| Yoga Music For Meditation Series - 12 Tips To Attain A Good Meditation Practice |
| Written by Hans Havasi | |
| Thursday, 20 August 2009 | |
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a) About Meditation
a) About Meditation 1. You can start by understanding what meditation is. It is a continuous flow of thought on one object. Meditation is the upholding of focus on one idea alone like the continuous flow of oil. Yogis call this process "Dyana". Bhaktis call it adoration. Concentration is fixing the mind on a point or object, either internal (in the body) or external (on any outside object or image). Meditation follows concentration. In Dhyana all worldly thoughts are shut out from the mind. The mind is filled or saturated with Divine thoughts, with the Divine Glory, the Divine Presence. (b) Find A Place 2. Have a room solely dedicated to meditation and do not allow anybody to enter. This keeps it holy and sanctified. Burn incense in the mornings and evenings and keep an icon of God or your Guru placing your chair in front. Keeping spiritual literature in the room is also good and will raise the resonance level of the room. When you are in deep meditation the powerful vibrations produced will be lodged in the ether of the room. In six months time you will feel a lot of peace and purity within the atmosphere of the room. Whenever your mind is disturbed by worldly events, sit in the room and repeat a Mantra for half an hour; you will find that a change will take place within your mind immediately. Practice and feel the soothing spiritual influence it will have on yourself. Nothing compares to spiritual Sadhana. It will create a sacred place in your own house. 3. Solitude and intense meditation are two important requirements for Self-realization. A place of pilgrimage, a Himalayan scenery, a lovely flower-garden, a sacred temple, these are the places which elevate the mind for concentration and meditation. Use them when necessary. 4. A cool place and a mild climate are indispensable for concentration. Just as salt melts in water, the Sattvic (pure) mind melts in silence during meditation with the Absolute. (c) Find A Time 5. Pull yourself out of bed at 4 in the morning! This time is favourable for spiritual and devotional practice. The mind is pure and calm in the mornings after having slept. Like a blank sheet of paper, it is void of the normal worldly impressions. The mind is easily moulded at this hour as the atmosphere is filled with light and purity. If you do not feel to take a bath or shower you can wash your hands, feet and your face with cold water. This suffices. 6. Find a part of the day or night where your mind is clear and you will not get disturbed. The mind is calmer and more malleable at this time. 7. Enjoy a good meditation on Sundays as this is a holiday and the mind is more at ease. Your meditations will also improve if you live solely on milk and fruit or if you fast a lot. (d) Where To Concentrate 8. Keep your attention fixed in the area of the heart or in the middle of the forehead and keep your eyes shut. 9. Your mind sits in Ajna Chakra in a place called Trikuti. Focusing on Trikuti easily controls the mind. Bhakti yogis should focus on the heart. Yogis should focus on Ajna. 10. The crown of the head ( Sahasrara ) is another great place for concentration. Some Vedantins concentrate here. Some Yogins concentrate on the tip of the nose (Nasikagra Drishti). Stick to one center in concentration. Cling to it tenaciously. If you concentrate on heart, stick to it. Never change it. Your guru will select the center your should concentrate on, if you are a student of the faith. If you are a man who likes to be self-reliant, you can select it for yourself. (e) Pure Diet 11. Try to uphold a Sattvic diet. Overloading the stomach with rice, vegetables and bread brings sleep and interferes with your Sadhana (spiritual practice). Lazy people cannot practice meditation. A diet of milk makes the body feel very light. Doing this will enable you to sit in a yoga posture for hours easily and comfortably. If you feel tired and weak, you can take a little milk and rice or milk and barley or anything else you can find in a light diet. Those who give many lectures performing many intense spiritual actions should eat solid and substantial food though. (f) Yoga Positions 12. Yoga positions (Asanas) make the body more stable. Contractions (Bandhas) and inner attitudes (Mudras) will make the mind more strong. Breathing exercises (Pranayama) will make the body feel lighter. Purification of the energy paths (Nadi suddhi) will give you steadiness of mind. Once these things have been attained you can fix your mind on the Divine. Meditation will in this way become easy and you will find yourself in states of uplifted bliss. For meditation, concentration and Japa (verbal repetition of a mantra), Padmasana (the lotus position) or Siddhasana (the perfect position) are highly recommended. For your general health and to help you maintain Brahmacharya; Brahmacharyasana, Shirshasana, Sarvangasana, Matsyasana and Paschimottanasana are very useful. The Article Author: Hans Havasi is a Systems Consultant at a major engineering company in Denmark, a yoga and tantra teacher and a musician in the group Ibis which makes tantric music for Goddesses. With his wife Mariah, Hans leads a yoga and tantra retreat and art center in the north of Copenhagen. Please click here to read more about yoga and tantra or go here to download free meditation music. |
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