Meditation: The Art of Being Centered

By Bharat Cornell

Last spring while I was in New Jersey on a lecture tour, Thomas, my host, told how his meditation practice had helped him calm a potentially dangerous situation. Thomas is the superintendent of a small, rural school district, with three schools and 125 teachers. He had recently suspended the high school wrestling coach for verbally abusing his players. The suspension had been bitterly resented by the young coach and his large, extended family-so much so, that some of them had physically threatened Thomas.

One Sunday Thomas was working alone in the district office, when he observed four cars charging into the parking lot. The cars came to a screeching halt in front of his building, and out came a furious mob of the coach's relatives. As they charged into the building, Thomas quickly called his daughter to notify school security. In the seconds remaining, Thomas centered his energy, and waited for the approaching storm. And storm it did; as his "guests" barged into his office, they began yelling, trying to intimidate him. Thomas sat quietly and weathered their rage. Seeing they couldn't scare him, they began vigorously stating the reasons why he was wrong. Calmly, and without fear, Thomas listened to their ranting, and then quietly shared why he had done what he did.

During the confrontation, the relatives didn't want to agree with Thomas. They did, however, admire his courage and centeredness. They were very physical people, and they respected strength. Thomas's demonstration of it won them over, and soon afterwards they not only accepted, but helped resolve, the situation.

The more centered we are, the more outer events adjust themselves to our inner control, because centered energy is stronger than dissipated, reactive energy. Meditation is the art of learning to live from one's center, because it dynamically brings our consciousness into the spine. When our energy is centered there, we are in tune with God and our spiritual nature.

Albert Einstein said that the significant problems of today can't be solved at the same level of thinking that created those problems. When we react in kind to a negative or even mundane situation, we only perpetuate its consciousness. We can never control things outwardly. We can, however, control our own energy. Lahiri Mahasaya's advice for overcoming any problem was always the same-to meditate more, because meditation centers and raises our consciousness and strengthens our aura. Through regular meditation we literally change our destiny.

Meditation Keys for Beginners

How long should you meditate? The first rule is, Don't be ruled by what others do. What works well for them may not work for you. Accept that in certain ways you are unique. Here are a few general guidelines:

Intensity of effort is far more important than the time spent in meditation.

Never meditate to the point of mental fatigue, strain, or boredom... If you feel joy in meditation, stop meditating when the joy begins to diminish. One rule for right eating is to leave the table a little hungry. Apply this rule to meditation. In that way, you'll always look forward to your next time for meditation.

On the other hand, make an effort to meditate a little longer at least once a week… Gradually you'll break the habit of thinking you can meditate only for short periods.

In longer meditations, imitate the ocean tides in their ebb and flow. Let periods of intense concentration alternate with periods of relaxed effort and peaceful receptivity. Like waves coming in to shore, high intensity will alternate with low intensity in long meditations, and there may be pauses when no waves come at all. Until you can transcend body-consciousness in superconsciousness, it is unlikely you'll be able to meditate deeply for very long. Think of your thoughts as dirt that has been stirred up in a glass. Stop stirring it, and it will gradually settle. The greatest difficulty, in long meditations especially, is physical tension. Make an extra effort to keep your whole body relaxed...

As a general guideline, I suggest you try to meditate at least half an hour twice a day-in the morning after you get up, and in the evening before going to bed. An hour and a half twice a day is better. But if you are a beginning meditator, more than one hour a day may be extreme. It is better to meditate a few minutes with deep concentration than a whole hour absentmindedly. Moreover, I don't mind bargaining with you! For although five minutes, let's say, isn't much for anyone who has developed a taste for meditation, it may be all you feel you can spend in the beginning. So be it! Think of meditation, if you like, as daily spiritual hygiene. You brush your teeth, bathe, and brush your hair every day: Why not add to that routine five minutes of meditation?

