what exactly is meditation?

Answer 1

Such a complex question...my two cents worth.......

A training of the mind to realise life is NOW.

NOW.....This very second, not a second ago or a second after. The past is called history and the future has no name. Life exists only between your breathing in and breathing out. The moment one no longer is able to do either, life is over. This is why I believe breathing is the big part of meditation. A training to wake up the realization of the very split second which very few people take time to feel and appreciate.

Everyone's lifetime is a long sequence of NOWs. Remember in Geometry that "A line is actually an infinite number of points in the same plane"? If every point is laid down with full mindfulness, the line will work out naturally. NO WORRY(the future has not happened), NO REGRET (the past has happened). The realization of NOW enables peace. Meditation enables the realization.

A little extra point......"Reality is only as real as one perceives it" --T.S. Wilson.

Answer 2

I consider meditation to be a tool for survival. Find out the benefits that meditation offers each one of us:
1. As your meditation deepens the distance between the mind and you widens. This distance allows for a deeper relaxation into the present moment and places you in charge of living. You realize that you are not your mind but rather that the mind is a tool to be used but doesn’t have to “run the show.” This is a relief!

2. Healing of old stories that the mind has kept you trapped within is possible. This happens because you are no longer the stories themselves, but the observer of them, and can choose to be some of them but not others. Meditation is a tool for survival, your survival beyond the tyranny of the mind. Once the key has been turned and the doorway to freedom opened other realizations are possible. These realizations are about yourself and the world and could not be perceived before.

3. Resistance to meditation is a product of the ego--an ego/mind that is afraid of change, that becomes anxious when the possibility of change is recognized. So, it begins to tell stories. It tells you that you don’t have time to meditate, don’t know how to meditate, that meditation is a waste of time, that you don’t know anyone else who meditates, that a friend of yours meditated for a while and they seen the same to you, that . . . Don’t let the mind get away with these stories. Tell the mind, “never mind”!

“When you meditate you discover over and over again that you are not a prisoner of your mind.”
--Andrew Cohen

HELPFUL HINTS: You can contact Ken Andert at 503-421-5904 or email him at [e-mail] to find out more about his meditation groups and his Oregon-based practice.

Answer 3

There are different kinds, as you can tell by the answers already given. I see from your other questions that you are also interested in prayer, so I'd like to offer an answer that is along those lines.

Meditation is essentially paying prayerful attention. It is being mindful, with an open heart. As prayer, it is a way of getting intimate with God by quieting your thoughts, like the Psalms verse "Be still and know that I am God."

Some people find it helpful to have some one thing to kind of focus on, to let other thoughts go away more. So it can be following the physical sensation of your breathing. It can be mentally repeating a short phrase or word, like "love" or "God". One famous example is the Jesus prayer: "Lord Jesus, have mercy on me," or just "Jesus" ... repeated silently while letting go of other ideas or thoughts.

Some people find it is most profound when they let go of everything and come to rest in a simple feeling of just being ... and offering up that feeling of being to God.

That kind of meditation is also called "contemplative prayer." One very nice version of that is discussed in the book "Open MInd, Open Heart," by Thomas Keating. He calls it "centering prayer."

(The Quakers, by the way, make their whole worship a meditation ... waiting and listening as they open their hearts to a movement of the Holy Spirit ... and when someone is so moved, they stand and offer to say something to the congretation, then sit quietly back down. That is also how they make their decisions in their business meetings.)
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Answer 4

There are actually two definitions for meditation. The more modern definition is to turn your focus inward to a single point through some type of ritual in order to relax, reduce stress, and clear the mind. In the original Latin, the definition is more accurately described as contemplation - mulling over, "chewing on" - in other words, to turn one's focus on any singular object, not just an inward object.

Answer 5

Meditation is quietening the strategies. you be attentive to for lots, if no longer lots of the day your strategies is humming with all way of strategies, properly meditation is a technique that helps you sluggish you strategies down, and permits you to quiet your strategies. there is not any strict rule as to the thank you to meditate, there is not any authentic or incorrect thank you to meditate. once you're new to meditation then I recommend you place a lighted candle on a table or different stale floor immediately in front of you, take a seat in a comfortable chair, play some soothing song that helps you loosen up. restoration your gaze on the flame of the candle, only proceed to gaze on the flame, while your eyes sense heavy enable them to close. As strategies come into your strategies word them, then only enable them to pass. do no longer "try too annoying" loosen up and enable your strategies calm..... i desire this helps ;-)

Answer 6

It's sitting quietly, emptying your mind, chanting a mantra... There seem to be so many benefits that some companies teach their employees to do it.

You also get Christian meditators who focus on God and see it as a way of being in his presence. Here's a Christian meditation site: http://www.wccm.org/home.asp?pagestyle=home

Answer 7

there are many different types of meditation

prayer is a type of meditation
yoga (poses and pranayama)
breathing meditation
guided visualization meditation
silent mediation
healing meditation
working meditation
khundalini meditation
sexual meditation- (tantra)
mantra meditation


it's a way to connect with your higher self and the Divine, through any of these things- many methods- same goal
to achieve inner peace, spiritual understanding and ultimately enlightenment.

Answer 8

Meditation is just relaxing the mind and body and by doing breathing exercises and focusing. It also probably makes you more intelligent.

Answer 9

It's quieting the mind so you can hear from your higher self, the one who is supposed to be running these bodies and minds of ours. The higher self is never wrong and knows all. Meditation bring access to this part of us we have forgotten.

Answer 10

Prayer is TALKING to the Divine.....

Meditation is LISTENING to the Divine.....

This can be accomplished by many different methods so I will not go into the different styles and methods as it would take FAR too long.....