Meditation Techniques
Meditation comes in many shapes and sizes. Here are a few of the most popular meditation techniques. One is sure to be right for you.
Zazen
Zazen is the sitting meditation of Zen Buddhism, but many so-called “Zennists” who don't practice Buddhism practice zazen. Zazen can be accurately defined as “just sitting” and is exactly that — just sitting. It doesn't require any religious or philosophical affiliation. All it requires is the ability to apply the seat of the pants to the floor and stay there for a while. Sounds easy, you say? Hardly. For those of us accustomed to accomplishing something at every moment of the day, just sitting is quite a challenge.
But just sitting accomplishes something amazing if it is practiced every single day for an extended period of time. The mind becomes calmer. The muscles stay more relaxed. Stress fails to get the rise out of your body and your mind that it once did. Suddenly, you hold the reins, not your stress. Suddenly, priorities seem clearer, truths about life, people, and yourself seem more obvious, and things that used to stress you out seem hardly worth consideration anymore.
The Rinzai sect of Zen Buddhism is most known for its meditation technique of koan contemplation. Students are given a koan, or an enigmatic question or statement, by the Zen master, such as, What is the sound of one hand clapping? During meditation, they must contemplate the koan until they exhaust all rational understanding and their minds shift into a more enlightened state.
Just sitting doesn't remove you from the world, however. Choosing not to worry, dwell, and obsess about things means you can concentrate on the real business of living. Just sitting teaches you how to be, right now, in the moment. As your mind opens up, the world opens up, too. All those anxieties suddenly seem like ropes that were tying you down. Just sitting can dissolve the ropes and set you free to really be who you are and live the life you want.
That may sound like pretty powerful stuff, especially as a result of just sitting there. Can just sitting really do all that? Believe it or not, it really can, and you'll only begin to perceive its power if you try it and stick with it. The power of zazen isn't really so mysterious. Just as exercise trains the body and just as regular, targeted exercise can train the body to do truly amazing things (think about gymnasts, acrobats, Michael Jordan … ), zazen trains and exercises the mind.
All those worries and anxieties, the panic, the nervousness, the restlessness, the inner noise are holding you back from your true potential the same way being out of shape and undisciplined holds you back from athletic potential. Just sitting is the way to train your mind to let that stuff go.
From the Buddhist perspective, zazen is thought to be the path to enlightenment because thousands of years ago the Buddha attained enlightenment while “just sitting” under a bodhi tree in India. He sat and sat and sat and continued to sit, and legend has it that he proclaimed (I'm paraphrasing), “I'm going to sit here until I perceive ultimate truth, and that's final.” Supposedly, it took about one night. Then, he understood the meaning of all existence. This was, of course, after six years of intensive searching for truth.
Enlightenment may or may not be your goal. But whatever the case, learning to sit, cultivate stillness and inner silence, and become fully and totally aware of the present moment makes for powerful stress management.
If enlightenment sounds foreign, strange, or even a little scary, don't worry. Enlightenment isn't weird. It just means you become fully aware of who and what you are. You are still you. You just know more! Also, there is nothing wrong with you if you never “attain” it. Some people don't even believe such a thing exists.
How to Practice Zazen
You can learn zazen at a zendo, a place where Zennists or Zen Buddhists gather to meditate together. The rules for meditation will depend on the individual zendo and whether or not the zendo is based in Soto or Rinzai Zen (differences include things like whether you will sit facing the center of the room or the wall).
Or, you can learn zazen on your own. While, ideally, you should be able to practice zazen under any circumstances, you can help yourself along, especially in the initial stages, by practicing zazen in a quiet place where you're not likely to be distracted. Set aside about five minutes your first time out, then gradually work up to 15 to 30 minutes once or twice each day. Increase your meditation session by about two minutes each week.
To begin zazen, sit cross-legged or on folded legs (sitting on your feet), with a firm pillow under your hips so that you aren't sitting directly on your legs. Make sure you are wearing enough clothes to stay warm, or wrap yourself in a blanket. Sit up straight, feeling a lift from the crown of the head toward the ceiling and an open feeling in your spine. (In other words, don't scrunch over.) Keep your shoulders back, your chest open, and place your tongue on the roof of your mouth. Look down, but don't hang your head. Your focus points should be slightly downward and your eyes relaxed. Now, unfocus your eyes just a little so that you don't really see what's in front of you. This will help you to focus inwardly.
Rest your hands in your lap in either of these two positions: Rest your left hand, palm up, in the open palm of your right hand. Bring your thumbs together so the tips touch just slightly; or make your left hand into a loose fist and rest it inside the open palm of your right hand. Rest your hands against your body about two inches below your navel.