You'll come to enjoy meditating, in time. Then you'll find yourself meditating longer because you want to, and not because someone is nagging you to do so. But if you think you're too busy, here's something to think about: You can always find the time for something you enjoy doing, can't you? In time, you'll wonder how you ever lived without meditating daily. And the answer, of course, will be: You didn't. What you did, that is, wasn't really living.

Be natural in your efforts. Make haste slowly, as the saying goes. Don't force yourself to meditate when you'd very much rather be doing something else.

At the same time, don't stop meditating altogether with the excuse that you have other things to do. Remember, there's only one direction to go that makes any lasting sense: toward your own Self, in superconsciousness. No substitute will ever work for you; it's never worked for anyone. No appointment is more important than your appointment with-not death: life.

Be a little stern with yourself. Success won't come to people who never try. Only bear in mind that tension is counterproductive. In meditation, concentrate first of all on relaxation.

Remember this also: The more you meditate, the more you'll want to meditate; but the less you meditate, the less you'll enjoy doing it.

Another rule: As soon as you sit for meditation, get "down to business." Don't dawdle, as if telling yourself, "Oh, I have a whole hour, so what's the rush?"

Be regular in your hours and practices of meditation... It is a good practice to meditate at the same hours every day. Routine conditions the mind. You'll find yourself wanting to meditate whenever those hours return. It will be much easier, then, to set all distractions aside.

As soon as you sit to meditate, pray for depth and for guidance in your meditation. Pray also for peace for all humanity. Don't isolate your sympathies from others; embrace all in your divine love.

We develop intuition, Paramhansa Yogananda said, by prolonging the peaceful aftereffects of the meditation techniques... After meditation, don't strip your mental gears by plunging hastily into outer activity. Try to carry the meditative peace into everything you do. To develop this habit, it may help to begin with outward activities that don't involve your mind too much. While doing them, chant inwardly to God.

As a focus for your devotion, you may find it helpful to set up an altar in your place of meditation. Include pictures on the altar, if you like, of saints, or of images of God, or of infinite light and space.

A helpful practice also, if it pleases you, is the burning of incense as a devotional offering. The sense of smell is closely related to the memory faculty. You may recall, for example, catching in some fleeting scent a reminder of some childhood episode that awakened a host of associated memories. Incense, when used regularly in meditation, will help to create meditative associations in your mind, and bring you more quickly, therefore, to inner calmness.

Above all in meditation, be happy! If you want to experience peace, meditate peacefully. If you want to know love, offer love first, yourself.

Swami Kriyananda . www.anand.org

Becoming the Master of Thought

Thought is the Master of us all - a good thought is a good master and a bad thought is a bad master. Good thought uplifts, makes the mood brighter, and makes us feel on 'top of the world'.
Bad thoughts are like a sack full of stones tied to us, pulling us down at every stage, overcoming us with lethargy, disinterest and even violent aggression. Hostile thoughts are deeply destructive even if contained within - they 'eat' us up by sapping our energy and vitality.
We are continuously guided by our thoughts at every moment of our existence. Even when we are asleep a good thought (dream) can bring the faintest of smile on our lips while a bad one can make us break into a cold sweat. Our mind is endlessly enslaved by our thoughts. This much we know and have individually experienced. But is good thought really 'good'? Not so, as long as it is our Master. The hard reality of life is that a Master-Slave relationship always results in the exploitation of the slave. This is a practical reality and our relationship with our thoughts is no different. As long as 'Thought' remains the Master, it will continue to exploit our mind and through that - us.

Quite humorous actually - and in fact humbling, to realize that we are nothing but a product of our thought - our actions, behavior and all what we are is just a consequence of the hold that 'thought' has upon us. We are merely the vehicle and Thought is our driver.
Now what if our driver has had a bad hair day! He decides to take his anger out on his lovely vehicle (us). As he transforms from good to bad, the vehicle starts getting shaky, is tossed around to its limits and experiences exorbitant wear and tear.Oh dear, if only the good thought had remained good - why did it have to become bad ;) So, what is good today can become bad tomorrow totally on its own whims and fancy without 'you' having a say.

