MEDITATION, TRANCE AND HYPNOSIS

Meditation is the process of focusing the mind on some object or thought to the exclusion of all other awareness.
Some people believe that meditation will allow you to get in touch with a higher consciousness. Others meditate to help them gain mental equilibrium or meditate as a way of improving health.
All forms of meditation can help overcome stress, to rise above time pressure, deadlines, difficult relationships, anxiety and anger.

All these techniques originated as religious practices. All major religions have used meditation and hypnosis techniques to achieve feelings of enhanced spirituality. There are thought to be two basic forms of meditation, zen meditation for to become more self aware, and transcendental meditation, for transcending, or leaving behind, the self.

AWARENESS TECHNIQUES

This class of techniques is designed to make the mediator more attuned to their world. Awareness is brought to bear on the reality of the present moment. All thoughts are banished and the mind focuses on simply being.

Mindfulness

Mindfulness is a meditation technique designed to let you discover what is going on in your mind, of becoming aware of what is happening to you right now. People who benefit from mindfulness tend to be those who feel that the world is just too fast, whose minds are always racing and who worry about the future or dwell on the past but never seem to be in the moment.

Grounding

Grounding is a technique for balancing the energy flows within you and to affirm your connection as part of the earth we live on. It uses Centering and then Grounding as a way to deal with the stresses of normal life.

 

TRANSCENDENTAL TECHNIQUES

This class of techniques is designed to lift the person meditating away from the concerns of the world, to focus their attention totally on their inner experience.

Breathing

Controlled breathing is the simplest form of meditation. Focus on your breathing and tell yourself silently "with every breath out I am going deeper and deeper, more relaxed....more at ease...". Just keep repeating "more relaxed....more at ease " and allow your limbs to become loose and limp and heavy. Concentrate on feeling the weight of your limbs while breathing more and more gently. Then when you are ready, feel your limbs becoming totally weightless and allow yourself to drift away from the present.

The instructions are simple but the exercise takes effort in the form of intention.


1) Sit down somewhere comfortable. (You could just sit on the edge of the bed, arms to your side, feet flat on the floor)

2) Say to yourself: I’m going to forget about yesterday, I’m going to forget tomorrow. Time is an illusion.  The only thing that matters is what I’m doing right here, right now. (You can say this in your own words, but the point is to bring your focus into the moment.)

3) Breathe in slow and deep, and breathe out slow and deep say the words relax to yourself.  Breathe in through your noses and breathe out to your mouth slowly.  Take a few more deep breaths and let yourself relax. (Remember In meditation you want to relax the body but keep the mind awake.  The body can go to sleep but you want to remain alert & aware. In the beginning you might fall asleep, especially if you’re laying down, this is okay.  But over time you want to stay awake to finish the exercise)

4) Now start counting to 10.  On the first In breath say the number 1 to yourself and say, I’m right here right now.  On the out breath say the number 1 to yourself and say, I’m right here right now.  Do the same thing with breath #2 (saying the number 2 on the In breath followed by I am right here right now and 2 on the Out breath followed by I am right here, right now) and so on up to #10.

5) Your goal is to get to the #10 WITHOUT thinking of anything else.  If you forget to bring your focus back to the breathing exercise after more than a few moments, you must start back at the #1.

6) Each time you bring the mind back on track, you strengthen your will power and clarity of intention. This has tremendously rewarding side effects in every day life. (I will explain how you can use this new found power in another exercise)

 

Mantras

A mantra is a word or phrase that is repeated over and over until the mind goes into trance. The origin of mantras lie in the primitive belief that words have magic power and that the sound of a word will cause its meaning to become manifest. Mantra meditation works by boring the mind into dissociation. Take a simple word such as "money" or a rhythmic word like "nirvana" or "eternity" or even "cowabunga" and repeat it silently or aloud for five minutes or so. At some point you will find that the word loses its meaning, that as you keep saying it, it sounds strange and you wonder what it means.