Keep your mouth closed and breathe through your nose. At first, practice concentrating by counting each breath. In your mind, count from one to ten, with each full breath (inhalation and exhalation) constituting one number. Or, simply follow your breath, keeping your awareness focused on the sound and feel of your breath moving in and out of your body. Don't try to control your breath. Just notice it.
Soon, you'll probably notice that you aren't paying attention to your breath, or even counting. Your mind has wandered! Notice it, then bring your attention back to your breath. Keep going for five minutes. Once you get really accomplished at focusing, you won't even have to count. You'll just sit, breathe, and be.
And that's it. Sound too simple to be true? Zazen is simple, but it isn't easy, for several reasons. Let's be frank:
It's boring, especially at first.
It's really hard to sit still.
It's difficult to “just sit” when you know how much you have to do.
It's hard to justify the time when you don't see immediate results. (We are so impatient!)
Your mind will try to talk you out of it. Discipline is hard and your mind will resist the effort.
At first, you'll think you are hopeless and could never do it.
It's frustrating when you can't concentrate on anything.
It's frightening to confront some of the emotions that arise unexpectedly.
Dropout rate is high. Most people don't keep it up long enough to see the benefits.
You can practice zazen without any props, but if you become devoted to your practice and want to spend the money, you can buy several props to make your meditation more comfortable. A zafu is a firm, small, round cushion to sit on during Zen meditation. A zabuton is a larger mat on which to place the zafu. You can also buy a small wooden bench designed so that you don't actually put weight on your legs. Look for these and other meditation tools in specialty stores and catalogs. You might try your local health food store, New Age bookstore, or meditation center.
But what happens if you don't drop out? What happens if you sit through the boredom, sit despite the other things you think you should be doing, sit out the frustration and the fear, sit until you've learned how to really sit still, physically and mentally? The answer is simple: Clarity, peace, acceptance, satisfaction, and, yes, a whole lot less stress.
Walking Meditation
In Zen, walking meditation (kinhin) is the counterpart to sitting meditation (zazen), but walking meditation doesn't necessarily have anything to do with Zen. It is what it sounds like: meditation on the move. Walking meditation is different from sitting meditation because you have to be thinking about what you're doing so that you don't wander into traffic or bump into a tree. On the other hand, it isn't really so different, because in sitting meditation, you become acutely aware of your surroundings. They just aren't changing the way they change when you walk.
Walking meditation is excellent as an alternative to sitting meditation. Some people like to sit for most of their meditation session but then spend the last few minutes in walking meditation, and for some, who practice sitting meditation for longer periods of time, walking meditation gets the body moving periodically without breaking the meditative flow.
Walking meditation is more challenging than sitting meditation for the same reason that it is more interesting to many people: You've got more to look at. With more to look at comes more temptation to let the mind get frantic again. For this reason, walking meditation is often best practiced as a counterpart to sitting meditation.
But for most people reading this book, walking meditation is a great way to enjoy walking and reap the benefits of meditation at the same time. It's also great for people who simply refuse to sit still. Walking meditation can be a good way to ease into the meditation concept without the commitment of sitting (and sitting for even five minutes is a fairly serious commitment for some people). It's an enjoyable form of meditation that can serve as the basis for a meditation practice, or as an occasional alternative to any other form of meditation.
How to Practice Walking Meditation
To practice walking meditation, first decide where you will walk. You can do walking meditation outside or around the room. You should have a prepared path in mind so that you don't spend time thinking about where to go during the meditation. Know exactly where you are going: around the block, to the end of the path, around the periphery of the living room.
Begin by spending a moment focusing and breathing, to center yourself and prepare for the meditation. Then, taking slow, deliberate steps, walk. As you walk, notice how your breath feels as it comes in and out of your body. Notice how your limbs move, how your feet feel, how your hands and arms hang, the position of your torso, your neck, your head. Don't judge yourself as you walk. Just notice.
Once you feel you've observed yourself well, begin to observe the environment around you as you walk. Don't let it engage you. If something you see sets you off on some long, involved path of thought that has nothing to do with how you feel walking through the place you are walking, then as soon as you catch your mind so wandering (and it will so wander), gently bring your thoughts back to your breathing.
While new to walking meditation, stay with your breath for a good long while. Before you can start noticing and focusing on the rest of your body and your environment, you need to be able to focus on the breath. Otherwise, your mind will be all over the place.
Start with five minutes and add two minutes every week until you're up to 15 to 30 minutes of daily walking meditation. Or, alternate walking meditation with another form of meditation every other day. Or, once you are up to 15 to 30 minutes of daily meditation, spend the first or last five to 10 minutes of each session in walking meditation.
Yoga Meditation
Yoga, practiced in India for thousands of years, even before Hinduism arose, may be the oldest of all meditation traditions. While hatha yoga, the yoga most known to people in the West, focuses on postures and exercises, these are designed to get that troublesomely twitchy and unfocused body under control, so that meditation can be more easily practiced.
