What Is Meditation?

And What Benefits Does It Have For Us?

(A Meditation Guide For Beginners)

“Empty your mind. Be formless, shapeless like water. Now you put water into a cup, it becomes the cup. You put water into a bottle, it becomes the bottle. You put water in a teapot, it becomes the teapot. Now water can flow or it can crash. Be water my friend.” -Bruce Lee

Awareness about meditation and mindfulness practices is growing globally, and along with practices such as yoga, and other mind-body balancing techniques has grown in many countries. Many people are informed about meditation, mindfulness, energy. Or are eager to learn more about spirituality, karma and the universe, as we are all becoming more aware about them than we have ever been.

And, in the recent years many people are getting familiar with meditation and mindfulness activities and techniques across the globe. Even if they are not interested in spirituality and universal energy and their definitions and meanings, or just want to use mindfulness and meditation in daily activities for the benefits that these activities have on their life.

But some people are just becoming familiar with ‘meditation’ and ‘mindfulness’, and they want to learn more about practicing ‘meditation’ in their daily life…

If you are new to the ‘meditation’ and ‘mindfulness’ world, or you are here because you want to know ‘What is meditation?’ and ‘How it can help you balance your mind and body?’ This article is for you! 🙂

What Is The Purpose Of Meditation?

If we want to say in simple, concise and useful language what meditation is, the simple explanation is that meditation is actually a mental process which can be spiritual too.

In other words meditation is a way for us to eliminate ‘mental clutter’ and ’emotional clutter’ in order to regain a clean, orderly, awakened and calm mind.

With this mindfulness and meditation exercises, you are trying to increase your level of awareness and concentration, and put your mind and body on the path of integrity and balance.

For sure as a beginner, mastering meditation may be a little difficult at first. (Because acquiring any skill requires practice and no one acts professionally and skilled from the beginning.)

In meditation, you should try to be in-control or ignore all external and internal stimulations in a voluntary and self-conscious manner, and achieve deep silence and peace within your own self and everything in your life.

“I’m simply saying that there is a way to be sane. I’m saying that you can get rid of all this insanity created by the past in you. Just by being a simple witness of your thought processes.

It is simply sitting silently, witnessing the thoughts, passing before you. Just witnessing, not interfering not even judging, because the moment you judge you have lost the pure witness. The moment you say “this is good, this is bad,” you have already jumped onto the thought process.

It takes a little time to create a gap between the witness and the mind. Once the gap is there, you are in for a great surprise, that you are not the mind, that you are the witness, a watcher.

And this process of watching is the very alchemy of real religion. Because as you become more and more deeply rooted in witnessing, thoughts start disappearing. You are, but the mind is utterly empty.

That’s the moment of enlightenment. That is the moment that you become for the first time an unconditioned, sane, really free human being.”
-Osho

Meditation helps you experience true presence in the present moment and see your thoughts from the outside as an observer.

Meditation also helps you to stop fighting with yourself and your inner feelings, and to find a deep and lasting peace within yourself.

In other words, meditation is a way to reconcile with yourself and the world around you!

What Are The Types Of Meditation?

Now that you have a relatively clear view of meditation, and understand what meditation is, and what its goals are, it is good to know about some of the easiest types of meditation.

The first thing you need to know is that there is no right or wrong way to meditate:

“The more man meditates upon good thoughts, the better will be his world and the world at large.” -Confucius

But it is important to find a way that suits your needs, situation and personality type.

Here Are 5 Meditation Exercises That You Can Begin With:

1. Mindfulness Meditation

This method of meditation is one of the most popular methods of meditation; Because you can do it anyway; When you are sitting at your desk at work; When you are driving; When you are taking a shower; When you are waiting in line; at rest; Sleeping location and … .

All you have to do is be aware of everything that happens around you, watch the thoughts that pass through your mind, be aware of every sensation that is happening in all parts of your body, and let them all flow without the slightest resistance. Pass inside you and your mind.

