cited from ~Tao te Ching, verse 47
(Many of you may remember these words, paraphrased in a George Harrison song of the 1970's)
Meditation. There are probably at least twice as many different meditation practices as there are countries in the world. Sorting through them all can be quite confusing. My wish is that this article will help your understanding, and bring you closer to self-knowledge and inner peace.
Mary Montgomery, M.Ed., R.M.T.
Introduction
"Which meditation technique really works? Or perhaps more aptly, which one is best for me? And how can I consider making meditation part of my life, when I can't even floss my teeth regularly?"
Before I attempt to answer these questions, let me first outline the benefits of meditation. And as such, this entire article will be divided into different segments, to be posted as I have written them! Here is the first in the series:
Why Meditate?
Is meditation something for you? What can you hope to gain from it? Are you wanting to:
- feel more relaxed?
- find inner peace?
- become more in touch with yourself?
- release tension and stress?
- become enlightened?
- know God?
These are many of the reasons people start a meditation practice. But did you know that meditation can also:
- Improve your health and give you more energy
- Enhance personal relationships
- Increase your mental clarity and make you more successful in your career
- Help to achieve world peace
Yes, as unbelievable as it sounds, meditation can do all these things. And in fact, scientific research over the past 30+ years has documented studies that point to these findings. I will discuss these in a later section of this article.
Perhaps you are asking at this point:
"But do we need to meditate to get these results? I mean, can't we get the same benefits from regular exercise, yoga, attending seminars and workshops, and going to spas and retreats?"
All these activities are excellent and result in much benefit. I encourage you to pursue them. But notice--they are all activities. Further, they benefit primarily one aspect of the self, ie. body, or mind. Meditation is different, and can develop the individual holistically.
Let me share an analogy to explain further.
When we look around us, we see that everything in nature progresses in steps of rest and activity. There are regular cycles of day and night, seasons of growth and dormancy, etc. Everywhere we look around us, we see this duality. The Chinese recognized it ages ago and refer to it as Yin and Yang. Yin being the feminine, passive, restful, dark, night, etc. . . . and Yang being the masculine, active, assertive, light, day, etc. . . .
Our Western culture has been overly focused on the Yang aspect. We measure our success by how much we've achieved, or accumulated. Are we not constantly struggling to keep busy, to do more? We fill our empty moments with noise, (t.v. or radio), with incessant activity. Many of us are even afraid of being alone. And of silence. Have you ever taken a trek in the woods, or camped away from home, in order to find some 'peace and quiet', only to hear someone's boombox blaring?
Introspection (degradingly referred to sometimes as 'contemplating one's navel') has been considered a total waste of time and a behavior of the lazy. But this attitude has caused us to overlook and neglect a very important part of existence, indeed our very selves. If we live only outward, we are only experiencing and living 1/2 our life. (And contrastingly, if we live only inwardly, we are only existing as 1/2 'souls'.)
How can we possibly expect to be fulfilled when we don't even know who we are, let alone where we are going?
Into a blinding darkness go they who worship action alone.
~Isha Upanishad
Meditation has the potential of drawing your awareness inward, experiencing greater depths of your own intelligence and creativity and allowing for this to be expressed afterwards, in your daily life. (Have not most of the inventions and great works of art and music emerged from such quiet moments of 'inspiration'?)
Well, now that we've discussed the potentials offered by meditation, your appetite is hopefully whetted and you wish to learn more. If interested, read on below or . . .
"But I can't possible consider fitting meditation into my daily routine," you say. "I'm a very busy person."
Busy people are the ones who most need and will most benefit from a meditation practice. Don't believe me? Still think it's not worth trying to fit it into your schedule? Read on.
The October 2002 issue of Reader's Digest has an article entitled: "Give Peace a Chance: Meditation for Busy, Normal People." I quote below:
"Leonard Dilling is a plumber for the Mount Leanon, PA [Pennsylvania, U.S.] school district. "I'm the only one for a district with ten buildings, and I work hard, ten to sixteen hours a day," he says. The job is grueling, the demands constant, yet Leonard walks placidly through his day, solving problems with a smile.