While yoga has many different sects that believe slightly different things and orient their meditation and other techniques toward slightly different directions, many forms of yoga have certain things in common:
They believe that throughout the body, channels of energy run up and down. Along these energy channels are chakras (wheels of light), or spinning energy centers (see “Chakra Meditation,” a little later on this page). Chakras are focal points for energy in the body and represent different organs in the body, different colors, and different aspects of the personality and life force.
They believe that deep at the base of the spine is the seat of kundalini energy, sometimes called “serpent energy” or “serpent power” and likened to a coiled serpent waiting at the base of the spine to be awakened. Kundalini energy is thought to be a powerful force that, through the proper practice of postures, breathing, and meditation, can be activated or awakened.
As kundalini energy awakes, it rises through the body, activating each of the chakras in turn until it reaches the seventh chakra at the crown of the head, resulting in an intense physical experience that actually, it is said, physically restructures the body.
Most of the yoga practiced today is profoundly influenced by a text called the Yoga Sutras, which describes and explains yoga via a long list of aphorisms that were written thousands of years ago by a man named Patanjali. Many of these aphorisms can be seen as ancient and interesting approaches to stress management, which, in a sense, they were, for isn't stress what keeps us from enlightenment, and isn't seeking enlightenment about ridding ourselves of obstacles like stress so that we can perceive the truth and finally be wholly happy?
In the Yoga Sutras, Patanjali described the Eightfold Path to enlightenment. The steps aren't necessarily to be followed in order; in a sense, though, they are progressive. (Note the placement of meditation.)
Yamas, or lifestyle guidance. If you want to make your path to enlightenment (and your path away from stress) easier, these are the things you should not do. You should not lie, steal, be greedy, commit violence, or let yourself get carried away by lust or disrespect of other humans. Pretty good advice!
Niyamas, or more lifestyle guidance. These take the form of healthy places to focus your attention and energy, including purity (keeping both mind and body clean), contentment, discipline, studying oneself, and being devoted to something. Also good advice.
Asanas, or yoga postures. These are designed to help you gain mastery over the body.
Pranayama, or breathing exercises. These are specifically designed to infuse the body with life-force energy (called prana in yoga).
Pratyahara, or learning to become detached. Now, we're getting into familiar meditation territory. This step is about learning to step back from the world and your own thoughts, feelings, emotions, and sense impressions, to view them with an unengaged, unbiased eye.
Dharana, or learning concentration. This is also familiar meditation territory. It involves concentrating on something — a sound, an object, a thought — until the boundaries between you and the object dissolve and you are one.
Dhyana, or meditation. In this step, all the previous steps come in to help out. The lifestyle guidance sets the stage, the asanas and pranayama prime the body, and the detachment and concentration discipline the mind. The goal of yoga meditation is to recognize your ultimate oneness with the universe, which can result in a state of pure, joyful bliss called samadhi.
Nirvana, or ultimate bliss. This is the final step and the final goal of the Eightfold Path. It is what happens when we finally recognize truth and our oneness with the universe. It is enlightenment. (And it's a pretty stress-free way to live!)
Maybe the yoga path interests you, and if so, you should certainly go out and learn everything you can about it. If not, don't be put off by all these steps. This is just for your information. You can still practice yoga meditation without committing yourself to an all-out yoga lifestyle.
How to Practice Yoga Meditation
To practice yoga meditation, first choose a quiet, comfortable, warm place where you are unlikely to experience distractions. If possible, turn off any sources of noise and anything that emits electricity (TV, stereo, computer — but leave the refrigerator plugged in so as not to spoil the food!). Take off any jewelry, especially anything metal. Electrical currents, metal, and anything encircling a body part can disrupt the flow of energy.
Wear something comfortable. Take off your shoes but keep your socks on if you think your feet will get cold. Wrap yourself in a blanket to keep warm if necessary.
Sit cross-legged, or in the half lotus position, with one foot placed, sole facing up, on the opposite thigh. Or, if you are very flexible in the hips or experienced with yoga asanas, sit in the full lotus position, with legs crossed and each foot placed, sole facing up, on the opposite thigh. To create additional stability, sit on a small, firm pillow so that your knees point toward the ground, forming a tripod.
The full lotus position isn't for beginners because it requires quite a lot of hip flexibility. However, once mastered — through the practice of other yoga exercises that work up to it and then the practice of the position itself — the lotus position is the most stable sitting position. It can be held for long periods of time. And some people claim to have fallen asleep in this position without tipping over.
Next, put your right hand, palm up, on your right knee and your left hand, palm up, on your left knee. You can leave your fingers open or make a circle with each index finger and thumb or middle finger and thumb. Making these circles with your fingers is meant to keep energy concentrated in the body rather than allowing it to escape from the fingertips during meditation.