Just imagine that our entire life is dictated by our thoughts. We do - action or inaction - in the hope that it will stimulate our thought (please our master) who, in turn, will gratify our senses. But we only hope and, in fact, have no control on how our Master interprets what we do.
As slaves, can we really enjoy the beauty of life without any control? In fact, none of us even know what this 'beauty of life' is and honestly, these will remain hollow words so long as we remain slaves.

Role ReversalNow, imagine if the role was reversed; if you could change the nature of your thoughts like a switch. If you could be 'genuinely' rejoicing from within, at will, even in the face of the worst adversity - if somehow you could 'disconnect' your thought from the situation at hand and manipulate your thought to feel totally free and blissful.
In other words, becoming a Master of your thought.
Wouldn't such a person be the most powerful one on earth, where no situations could be created to disturb him? If WE could create thoughts at will to gratify our senses, wouldn't we be the most blissful persons on this earth?
Perhaps such a feeling MUST be experienced to know its power. Perhaps such a feeling cannot be put into words and that is why we do not know what we are missing.
The point is that can it be done? Can this relation between Slave and Master be altered?
That precisely is the path of Yoga & Meditation. Meditation helps us achieve it - that is what the Great Masters and Scriptures claim. One truth that I have realized is that Meditation need not be a journey where the finish line is Utopia while the path is full of thorns. No sir, it need not be. In fact, I have begun to see the truth behind the statement that meditation is both a process and a goal. As you delve into the meditation process, you will start seeing situations with a new perspective and more as a 'witness'. You will start 'feeling' the control slowly flowing into you as you set out to realize this with a true spiritual purpose. Every small step taken serves to alter your thinking just that bit AND makes the experience of living that much lighter and fuller.
Issues that would normally agitate you, become surprisingly fewer in number while an aura of peace starts overcoming you. You can start switching off from disturbing situations more easily than you could ever do in the past. Isn't that a reason good enough to be on the meditative path without the need to 'achieve' any goal? How do we get into the meditative path?For different mindsets, there are different techniques - one really has to find out for oneself what works best, perhaps, under the guidance of a spiritual Guru. In subsequent issues, I may touch upon certain techniques that help you practice effective meditation.
But at this point, I'll leave you to ponder whether you would like to experience meditation for the broader reason of - 'freedom from the bondage of thought'?
It is my belief that unless you really make that a reason, the lesser by-products of stress-relief, relaxation, vitality etc. will only be illusory.

Healthandyoga.com

Mind-Body Pioneer

The connection between mind and body is stronger than you think.
By PsychologyToday.com

When I started medical practice as a young cardiologist more than 30 years ago, the term “mind-body medicine” was unknown. In the late 1960s, my work linking stress to physical health flew in the face of existing medical thought. It is, therefore, quite gratifying today to be advancing this now scientifically validated field at a time of unprecedented interest in the unity of mind, body and spirit.

My own work in establishing the mind-body connection started when I noticed that my patients had elevated blood pressure during regular checkups. To test my hypothesis that stress was the cause, I returned to my alma mater, Harvard Medical School, to try to establish a model for stress-induced hypertension. We trained squirrel monkeys to either raise or lower blood pressure using operant conditioning technology. We found that the monkeys that were “rewarded” for higher blood pressure went on to develop hypertension, due to their own behaviors.

While this study was under way, I was approached by young practitioners of transcendental meditation who asked me to monitor their blood pressure. They believed they had lower blood pressures as a result of their meditation practice. This type of study was unheard of, but I did consent, after much deliberation. Robert Keiter Wallace and I measured blood pressure, heart rate, brain waves, metabolism and rate of breathing—both when the subjects sat quietly for 20 minutes and when they meditated for 20 minutes. What we found was astounding.

