Awakened Mind

Mindfulness meditation is a meditation technique oriented towards the cultivation of what the Buddhists call “mindfulness”.

Mindfulness is what many contemporary authors such as Eckhart Tolle have called “consciousness” or “present moment awareness”. It involves having your awareness centred in the present moment, including in such things as your feelings, sensations, and vital force. In doing so you re-channel energy that was previously stuck in the mind. This includes energy that was wasted in compulsive thinking and the continuous mental labelling of your moment-to-moment experience.

You could say mindfulness is our natural state and that compulsive thinking is what removes our awareness from that state. Therefore mindfulness meditation involves a sort of relaxation, where you simply cease to do what was preventing you from your natural mindfulness.
photo credit: Glenn R Carter

It’s not a “zoning out” sort of relaxation, but can also be guided with a certain amount of focus. However it’s good to keep in mind that the least effort needed to keep the meditation on track, the better. View your mindfulness meditation almost as an exploration with your consciousness, and keep the emphasis away from particular meditation techniques. Let your awareness simply flow into greater states of mindfulness through your meditation practise.

The meditation teacher Adyashanti in his book True Meditation said to cultivate “A relaxed focus” and added, “It’s up to you to work out what this means for you.”

Mindfulness Meditation Techniques

To practise the most basic technique of mindfulness meditation, simply sit or lie in a posture that is comfortable for you and bring your awareness to your breath. This mindfulness meditation technique is also called “breath awareness meditation” for obvious reasons.

Allow your awareness to rest naturally and effortlessly on your breath. Feel how the air enters and leaves your nostrils and observe, rather than control, the natural rhythm it takes. Over time you may start feeling a sense of euphoria or pleasure in your body. Just keep it up for as long as you feel comfortable.

Alternatively, it can be a good technique to have a timer set and practise mindfulness meditation for a set length of time: 5 to 20 minutes is probably enough.

Thinking In Mindfulness Meditation

A lot of people worry about thinking too much in their mindfulness meditation or in similar meditation techniques. It’s not a good thing to focus too much on thinking, because trying to stop thinking can become a distraction and can prevent you from developing true mindfulness. Instead, aim to rest your focus on your breath.

When thinking comes up, instead of fighting it, a good technique is to take it simply as – a message. Let thinking be a message that says, “You have lost your focus.” When you receive that message, thank it and return your focus to your breath. Allow your breathing to be your centre of focus again.

Other Mindfulness Meditation Techniques

There are many other mindfulness meditation techniques you can learn. As always, remember to remove the focus from the “technique” element and aim to simply “allow” them to happen, as if you were allowing a stream to flow downhill.

You can use Eckhart Tolle’s inner body awareness meditation technique to cultivate mindfulness. In this technique, you flow your awareness into the inner energy field of your body.

It’s easiest to become aware of the inner energy field of your body through your hands, lips, and feet, where there are the most nerve endings. You’ll first be able to notice the energy field as a slight tingling, which will grow as you deepen your mindfulness. Spread your awareness from your hands to the rest of your body, feeling the tingling in every area of your body if you can. Eventually, you may be able to sense the entire inside of your body as one boundryless expanse, almost a portal into the infinite. Remain in this awareness for as long as you feel comfortable, and return.

Another technique you may find useful is the “remembering” technique. It’s almost more of a habit than a meditation technique, but the idea is to simply remember throughout the day to be mindful. Whenever you have this sudden remembrance, spend a few moments – perhaps a minute, or 10 mindful breaths – returning to mindfulness. Then go about your day and aim to keep that mindfulness in the activities in which you partake in.

The Benefits Of Mindfulness Meditation

Mindfulness meditation has a lot of great benefits, such as improved health, a greater sense of wellbeing, more intution, more mental clarity, a greater sense of perspective and general wisdom. It also has the benefit of, of course, more control over your emotions, and a greater prevalence of positive emotions in general.

Actually, cultivating mindfulness may be said to one of the keys to happiness in general. It’s possible to have a sense of euphoria and a deep appreciation of the beauty of life through mindfulness that you couldn’t have through all of the more traditionally recognised avenues to happiness (such as money or even relationships).

Remember to make mindfulness your way of life. Don’t confine it to meditation techniques or meditation practise; these can only take you so far. Whenever you sit down to meditate, do it with the intention to take the mindfulness you cultivate *beyond* the meditation mat and into your life. Whenever you have a seed of mindfulness, be sure to care for it and make it grow.

