Meditation for Dummies Bodian en 8689

Focus Take-Aways

Overall Applicability Innovation Style

Rating (10 is best)

To purchase abstracts, personal subscriptions or corporate solutions, visit our Web site at www.getAbstract.com or call us at our U.S. offi ce (1-877-778-6627) or Swiss offi ce (+41-41-367-5151). getAbstract is an Internet-based knowledge rating service and publisher of book abstracts. getAbstract maintains complete editorial responsibility for all parts of this abstract. The copyrights of authors and publishers are acknowledged. All rights reserved. No part of this abstract may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, photocopying or otherwise, without prior written permission of getAbstract Ltd (Switzerland).

• Meditation is focusing your attention on a single thing for an extended time.

• You pay attention to the process of your consciousness, rather than just the content.

• Physically, meditation fi ghts heart disease, stress and aging.

• Psychologically, meditation makes you calmer, happier and more creative.

• Spiritually, meditation makes you empathetic, and can put you in touch with the divine.

• Meditation requires discipline. Make a long-term commitment.

• Incorporate meditation into your daily life.

• Every spiritual tradition has its own meditative practices.

• Everyone who meditates runs into obstacles; use them to improve your practice.

• No matter what your personality type or goals, you can fi nd a meditation practice that works for you.

7 8 5 6

Meditation for Dummies

by Stephan BodianJohn Wiley & Sons © 2006384 pages

Leadership & Management

Strategy

Sales & Marketing

Finance

Human Resources

IT, Production & Logistics

Career Development

Small Business

Economics & Politics

Industries

Intercultural Management

Concepts & Trends

This summary is restricted to the personal use of Donald Mlambo ([email protected])

LoginContext[cu=1815837,ssoId=615990,asp=2573,subs=2,free=0,lo=en,co=ZW] 2015-08-12 10:56:09 CEST

Meditation for Dummies © Copyright 2008 getAbstract 2 of 5

Relevance

What You Will LearnIn this Abstract, you will learn: 1) What meditation is; 2) How you can benefi t from meditation; 3) How to meditate; and 4) What some meditation practices and traditions are.

RecommendationGiven the array of complex and confusing advice out there on meditation, Stephan Bodian’s clarity and reassuring tone are welcome. Many meditation texts are partisan and seek to advance one school or method of meditation over another. In contrast, Bodian is scrupulously fair and inclusive: He introduces multiple perspectives and approaches, all the while sharing his own experience. Offered in combination with an audio CD that guides listeners through 12 different types of meditation, this is an extremely approachable introduction to meditation. getAbstract recommends it to both meditation novices and advanced practitioners, all of whom will be able to dip into it for useful suggestions and information. If you like the user-friendly “Dummies” format, you’ll fi nd the sidebars, graphics, headers and short segments handy. If you seek only serenity, the pages might be a little too busy for your meditative frame of mind. So, absorb the information, close the book and close your eyes, which you’re going to do anyway. Now, ommmm.

Abstract

Why Meditate?Meditation is not an esoteric practice. It’s really pretty simple. When you meditate, you focus your attention on one thing, such as your breathing, or a word or phrase called a mantra. You do it regularly and, ideally, for the long term. That’s what makes meditation a practice or discipline. The longer you do it, the more you experience its benefi ts: “calm, peace, well-being, wholeness, clarity and compassion.” Meditation can change the quality of your life experience by helping you to connect with yourself and others, and aligning you with deep spiritual realities.

Meditation has spiritual roots: Monks, mystics and shamans have meditated throughout history. However, even if you don’t belong to any particular spiritual tradition, you can still meditate. You can focus on any number of things and have any number of goals. You can seek spiritual awakening and contemplate the nature of the divine, or you can seek better health and visualize T-cells attacking an infection. Both are meditation, because both involve training your attention and building your ability to concentrate.

Life has always been diffi cult and stressful, and the ability to stay calm in the midst of chaos is precious. Postmodern society, with its fast pace and multiple demands on your attention, is more splintered than ever. Anxiety, disconnection and alienation are common, driving many people to substance abuse or escape into entertainment or rigid, fundamentalist mindsets.

Meditation has well-documented physiological benefi ts. It reduces heart and breathing rates, as well as blood pressure and cholesterol. You can use it to manage pain and recover from stress. People who meditate on an ongoing basis live longer and suffer

“The great thing about meditation is that it’s actually quite simple. Just sit down, be quiet, turn your attention inward and focus your mind.”

“Meditation is simply the practice of focusing your attention on a particular object…like a word or phrase, a candle fl ame or geometrical fi gure, or the coming and going of your breath.”




fewer effects of aging. Psychologically, meditation can make you more creative, happier and more empathetic. Some people use it as a supplement to psychotherapy.