In this way, you must be fully present in the present moment and not let thoughts of the past and the future entangle you. Of course, in the early days and even months of mindfulness meditation, you will fall into the trap of these thoughts many times, but it is okay; Forget about fighting and resisting. Let whatever happens in your mind and body happen. Be assured that gradually, with practice and persistence, you will find the ability to be in the present in the best possible way.

This type of meditation helps you become more self-aware, more present in the moment, train your brain to be less stressed, and most importantly, practice non-judgment.

If you have the opportunity to do this exercise in a quiet space, it is good to sit on all fours or lie on your back on the floor or on a couch and then focus on regular breathing. Become. You can do this three times a day for 5 minutes.

2. Meditation Of Kindness And Forgiving

The ‘kindness meditation’ is one of the types of meditation to increase the sense of self-love and humanity, while it also shows us the importance of unconditional love for every other being…

This method can be especially helpful for people who have difficulty managing anger, the people who have been in struggle with their emotions, or the people who need to address and heal their emotional wounds.

A 2011 study has found that when meditation of kindness is combined with cognitive therapy, it can help people reduce their feelings of anger, depression, social anxiety, and marital problems to an acceptable extent!

You don’t have to do anything strange to do kindness meditation!

Like all types of meditation, the first thing you need to do for this meditation is to sit comfortably or lie down on your back in a quiet place, close your eyes, and then begin to breathe deeply and regularly.

After this, you must first think of yourself and your whole-being without any judgment and send messages that are full of forgiveness, love and kindness to yourself. Messages such as: “I’m always calm”, “I hope I’m always healthy”, “I hope I’m always safe”, “I’m always forgiving” and so on. You can do it out loud, you can just draw these messages in your mind. Do whatever is easiest for you. For sure it will not be easy at first but you will get used to it by practicing.

After you have sent messages of kindness to yourself, it is now time for forgiving and sending unconditional love to others, it might be someone who has hurt you in your childhood, a difficult relationship with anyone, a colleague who has made you face difficulties, a person who had an unhealthy competition with you for any reason, or any person or group in your past that you feel that you are ready to start forgiving at that time.

Certainly this is not going to be as easy as it sounds at first, specially if the situation was complicated or if you are a very emotional person, but you can try to start with the things and people that you feel you don’t need to force yourself to forgive…Maybe you can start by forgiving a dog that barked at you for no reason and made you feel scared while you were passing-by sometimes ago, or even a sudden rain that made you have a difficult day… These things may seem un important, but if you still remember them up to this point, they may need your forgiveness so that you can have a better feeling about them.

The next step will be time for the dearest people in your life! Sometimes this part may take longer than you expected but it will become easy for you to avoid overthinking and judging them and just clearing your emotions about them when the right time comes.

The final step will be the people you do not like very much, your competitors, people who did you wrong and even the people who do not play a special role in your life at this time. When you are ready for this stage, you will find out that you even can, visualize these people in your mind, in order of their role or the importance of what they have done and one by one, you can easily send them the kind messages from your heart.

You must forgive yourself and enable yourself the whole picture if you want this stage to be efficient… You can’t cut the story or put a blind eye to the whole situation, you must come face to face with the whole picture and then you can forgive the whole situation and the person.

Once a person told me they could not forgive a person who stole their purse in a robbery…

They I asked them: Did you forgive yourself too?

They got surprised and asked me: Why should I be forgiven? I did nothing wrong…

I told them maybe you can see the whole picture without judging… Sometimes we cant forgive because we forget our own part in the story, this is not to say what ha been wrong is not as wrong as it is, but if you don’t forgive yourself for being at an alley alone late in a winter evening and not taking a taxi or not going from the street, you cant forgive the person.

And by forgiving the whole situation the person will somehow be forgiven in your mind too, this forgiveness is not to erase if the person did something very bad or not, you are not here to judge, all you need to do is simple forgive the situation and allow yourself to be so kind to leave it in the past and wish that it does not happen to anyone else! You also can be caring and kind and make other people aware of that situation so other people become aware and make a good Karma and even a good Dhrama for yourself… It is true that it should be unconditional kindness but the good karma will come back to your life in another form…

When it comes to this meditation it is not a simple and easy process at times.