Vipassana is a Pali word that means “to see things as they really are”, and that is the goal of this Indian meditation. Because of this, Vipassana meditation is often known in English simply as “self- insight meditation”. The meditation form derives its benefits from an inward turning of the attention, which is trained to view all internal sensations with equanimity or non-judgement. Vipassana meditation then allows us increasing freedom from the uncontrolled impulses of the body and mind, state teachers such as S. R. Goenka of the Sayagyi U Ba Khin tradition. In this way, Goenka states, Vipassana meditation allows us to understand the nature of what originates and goes beyond both the body and the mind.

Vipassana meditation is said to be the meditation which the Buddha rediscovered and used to reach Nirvana. It’s not limited to any one tradition, however, and its principles may be found in Hindu schools of meditation and in contemporary spiritual works such as The Power of Now. In its purest form, Vipassana could be said to be any meditation which aims at self-insight.

Vipassana meditation schools are found worldwide, a testament to its universal appeal.

The Benefits of Vipassana Meditation

The benefits of Vipassana meditation are not just limited to those people whose personal beliefs include the concept of Nirvana. Government officials who practised Vipassana meditation were shown to have improved levels of Subjective Well Being (an established psychological measure) and Occupational Stress, according to studies that were performed in 2001 and 2002. For both metrics, greater benefits were measured in those who had spent a greater number of years practising regular Vipassana meditation.

Those who perform Vipassana regularly often report that it results in a calmer mind, more clarity of thought, more positive emotions, and a greater sense of happiness in general. As Vipassana meditation helps you focus peacefully on your surroundings, those who practise it often report getting more pleasure out of their daily experiences, even simple activities such as doing the housework.

How To Do Vipassana Meditation

In order to learn to do Vipassana meditation fully, it’s advisable to read a good book on meditation theory. Recommended books include the contemporary bestseller “The Power of Now” by Eckhart Tolle, and “True Meditation” by the Zen teacher Adyashanti.

Now that you have learnt the foundation principles of Vipassana Meditation, you can create a daily practise. Consistency in your practise of Vipassana meditation is more important than quantity. It’s advisable to find a comfortable length of time for your daily practise of Vipassana and stick with it.

As you will learn in your meditation book, your Vipassana practise should start with breath-awareness meditation to root your attention in the present moment. Rooting your attention is a practise that requires discipline as the mind has a natural tendency to go off in all directions and not to settle in the here and now.

To practise rooting your attention, choose any meditation position that is comfortable and not distracting to you, and direct your attention towards your breath. As thoughts come up, gently and firmly return your attention to your breath.

Try not to keep track of your successes and failures in thinking or not thinking as this is a sure way to get frustrated; instead, try to see consistency of practise as a success in itself. If you maintain consistency, slowly but surely you’ll notice a wide variety of benefits appear in your day-to-day life.

As your attention becomes more rooted in the here and now, you will be able to find benefit in self insight meditation. Transition in your meditation from a focus on your breath to a generalised inward focus without thinking. Feel the energy on the inside of your body and allow your attention to rest in it. As you move your attention and energy inwards, release yourself into a profound sense of allowing everything you find to be as it is. This is a deeply healing state.

Vipassana Retreats

A personal practise is excellent and vital in the case of Vipassana meditation, but it’s also worth looking for one of the many worldwide Vipassana retreats you can attend for free. A ten-day course allows you to go much deeper than you would in a normal day’s practise, and can be a great boost to start off a lifetime Vipassana meditation practise on the right track.

However you choose to do Vipassana meditation, its practise could become a cornerstone of your life. Its benefits have the power to affect you so deeply that you may one day wonder how you ever lived without it.

Walking meditation is a form of meditation which has been performed by Buddhist practitioners for thousands of years. It is an alternative to sitting meditation, which allows you to practise mindfulness (the art of being in the present moment) in a more dynamic way. In doing so, walking meditation arguably allows you to bring this state into your every-day life more easily.

According to Zen master Adyashanti in the book “True Meditation”, many people are capable of attaining states of mindfulness while on the meditation mat. However, Adyashanti points out that these people often lose their meditative state when they get up and return to their normal lives. He explains that “True Meditation” is to meditate in all situations, whether you are driving in a car, going shopping, sitting, or, of course, walking.

photo credit: AlicePopkorn

This means that as an intermediate step between formal meditation and being in a state of mindfulness in every moment of your life, you can learn to do meditations which have a dynamic element in them. This will help you maintain mindfulness even in the midst of activity, which is normally something that causes people to become less mindful. Several sorts of meditation are suitable for this, including Tai Chi, Qi Gong, free movement meditation, and meditations through exercise such as walking meditation.

Studies on dynamic meditations have linked them to improvements in mood and overall psychological wellbeing.