Taming the Monkey-MindYour mind jumps all over the place. You think about one thing, then another. That’s not a problem that’s specifi c to you. Buddhists refer to the human mind as a “monkey” because of the way it leaps from thing to thing.

Meditation helps you tame the monkey and develop mindfulness, or the “awareness of the here and now.” Start by letting go of expectations: Accept whatever happens. Relax. In many traditions, meditators focus on their breath. Sit still, and count each inhalation and exhalation. When you get to 10, start over. If you get lost, start from the top. When your mind wanders – as it inevitably will – gently bring it back. Don’t let yourself stay distracted; return to the breath. Meditation changes the way you think in several ways:

• “Content to process” – Instead of becoming engaged with your fears or anxieties, you watch them move in and out of your mind.

• “Outer to inner” – Usually external stimuli capture your attention. As you meditate, you turn your focus inward.

• “Secondhand to direct” – Instead of reliving the past, fantasizing about the future or interpreting the events around you, meditation helps you experience the present moment.

• “Doing to being” – Don’t act on what you see; let the experience fi ll you.

Preparing to MeditateDevelop a regular routine to prepare for meditation. Many traditional meditation postures require sitting with a straight (although not rigid) spine, which can be uncomfortable at fi rst. Stretch your back by doing yoga poses such as kneeling on all fours and arching up and down like a cat. Stretch your hips with lunge poses. How you sit is up to you: in an old-fashioned wooden chair that will help you stay upright, or on the fl oor kneeling or cross-legged. Supporting your buttocks with small cushions (called zafus in Japanese) sometimes helps.

Don’t eat or drink anything, such as alcohol, that might distract you. Wear loose, comfortable clothes and pick a quiet spot with few distractions. You might even make this spot a “sacred space” by dedicating it to meditation and setting up an altar. Especially when you fi rst start meditating, preparation may take a while, so set aside 20 minutes to an hour. However, meditating for a short time each day is better than doing a lot one day and none for the rest of the week. Meditation requires discipline. Make a commitment to meditate daily and for the long term.

To keep yourself on the path, lay a strong foundation. Review your motivation: Do you want to be a better person? Accept yourself more fully? Help others? Even as you review why you are meditating, give up any claim to know what you’ll encounter along the way. Rather than clinging to a preconceived notion of what meditation should be, embrace your “beginner’s mind.” Stay open to whatever comes. Notice everything that happens without judging or clinging to it. Everything in life changes and passes away.

Challenges Along the WaySome inner states can be disturbing. Negative emotions such as rage and fear can seem endless or overwhelming. Don’t worry; they have their limits. Identify and examine these emotions, and notice what they do to your body. Treat them as you would any series

“You may have a diffi cult time accepting the basic spiritual truth that you and I have only limited control over the events in our lives.”

“The daily practice of meditation for just a few months actually makes people happier, as measured not just by their subjective reports, but also by brain-mapping technology.”

“How you live affects how you meditate, and how you meditate affects how you live.”

“When you turn your attention inward, the fi rst thing you’re likely to encounter is the ceaseless chattering of your mind.”




of internal events. Welcome them, then let them pass – which they will. The same is true for intensely positive emotions. They are more pleasant, but your challenge will be to let them go and not cling to them. Some emotional states may become patterns or what meditation teacher Jack Kornfi eld calls “insistent visitors.” They arise from unresolved experiences. Take these steps to interrupt emotional habits: • Catalog them – Identify the “top ten tunes” that replay in your awareness. • Look deeper – Notice where your body feels tense. Follow the emotions to see

what’s underneath. For example, on the surface you feel fear, but underneath that you feel hurt.

• Experience the feelings – This isn’t the same as acknowledging them. Feelings often recur and demand attention because you never really felt them in the fi rst place.

• Notice resistance – “What you resist, persists.” When you allow the expression of the feelings, they may pass.

• Look for wisdom – Maybe the patterns have something to teach you. • Face your demon – “Unearth the memory, feeling or belief that holds the

pattern together.” If the experience is traumatic, you may need to do this with a psychotherapist.

• Imagine replacing the negative pattern with a positive one – This is a kind of short cut. Set aside the pattern and instead imagine “wholeness and completeness.”

Habitual patterns are diffi cult to break, and following these steps may take time. However, the more experience you gain in breaking patterns, the more quickly you will see them forming and the more easily you will be able to intervene.Other obstacles to meditation include restlessness, boredom or sleepiness. Observing without judging is diffi cult and you may become very hard on yourself. Conversely, you may feel proud of your choice to meditate and the wonderful thoughts you’re having. Think of these kinds of experiences as “roadside attractions” on your meditation journey. They are interesting, but they aren’t the goal and you don’t have to stay with them. Some experiences such as deep and abiding bliss or a sense of energy gathering in your body are not roadside attractions but rather highway markers that your practice is getting somewhere and transforming you.

