yet used to is allowing you to watch it, to take control of it and like your body, it will try to catch your attention and run away with it.

It’s a good idea to have a journal handy to write down what it was you experienced of your body and your mind through this process. You may learn lots of interesting and useful stuff about yourself and it’s a great thing to write down your progress as you move along and through the learning about you!

Just as you now have a measure of control and a trusting relationship developing with your body, so too can you do the same with your mind. It is a powerful force and it will take some time, so for now, just watch it, be the observer and record what you discover in your journal.

Good luck, start with what you know - quiet, comfortable, relaxed body - and once that has been established spend just a couple of minutes at first observing that chatter-box mind of yours. Begin easily and each day extend the amount of time you are spending with your mind to 5 minutes or so.

Enjoy!

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Well, you can do that and it works really well for many people.  However, if you’ve not sat cross legged on the floor since you were in first grade this could well be the first obstacle that comes between you and your beautiful meditation practice.

Can I give you an alternative? 

Find a nice chair to sit in, one that allows you to be comfortable (but not so comfy you fall asleep!), one that allows you to sit nice and upright.  If you need to support your feet you can pop a cushion or a foot stool under them.  Sit up straight, get nice and comfortable and do try to relax. 

Sit in this upright comfortable, relaxed position for 5 full minutes - with your eyes closed.

What I’m going to tell you now might just surprise you.  I mean, you sit quietly most evenings and watch the television - I used to.  I thought I could sit still for 5 minutes no problem at all.  Easy.  I was wrong.  My toes twitched, my nose itched, my eyes fluttered just to name a few of the little tricks my body tried to play with me.  I just couldn’t understand what was going on.  So I did a bit more reading, a little more listening and a lot more practicing.

One meditation teacher I was listening to on CD suggested to me that my body was not used to me trying to control it.  He suggested, and I ended up agreeing he was correct, that my body would do what I wanted it to for all sorts of things like picking up a cup, walking along the road or riding my pushbike if I wanted to BUT it was not used to me trying to control whether or not it moved at will.  It was used to shifting position if it became slightly uncomfortable.  It was used to being able to blink (or not) at will.  It was used to me scratching it if it were itchy.

So when I decided I wanted to find a nice, quiet, comfortable place to sit and meditate it went into outrageous overdrive trying to get my attention and to assert it’s dominance over me! 

You can guess who won!  It did, at first but I was determined to gain even this slight control over MY Body!  Now I can sit for 30 minutes or even more without so much as a itch  or a twitch.

So there you have it.  Step One of Meditation How To: Take Control Of Your Body.

Give it a try.  One minute at a time until you can do it for a full five minutes.  Make a game out of it.  Record in your journal all the little tricks and tantrums your body plays out as it tries to force you out of your meditation practice.  Make it fun and really, if your nose itches just scratch it and start the clock again!

Have fun, and lots of luck.

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Meditation is something most of us have heard of at some point in our lives. Perhaps we know someone who meditates, or perhaps your health practitioner or doctor has recommended you practice meditation to assist with stress reduction, relaxation, pain management or anxiety levels.

So where does one start? At the beginning of course!

One of the simplest forms for beginning meditators to grasp is that of the breath meditation. We all breathe. It is the first thing we do when we are born and the last thing we will do when we die. As a result of this familiarity, we take our breath for granted. We don’t even notice we are doing it and this is a wonderful place to begin your meditation journey. Begin to take notice of your breath.

• Do you breathe quickly or slowly?
• Do you breathe at the top of your chest or low down in your lungs?
• Through your nose or your mouth?
• Does breathe come easily to you or do you suffer from asthma or some other condition which makes breathing difficult?

Coming to understand how you breathe, can give you a wonderful place to begin your journey of self discovery, self knowledge and ultimately self understanding. These wonderful insights will assist you with whatever it was that bought you to meditation in the first place.

Meditation How To Blog will bring you ideas, inspirations, examples, resources, and insights into beginning meditation and beyond. I have taken great care to source quality items which may help you stay with your meditation practice and give you more techniques to try as your experience and comfort level increase.

If meditation has been recommended to you or if you are drawn to it through personal interest I believe you will find its many benefits in your life, well worth the effort you will expend in becoming a regular meditator. In my life, my daily meditation has become a precious jewel which sustains me physically, mentally, emotionally and spiritually. It is my hope to be of some assistance to you as you create this gift in your own life.

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