Studies have also shown numerous benefits for both exercise and meditation, which include an increased neuron density in the brain (meditation), an improvement in immune system function (exercise) and reduced cravings for addictive substances (meditation and exercise).

How To Do Walking Meditation

Walking meditation can be practised by simply taking the principles of meditation into a walk around the park or some other place that is tranquil and conducive to a peaceful state of mind.

This means that as you walk, bring your attention to things that are close to you – things that are in the real world, not just your head. That is, stop thinking and start directly experiencing your senses.

Try bringing your attention to your breath, which serves to anchor your attention in the present moment. This is a good way to start any meditation. As your attention is on your breath, allow your breathing to come naturally and without impediment; do not try to change it or control it in any way. If, while you’re doing this, thoughts come up, gently dismiss them and return your attention to your breath.

You can begin to place your attention in your body after you have “anchored” your consciousness in your body with breath awareness. As this is a walking meditation, allow your attention to flow into your legs, the soles of your feet, and all parts of your body, with special focus on the rhythm of your body and the way it moves. As you place your attention in different parts of your body, you will be able to notice a sense of tingling or aliveness in those parts. With further application of attention, you will notice a sense of general wellbeing or pleasure.

Now allow your attention to go outwards. While you do this, keep some attention in your body and movements: the sensation will be almost as if you are looking with your whole body, not just your eyes. As you do this, experience every sensation of your walk in a meditative way, that is, without placing labels or making judgments. See what you see, hear what you hear, feel what you feel. When you send your attention outwards, it will feel almost like you are “radiating”, as if your attention were a beam of light. Think of the expression “a beaming smile” to get an idea.

Indeed, a smile is the most natural way to accompany this meditation. Nobel Peace Prize Nominee Thich Nhat Hanh recommends it strongly in his book on walking meditation, “The Long Road Turns To Joy”.

In Conclusion

Walking meditation can be a powerful tool in your spiritual practise. Try doing it whenever you find yourself walking. Instead of focusing on getting from one place or another, focus on the act of walking itself. As Thich Nhat Hanh says, “If you think peace and happiness are somewhere else and run after them, you will never arrive.”

The habit of daily mediation is one of the best and simplest ways for reducing stress and increasing your peace of mind. Anyone can learn how to meditate, and the steps to developing this daily habit are not difficult to implement.

The first requirement for developing the daily habit of meditation is that you commit to it for at least thirty days consecutively. It usually takes around twenty to thirty days for most people to develop a habit, and those who are serious about reducing stress and increasing their peace of mind will be sure to be consistent in their efforts.

Here are the simple steps to daily meditation that focuses on reducing stress and increasing mental peace and awareness:

Meditate

Step 1 :

Find a quiet spot where you can be alone and sit down in a position you find most comfortable. You do not need to know how to sit in a lotus position or be a yoga master to sit properly for meditation. The only thing that is important is that you can sit comfortably and without distraction.

Step 2:

After you have found a comfortable spot that is free from distractions, begin to breathe in and out very slowly. Try counting to four in your mind as you breathe in and count to four again as you breathe out.

The slow breathing will help you to develop a rhythm of breathing that greatly helps to reduce bodily stress and also to help you focus more on your state of being rather than some other distraction.

Step 3:

Imagine that you are releasing all of the tension in your body by relaxing your entire body from the tip of your head to your toes. Create a feeling of “letting go” through a deep relaxation of your muscles, and focus on calming your nerves as well by making sure that your fingers and toes are completely relaxed.

Your stress levels will reduce as you reach a state of complete calm and relaxation. Be as still as possible without moving any muscles. Meditation is the only exercise in which a person must consciously relax every muscle in their body.

Step 4:

After your entire body is calm and relaxed, begin to focus on reducing any mental anxieties that you may have by stilling your mind.

Keep all worrisome thoughts out of your mind by thinking about the things that you are grateful for. Slowly replay images of your happiest memories. If you can successfully do this, begin to think about the good things that you want to bring about in your life.

Make sure that these mental images have a strong feeling of happiness attached to them. It is the feeling behind these mental images that will be the determining factor in increasing your peace of mind.

Continue doing this for fifteen minutes or more or at least until you are completely relaxed and filled with a sense of joy, fulfillment, peace, and clarity.

Conclusion

Learn to do this exercise every day until you can get full control over your stress levels. Since mental anxieties and bodily stress are the result of fear, doubt, worry, and indecision, this daily meditation will slowly eradicate such feelings by creating mental peace, clarity, awareness, and fulfillment.

The more you can take advantage of daily meditation as a means to get your mind and thoughts more clear and directed towards positive outlooks, the more you will increase your peace of mind and reduce the amount of stress in your life.