What is meditation and how to meditate?

Meditation although derived from the Latin meditation, referring to all types of physical or intellectual exercises has now come to be associated with spiritual or religious exercises from the Eastern wisdom traditions. Meditation (Sanskrit: Dhyan) is the cultivation of non-judgmental Present moment-to-moment open hearted awareness that enables one to know awareness, by being aware in the Present Moment.

It is impossible to define or understand meditation through any words or written accounts, it can only be known through your own subjective experience of the practices involved. The good news is, that everyone can meditate; all that is required is a method to interrupt our inner "identification" with our mental, emotional and intentional content and know awareness, by being aware.

Mindfulness, translated from the Sanskrit word Smriti (remembering) is being Present in awareness as here and now. Through practice the gradual shifting in intention away from craving and controlling towards acceptance and observation or "witnessing".

It is initially difficulty to "become" the observing "I", as beginners constantly forgets to remember him or herself, and self-observation falls into the usual content that has control over our minds at that given moment.

The more one recognises one’s mindlessness, forgetting our observing "I" the more we begin to appreciate our fall into the semiconscious state, also known as maya or psychological delusion. i.e missing the present moment whilst "living" in fantasies of the future or replaying the past.

Our mind is constantly in flux, moving from one past memory to future fantasies, planning and plotting in the pursuit of pleasure and avoidance of perceived suffering, like fear.

Our attention is constantly divided, just remember your way into work or home, perhaps driving, worrying about things to be done, or places to escape to, recalling past events and listening to the radio or even having a conversation on the phone. All this mental activity leaves us exhausted and drained by its end, desperate to shut our minds off with mindless television, drugs or alcohol.

We can apprecaite how much our minds are out of control and we can experince this by following the exercise below:

Take a few slow and deep breaths, when ready close your eyes and draw a white circle with a white dot in its centre. Now try and hold your attention without distraction on this image, keeping it clear and steady.

Exercise:

Holding Our Attention (by Dav Panesar)



You may have noticed, perhaps surprised how difficult it is to sustain the shifting image despite your best efforts, and how easily your attention wander into passing thoughts and fantasies.

Exercise:

How to meditate ( by Dav Panesar)