Yoga Music For Meditation Series – 12 Essential Tips To Attain A Successful Meditation Practice
a) About Meditation
1. First of all understand what meditation is! Meditation consists of the continual flow of thought on one thing. It is the keeping up of one idea alone and resembles the continual flow of oil. This process is called “Dhyana” by Yogis and adoration by Bhaktas.
Concentration is to fix the mind on a point or an object, either internal as in the body or external (eg an image). Meditation is a natural outcome of concentration. In Dhyana the normal thoughts are closed of from the mind and the mind becomes saturated with Divine thoughts and presence.
(b) Find A Place
2. Have a room solely dedicated to meditation and do not allow anybody to enter. This keeps it holy and sanctified. Burn incense in the mornings and evenings and keep an icon of God or your Guru placing your chair in front. Keeping spiritual literature in the room is also good and will raise the resonance level of the room.
In deep meditation the vibrations produces will lodge themselves into the ether of the room. After six months you will feel deeply in peace in the atmosphere of the room. Whenever you feel your mind agitated or disturbed you can sit in the room and repeat a mantra for half an hour. You will feel an immediate change within your being.
By practising this you will feel the calming spiritual influence it has on you. Nothing can compare to a spiritual practice and it will create a holy place in your home.
3. Intensive meditation and solitude are of utmost importance for realizing the Divine Self. A place of pilgrimage, a mountainous scenery, a garden full of flowers, a sacred temple, these are places which help to the attaining of concentration, contemplation and meditation. Find these places when you need to.
4. Find a cool place with a mild climate. This is a must for concentration. As salt melts in water so too will the Sattvic (pure) mind melt in the silence that is brought by meditation with the Absolute.
(c) Find A Time
5. Pull yourself out of bed at 4 in the morning! This time is favourable for spiritual and devotional practice. The mind is pure and calm in the mornings after having slept. Like a blank sheet of paper, it is void of the normal worldly impressions.
The mind is easily moulded at this hour as the atmosphere is filled with light and purity. If you do not feel to take a bath or shower you can wash your hands, feet and your face with cold water. This suffices.
6. Always choose the part of the day or night when your mind is clear and when you are least likely to be disturbed. The mind will be calmer and more malleable at this time.
7. Meditate on Sundays as the mind is more at ease on holidays. You will also find that your meditation improves if you only drink milk and eat fruit. Also fasting helps tremendously in the attainment of focused meditation.
(d) Where To Focus
8. Focus gently in the heart area or between the eyes in the forehead. Keep your eyes closed.
9. The mind is placed in Ajna Chakra in Trikuti. The mind is easily tamed by focusing on Trikuti. Devotional types (Bhaktas) should focus in the heart area and yogis should concentrate on Ajna Chakra.
10. At the top of the head there is an energy center called Sahasrara which is another great place to concentrate. Vedantins focus in this point. Some yogis focus on their nose tips (Nasikagra Drishti). Tenaciously stick to one place of focus for the quickest results.
If you decide to concentrate on the heart area, stay with it and don’t change it. If you are a devotional type you can let your guru find the center you should focus upon, else you can find it yourself.
(e) What to eat
11. Keep a pure light diet. Over filling the stomach with bread, rice and vegetables will make you sleepy and interferes with your spiritual practice. Solely dieting on milk will make the body feel light and pure.
By following these guidelines you will find yourself being able to sit at ease in yoga positions for long periods of time, up til hours. If you feel weak though, you can take some milk and rice. Those with an intense program of keeping lectures and other spiritual activities should have a solid diet though.
(f) Yoga Positions
12. Asana (yogic posture) steadies the body; Bandhas (contractions) and Mudras (attitudes) strengthen the mind; Pranayama (breath control) makes the body feel light; Nadi -suddhi (purification of the energy paths) produces steadiness of the mind. Having acquired these qualifications you now have to fix your mind on the Absolute. Then meditation will be easy and will make you actually make happy.
Yoga positions are recommended to become good at meditation. The lotus pose and Siddhasana are a must in meditation. The most sublime meditations come from adhering to sexual continence or brahmacarya as it is called. This is the withholding of the seminal fluids in the case of men and of the menstrual fluids in the case of women. Brahmacarya is especially facilitated through the practises of Paschimottanasana, Brahmacaryasana and Shirshasana, but all yogic sadhana is beneficial to this purpose.
Hans Havasi is a Systems Consultant at a major engineering firm in Denmark, a yoga teacher and a musician in the group Ibis which makes tantra music for Goddesses. With his wife Mariah, Hans leads a yoga and tantra retreat and art center in the north of Copenhagen. Please click here to read more about meditation or go here to download free meditation music.
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