But once you learn to do it wholeheartedly, you will begin to realize that things will begin to change in your favor. As kindness is a very healing and positive energy and the world is very into it when it is genuine.

Surely, when you reach unpopular people and the people who don’t wish you well in life, it will be very difficult to meditate on kindness! But if you do this exercise for just 7 minutes a day, you can not only be kind to your body and experience more humanity about your own self, but according to a 2015 study, you will also reduce ethnic and racial prejudices, and slowly you will start seeing its benefits in your life.

3. Body Scan Meditation

So far in this article, you have learned what the two of the most common types of meditations.

Now it is time to introduce you to a method that is very popular among psychologists:

The meditation of body scan observation.

The purpose of body scan meditation is to be able to consciously release the various parts of our body and remove all the spasms, pressures and stresses that they are experiencing by putting your focus on them.

You can do this exercise in two ways:

One is to start from the lowest part of the body and slowly reach the highest point of your body.

The other is quite the opposite. You can sit or lie down in a quiet place as before you start this meditation. Try to breathe mindfully, in a slow and regular manner.

Then focus on every part of your feet one by one, take a deep breath, and as you exhale, relax the parts of your feet that you and release them from any spasms.

Then, move up towards the ankle and focus on this part.

Do the same with your ankle as you did with your feet.

And then do this exercise slowly on all parts of your body part by part, relaxing them and then reaching for your hands, arms, shoulders, eyes and eyebrows and finally your head.

Be careful that as you focus on these parts in your mind, you need to pay attention to how each part feels and how much pressure it has been under in order for you to release it.

The ‘body scan meditation’, is one of the best ways for people who suffer from chronic pain.

This mental exercise is also very helpful in managing stress and daily tensions. In 2015, a study of 55 people found that participants who spent 10 minutes a day participating in a body scan meditation, for eight straight weeks, were able to significantly reduce their chronic pain.

4. Walking Meditation

In this method of meditation, you make walking your focus.

So you have to start walking in a straight path that can be short or long, or around a hypothetical circle. (Please make sure that you are in a safe area.)

It doesn’t matter how you walk, where you decide to walk, or how fast you walk. The only thing that matters is focusing on the steps and your concentration on your own state of calmness.

Of course, if you take these steps with dignity and try to take deep, rhythmic and slow breaths in harmony with your speed and steps, you will feel the effect more deeply.

During the walking meditation, you should spend all your awareness on walking itself! So every time you raise your legs, every time you lower them, and every time they touch the ground you have to pay attention to yourself.

This type of meditation can be very enjoyable and relaxing. Especially if you do it outdoors, during your daily hikes or walks.

If you are not used to taking walks, you can start by going for a short walk when it is convenient for you and start doing this meditation by paying your attention to the walking and being present at the moment. And you can increase the walking time or change the walking location based on your own choice and progress.

‘Walking meditation’ is a very old and is one of the most important practices of the Buddhist monks.

And just like the ‘body scan meditation’, this meditation method helps you to increase your body awareness by focusing on your physical sensations, your surroundings and taking control of your thoughts and emotions by time. And at the same time it will be helping you on establish a balance between your mind and body.

This method can be a good start for people who want to start practicing meditation, especially for people who are not interested in sitting still in one place or find it difficult to start meditation by putting their mind on a single thought in the beginning of their meditation process. As this meditation and technique can be helpful in taking control and preparing them for other types of meditation and mindfulness.

5. Transcendental Meditation, Or TM

The ‘Transcendental Meditation’ was introduced to the world by Maharashi Mahashi – Yogi, Who was one of the most prominent Indian ascetics.

