Meditation, traditionally a spiritual or religious practice, has gone mainstream– with good reason. Studies on meditation have linked it to positive benefits in many areas of health; from heart disease to insomnia, to pain relief.
While there are many types of meditation, ask most practitioners and they’ll likely tell you the type you do doesn’t matter so much as that you do it at all, and on a regular basis. Basically you need to get comfortable, focus your mind, relax, and clear your thoughts.
The getting comfortable and relaxing may be relatively easy, but in this high stress, fast-paced world, it can be extremely difficult to focus and clear your mind.
A popular recommendation for getting centered and focused in meditation is to become aware of your breathing. Concentrating on your inhalations and exhalations is supposed to free your mind of everything except this very normal, automatic act, and slowing your breath is supposed to relax you. Frankly, this scares the bejeezes out of me. I’m always afraid I will stop breathing, and worse, be conscious of that fact. Crazy maybe, but high anxiety, whatever its source, is no means for achieving a meditative state.
Meditation, however, is beneficial to you physically, mentally, and emotionally. I know it does me a world of good in clearing out the gunk that mucks up my mind as I go through my day, preparing me for sleep, and calming my nerves-except when I’m freaked out I might notice I’ve stopped breathing as I’m concentrating on my breath. So, I’ve developed my own means of achieving a meditative state I’ve decided to share with you.
Chakras are a new age concept that many people don’t know about. It isn’t important, for the sake of this exercise, to know almost anything about them, or to believe in anything even remotely new age. Using the chakras in meditation is strictly a means of reaching that state where your mind isn’t racing to a hundred different thoughts, and you aren’t checking off your to do list from the day or creating a new one. Meditating is the act of getting your mind clear, slowing your heart rate, and existing in a state of non-worry for a short time. Concentrating on your chakras (even if you don’t believe you have them) provides a means for focus that has nothing to do with bodily functions.
There are seven chakras. It isn’t necessary to know what they are or are supposed to represent. The color and placement, however, is important. So first let’s have a quick review:
The bottom chakra is red and is at the base of your seat, or at the very least at the bottom end of your spine.
The next chakra up from there is orange and is just below your navel.
The chakra up from there is yellow and is at the base of your sternum.
The green chakra is at your heart.
The blue chakra is in your throat.
The purple chakra is between your eyes, but closer to your forehead than your nose.
The white chakra is on top of your head.
Chakras are imagined as spinning balls of color. If you were doing a chakra clearing exercise you would imagine those spinning balls of color going from dull, dirty, maybe even dusty, to vibrant and happy colors. That’s the idea here.
Begin in any position in which you are most comfortable. Form is not important so much as relaxing your mind, brain, and heart rate is. Imagine the red ball at the base of your spine as spinning and red, but maybe a little dull or dirty. Watch (in your mind’s eye) as the ball flings off the dirt, becomes brighter, and spins faster. Take your time with this; don’t rush. See if you can spend up to a minute focused only on that red spinning ball at the base of your spine, watching it grow brighter and more vibrant.
When that’s accomplished, move your attention up to the orange spinning ball just below your navel. Again, watch it go from a dirty, dull orange to something brighter and more vibrant. Again, take your time.
When that’s accomplished, you guessed it, move your attention up to the yellow ball at your sternum. Continue moving your attention upward, taking time at each point along the places of the chakras, until you get to the top of your head.
Do not rush this process. The point of this is to put all your concentration and focus and attention on these imaginary balls of light and color, thus pushing out all thoughts of anxiety and worry and stress. Your breathing will slow automatically, without you even noticing or caring. Your mind will clear of all thoughts unrelated to these balls of light. Your heart rate will slow. Your body will become more and more relaxed. You will reach that coveted and healthy meditative state without anxiety or stress that you aren’t doing it right or that you might stop breathing or that you don’t have time.
Once I’ve gone through this process I sit in that calm state for as long as I can. Yes, my mind does wander, but I resist the inclination to focus on whatever thoughts drift through my consciousness. Sometimes I have a question ready prepared before I start and ask that question when I’m done imagining those balls of light. This helps me to get in touch with my subconscious and see what it thinks or feels about the question. Sometimes I just sit there enjoying being stress free for a while.
Don’t worry if you can’t stay in this state for more than a minute or two when you first start out. They call it practicing meditation for a reason: it takes practice! Do this every day, or at least a few times a week, and you’ll not only increase your time in meditation but you’ll increase its health benefits too.
Good luck!
http://nccam.nih.gov/health/meditation/overview.htm
http://www.nlm.nih.gov/medlineplus/news/fullstory_114094.html
http://www.mayoclinic.com/health/meditation/HQ01070
http://www.news.harvard.edu/gazette/2002/04.18/09-tummo.html