Tuesday, December 2, 2008

How to do an Awareness Meditation

Passing along knowledge is very important and it because of this personal philosophy I chose to do these "how to's" postings. Enjoy!

How to do an Awareness Meditation
Source: Wikihow.com

Steps
  1. Sit down or stand still. Sitting in a lotus position is usually quite stressing on your legs unless you know how to do it very well.
  2. Rest your palms on your lap or knees. If you are standing, let your arms fall naturally at your sides. Just don't collapse!
  3. Breathe slightly deeper than normal.
  4. Be aware of your breath.
  5. If you notice that you are thinking, acknowledge it. Then let it fade away.
  6. Return to awareness of your breath.
  7. Repeat steps 4-6. Once you are done that, repeat this step. This step is an infinite loop.
  8. Stop your meditation any time if you want to.
  9. If you have back problems you may want to sit on a pillow.

Tips
  • The Benefits: You will become calmer; you may have insight; you will increase your level of martial art skill; you can get along with people easily.
  • If you count your breaths for the first few tries it will become easier to think of nothing. Beginners should try in for the count of 5 hold for 5 and out in 5. Get slower as you go but only up to 7.
  • It is recommended that you obtain direct instruction from a meditation teacher.
  • Meditation may be prayer, and you may believe in meditating, or praying, "through," perhaps for hours to find, "peace" (a quiet place).
  • Some believe in an unknown meditational language, "glossolalia" - lingua - tongue (or tone) with which the "Holy Spirit" may groan to the heavenly Father in "charmistic" meditations.
  • Charisma has an attribute of the unseen leading of the Holy Spirit in personal relationship with the Father (discerning the Spirit).
  • That word derives from the Greek charis (“grace”) and charizesthai (“to show favour”), connoting a spiritual grace for salvation granted by grace through faith for enabling good works.
  • Charisma comes from the being comfortable with yourself, it comes from practicing meditation. From knowing and accepting the core human fallible and childlike part of you that connects you to all humanity. It comes from letting go of all the 'chatter' that we learn in our lives, of how we should be and what we should be. It is about being in the moment and letting go of all the external stuff.
  • With meditation you can learn to let all the stuff that is other peoples frustrations and problems wash over you and stop affecting you because you are aware of the core central person you are, with all the strange feelings that this involves. These feelings are all about you being a human rather than because of external factors, it is about knowing yourself. Try to remember that others behave according to their internal stories and therefore it is not necessarily to do with you, even when it seems to be directed at you. Rise above it. do not engage in this tit for tat type stuff.you can be above it. Letting go of this is liberating and this is what meditation offers. Go for it no matter what you religious stand point is at the moment, its no other than learning about the central human self.
  • When you meditate the goal is zoning out. To practically fall asleep while still staying aware or focusing on certain points. This allows your mind to revert to that relaxed, stress free mental state during stressful situations (IE taxes or work). So when you do a session, always pick really warm thoughts that help you zone out. You will go deeper when your more comfortable!

Warnings
  • Don't fall asleep, especially in a large crowd.
  • Don't collapse (if standing), especially in a large crowd.
  • Make sure you have plenty of time. True meditation makes time seem to accelerate, and you might not notice the hours passing.


Article provided by wikiHow, a collaborative writing project to build the world's largest, highest quality how-to manual. Please edit this article and find author credits at the original wikiHow article on How to Do Awareness Meditation. All content on wikiHow can be shared under a Creative Commons license.

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