My main goal in writing this book is to help you learn to meditate or improve your meditation skills. I will begin with the “What is it?” question by giving a general overview of meditation. My definition of meditation is any state of consciousness that involves a more relaxed state of mind and body than your usual waking, over-thinking self, as long as you are able to maintain conscious awareness. This definition, of course, spans a broad range of consciousness, such as a carefree walk in the park or a day at the beach (spontaneous meditation), to simple relaxation techniques, to the bliss of deep meditation and trance, to lucid dreaming – dreams in which you are highly aware (conscious) that you are dreaming. It does not include deep sleep in which you are very unlikely to experience conscious awareness. The good news for beginners is you already meditate; you just have not recognized it. For the experienced meditators, please consider the following explanation in order to broaden your understanding and appreciation of the simplicity of meditation. Perhaps you have a hobby or an activity you engage in so thoroughly that an hour or so seems to slip by before you realize it. Perhaps you have walked through a flower garden, totally captivated by the beauty of the flowers, the fragrances, the fresh air and sunshine. You were so caught up in the surroundings that you had few thoughts involving life outside of the garden. Whether it was a hobby, a favorite activity, or a walk through the garden – afterward, you found yourself feeling refreshed and clear minded, with a sense of peace and calm. What has occurred is a “Light Meditation.” The whole time you were engaged in these simple activities you were focused only on the matter at hand. You were not thinking about what I refer to as, “the house, the mouse, the spouse, the bills, the pills, the thrills.” While focusing on something simple and pleasurable or neutral, your brain-wave frequency (the busyness of the mind) begins to slow down to a calm state of mind. This brainwave frequency is referred to as “Alpha” and is generally considered the most relaxed state you can experience while remaining clinically awake. Now that this mystery is solved, please stick with me through the “Deep Meditation” explanation. After that, I am going to come back around to how to achieve both Light Meditation and Deep Meditation via conscious choice and effort. You know that not-quite-awake, yet not-quite-asleep, feeling you sometimes experience? Say, for instance, that you are sitting on the couch on a rainy Sunday afternoon, reading a good book, not thinking about much else. You decide to set the book down and just close your eyes for a few moments. You seem to be floating or half forgetting where you are. You hear footsteps coming down the hall, the door opens, and someone near and dear to you says, “Oh, I didn’t mean to wake you.” With difficulty, you barely open your eyes, and in a groggy voice you declare, “Oh no, I wasn’t asleep. I heard you coming down the hall.” They laugh. That experience is a form of “Deep Meditation” or “Theta” brainwaves. Theta is the first stage of clinical sleep. Theta is the one stage of sleep in which you are most likely to be able to maintain conscious awareness. There is one major difference between the uncontrolled, dozing-off scenario I just described and intentional Deep Meditation. In intentional Deep Meditation, you set out with the goal of reaching Theta, and you learn to keep the mind alert rather than allowing the mind to become dull and groggy while in Theta. Before I go any further, I must answer a probable question. Why bother maintaining this alertness of mind while in Theta instead of simply going to sleep? The short answer is that while in Theta the brainwaves are so slow and the mind is so void of thought that you get to experience your existence (consciousness) free of cares and concerns of the world. In this absence of thought, there is only one thing left – a deep-seated feeling of peace and calm. Who would not want to experience that? Also, serotonin is released while in Theta, the blood pressure lowers, the body releases tension, and your mind is clearer -- just to name a few more of the many benefits. Now for the “How does it work?” question. A common theme throughout this book is no matter how mundane or exotic the approach to meditation, all meditations will follow the model below: 1) Focus on something simple and non-thought-provoking. 2) Relax the body. 3) Exercise awareness of changes in mind and body as you relax. To clarify with an example, I will go over a typical sitting meditation. Please note that I am referring to a sitting meditation and not a moving meditation such as yoga, Tai Chi, labyrinth walking, and the like. Sitting in a comfortable position, the meditators chooses a focus (more on focus later). In this example, the meditator chooses to mentally repeat a short phrase as his focus, all the while relaxing the body. Eventually, he notices (awareness) that the body has begun to relax more deeply and that the train of thought has begun to slow due to the redundancy of the focus. Alpha brainwaves of Light Meditation have been achieved. However, to stay with Alpha the meditator needs to continue the focus to prevent falling back into normal thinking mode. Furthermore, if the meditator chooses to move into Deep Meditation, he will continue with the focus and continue to relax the body until he begins to experience feelings and sensations akin to that of the edge of sleep. The meditator has now achieved a state of Deep Meditation.
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