Rock back and forth and side to side on your sitting bones to find a nice, stable, center position. Imagine the crown of your head being lifted up as the tip of your tailbone sinks down, lengthening the spine and straightening the posture.
Next, simply begin to notice your breath as it flows in and out. Inhale and exhale through your nose, or inhale through your nose and exhale through your mouth. Once you feel relaxed, think or say a syllable, word, or phrase, called a mantra. The traditional mantra of yoga meditation is the sound/word “Om.” Say it slowly on the exhale of the breath. Let the “M” resonate through your body.
Many who practice yoga meditation and other forms of mantra meditation believe that the sound vibrations produced within and from the body with the chanting of a mantra actually have a physical effect on the body, helping it to align and reinforce its life-force energy.
“Om” is meant to imitate the sound of the universe, from which everything originated and of which everything is a part. Some people think of it as the sound of God. By saying/making this sound, you can feel a connection with the universe, and that is the philosophical basis of yoga (and Hinduism) — we are all one with the universe; all matter, all energy, everything is connected; everything ultimately merges together; beneath the surface of reality, which we experience with our senses, all is really just one. Some people who practice meditation like to use the mantra “One” instead of the mantra “Om” because it more directly evokes, to them, this idea.
Repeat your chosen sound with each exhalation for five minutes on your first time out, then increase the time in meditation as instructed. Yoga meditation feels good. It feels spiritual. It can be a counterpart to any religion or practiced by itself. It can be an energizing spiritual reinforcement, which is important for getting stress under control. If you are feeding your spiritual side, you tend to be less stressed out by the less important things in life.
Shavasana
Shavasana, or the corpse pose, is actually a yoga asana, or exercise — one of those postures designed to help keep the body under control so that it doesn't interfere with the pursuit of meditation. And shavasana does just that — it helps to rein in the body and get it working the way it is meant to work. For that very reason, shavasana is an excellent stress management technique.
Many yoga teachers consider shavasana to be the most important of all yoga asanas. It is both easy and challenging because all you do is lie on your back and relax, but … you actually have to lie on your back and relax!
How to Practice Shavasana
To practice shavasana, find a comfortable spot on the floor. A bed usually isn't supportive enough, but you can lie on a mat. Lie on your back with your legs about two feet apart and flat on the floor, your arms flat and away from your body, your palms facing up. Let your feet fall to the side.
One problem with shavasana is that if you are tired, lying on your back with your eyes closed and relaxing is likely to result in a catnap. Don't chide yourself! If you fall asleep in shavasana, you probably need the rest. Just try again when you are better rested. (And get to bed early tonight! Your body is sending you a message!)
Now, begin to relax as you breathe in and out through your nose. As you breathe, concentrate on fully relaxing your body: bones, joints, muscles, everything. Let it all sink comfortably down toward the floor. Don't worry about how you look or what you should be doing. Just let it all go. Relax deeply. Stay in this position for five minutes to start, and work up to 15 or 20 minutes.
This pose is great after a yoga routine or any other kind of workout. It's also an energizing way to start the day and a relaxing way to end the day. Doing shavasana is like pushing the RESET button on your personal computer. It lets your body reset itself, realign itself, re-energize itself, and reverse that insidious stress response.
Breathing Meditation
Breathing meditation is part zazen and part pranayama, which are the breathing techniques associated with yoga. Breathing meditation takes qualities from both. In zazen, you watch your breath without judging, following it in and out. In pranayama, you control the length and character of the inhalation and exhalation.
Breathing is, obviously, a vital function. We do it throughout our lives. It constantly infuses our body with oxygen and, according to some traditions, life-force energy. Our breathing rate is also directly connected with our stress level. When stress chemicals pump through the body, breath rate increases. What happens when we consciously slow our breath rate? We send a message to our bodies to relax. We defuse the stress reaction. And it's so easy to do!
How to Practice Breathing Meditation
First, practice breathing deeply. Then, when you feel you can breathe from the lower part of your body rather than from your upper chest, sit comfortably (don't lie down for this one), either on the floor, in one of the positions described in previous meditations, or in a chair. Sit up straight so that you aren't scrunching up your body's breathing space. Imagine you are being suspended from above so that the effort of sitting up straight feels effortless.
Now, take a long, slow, deep breath through your nose, and in your mind, count slowly to five. When you've inhaled fully at five, hold the breath for five more counts. Then, slowly release the breath through your nose to the count of ten.
As you breathe and count, your mind will need to concentrate on the counting. This will help you to stay focused. Eventually, when you get used to the rhythm, your mind won't have to stay so occupied. Now, it's time to focus on the sound and feel of the breath, as in zazen meditation. Focus completely on the breath as it enters, waits, and exits the body. When your mind wanders, guide it gently back to the breath.