This method focuses on chanting or whispering mantras during the meditation and is one of the types of meditation that is best done under the supervision of a master… Because according to your mental conditions and strengths and weaknesses, the teacher or master will suggest a special ‘mantra’ for you to focus on, during your practice and think about its meaning while meditating.

You may ask: ‘What does the word mantra mean?’

If you are familiar with the word ‘OM’ which is widely used in meditation, you already know an important mantra!

The word is of Sanskrit origin and is composed of two parts: the first part is “man” meaning thought and “tra” meaning liberation.

Mantras are actually words and sounds that must be expressed with a certain rhythm and sound. Like when you loudly say the word ‘OM’ (which means the sound of the world,) you can feel it’s energy coming from within you and then combining with the atmosphere surrounding you.

The fact is that ‘transcendental meditation’ is very similar to the vibration of sound of praying in different religions, and when you do it, it is as if you are engaged in worship and establish a deep connection with God, the higher beings, the universe or the galaxy no matter how you connect to the higher power and the world around you, it will help you connecting to it.

The best time to do this meditation is in the start of the morning and the evening. It is better to practice it in a quiet, cozy environment, or a place away from any external distractions.

The Meditation TM with its rhythmic sound and melody makes all our thoughts and feelings have a kind of stillness and pause. It makes everything in us stop for a moment and help us concentrate on listening deeply to the world around us and connect to a higher frequency.

What Are The Benefits Of Meditation?

You must have known many benefits of meditation by now. Such as increasing concentration, reducing stress, reducing chronic pain, calmness, awareness and so on… But there are some other benefits too… Maybe one of the most important benefits of meditation is to make a bright and beautiful room in your heart which opens the words of hidden universal gems to you!

One of the most important benefits of meditation is that it increases your endurance and patience. This works against both the physical and the emotional pain.

The reason is quite clear. You have to be in a certain state of mind and be mindful during your meditation and adapt yourself to the conditions you have created by meditating.

The more you practice this and the longer you do it in your life, the more tolerance, balance and patience you will naturally develop.

And the more patient you become by practicing the right methods and meditations that you need during the stage of your life, the better you will make decisions in certain situations and the more kind you will become as a person, so you will be more connected to the core of life itself and the universe as a whole!

Meditation also helps to boost your creativity. Because it gives you a chance to empty your mind of all the everyday and boring things for a while! It creates an empty space in your mind and opens up space for better thinking, more quality and more creative ideas will be flowing to your mind and your imagination will be more free for accepting them!

But perhaps one of the best things about meditation, – which we might never think about – is that it doesn’t require any special equipment or resources, we can meditate at any stage of life and almost everywhere if we decide to. Meditation is always possible for us, always within us, and we can use it whenever we wish. Specially if we get used to it and putting a time for it in our daily or weekly schedule.

And all that we need is a mind that is aware and ready to accept and an eagerness to become more aware, calm and more in-tune with life beyond our limits.

Well, Now you know what meditation is, and you have learned some of the easiest types of meditation. Now you can gradually prepare yourself to have your first meditation if you have never practiced it before… And add it to your life changing experiences!

The only thing you need to know at this stage is to take things easy, and to not to expect too much from yourself if you are a beginner! Learning and growth does not happen overnight in most cases and learning meditation and getting used to it for sure is one of those things that does need practice and patience.

At first, you may have a lot of trouble concentrating when you start to meditate. You may be repeatedly distracted and trapped by negative or anxious thoughts when you actually don’t want to think because you still don’t have the full control and you are not completely mindful. So at this stage the most important thing is to have practice and understanding. (Always remind yourself that just as you need to practice a lot to become proficient in a sport, you need to practice to become a professional in meditation too.)

And every time your mind wants to run away from meditation, imagine it like a little playful child who is constantly trying to escape from the burden of their duties. So try to be more understanding and keep your calm, and then kindly put your playful mind back where it belongs at the moment whiteout being harsh on yourself or too forceful. Because when you repeat this -as many times as necessary- and be assured that this continuity get better by more practice, it will eventually give you wonderful results!