The Gentle Art of Meditation

Part of “Lets Meditate” Series Posted on 6 April 2014

Meditation is an art, one that can either take us a second or a lifetime to master depending on our will and enthusiasm and practice. It should not be treated as another fashion or fad in our lives – but a necessity. Meditation, for those who practice it daily, is like oxygen for the soul, the breath of life without which the soul cannot survive and thrive spiritually.

There are countless benefits to meditation.  Since the word meditation shares a common root with medicine, it is clear that to meditate means to heal, whether ailments are physical or emotional. Meditation can help to prevent, soothe and calm health issues whether in the body or the emotions. As we get calmer through meditation we can better manage our lives by making better choices. We feel more in control. And as we continue to deepen and empower our meditation ever further our sense of purpose becomes clearer. We are happier and more pleasant to be around, we develop a sense of oneness and connection, and we feel we want to give out to the world from the heart. We come to know and enhance our own strengths, and develop the power to let go of weaknesses. The list of benefits is endless.

Meditation is all about raising our vibration. Did you know that we all vibrate at a certain frequency? It is this frequency that keeps us bonded with, or running away from another person. This frequency is crafted from our thoughts. As we become more trained in creating elevated, benevolent and considerate thoughts we radiate this beautiful energy and like energy returns back to us. This is why, after a wonderful meditation, the whole world and all its people look so beautiful to us and nothing, and no-one is a problem!

Meditation is about taking a good look inside with the aim of fixing our inner world. A little like returning to an old attic that hasn’t been visited or cleaned for years, we may find old treasures, but we are also sure to find some cobwebs. It is the same for the mind. If we have not spent time with the self, then how can we really know ourselves.

‘Who am I?’ is the multimillion dollar question very few dare to ask themselves. Am I just a set of labels that have been handed down to me, with a few more that I have gained along the way? Or am I something richer and deeper and more everlasting than that? Meditation gives us an enlightened sense of our true self like nothing else can. As I sit with my true self, I become convinced that I am not this mortal coil, but the light that is the life force that makes this body tick.

There is no right and no wrong way to experience meditation. Your experience is totally personal to you and it cannot match that of another. As you sit in meditation, even if it’s just for five minutes, you will feel a slowing down of breath and a shift in consciousness; you will feel more relieved, more serene, more relaxed. These are small successes that will grow with time and practice. Drop by drop you have begun to create a pool of peace within yourself.

With meditation our life slows down but our productivity doesn’t. In fact yogis (meditators) are some of the most occupied and effective people I have seen. Now that they have a dual purpose – that of managing the material world and their spiritual world – they learn the balancing act that allows them to achieve more and better, and yet give the right attention to the things, circumstances, situations and people that need them most.

As we master this gentle art, we realize that meditation is not just a technique we practice for five minutes a day or once a week, but something uniquely motivating from within that becomes part of our lives. We can be in a state of meditation as we speak, as we eat, jog, play… plus pay our bills!  Our perspective changes as we realize we are spiritual beings living a human existence, not human beings ‘dying’ to be spiritual.

Perhaps one of the greatest benefits of Raja Yoga Meditation when practiced conscientiously is the transformation that it brings about within us. This meditation at its best can truly help us to transform from the core of our being, from the inside out. Knowledge is like the bricks and meditation is the cement. As we meditate we are constructing the building of our character.

It’s Time… to start exploring the gentle art of meditation.  Open up another world by asking yourself the multimillion dollar question, who am I? And in the silence begin to hear the answers.