While most meditation techniques suggest breathing through the nose, mouth breathing is fine if you have nasal congestion or if you feel more comfortable doing it that way. Better to do your breathing exercises through your mouth than not at all.
Keep breathing in this way for several minutes. Increase your breathing meditation time by two minutes per week until you've reached 15 to 30 minutes once or twice each day. After a session of breathing meditation, you will feel directly and immediately energized. Try it in the middle of a stressful day, at the end of the day, at the beginning of the day when you need a boost … any time you need a shot of energy. In addition to infusing your body with energy, you also are filling it with the oxygen it needs to nourish itself.
Breathing meditation can be practiced anywhere, anytime, even for only a few breaths. Even in small amounts, it is instant stress relief.
Mantra Meditation
Yoga meditation is a mantra meditation, but there are many other kinds of mantra meditation. Any concentrated focusing while repeating a sound can be called a mantra meditation, whether it's Sufi chanting or the recitation of the rosary prayer. Some people believe that the sounds of a mantra actually contain certain powers; others believe that the key to mantra meditation is not the sound but the repetition itself. In either case, if you choose a word that means something to you, you may feel your meditation has a more personalized meaning and feeling to it. Your mantra can even be an affirmation like “I am happy.”
Any word or phrase will do. Maybe you already have something in mind. If not, here are a few you “might try (the possibilities, of course, are endless):
“Om”
“One”
“Peace”
“Love”
“Joy”
“God”
“Sky”
“Mind, body, spirit”
“I am happy” (or good, perfect, special, loving)
“Hallelujah”
“Shalom”
“Goddess”
“Earth”
“Amen”
Another stress management benefit to practicing mantra meditation is that, like Pavlov's dog, you learn to associate a sound with something positive. After practicing your mantra many times during meditation and experiencing the benefits of relaxation, calm, and inner peace, the mere mention of the word can immediately invoke some of these feelings. For example, if your mantra is “One,” then in a stressful situation, just say “One” the way you say it during your regular meditation. Notice the immediate feeling of calm.
Mantra meditation is an ancient tradition practiced by many different cultures in many ways. If time is the ultimate test, then mantra meditation may be the ultimate form of meditation. It disciplines the mind, hones the focus, and even improves the depth of the breath and the capacity of the lungs. It's also supremely relaxing.
How to Practice Mantra Meditation
To practice mantra meditation, find a quiet place to sit, in the position described for yoga meditation or Zen meditation or even in a chair. Get situated, centered, and in a comfortable position. Take a few relaxed breaths, than slowly begin to repeat your mantra with every exhalation of your breath. Repeat for five minutes at first, then build up by two minutes each week, until you've reached a comfortable period of time between 15 and 30 minutes once or, if possible, twice each day.
Mandala Meditation
In mandala meditation, which is a significant kind of meditation in Tibetan culture, the focus of meditation isn't placed on a sound but on a beautiful object: a mandala. Mandalas are circular pictures, sometimes very plain, sometimes highly ornate, that are used for meditation. The round form and, often, the inner lines of the picture (whether painting, drawing, mosaic, sculpture, or something else), draw the eye to the center of the mandala, helping the mind to focus on that center point.
In Tibet, fantastically complex and beautiful, brilliantly colored and intricately designed mandalas, large and small, are made with colored sand, then brushed away. The making of mandalas is an art form in Tibet. Mandalas are thought to be a symbolic representation of the universe, making them the perfect point of focus. Again, the concept of oneness with the universe recurs. But you don't have to believe that concept to practice mandala (or any other kind of) meditation. You can learn all about the philosophy behind it if you choose, or you can just practice it to help train, discipline, and teach your mind to be still and clear.
How to Practice Mandala Meditation
First, you need a mandala. You can find mandalas in books, in stores that carry imported items from Tibet, and in stores that carry meditation supplies. Or, you can make one yourself, one as simple as a circle with a center point, or as complex and ornate as you want to make it.
Hang or place the mandala at just below eye level from a sitting position, and sit four to eight feet away from it, depending on how comfortable you feel (and how well you see!). Sit comfortably cross-legged, in a kneeling position, or on a small bench or a chair. If sitting on the floor, use a cushion to make yourself more comfortable. Take a few relaxed breaths.
Then, look at the mandala. Instead of following your breath or a sound, use the mandala as your point of concentration. Examine it in detail. Notice everything about it. Notice how your eyes move toward and away from the circle. Let the mandala become the entire focus of your concentration.
The labyrinth in the Chartres Cathedral in Paris is a modified version of a mandala. Walking along the path of the maze-like pattern is a concentrated form of walking meditation designed to mimic the journey into the soul and back out again.