Through the simple act of changing their thought patterns, the subjects experienced decreases in their metabolism, breathing rate and brain wave frequency. These changes appeared to be the opposite of the commonly known “flight-or-fight” response, and I called it the “relaxation response.”

The relaxation response can be elicited by a number of meditative techniques, such as diaphragmatic breathing, repetitive prayer, qi gong, yoga, progressive muscle relaxation, jogging—even knitting. There are two basic and necessary steps which I found to be present in practices in almost every culture: the repetition of a sound, word, phrase or prayer; and the passive setting aside of intruding thoughts and returning to the repetition. From the earliest studies to the present, our work shows that by using your mind in a certain way—to elicit the relaxation response—measurable, predictable and reproducible physiological changes occur that can be useful in countering the unhealthy flight-or-fight response.

A healing tool

Over the past 20 years, my colleagues and I have treated many thousands of people for medical problems poorly addressed by the two modes of conventional medical practice: pharmaceuticals and surgery. I view medicine as a three-legged stool, with mind-body medicine, the third leg, essential in holding up medication and surgery, the other two. Since roughly 60% to 90% of doctor visits are for conditions related to stress, it is vital not to neglect a mind-body approach.

The Mind/Body Medical Institute’s (MBMI) clinical programs treat patients with a combination of relaxation response techniques, proper nutrition and exercise and reframing of negative thinking patterns, in conjunction with the beliefs of patients. Clinical studies over the years have shown the effectiveness of interventions on a wide range of medical problems caused or made worse by stress, such as hypertension, cardiac arrhythmias, pain, insomnia, allergies, repetitive stress injury and infertility, among many others. Practicing the relaxation response daily can boost the immune system and make one more resistant to the harmful effects of constant stress.

Through the deeply meditative practice of Tum-mo yoga, Tibetan monks are able to dry wet sheets placed on their bodies in near-freezing temperatures by raising their skin temperatures 17 degrees. How the human body can perform this remarkable feat is still unknown, yet it serves as a striking demonstration of the awesome mind-body powers we all possess.

Energization Technique by Yogananda

Experience Some of the Energization Exercises




“We are beings of energy…Our bodies, our health, our happiness, our very thoughts are determined by the level and direction of our energy.”

—Jyotish Novak, Ananda Course in Self-Realization, Part One

The Energization Exercises are comprised of thirty-nine exercises. Once you become familiar with the routine it takes about ten to twelve minutes to practice. To learn this technique effectively, however, requires that you see the exercises demonstrated, either by an Ananda Meditation Teacher, or through our video, book and audio resources. If you live in an area where instruction is unavailable, you can still learn the Energization Exercises through our comprehensive aids. You can order these online by visiting

For now, let’s practice three exercises from this system. Although it’s only three you will be learning, practicing them will give you many of the benefits of the technique: increased energy; an awareness of its flow in the body; and a sense of well-being. Doing these exercises before you meditate will also help to release any stored, bodily tension and enable you to sit still longer and more comfortably.

The best way to relax the body in meditation is consciously to withdraw the energy from it. These exercises will help you bring greater will power and deeper awareness to this practice. When you meditate, it is suggested that you first do the Energization Exercises, then the preparatory meditation techniques of tensing and relaxing and regular, even-count breathing, then the Hong Sau meditation technique.




Energization Exercises




Begin with this prayer:“O Infinite Spirit, recharge this body with thy cosmic energy, this mind with thy concentration and this soul with thy ever-new joy. O eternal youth of body and mind, abide in me forever and ever.”




1. Double Breathing (with palms touching)




With your arms straight out to your sides at shoulder level, exhale with the double breath, bend your knees slightly and bring your arms to the front until your palms touch. With a double inhalation, bring your arms back out, straighten your legs - and tense the entire body upwards in a wave. Relax the body down in a wave in reverse order with a double exhalation. Repeat 3-5 times.

