What is Meditation?

By Ray Baskerville

With a vast array of types and techniques, what is the common thread that makes meditation, meditation in all of them? This article is meant as a basic overview, to help you understand what meditation is and the principles on which it works.

Most forms of meditation engage the focus and development of awareness. In a normal waking state we are predominantly identified with thoughts and feelings, and are constantly flitting from one to another. This identification we could say then is the opposite of awareness as we are using it here. In order to develop and engage with awareness, meditation turns our attention away from the external, inwards.

Learn to Meditate

A pre-requisite in meditative awareness is a deepening state of relaxation in the physical body. This deepening relaxation of the body facilitates a relaxing or slowing in the mind. I have heard many times from many people over the years the idea that meditation is stilling the mind, or stopping thought. Invariably this is followed by pronouncements of

their failure to do this, and an abandonment of meditation. This is a basic and common misunderstanding of meditation. In the development of awareness, we step away from the identification with thought. The experience of stepping away occurs in the moment we become aware of a thought and recognize thought is happening. In this experience, we have the possibility of knowing directly that we are not our thoughts, for thought simply occurs. With this perspective then, thought is not a problem in meditation, and is held in awareness or focused to a particular end.

As the ability to rapidly and easily enter deeper states of relaxation and awareness develop, a meditator may observe a direct correlation between the presence of tension in the physical body and the process of thought. The more relaxed the body the less movement of thought. Meditation itself can be the process of developing the ability to consciously relax the body more and more deeply.

Broadly speaking meditation can be seen as one of two types, Mindful and Dynamic. In mindful meditation we open our awareness to the continuous flow of sensations, feelings, emotion, images, are towards, even sounds and scents. The practice is to witness this continuous flow with our engagement or identification. From this practice we develop what has been called the witness state. In the development of our ability and experience in this type of meditation we can become more aware of subtler dimensions to our being. We also begin to see the fluid and dynamic relationship between body, emotion and mind. In mindful meditation our awareness is developed to contain everything occurring in our experience from moment to moment.

Dynamic meditation can take many highly varied forms. Common to them all is some degree of focus of awareness. The simplest form, and probably most commonly known, is the focus of attention on the breath. More complex and advanced forms of energy meditation, like those found in the Taoist tradition are also a dynamic meditation. As are those falling under the umbrella of guided meditation. In dynamic meditation the concentration of focused attention can take the meditator into deeper states of consciousness. Other examples so dynamic meditation are the repetition of mantra or prayer, or the detailed and specific visualizations of the Tantric traditions.

Meditation is recognized as a component of almost all religions, and has been practiced for longer than recorded history. It is also practiced outside religious traditions.The word meditation originally comes from the Indo-European root med-, meaning “to measure.” It entered English as meditation through the Latin meditatio, which originally indicated every type of physical or intellectual exercise, then later evolved into the more specific meaning “contemplation.”

Are you interested in meditation? Have you meditated a few times and want to learn more? Let us know what your experience has been so far and of what topic of interest you would like to learn more. I will make sure to post more info on those subjects. For now, make sure to learn more about the benefits of meditation and the variety of meditation techniques available.

Thanks for visiting! Make sure to check out our recommended Spiritual Resources Page and get a free binaural beats sample! Meditation has had an incredible impact on my emotional, professional, and spiritual growth. It has benefited me so much that I created this site to share information about meditation with other busy, stressed out parents, professionals, college students, and business owners in a straightforward way. Meditation led me to my life path as an Integrated Executive Life Coach. If you'd like to work with me as a coach, schedule a free 15 minute coaching session today! Make sure to let me know you came from My Meditation Garden!

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