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We all need a way to relax and reduce the stress caused by our busy lives. Many people have turned to meditation, an age-old technique that is not only an excellent way to reduce stress, but is also known to be one of the surest and best ways to gain spiritual enlightenment. In meditation one can begin to make a connection with the spiritual realm, meeting angels, guides or spiritual helpers, receiving insights and inspirations, and gaining help with problems and guidance for spiritual growth. No wonder meditation is becoming an ever more popular way to relax.

But just what is meditation? And how does one go about getting into a meditative “state?” Are there techniques to master and rules to follow? While many people do learn to meditate by following a technique such as the popular TM method or the Relaxation Response, the truth is that anyone can begin meditating anytime without any formal training.

Meditation, simply put, is a quiet mind. Most people can learn to meditate by themselves. There is really no “right” or “wrong” way to meditate. All you need is a feeling of relaxation and a sense of inner awareness. I have taught students to meditate for over ten years, using the simple methods of attuning to the breathing and being aware of the location of awareness or consciousness. It all begins to happen when you go inside.

To gain access to your inner self, you must first remove your attention from the outer world. Attuning to your breathing will accomplish this goal quite easily and well. Start by getting into a comfortable position. If you tend to fall asleep when you lie down, you might consider sitting up instead. Close your eyes and relax. Put all of your attention on your breathing, noticing how it feels for the air to come in, your lungs to expand, your diaphragm to recoil. Allow your attention to follow each breath until you are just too relaxed to remember to do so any longer. Then let your mind wander; let all thoughts of the day pass out of your mind. Know that anything important will be there later. You will continue to have thoughts drifting by, but don’t stop them and look a them, just let them go. If you forget and begin to dwell on a thought that floats by, gently remind yourself to let it go and return your attention to your breathing until your mind begins to drift off again. Sooner or later as you allow thoughts to float by unattended, you will discover moments of “emptiness” between thoughts. It is during these moments of profound inner stillness that our bodies and minds realign and balance themselves.

Open Focus Meditation

The process described above leads to an Open Focus Meditation, where the idea is to turn down the volume of your logical mind, to quiet its chatter by simply not attuning to it. In an open focus meditation you diffuse your attention so that it does not engage on any one thing.

The One Focus Meditation

There is another way to meditate and quiet your mind that uses the exact opposite approach as the one mentioned above. Some people find it easier to meditate by not trying to “let go.” Indeed, if you must try to let go, you probably won’t be able to do it. If you have an active left brain, you may find it easier to use the One Focus Method.

The One Focus Meditation Method allows you to quiet your mind and turn down the volume of your thoughts by “boring” your logical mind with a repeated experience. You might use a word or phrase, which would be called a mantra. Repeating your mantra could involve you saying to yourself the word, “relax” over and over for a period of ten to twenty minutes. Alternately, you could maintain the breathing awareness throughout your meditation and use the breath itself as your focal point., which I find to be more relaxing. Your main goal is to concentrate your awareness, to pin-point it. Then the thoughts that are continually passing through your head cannot take hold, because your attention is already engaged.

Open Focus Meditation With Reflection

Whether you use an Open Focus or a One Focus Meditation, at some point in your meditations, your mind will begin to bring up information or insights from your subconscious. Your subconscious learns to take advantage of the “down time” of your logical mind to slip into your awareness information that it feels is important. You can learn to use this natural reflective process to get answers to questions, solutions to problems, and insights about your life’s direction. As you move from the breathing awareness into an open focus meditation, gently mull over in your mind a question or a problem, just wondering about it in a detached and relaxed manner. Then let the thought go, allowing it to move quietly into the background, as you continue to relax in an open focus meditative state. Every once in a while, gently remind yourself that you are seeking an answer to your question and mull over it again momentarily. Then let it go again, repeating this process throughout the meditation. By gently holding the question or problem in your mind, you are pointing your subconscious in a specific direction as it begins to bubble up insights.

Using these methods you can make meditation a valuable and pleasant part of your life. You can gain relaxation and a sense of inner balance as you learn more about yourself and receive guidance for your life. Let meditation take you to the source of your best advice and healing - your own inner mind.

Adapted from the book, Tools for Transformation, by Rita Milios.