Double breathing is a short and long inhalation through the nose and a short and long exhalation through the nose and mouth. This double breath allows you to inhale and exhale more deeply and to oxygenate the blood. To practice a “double breath,” begin by inhaling strongly through the nose with a short, sharp inhalation followed directly by a long, strong inhalation - completely filling the lungs. Then, without pause, exhale twice through the nose and mouth with a short, then a long exhalation - making the sound: “Huh, Huhhhhhh.” Feel cosmic energy flowing into the medulla oblongata with the breath.




2. Body Recharging (first phase)




Stand upright. Inhale slowly, and gradually tense the whole body (with low, medium, and then high tension) to the point where it vibrates. Gaze upward at the point between the eyebrows, and with concentration feel the energy flowing into the body through the medulla oblongata. Hold the tension for a few moments, and consciously fill the whole body with energy. Then exhale and slowly relax (medium, low, completely), feeling the energy as it withdraws from the body parts. Always tense with will, then relax and feel. Repeat 1-3 times.




3. Double Breathing (without tension)




Relax completely. With elbows bent, draw your hands towards your upper chest and shoulder area. Exhale with a slow, relaxed double breath, and let your arms extend slowly in front of you with the breath. Enjoy the pauses between the breaths, and with a slow double inhalation draw your hands back in. Close your eyes and bring your attention to a focus at the point between the eyebrows. Feel relaxed, peaceful, and energized. Mentally affirm: “I am free, I am free!” Repeat 6-10 times.

The Energization Exercises of Paramhansa Yogananda. - More Information on the topic

Meditation… Towards a Stress Free Life

Meditation: What it is !!!

An ordinary person may consider meditation as a worship or prayer. But it is not so. Meditation means awareness. Whatever you do with awareness is meditation. “Watching your breath” is meditation; listening to the birds is meditation. As long as these activities are free from any other distraction to the mind, it is effective meditation.

Meditation is not a technique but a way of life. Meditation means ‘a cessation of the thought process’ . It describes a state of consciousness, when the mind is free of scattered thoughts and various patterns . The observer (one who is doing meditation) realizes that all the activity of the mind is reduced to one.

A Tibetan Lama was being monitored on a brain scan machine by a scientist wishing to test physiological functions during deep meditation. The scientist said - “Very good Sir. The machine shows that you are able to go very deep in brain relaxation, and that validates your meditation”. “No”, said the Lama, “This (pointing to his brain) validates the machine!”.

These days it is commonly understood to mean some form of spiritual practice where one sits down with eyes closed and empties the mind to attain inner peace, relaxation or even an experience of God. Some people use the term as “my gardening is my meditation” or for jogging or art or music, hence creating confusion or misunderstanding.

The word meditation, is derived from two Latin words : meditari(to think, to dwell upon, to exercise the mind) and mederi (to heal). Its Sanskrit derivation ‘medha’ means wisdom.

Many years ago meditation was considered something just not meant for modern people, but now it has become very popular with all types of people. Published scientific and medical evidence has proved its benefits, but it still needs to be much understood.

Traditionally, the classical yoga texts, describe that to attain true states of meditation one must go through several stages. After the necessary preparation of personal and social code, physical position, breath control, and relaxation come the more advanced stages of concentration, contemplation, and then ultimately absorption. But that does not mean that one must perfect any one stage before moving onto the next. The Integral yoga approach is simultaneous application of a little of all stages together.

Commonly today, people can mean any one of these stages when they refer to the term meditation. Some schools only teach concentration techniques, some relaxation, and others teach free form contemplative activities like just sitting and awaiting absorption. Some call it meditation without giving credence to yoga for fear of being branded ‘eastern’. But yoga is not something eastern or western as it is universal in its approach and application.

With regular practice of a balanced series of techniques, the energy of the body and mind can be liberated and the quality of consciousness can be expanded. This is not a subjective claim but is now being investigated by the scientists and being shown by an empirical fact.