Leonard Dilling is a plumber who meditates.
He wasn't always calm, Virginia Dilling's wife says. "At 40, Leonard was a stroke waiting to happen." He had a family history of heart disease, . . . high blood pressure and cholesterol levels that were through the roof. Dilling was sick and miserable, and had to do something about it. Then he discovered that his insurance company would pay for his participation in an unconventional heart treatment program--one that included meditation.
"I was pretty skeptical about meditation and thought I'd probably just fall asleep," Dilling says. "But I discovered that it's really easy." . . .
As part of the heart program, he also exercises, practices yoga, and changed his diet. "Of all the changes I've made," says Dilling, now 52, "meditation's what's kept me going. It's helped me become a more calmer person and more confidant."
Plumbers sitting cross-legged and chanting "OM"? Ask around and you'll find that firefighters, mothers, autoworkers and nurses are turning to [some form of] meditation practice to address the strains and stresses of hectic schedules. The number of people who practice Transcendental Meditation--just one of several techniques--is over 1.5 million [in the U.S.], including 6,000 physicians. And the National Institute of Health (NIH) has given an $8 million grant to the College of Maharishi Vedic Medicine in Fairfield, Iowa, to study natural healing modalities, including Transcendental Meditation.
Americans are embracing meditation for reasons that go far beyond its ability to relieve stress. Like Leonard Dilling, they often stumble across it when trying to manage heart disease. Or when they're trying to control migraines, lower their blood pressure, find release from chronic pain, or cope with cancer treatment. And, like Leonard, long after they've resolved the problems that got them started, they continue because meditation helps other areas of their lives.
Meditation first attracted scientific attention in the U.S. in the late 60's and early 70's when Harvard Medical school cardiologist Herbert Benson [examined] heart patients [who practiced the Transcendental Meditation technique] 1. As their blood pressure and stress test scores plummeted, the doctor became impressed.
"Sixty to eighty percent of visits to health care professionals are related to stress," says Benson. "These problems are poorly treated by medications and surgeries but respond extremely well to mind-body approaches such as meditation."
1
I've altered the wording slightly, only because the author of this article omitted specific information, and I've heard the story first hand from other doctors who worked with Benson during this period.With the rise in stress in both our individual lives and in the world, can we afford not to find an easy, alternative method of becoming more relaxed and better able to solve life's challenges?
But I don't have the time.
Does an archer say the enemy's advancing in front of him, therefore he cannot pull the arrow back, arguing that it'd be going in the wrong direction, and he doesn't have time to waste? Yet we know if the archer rushes forward with an arrow, it's not as effective as pulling it back on the bow and letting go.
Like this analogy, meditation brings the mind back to quieter, deeper levels, and then when we use it in our daily activity, we are clearer, more relaxed and better able to face the challenges before us. All it takes is roughly 20 minutes in the morning before you start your day, and 20 minutes in the evening before dinner. So my mind will become clearer, and more effective, you say. What proof can I have that this will really happen? Scientific Research Scientific research, conducted over the past 3 decades, has shown that through the regular practice of meditation, the mind does perform better. Students grades improved, increased brain wave coherence has been found, even IQ has improved. And this only touches upon some of the benefits to the mind. Practitioners feel less tired, more alert, energetic and have increased enthusiasm for life. In short, they feel and act younger. Research has found that meditating individuals in their mid-50s have a biological age twelve years younger than their chronological age, and that people beginning the practice even at 80 years of age live longer and are healthier and happier than controls of the same age. In the area of physiology, the body not only experiences relaxation during meditation it is more relaxed outside of meditation as well. Heart rate, breath rate, cholesterol levels become reduced. More than 500 scientific studies have been conducted on the effects of the Transcendental Meditation program, at 200 independent research institutions in 33 countries and are published in over 100 leading scientific journals. They document that this technology benefits every sphere of life: physiological, psychological, sociological, and ecological. The findings in each area of study have been replicated many times, and meta-analyses, which are the most quantitatively rigorous means to review a body of research, have found a high degree of consistency of the results. If you are interested in viewing some of the many scientific studies on meditation, and learning more about them, I invite you to go here:
Defining Basic Types of Meditation Practices
Now I come to the final part of my discussion. And as I tend to be awfully long winded, I shall try to wrap up this discussion with a little more discipline! ;-)
How do I decide which meditation to choose from? There seem to be so many kinds available.
