How to meditate? And what's the point of meditation?

Question

How to meditate? And what's the point of meditation?

Answer 1

Your first question depends on your own understanding of your second question. In other words, the point depends on you. People meditate for many different reasons.

e.g.
to relax, destress and fall asleep
to improve their health
to remain centred and aware all day long
for an inner stillness, detachment and clarity
for well-focused and imaginative thinking
to cope with unavoidable pain and sadness
to find happiness, beauty and meaning
out of curiosity etc., etc.

So, how you meditate will depend to some degree on your own point, or reason. There is no 'best' way to meditate and because everyone is different a technique that works for one person may not work well for you.

What's important is that you know why you want to meditate and then learn a range of techniques until you find ones' that suit you well.

There are many website where you can learn. Most of them sound very authoritative but offer very poor instruction. Best place to learn online I've tried is: http://www.melbournemeditationcentre.com.au
Lots of good information is available at http://www.lorinroche.com

Answer 2

Meditation does not have to be a religion. But, almost all forms of meditation will teach you a little something about some culture with which the practice came from. Meditation is not as simple as it seems. So it would be best to start with a method that is easiest. One that I suggest is Sahaj Samadhi. Everyone has experienced a meditative state in moments of deep joy, or when completely engrossed in an activity, when just for a moment the mind becomes so light and at ease. While we have such moments, we are unable to repeat them at will. Sahaj Samadhi teaches you how. This meditation technique almost instantly alleviates the practitioner from stress-related problems, deeply relaxes the mind and rejuvenates the system. Sahaj is a Sanskrit word that means natural or effortless. Samadhi is a deep, blissful, meditative state. Sahaj Samadhi meditation is a natural, effortless system of meditation. Regular practise of the technique can totally transform the quality of one’s life, by culturing the system to maintain the peace, energy and expanded awareness throughout the day. These meditation techniques combined with yogic practises can ensure good health and a calm mind.

Answer 3

Like stretching exercises meditation give you a feeling of relaxation and well being. A lot of methods can be employed for meditation and it is available from the Internet. But going deeper into meditation may make you mad. Why bother with such things while you can walk and swim? Stretching and Aerobics are better than Meditation and Yoga.

Answer 4

Meditation is a great stress/anxiety reducer. It also helps ground you and regulates your central nervous system.
It lowers oxygen consumption.
It decreases respiratory rate.
It increases blood flow and slows the heart rate.
Increases exercise tolerance in heart patients.
Leads to a deeper level of relaxation.
Good for people with high blood pressure as it brings the B.P. to normal.
Reduces anxiety attacks by lowering the levels of blood lactate.
Decreases muscle tension (any pain due to tension) and headaches.
Builds self-confidence.

It increases serotonin production which influences mood and behaviour. Low levels of serotonin are associated with depression, obesity, insomnia and headaches.
Helps in chronic diseases like allergies , arthritis etc.
Reduces Pre- menstrual Syndrome.
Helps in post-operative healing.

Enhances the immune system. Research has revealed that meditation increases activity of 'natural-killer cells', which kill bacteria and cancer cells. Also reduces activity of viruses and emotional distress.

In terms of how to do it, I suggest you take a look at this site: http://www.how-to-meditate.org/

Answer 5

Meditation is the state of mind when it is concentrating on only one, just one thing,You need to sit in a comfortable posture, start with deep breathing and concentrate on things like you sitting alone in a vast field and cosmic energy of the universe entering your heart and spreading to all parts of your body one by one.The simpler way is to pay attention on your breathing.
It is said to provide mental and physical calm if done correctly.It'll increase your concentration and attention span,anyways.
I don,t bother too much about it though.

Answer 6

The whole aim of meditation is,
1. to calm your mind, and
2. to focus the mind on one thing.

The mind of a normal person is like an uncontrolled monkey jumping from one thought to another. To process all these thoughts a lot of body energy is used. Thus if your mind cease to process thoughts you will be saving a lot of body energy which can be used to cure a lot of ailments in your body. That is why a person who continues to meditate regularly even gets a nice body complexion.

Anapana or concentration on the breath is the best form of meditation.

If you sit down and close your eyes you will notice that your mind is jumping from one thought to another. Even though you want to concentrate on your breath you will find other thoughts also coming in between.

In learning to meditate you must first learn to calm your mind. You do this by following every thought that comes into you mind. You must be like a Manager of a Hotel who stands at the entrance and observes the customers coming in. Without getting attached to the thoughts try to observe them. You will find that a thought comes in and that it goes nowhere and another thought follows it - try following that too - with same results. This way you will find that your thoughts gradually subside. Do not try to force out your thoughts.

Of course do not expect results in one or two days. Practise it for at least 40 minutes every day for at least 2 months you find that you have 'killed' your train of thoughts. I have practised for nearly 2 years and still vagrant thoughts come in.

Thereafter start concentrating on your breath. Notice the breath coming in and going out. You should not concentrate only on the tip of your nose. Notice the breath coming in and thereafter your lungs getting filled and then gradually exhaling the breath.

After you finish that for the day start to think of a person or several persons whom you hate most. Having those people in mind start to think in a compassionate manner "may he be healthy, may he be happy, may he go up in life, may he live long". Keep on doing this for about 10 minutes a day for a few months you will find that you do not get angry even when you have to get angry.

You should be able to get some guidance from the following sites,

1. http://www.dhamma.org/vipassan.htm/
2. http://www.meditationexpert.com/ and click on the free articles on yoga meditation - it includes articles on all types of meditations including Christian and Muslim meditation.

Answer 7

Check the link below.

Dr. Dyer teaches meditation...you should really look into it. You won't be disappointed.

Answer 8

There is no point to meditation... thats the point. You do it to do it. Clear your mind grasshopper.