| Where to meditate
Pick a place in your home that you
can use to sit in meditation. Put a rug or blanket on the floor and let that be
enough for you to sit in Meditation Posture and begin Meditation.
If need be, simply pick up the blanket after you have meditated. A
person can always meditate outside when it is possible.
These are not rules to inhibit meditation, but rather, these suggestions
are to get started. However, this is a
rule, do not use incense as a meditation device, as it will not work.
Use incense for other times, to work, to relax, to make a room smell
favorable. Some people
take time to have candles and statues in their meditation room. Anything may work,
but keep it simple to begin with. The goal is to meditate, and not adore meditation
rooms with art and glamour. Remember, you will have to close your
eyes to meditate.
When to meditate
First of all, it is best to sit in meditation daily
in the morning and evening. Use your Meditation place and a
Meditation Posture.
Try to find the best time to meditate for you, instead of only imposing a rule or
specific time to do so. There are also special times to meditate, for example, when
you have extra time, when you have extra problems, when you are away from home. Some
people meditate at sunrise. Others meditate when there is some peace and quite in
the home. Face East or North when you meditate.
How long to sit in Meditation
Try to sit in meditation
for at least ten minutes. Otherwise, a Yogi can certainly sit in
meditation for a longer time, when your Meditation Posture feels strong
and easy to sit in. Otherwise you will sit and have pain. Also, a person can certainly have as many sittings in meditation
as you need. All these rules are like "nice Angel Stories" so you can get going in
meditation. There are several postures that can be used for
meditation. If you cannot sit on the floor, take some Hatha Yoga
stretching lesson from a book or a class. Sitting on
the floor still is the best way. On Wednesday, try sitting in a
chair for Meditation. This will break the week up and give you
more energy. On Thursday, use the Full Lotus Posture. On
Friday, use the Swastikana posture. On Saturday, use the Half
Lotus. On Sunday use the Siddhasana. On Monday and Tuesday,
use the Easy Posture.
Meditation Method One
Sitting comfortable on the floor, close your eyes and take in one deep breath and
exhale. Inside you, your inner vision is a darkness. Welcome this darkness and
look at it. Remain centered in your own self and look at the darkness. This is
a type of meditation bliss, or happiness that is very simple. Soon you will think
about something anyway. At that time you can stop Meditation Method One. Open
your eyes and end meditation. In fact this may take less than a minute to do the
whole thing. Eventually you will stay in the meditation for longer periods of time.
This method is does not need to be used for long meditations, however,
every student of meditation may end up simply sitting in their
Meditation Posture and doing Meditation Method One. The method is
okay, and cannot even be thrown out later on, when you feel like you
have meditated a very long time, for years. In other words,
advanced practitioners of Meditation still use some of this method.
Meditation Method Two
Put flowers in a vase and put the flowers in front of you to meditate on. Sit on
the floor or a chair, and with open, eyes look at the flowers until your mind is calm and you are
attuned to the flowers. Then close your eyes and remember what the flowers looked
like and felt like. Continue meditating in a free style and let the energy flow.
At some point this will end. Eventually boredom will come to you, and you can
end Meditation Method Two. The purpose of this method is often
hard to comprehend. Try to remember all the uses that our culture
has made of flowers, such as happy occasions, sad ones, hospitals,
weddings, funerals. Flowers to look at help people is the simple
idea here.
Meditation Method Three
Sitting in meditation pose with your eyes closed, repeat the mantra called "Om
Namah Shivaya". The way this Mantra sounds is on a separate
page, the
Mantra Meditation Page. The mantra can be repeated
out loud as well, and then when you have repeated it out loud for a time, you can
then repeat it silently. Lastly a person can sit in silent meditation after the
mantra is repeated. When you have lost track of your meditation, go back to
repeating the mantra silently. Om Namah Shivaya means salutations to my own inner
self which is called one with the divine Shiva. I am the self, unwavering. The
floor that I am sitting on is Shiva's floor, I am me. Om Namah Shivaya.
Meditation Method Four
Sit in a Meditation Pose
and use the classical definition of Meditation. This is, still the
mind,
then the seer will rest in his own nature.
Here is the classical definition of
Yoga from Patanjali: "Yoga is the restriction of the
fluctuations of the Mind Stuff. Then the seer rests in his own
nature. At other times, the seer takes the same form as the
fluctuations." The conclusions that a Yogi can sit silently and practice this type of meditation. You will
be in your own nature and feel repose. Study Swami Mantrananda's
version of the
Yoga Sutras of Patanjali to help you learn more about meditation.
Ending Meditation
Get up from your Meditation
Posture to end Meditation. Leave your Meditation area neat and put anything away that is needed. Be thankful
that there is a little time for you to do meditation. The more you cherish your own
time to meditate, the better it is. Let other people practice their own religion,
their own meditation, at their own rate.
|
This
page outlines how to practice meditation.