Yes! There appear to be as many different types of meditation as there are cultures and religions on this earth -- e.g. secular and spiritual forms of meditation, techniques requiring attention to be directed either outward or inward, and various practices involving objects -- some even requiring machinery! I will not waste your time enumerating each and every different kind.
Quite simply, almost every type of meditation available today falls into two categories: contemplation or concentration. Contemplation involves thinking about something, perhaps some passage of religious text or some philosophical truism. Concentration is the effort of the mind to focus on one particular thing, such as an object, or chanting.
I've tried chanting OM, and although it's pleasant and I feel some peace whenever I do it, I don't feel very fulfilled in daily life. In fact, I seem more detached, and almost like I don't fit in anywhere.
The syllable OM is actually a recluse mantra. Which means it was originally intended for and practiced by individuals who wish to renounce the world! Hence, the result of such practice may indeed cause one to feel withdrawn from the world, and lose all interest in accomplishing anything.
There is a special place for everyone, and a special role for each of us to play. Some of us are best suited to live an inward life. Such an existence is a blessing -- for these quiet souls (e.g. monks, nuns, etc.) are upholding the inner silence of this planet. Most of us, however, are meant to live outwardly and experience 200% of life: 100% earthly joy and 100% inner peace! So this recluse mantra is not best suited for those of us living in the world.
Then what do you suggest?
Earlier, I mentioned that most meditation techniques fall into two basic categories : concentration and contemplation. Now, both these forms of meditation involve the activity of the mind. In fact, the mind is kept quite busy throughout the entire process of meditation (unless one falls asleep!) But the goal of meditation to achieve inner peace, inner silence, 24 hours a day actually. How, then, can we do this if our minds remain so active? Can a technique involving effort, and even strain on our part, be likely to bring us inner peace?
Chances are, many of us have already tried one or two meditation practices. And dropped them. We started out with good intentions, but then didn't stick with a particular practice because (a) we didn't see much benefit from it, (b) it wasn't really that easy after all (nor even enjoyable), and (c) it took too much of our valuable time. There are other things we'd rather be doing. So we quit. Quite an intelligent decision, actually!
What we want is a simple, natural, effortless technique that can bring us to the source of all thought -- a perfectly restful, blissful and fully alert state. And from there, we return refreshed to activity bringing out this clarity and peace into our daily life. Further, we want this simple, effortless technique to not require much of our time. AND, we want to experience results right away. Sound impossible? Actually, no! In fact, the irony is that something which is the most simple is often the most profound! I'll get to this point in a moment. But first . . . Psychology estimates that we are using only a small portion of the mind: at most 5-10%. This may explain why life is not enjoyed in its full potential. In order to live life fully, to become a self-actualized individual (as Maslow coins it), we need to be operating at our full capacity.
How come we're not living our full potential now?
Stress and strain cloud our physiology, inhibiting our ability to think and feel clearly. Let me give you a concrete example of this. Or rather, remind you. You know the difference a good nights sleep makes in how we feel, compared to a rough night. On those days when we have slept well, we are more cheerful and the world seems brighter. Things appear to go our way. And then, when we've slept poorly--those days we feel more rushed, stressed, get easily upset and find it hard to concentrate.
So, we need to eliminate stress in order to become more self-actualized, as you say . . . to be happier and smarter. Okay. How do we do this? By the correct use of the mind, or rather, by regular periods of transcending the mind. When the mind achieves a state of silence, the body likewise becomes deeply restful and dissolves fatigue and stress.