Integrating Meditation into Your LifeMeditation takes many forms. To develop a meditation practice that you can follow for a long time, fi nd one that works for you and that fi ts your goals. For example, if you are deal-ing with a serious illness, start with a healing meditation. If your goal is self-acceptance, try meditations that focus on compassion, “lovingkindness” or mindfulness.No matter what method you choose, your goal is to experience calm, peace and focus not only during the 20 minutes or so when you’re meditating, but also throughout your life. As the Vietnamese Buddhist monk Thich Nhat Hanh said, “Every breath we take, every step we make, can be fi lled with peace, joy and serenity. We need only to be awake, alive in the present moment.” During the day, if you lose focus, forget who you are or feel frazzled, return to your breath. It’s always with you. Use it to renew your awareness. Some traditions ring a bell at intervals throughout the day, to remind practitioners that no matter what they’re doing, they should be mindful. If you can’t use an actual bell, adapt everyday occurrences to remind you. When you stop at a red light, “breathe consciously, and let go of your

“When you sit up straight like a mountain or a tree, your body acts as a link between heaven and earth – and, by analogy, connects your physical, embodied existence with the sacred or spiritual dimension of being.”

“Self-discipline is…the capacity to do something again and again. But I fi nd it helpful to break self-discipline down into three parts: commitment, consistency and self-restraint.”

“Enlightened or not, you can develop the ability to open your heart when you choose to do so. Meditation erodes the experience of separation that causes the heart to stay closed in the fi rst place.”




tension.” In some traditions, such as Judaism, people say a blessing for common actions such as waking or eating. When you face a dull or uninspiring task, approach it mindfully, paying attention to every action and detail.

The History of MeditationEvery spiritual tradition practices some form of meditation. Cave paintings that are more than 15,000 years old show shamans in meditative postures. The practices that most people think of as meditation appeared in India more than 5,000 years ago, when priests focused on the breath as a way of focusing on the divine. They also developed practices such as yoga, which uses body postures to cultivate the spirit.

Buddhism sprang from this tradition and moved from India throughout much of Asia, taking as many forms as there were local cultures. Some of these traditions included elaborate rituals, while the Japanese tradition of Zen Buddhism is famous for its austerity. It slices through avoidance with a brief command: “Just sit!” Zen uses “koans,” or riddles such as “What is the sound of one hand?” that intentionally frustrate the rational mind to force the awareness to leap to a new level of understanding for a solution.

Some scholars suggest that Indian teaching may have infl uenced the West during Roman times. However, the major Western religions of Christianity, Judaism and Islam all have their own meditative traditions. The most common form of meditation in these traditions is prayer. Jewish mystics use sacred phrases from scripture as mantras, and Sufi Muslims practice a kind of ecstatic dance.

Meditation TechniquesTo do a “walking meditation,” begin by walking normally. Then notice your breath, paying attention to each inhalation and exhalation. Coordinate your steps with your breath, for example, by taking three steps each time you inhale or exhale. Notice how your legs and feet move and make contact with the ground.

Eating, which you do every day, can also become a meditation. Before you take a bite, sit quietly and “appreciate your food.” Thank the people and world that produced it. Follow the food to your mouth by slowing down each movement. Once the food is in your mouth, notice how it tastes and feels. When your mind fl its away into judgment and expectation, bring it back to the present. Instead of eating on autopilot, stay present through the entire meal.

You can also meditate on particular spiritual qualities, such as lovingkindness. First, do a basic meditation, such as breath counting, with your eyes closed and your body relaxed. Let your memory range back to a time when you felt loved. Sit with this memory and what it meant to you. Appreciate the person who loved you. Let the emotions accumulate until you are “fi lled with love.” Some traditions fi nd it useful to underscore this abstract emotion with words. Buddhists say, “May I be happy. May I be peaceful. May I be free from suffering.” Extend your love to someone close to you. Don’t rush. Move on to the next person and the next, until you’ve experienced love for “all your loved ones and friends.” Don’t stop there. Let love spill out from you until it reaches everyone everywhere.

About the AuthorStephan Bodian has been practicing meditation for more than 30 years. A licensed psychotherapist, Bodian was editor-in-chief of Yoga Journal for 10 years.

“You can’t really tell how a particular meditation will affect you until you practice it regularly for a period of time.”

“If you meditate regularly, you’re going to have spiritual experiences – guaranteed.”

“When you catch a glimpse of the sacred you can practice seeing it everywhere you look, in everyone and everything.”



Meditation for Dummies Bodian en 8689

Documents

Transcript of Meditation for Dummies Bodian en 8689