When your mind starts to wander (which it will) and you realize it has wandered — “Hey, what am I doing thinking about what we're having for dinner tonight?” — gently guide it back to the mandala.
The more you practice mandala meditation, the easier it becomes. It also becomes more challenging, because after many sessions, you are still looking at the same mandala and your mind must learn to continue to find it a point of complete focus. It's great mental exercise.
Start with five minutes, then add two minutes every week until you are up to 15 to 30 minutes of mandala meditation once or twice each day.
Chakra Meditation
According to yoga and other traditions, chakras are those centers or “wheels” of energy at key points along the energy channels in the body. Each chakra is thought to represent different parts of the body, both physically and emotionally. Each chakra also has a color.
Meditating on the chakra that represents an area in your life that needs reinforcement can be an effective, even life-changing form of meditation. Meditating to open and energize all the chakras is also an effective technique for freeing the body to do the work of extinguishing the negative effects of stress.
While the body is filled with minor chakras, the seven major chakras exist on a line from the base of the spine to the crown of the head. Different people put them in slightly different places and attribute slightly different meanings to each one, but you'll find the following basically in line with standard interpretations of the chakras:
The First Chakra is located deep at the base of the spine. Its color is red. This is the seat of instinct, including appetite, the instinctual sexual urge, aggression, violence, fear, and that instinctual, nonintellectual joyful response to the satisfaction of the basic urges and needs. Meditate on this chakra if you are having trouble controlling your primal urges.
The Second Chakra is located behind the navel or just slightly below. Its color is orange. This is the seat of creativity, including both procreation and the deep-seated urge to create art. This is also the seat of passion. Meditate on this chakra if you are having trouble with blocked creativity, including reproductive problems.
The Third Chakra is located just behind the solar plexus in that indentation beneath your rib cage where both sides of your ribs meet. Its color is yellow. This is the seat of action and consumption. Your digestive fire lies here, turning food into energy. Meditate on this chakra if you are having trouble with your appetite, for food or for life. If you have difficulty taking things in, work on this chakra.
The Fourth Chakra is located just behind the heart. Its color is green. This is the middle chakra of the seven, and the center of compassion, emotion, and love. This is the chakra of giving away, in contrast to the third chakra, which takes and consumes. Meditate on this chakra if you are having trouble giving of yourself, being compassionate or loving, or feeling emotions.
Some people believe that chakras can be energized or unblocked by placing crystals corresponding to that chakra's color over the area of the body in which that chakra lies. Crystal healers place crystals on the body to balance the energy of the chakras and promote the flow of life-force energy through all the chakras.
The Fifth Chakra is located in the throat. Its color is sky blue. This is the seat of communication energy. Meditate on this chakra if you are having trouble communicating your feelings or expressing yourself, or if you have writer's block.
The Sixth Chakra is located between and just above the eyebrows. It is sometimes called the Third Eye chakra. Its color is deep, dark blue or indigo — like the night sky, as opposed to the fifth chakra's color of bright blue sky. This is the center of intuition, unclouded perception, and psychic abilities. Meditate on this area if you want to develop your intuition or if you feel your intuition is blocked.
The Seventh Chakra is located at the crown of the head. This is the highest chakra, sometimes called the Thousand Petalled Lotus chakra. Its color is violet. This is the source of enlightenment and knowing your true self. If enlightenment is your goal, meditate on all the chakras and the energy that flows between them, culminating in the seventh chakra.
How to Practice Chakra Meditation
To practice chakra meditation, choose a quiet spot where you are unlikely to be disturbed, and sit comfortably. The yoga meditation positions are most common for chakra meditation, but you can also sit in a chair or even lie on the floor (but don't fall asleep!).
Rock yourself into a straight position. The primary energy channels in your body run along your spine and into your head. If you keep your spine straight, energy can flow more easily through the chakras. Close your eyes and breathe easily.
In addition to colors and aspects of the self, the seven primary chakras also have associated planets, vibrational syllables, and glands!
First chakra: Saturn, sound is LAM, glands are sex glands
Second chakra: Jupiter, sound is VAM, glands are adrenals
Third chakra: Mars, sound is RAM, glands are digestive
Fourth chakra: Venus, sound is YAM, gland is thymus
Fifth chakra: Mercury, sound is HAM, gland is thyroid
Sixth chakra: Sun, sound is OM, gland is pineal
Seventh chakra: the universe, sound is also OM, glands are pituitary and hypothalamus
Then, focus either on the first chakra, if you plan to move through all of them, or the chakra on which you want to focus. Imagine the chakra's color and feel the color pulsing in the area of that chakra. Think about what that chakra represents. Reflect on those qualities in your own life. Don't judge yourself. Just observe and let thoughts come and go.
