The Practice of Meditation in 2014 - by Praveen

Let’s Practice 

Meditationin 2014

By:

Praveen Gupta

Praveen Gupta ‐ Praveen discovered the innerscience of meditation through Osho Rajneesh in1999 and since then devoted a considerableamount of time experimenting with meditation.Praveen considers meditation as his religion, andexpansion of consciousness as the supremepurpose of human life.

Praveen started Rugby Meditation Centre in 2007and is actively involved in spreading the scienceof meditation to the wider community. Inaddition to leading some of the sessions at RugbyMeditation Centre on Thursday evening, Praveenalso runs weekend meditation retreats and 8weeks course on “Yoga Sutra ‐ The originalscience of Yoga”

Praveen could be contacted through email  at [email protected] or on mobile  07875‐880159

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What is Meditation?Meditation is a process of detaching yourself from your mind andmoving towards the state of no‐mind. For understanding, it can bebroken down in to three stages as below:

1st Stage: To quiet your mind by usingeither a Mantra, your Breath or anyother object.

2nd Stage: Once your mind is quiet,you move to the second stage ofobserving or watching your mindwhich includes thoughts, emotions andfeelings.

3rd Stage: After practicing the abovetwo stages for some time, the 3rd stagewill happen automatically when there isno‐mind and you are in Meditation.

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What are the benefits of Meditation?

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Why should I practice meditation? (1)There are twomain reasons why millions of people around the world practice meditation:1) HEALTH BENEFITS:One of the important outcome of various scientific studies conducted on meditation over last 30 years is that it brings considerable relief from the ‘dis‐ease of the 21st century’ –

Studies have shown that regular meditation offers deep, sustainable relaxation to our body‐mind. As a result : 

• Our body‐mind no longer overreact to stressful situations.• The burden on heart, blood vessels, digestive system and other vital organs

is reduced.• We feel less depressed and lose the bitter edge of oversensitivity.• We sleep better.• There is much less incentive to embrace addictive habits – be it smoking,

drinking, porn, drugs or binge eating.5

Why should I practice meditation? (2)The second is for :

2) AWAKENING, SELF‐REALIZATION & ENLIGHTENMENT: Not all people start to practice meditation because ofits specific health benefits. Many take it upmeditation as a tool for enlightenment. The originalpurpose of meditation was indeed to transcend thisbody‐mind and merge back to infinite source. Simplyputting, it happens in three stages :

a) Awakening – Getting very close to your source.Its like you can see the infinite ocean but stillsome distance has to be travelled.

b) Self‐realization – You are almost there just a fewsteps away from your source.

c) Enlightenment – This is the ultimate truth whenyou are no longer exist as drop but merged in theinfinite ocean.

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How long and how often should I meditate for?

HOW LONG?The best thing is to meditate for as long as you can without creating anymental tension. It depends entirely on your capacity. Increasing yourmeditation capacity is like developing a muscle. Today you may exerciseand become tired after five minutes. After two months, you may be able toexercise for half an hour or even more, because you have developed yourmuscles.With my experience of running the group for 6 years, I suggest you startwith 20 minutes and then increase the duration in steps as you progress.

HOW OFTEN?At least once a day either in the morning or in the late evening before going to bed. Of course, you will make a faster progress if you do it both in the morning and evening.

Tip : Most important thing is the continuity. Even a few days break destroysthe complete practice of months and you’ll be to back to square one.

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What posture is best for beginners?

• When meditating, it is important to keep the spine straight and erect, and to keep the body relaxed. Some people like to meditate while laying down, but this is not advisable. You may enter into a world of sleep which is not meditation.

• Again, the cross legged posture is not necessary for proper meditation. Many people meditate very well while they are seated in a chair.

Any comfortable sitting posture is good for beginners!

OR

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Meditation TechniquesThere are hundreds of meditation techniques but the following techniques are easy to follow and particularly effective for beginners:

• Mindfulness Meditation• Mantra Meditation• Self – Enquiry Meditation• Chakra Meditation• Isha Kriya Meditation• Yoga Nidra• OSHO Dynamic Meditation

You will get some details about these techniques in the following slides but the best way to know any technique is to try it along with an experienced meditator.

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Mindfulness Meditation 

What to expect in a typical Mindfulness Meditation Session?

• Introduction and description of the technique by the group leader.• Guided mental body scan to calm your mind.• Mindful awareness of breath.• Sitting silently with a mild focus between your eye‐brows.• A short feedback/Q&A session before closing the session.

What is Mindfulness?Mindfulness is to bring one’s completeattention to the present experience on amoment‐to‐moment basis without anyjudgment.During the meditation, we usually takebreath as an anchor to cultivatemindfulness.

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Mantra Meditation 

What to expect in a typical Mantra Meditation Session?

• Introduction and description of the technique by the group leader.• Repeating the mantra OM for ~ 25 minutes, first vocally and then mentally.• Sitting silently with a mild focus between your eye‐brows. .• A short feedback/Q&A session before closing the session.

What is Mantra?The word mantra has two parts: ʺman,ʺ which in Sanskrit means ʺmind,ʺ and ʺtra,ʺ which means ʺinstrument.ʺ A mantra is therefore an instrument of the mind. Repeating a mantra is a powerful way to calm your mind. In the beginners session we use the universal mantra “OM”

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Self‐Enquiry Meditation 

What to expect in a typical Self‐ Enquiry Meditation Session?