So, how does the mind transcend? The very nature of our mind is to seek out happiness. Let me use a simple analogy. Our attention wanders like a butterfly which constantly flits from flower to flower, seeking nectar. When something delightful catches our attention, we stay there for a while, until something else seems more enjoyable. Probably while you've been reading this, something has distracted you. Perhaps a song on the radio. And your attention wandered to that song. Or perhaps you remembered what you were doing earlier in the day, or last night, and your attention went there. We are constantly seeking more happiness, more knowledge, more power. What we don't realize is that we have all of this within ourselves, already. The source of all thought, pure consciousness, is a state of perfect order, silence and bliss. And we have only to turn our attention inward to experience it, and live it. Well, if we're naturally seeking greater happiness and each of us has such a reservoir within us...how come our attention doesn't just go there? We've forgotten how to. It's like an archer who doesn't remember the technique of pulling back the bow and instead uses his arrow as a dagger! Not as effective is it? Just like this, in our daily lives, our attention is constantly directed outwards and we're not making full use of our power. What is needed is a technique to pull our attention back -- much like drawing an arrow back on the bow. When the arrow is brought back fully, it then can shoot forward with great power and effortlessness. So as in this analogy, when the mind withdraws from the senses and goes within to experience the source of all thought, it then returns to activity with greater clarity and effectiveness for accomplishing one's desires.
Do how do I pull my attention back?
Two things are necessary in order for a meditation practice to be most effective: a proper vehicle and the right technique. Think of it like travelling. You want to go from one side of the country to the other. So you will need some mode of transportation. You could walk, but that would take forever. (Not to mention ruin your feet!) You can get a cheap car, but it might fall apart along the way. You could buy a more expensive car, but you still have to know how to drive this car, under all conditions, in all types of situations.
Or, you can get an airplane ticket and let an experienced pilot take you there, quickly!
Now here is where I step out of my general discourse and tell you that, personally, I liken the Transcendental Meditation (TM) program to a jet plane! It is effortless, simple, natural and tried and true for centuries so that it takes you to your destination quickly! To your own inner reservoir of perfect silence, peace -- the source of all thought, and that it develops all aspects of our individual life simultaneously (mind, body, spirit). The technique of TM comes from a very long tradition, and during this past century it has been scientifically validated.
(Research involving this technique has been performed at over 200 Research Institutions in over 30 countries in the world, with articles published in more than 100 respected scientific journals. (For a complete listing, click here: Institutions and Publications. These studies point at the reduction of stress, improved health and increased mental clarity…just a few of the many positive results from the regular practice of the TM technique. (For more specific information, click here: Scientific Research)).
Suppose I want to learn TM? How do I go about doing it?
One learns TM in a seven-step program from a fully qualified and trained teacher. The seven steps are: 1. a free introductory lecture, 2. a free preparatory lecture, 3. personal instruction and the following steps 4 through 7 are group meetings held on consecutive days, involving further instruction and verification of the correct practice. Each step takes only about an hour and a half. Then you're a fully qualified transcendental meditator, and have access to meditation centers throughout the world for free verification of your practice should you ever have any questions.
Why would TM be any different from using OM or any other mantra?
As I've mentioned, the syllable OM is actually a recluse mantra. Not all of us are recluses! The teachers of this ancient technique of Transcendental Meditation have been properly trained to select the best-suited vehicle--a meaningless sound--for each individual and their lifestyle. (If it has meaning, the mind would be kept active on the surface level...like on the waves of an ocean.) The technique must be learned from a fully qualified teacher, and cannot be properly learned from a book, audio or videotape. Once again, in order to achieve maximum results, a proper vehicle necessary, and the proper technique of using it.
TM is not a religion, it is practiced by people of all cultures and faiths, and has been endorsed by ministers and rabbis and Buddhist monks, etc. It benefits everyone and it doesn't involve a change in lifestyle either. Just meditate twice daily, for 20 minutes in the morning and 20 minutes in the evening, and go about your usual life.
I could say more, but it would spoil what you'll hear during the free lectures! If you are interested, and by all means I encourage you to pursue this for I feel it's perhaps the most wonderful technique available to humankind today, please locate the nearest TM facility in your area by clicking here: The Transcendental Meditation program.
Life is and can be bliss. A peaceful world is made up of peaceful individuals. Come join us!
Blessings on your journey.
with much love, Mary.