For example, if you are meditating on the fifth chakra, because you are feeling creatively blocked, imagine a bright blue color, like the color of the sky on a breezy, sunny spring day. Feel the blue color cooling and opening your throat, letting your thoughts and ideas come pouring forth. Think about your creativity. Do you wish to be a writer but have trouble getting yourself to try it? Do you love to write but have trouble getting started? If you find yourself lecturing yourself or berating yourself (“Why can't I just sit down and write?”), notice what you are doing and let that go. Concentrate on your throat, the bright blue color, and the creativity in your life in an observer sort of way.
This kind of meditation often brings up surprising solutions. If you let go of the worry and the blame in the area of your concentration, simply letting yourself see and reflect, ideas arise like bubbles, breaking loose from the side of a glass and floating to the top. Pop! The answers become clear.
If you don't get answers or don't feel renewed after one try, keep at it. Sometimes it takes awhile to get used to this kind of concentration and reflection, but with persistence, you can open and energize your chakras. Your body will help you to let go of unnecessary stressors and heal the negative effects of stress. You'll find your consciousness breaking into new territory.
To meditate on all the chakras, as a kind of whole-self-maintenance, start with the first chakra, its color, its function, and concentrate on it for two to five minutes. Then, imagine the energy rising into the second chakra, and concentrate on it for two to five minutes (don't worry about watching a clock — try to feel when it's right to move up). Keep going until you reach the seventh chakra. If you feel more blocked in any one area, spend a little more time there.
Chakra meditation is a superb stress management meditation. You feel that you are really doing something to take care of yourself. And it's a lot cheaper than therapy! (It's also an excellent complement to therapy.)
Mindfulness Meditation
Mindfulness meditation is different than other meditations because it can be practiced anywhere, anytime, no matter what you are doing. It is simply focusing on total awareness of the present moment. Mindfulness meditation is inherent in many other forms of meditation but can also be practiced while walking, running, playing basketball, driving, studying, writing, reading, or eating. Anything you are doing, you can do with mindfulness. Your entire day can be one long mindfulness meditation — although it's pretty hard to sustain.
Mindfulness meditation has been popularized by both Easterners who have come West, such as Thich Nhat Hanh, the Vietnamese Buddhist monk, and Westerners such as Jon Kabat-Zinn, Ph.D., the founder and director of the Stress Reduction Clinic at the University of Massachusetts Medical Center. It is easy to do for short periods. It is tough to do for an extended time, because our minds resist staying in the present moment. But it is a rewarding mental discipline that teaches us to cherish and relish the miracle of the present moment, no matter how ordinary. It is also supremely relaxing and satisfying.
How to Practice Mindfulness Meditation
Wherever you are, whatever you are doing, you can practice mindfulness meditation by consciously making the decision to be fully and completely aware of everything around you. Notice the impressions from all your senses — see, hear, feel, smell, taste. When your mind begins to think about something else, gently bring it back to the present moment. Don't judge the impressions of your senses. Just observe. You may be amazed at what you notice about yourself and the world around you.
A famous Buddhist aphorism (paraphrased here) asks, “If you hear a dog barking, do you think of your own dog, or do you think only ‘bark’?” Thinking “bark” means you are practicing mindfulness. Thinking of your own dog means that you are making an association and that your mind is somewhere else.
If practicing mindfulness anywhere sounds overwhelming, you can start out practicing it while doing something very specific, like eating. Pick a single thing to eat — not a fancy dish with lots of ingredients, but a vegetable, a piece of fruit, some simple broth, or a piece of bread. Eat it slowly, slowly, and notice everything about the process. How do you bring the food to your mouth? How do you put it in? How does it feel in your mouth? How does it taste and smell? How does the food look? What spurs you to take another bite? How does your body react to the food?
Practicing mindfulness meditation while eating is a good way to hone your mindfulness skills. It is also a way to help overcome mindless eating, a common problem especially among stressed-out Americans.
Prayer
Several studies that continue to baffle the mainstream medical establishment suggest that when hospitalized patients were prayed for, even when they didn't know they were being prayed for, they recovered more quickly than those who weren't prayed for. These studies suggest that people can experience stress relief if others pray for them.
If you're stuck for words when trying to pray and aren't really associated with any religious tradition, borrow a prayer from any of the world's religions. The Lord's Prayer, the Rosary Prayer, the Hail Mary prayer, a Gregorian chant, one of the Kabbalah's 25 names for God, the Jesus prayer of the desert fathers, a Sufi chant, a Buddhist chant, a Hindu chant. Go to the library and do some research. It's a place to start. Once you get comfortable, you can generate your own words.
Any practice of centered, reverential concentration is a form of at least a cousin of meditation, and they all work to relieve stress. The meditation traditions of all cultures have common themes and techniques. The Eastern mantra meditation in which “Om” is chanted is similar to the Western practice of saying prayers.