• Introduction and description of the technique by the group leader.• Simply follow the voice of your group leader for a guided meditation with a

focus on self‐ enquiry, based on the philosophy of Advaita (non‐duality).• A short feedback/Q&A session before closing the session.

What is Self‐ Enquiry?Self‐ Enquiry is the constant attention to the inner awareness of ʹIʹ or ʹI amʹ by asking the question “Who am I?”.  This self‐enquiry facilitates redirecting attention from the objects of thought and perception to the thinker and perceiver of them. 

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Chakra Meditation 

What to expect in a typical Chakra Meditation Session?

• Introduction and description of the technique by the group leader.• Few rounds of mindful breathing .• Simply follow the voice of the group leader who will guide you to expand

your awareness on each chakra to balance and revitalize its energy.• A short feedback/Q&A session before closing the session.

What is Chakra?As per the science of Yoga, there are 7 major energy centers in the human body called as Chakras. These centers influence  our emotional, physical and energetic condition. When all our chakras are working well and full of energy, this is a major contributing factor to good health, quality life and contended feelings.

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Isha Kriya Meditation 

What to expect in a typical Isha Kriya Meditation Session?

• Introduction and description of the technique by the group leader.• Mentally repeat the phrase “I am not this body” with the inhalation and “I

am not even this mind” with the exhalation.• Utter a sound “Ah” by pushing your belly inside.• Sitting silently for few minutes with a mild focus between your eye‐brows.• A short feedback/Q&A session before closing the session

What is Isha Kriya?Isha Kriya is a simple yet potent practice where“Isha” refers to that which is the source of creation and “kriya” literally means “internal action.” The purpose of Isha Kriya is to help an individual get in touch with the source of his existence, to create life according to his own wish and vision. 

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Yoga Nidra

What to expect in a typical Yoga Nidra Session?

• Introduction and description of the technique by the group leader.• Comfortably lie down on your back and simply follow the CD played by your group

leader.• A short feedback/Q&A session before closing the session.

Note : Please bring a shawl or light blanket with you.

What is Yoga Nidra?Yoga Nidra means yogic sleep. It is a state of conscious deep sleep. In yoga nidra, we leave the waking state, go past the dreaming state, and go to deep sleep, yet remain awake. While Yoga Nidra is used for deep relaxation, it can also be used to deepen our resolutions in sub‐conscious mind to give a positive direction to our life.

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OSHO Dynamic MeditationOSHO Dynamic Meditation

What to expect in a typical Dynamic Meditation Session?

The meditation will be for around 55 Min and consists of 5 stages, as given below.

• CHAOTIC BREATHING through Nose (5 Min)• EXPLODE ‐ JUST LET GO!! Express everything that needs to be thrown out. 10 Min).• Repeating a MANTRA (will be told) to shake and awaken your bio‐energy (10 Min)• Total STILLNESS and silence (15 Min) meditation• CELEBRATE your meditation with gentle music (15 Min) – COME PREPARED FOR 

DANCE!!!

What is OSHO Dynamic Meditation?This is a type of active meditation that involves  movement and catharsis followed by silence. It was created and used by Indian guru Shree Rajneesh, later known as Osho. He believed that a meditation style that involved physical activity  and  catharsis are more practical for the modern world.

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Celebrities Practicing Meditation – Have I inspired you?David Lynch: “I guess people start meditation for many different reasons, but each person who starts will get the benefit they are looking for, and many other benefits as well

Russell Brand: “ “I begin each day with a session of meditation .It changes  consciousness, it’s really good if  you’ve had addiction issues. It’s highly psychological, and very beautiful, and overwhelming, and real, and trippy!”

Gwyneth Paltrow

George Harrison and others17

Links to further Meditation Resources – If you still need them!!

Description Link to the Resource

Osho Meditation http://www.osho.com/meditateIsha Foundation  http://www.ishafoundation.org/?globalDeepak Chopra https://www.deepakchopra.com/Sri Chinmoy http://www.srichinmoy.org/Mindfulness Meditation http://www.mindfulnesscds.com/Michael Paul Stephens http://www.michaelpaulstephens.com/home.htmlTranscendentalMeditation

http://uk.tm.org/home

I‐Rest (Yoga Nidra) by Richard Miller

http://www.irest.us/

Relax Kids http://www.relaxkids.com/tips/category/Meditation/14

Meditation Society of Australia

http://meditation.org.au/index.asp?mobilecheck=true

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Thank You

Details of weekly meditation group are as below:

Venue, Timings, Cost and Booking: Kailash Yoga Hall at Rugby Spiritual Centre: 5 Newbold Road, Rugby CV21 2LQ Every Thursday, 7:15pm until 8:15pm (kindly arrive by 7:05pm) £3 per session Booking by email to [email protected] or text at 07875‐880159

A typical meditation session begins with a brief introduction by each participant followed by adescription of the evening’s technique by the group leader, before practicing meditation foraround 30 minutes. There will be an opportunity to ask questions or provide feedback at the endof session