When I take time each day to unplug from the world and plug into the Divine, my day flows with a grace and beauty that is both wonderful and affirming.
When I first began meditating, I would fall asleep. I’ve since learned that this is very common. Our teachers recommended that we honor the falling asleep. One teacher suggested that one reason that we fall asleep is because is because the ego is not interested in nothingness. LOL. Over time, this stopped happening for me.
One way to avoid falling asleep is to meditate when your body is not naturally sleepy. For this reason, early morning is a great time to meditate. My favorite way to meditate is to roll out of bed, go to the bathroom and then immediately take a seat in the big, comfy chair we have in our bedroom. I try to do it BEFORE checking email or Facebook, so that my mind is still clear.
If I am heading to the office, I meditate after I have arrived. I have found that a practice of 30 minutes is optimum for me. I started with 10 minutes, went to 15 and then to 20 and 30. I now do about 30 minutes each day. I meditate with a mantra, given to me by a teacher several years ago. Sometimes, I use binaural beats to help me get into the Theta brainwave state faster and stay there. My favorite are audios from Kelly Howell at Brainsync.
There are several other companies that offer binaural beats, as well. How does it work? Here’s an explanation from Kelly Howell’s website, www.brainsync.com:
Brainwave Therapy sends pure, precisely tuned sound waves of different frequencies to your brain via stereo headphones. In his EEG research, Oster discovered that when different vibrations, or sound frequencies, are delivered to the brain separately through each ear (as with stereo headphones), the two hemispheres of the brain function together to "hear" not the external sound signals, but a third phantom signal. This signal is called a binaural beat, and it pulses at the exact mathematical difference between the two actual tones. For example, a signal of 100 Hz delivered to the left ear, and a signal of 107 Hz delivered to the right creates a binaural beat of 7 Hz that in this case falls into the Alpha range.
Research shows that parts of the brain and eventually large areas of the brain begin to resonate sympathetically with this "phantom" binaural beat. This is known as the Frequency Following Response. Subsequent research determined that a binaural beat frequencies drive brain activity into specific brain states. Thus, effortlessly and naturally, your brain activity slides into rhythm with this binaural beat, becoming organized and coherent. Within minutes, the sound frequencies start to balance the left and right hemispheres of your brain – creating a remarkable state called hemispheric synchronization and driving the electrical activity of your brain into powerful states, normally unattainable. Flashes of creative insight, euphoria and a deep sense of calm is often accompanied by this extraordinary brain state.
Brainsync has a collection of 4 audio tracks that will take you from beginner, Alpha frequencies all the way to Delta, in just 4 weeks. It is called Sacred Ground and is available on their website www.brainsync.com and Amazon, as a CD or audio download. This is a fantastic program that I have used for about two years. Here is a description:
This is the perfect all-in-one program for all levels: from the beginner, who wants to be led gradually into deeper levels of meditation, to the more experienced listener, who wishes to have a variety of music and brain wave states available in a single program.
Week One - Relaxation and Grounding - Alpha Window Frequencies
Week Two - Relaxation and Release - Alpha & Theta Window Frequencies
Week Three - Opening Higher Consciousness - Theta Window Frequencies
Week Four - Deep Resonance - Theta & Delta Window Frequencies
There are other types of meditation, as well, including the use of a mantra, which I mentioned earlier. Primordial Sound Meditation (PSM) is a silent practice that uses a mantra. The mantra you receive is based on information provided to your teacher or guru and is not to be uttered allowed or shared with anyone else. My mantra is personal and specific to me.
Another type is Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction (MBSR) and these classes are often taught by physicians, nurses, social workers, and psychologists. This technique uses breath awareness and body scan. For breath awareness, you focus your attention on the inhale and exhale. Body scan is a process of focused attention on your body, starting at the toes and working up to the top of the head. You can also start at the top of the head and go down the body. As you focus on the body part, you relax that part and the practice takes you deeper within. This may be done seated, lying down, or walking.
Zen meditation or “Zazen” means “seated meditation.” It comes from Buddhism, and is done through observing both the breath and the mind. This is usually taught by a teacher and sometimes chanting is involved.
Transcendental Meditation (TM) was founded by Maharishi Mahesh Yogi, who trained many famous followers like the Beatles. It uses a mantra or series of Sanskrit words to help the practitioner focus during meditation. You will want to train with a TM Yogi to learn this technique.
Kriya Yoga is another form of meditation, brought to the West by the Indian mystic Paramahansa Yogananda. Kriya is an advanced Raja Yoga technique of pranayama (life-energy control). Kriya reinforces and revitalizes subtle currents of life energy (prana) in the spine and brain. The ancient seers of India (rishis) perceived the brain and spine as the tree of life. Out of the chakras flow the energies that enliven all the nerves and every organ and tissue of the body. The yogis discovered that by moving the life current continuously up and down the spine by the special technique of Kriya Yoga, it is possible to greatly accelerate one's spiritual evolution and awareness. If you are interested in this form of meditation, you will want to train with a Kriya Yogi.
"By the definite science of meditation known for millenniums to the yogis and sages of India, and to Jesus, any seeker of God can enlarge the caliber of his consciousness to omniscience to receive within himself the Universal Intelligence of God." — Paramahansa Yogananda
If you want to use guided meditations, this is totally acceptable. Kelly Howell has a number of guided meditations available and so do a lot of authors, such as authors and spiritual teachers from Hay House or Sounds True. Just go to these websites and search for meditation audios. Deepak Chopra and his Chopra Center host a meditation challenge several times a year. There are lots of meditation tips and sources. Let your angels and guides lead you to the style that is best for you.
Don't worry so much about the experience you are having or not having during meditation. As the saying goes, “Just do it!” If your mind wanders or if you drift away, gently bring your attention back to your mantra, your breath or back to what Wayne Dyer calls the “gap.” The gap is nothingness.
Don't struggle or beat yourself up if you don’t feel you are “doing it right.” Meditation is all about letting go and allowing everything to be. Remember the Beatles song, “Let it be”? Don't try to control your meditation experience. An advanced meditator will allow her mind to do whatever it wants. If thoughts come in, imagine them as leaves in a small stream and see them float off. Or, you can imagine thoughts as clouds floating by in the sky. Soon, you will see that as you allow these thoughts to float by, you begin to allow things in your life to “float by,” as well. Very cool how this works.
Please continue meditating, even if you do not see immediate results. Sometimes, it takes months to get into your natural rhythm and sometimes it take years to really relax into realizing the power and benefits of meditation. Meditation teacher Pema Chodron says that the students who come to her and want to quit are on the verge of letting go!
Over time you will develop a love for the peace that you feel, as you go into the emptiness, the “gap”, or whatever you want to call it. So celebrate the moment when you want to meditate and leave the world behind for a few minutes a day.
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