What is prayer? Prayer is a focused, concentrated communication, statement of intention, or opening of the channel between you and divinity, whatever divinity is for you. A prayer can be a request, thanks, worship, or praise to God. It can be an intention of being thankful directed to the universe. It can be used to invoke divine power or an attempt to experience divine or universal energy directly. Many different traditions have many different modes and types of prayer. Prayer can mean whatever you want it to mean for you.
How to Practice Prayer
To practice prayer, first decide what you want your prayer to be. To whom, to what, or toward whom or what is your prayer addressed? What is the substance of your prayer? Are you praying for healing for yourself or someone else? Are you praying for something you want or need? Are you praying to say thank you for everything you already have? Are you praying to praise, to express your inner joy, to release your inner sadness?
Once you have a specific intention in mind, sit or lie quietly in a place where you are unlikely to be disturbed. Focus your thought on your prayer and say it, out loud or in your mind. Stay focused on your prayer and the energy of your prayer. Imagine where it is going. Let your prayer continue to radiate from your heart toward its intended source. As you open this channel from your heart to the outside, also allow a space for a return message. You may be filled with a warm, joyful feeling. Or, you might receive a message. Or, you might not.
Whatever happens, continue to focus on your prayer as it flows from you and don't judge the results. Just let it happen and let this outpouring of positive energy from your heart fortify and strengthen you. Because, as we all know, the more you give, the more you receive!
Imagery Meditation and Visualization
Imagery meditation and visualization are meditations that use your imagination to make positive changes in your thinking and even in what happens to you. The purpose of imagery meditation is to imagine yourself in a different place (the beach, the mountains, Paris) or circumstance to effect instant relaxation. Visualization is a technique for imagining something you want (a different job, the love of your life) or a change you would like to see in yourself (to be less reactive to stress, more self-confident, perfectly organized).
Imagining and visualizing have two separate effects:
Instant stress relief because of the positive feeling you associate with what you are visualizing
Life changes because continually visualizing something can help to bring those changes about in your life
Even if your imagination is a little rusty, you can practice imagery meditation and visualization. It's fun! Maybe you will use imagery meditation to take a five-minute seaside vacation in the middle of your workday. Maybe you will use visualization to help you change your eating and exercise habits to finally achieve a healthy body and a healthy weight. Whatever you use them for, these imagination generators are powerful stress management techniques, both in the short and the long term.
How to Practice Imagery Meditation
Get comfortable, either sitting or lying down. Close your eyes. Take a few deep, relaxed breaths, then form a picture in your mind. Maybe it is the place you wish you could be right now, a place you visited in the past and loved, or a place you invent. What does the place look like? What do you see around you? What colors, what textures? Notice everything about the place you are visualizing.
Then, imagine touching things around you — sand, water, grass, trees, great art or architecture, your favorite person. Listen. What do you hear in this place? Wind, waves, rustling leaves, traffic, talking? Next, think about what you smell. Freshly cut grass? Salt? A storm? Cooking food? Perfume? Focus on each of your senses and explore the place you've created or remembered in your mind. Stay here as long as you like, but for at least five minutes. Then, slowly, let the images fade away and open your eyes. Instant relaxation!
How to Practice Visualization
Get comfortable, either sitting or lying down. Close your eyes. Take a few deep, relaxed breaths, then form a picture in your mind of some kind of positive life change. Maybe it's a career goal, a change in health or appearance, situation, confidence, or anything else. Keep it simple and stick to one thing. You can always tackle other areas in a separate session.
Imagine yourself in your new situation. How do you look, act, feel? How do you like being this new way, looking like this, having this job?
Explore yourself in your new situation. If you like it, if it feels right, then stick with your visualization every day and imagine it with fervent and confident intention.
As your life changes, your visualizations may change and grow. That's fine! You may realize, for example, that as your life becomes less stressful and more rewarding, you don't really need to be financially wealthy, because you have gained emotional and spiritual wealth instead. The trick is to keep it up. The more you use your imagination, the stronger it becomes, just like a muscle.
With a strong imagination, you become a more creative problem solver, and your brain works better. You'll be better able to manage the stress in your life as you work on eliminating it.
To add power to your visualization, use an affirmation as a mantra for your meditation, worded as if the change has already taken place, and worded positively (rather than, “I won't be sick,” say, “I will be well”). Use the affirmation as a mantra while you visualize your goal.
Examples of positive affirmations:
“I am healthy, strong, and well.”
“My body is healing quickly and growing stronger.”
“I am confident and self-assured.”
“I am relaxed, calm, and tranquil.”
“I have found the perfect life partner for me.”
“I am rich in many areas of my life.”