This is the first stage of dissociation. What is happening is that part of your mind is doing the repetition, while another part of your mind is getting bored with the unvaried input and beginning to wander. The tendency at first is to get startled by the dissociation and to snap back into conscious awareness. However, with a little practice you will find that you can go with the wandering wondering part of your mind and leave the other part to get on with the repetition. Eventually the repetition will slow down and stop and you will be experiencing trance.

Any word or phrase will do, but some words are easier to repeat continuously than others, so to start with some familiar two syllable word. Commercial meditation organisations usually use a traditional Hindi or Sanskrit word or phrase, others create unique mantras for each individual by combining the names of two of the multitude of Hindu gods, but the result is often cumbersome to pronounce and hard to remember. It is better to use a word you are comfortable with.

Counting

Counting is a repetitive process that can be used to distract the mind. This method is an extension of the mantra method and many people prefer it. Select a word or phrase and then repeat it mentally or aloud exactly some number of time, sixty six, or one hundred for example. If you lose count then you have to start again from one. This works by splitting the focus of the mind across two different activities. As you repeat the word, your mind drifts from the counting and as you count you tend to dissociate from the word repetition. A variant of this is to visualise the number each time you repeat the word, and see each successive number getting smaller, darker and further away. If you get to the target number you start again until at some point you drift off into trance.



Why do I meditate?

I meditate mainly to clear my mind. When I sit down in my half-lotus and begin focusing on my breath – each breath in and out – as my eyes are closed, my mind clears and I’m in the present moment. I have been practicing mindful meditation, using the breath as my object of attention.

Throughout the day my mind is all over the place – “I need to call this person. I need to go purchase this at that store. I need to pay my rent. I need to build this website. Where are my keys? What will I eat for lunch today?” etc…

Meditation allows me to work on my inner-self. I have come to learn through meditation that all the answers that I am seeking lie within myself. Everyday I go on an inward journey and unlock the mysteries of my potential.

There are no boundaries when meditating. You will find out more about yourself than ever before when you focus on build within yourself. Nowadays we are consumed with this material world, but don’t care to work on the intangible world.

How has meditation changed my life

To put simply, I am much happier person. I am beginning to see that I don’t need anything to be happy. For years I’ve trained myself into thinking that I need, need, need, in order to be satisfied with life.

That I “need” to become rich. That I “need” to accomplish a certain goal. That I “need” to meet a certain person. I don’t need life to change in order for me to be happy anymore. Being alive. Being on a journey. Being able to think everyday. These are the things that bring real joy and happiness.

I am in much more control of my emotions nowdays. Sure, I still have a long way to go but with oriental meditation, it’s absolutely phenomenal how far I’ve come with being able to control my emotional state.

Anger no longer affects me like it used to. Sadness no longer has that sting. And anxiety is easily diminished through a few deep breaths. Meditation teaches me not to discard and block out these emotions, but to embrace them, study them, and gain a true understanding of them. When I see my emotions for what they really are, I am able to prevent them from dictating how I should think and act. I am able to say: “hey anger, how are you today? I realize that you are there and I won’t ignore you. Let’s just come to an understanding and move on peacefully.”

Looking forward with meditation

Throw that away! There is no looking forward. There is only looking “NOW.” Stay in the present moment. Remain in the “now” and embrace life everyday. When you remain in the present, you are truly alive. When you get caught up in the past and future, you are sleepwalking through life.

I know that this is just the beginning of my journey. For the first time in my life, I’m really alive. I’m so grateful that I began meditating. It has changed my life. I hope that you, too, may start your internal journey.

 

 

Oriental meditaion is not based on any particular religion and anyone can learn and apply to one's daily life.

Free Introductory Seminars

In the past few months, several free introductory seminars have been offered successfully. During the seminar, I introduced the basic relaxation techiques, basic 5 mins meditation, breathing techniques and other essences of orientation meditation. I was able to offer the experience of feeling engergy ball to some of participants - they were amazed. Currently I am looking at various venues to offer the seminars in regular basis as I found that lots of people couldn't attend Saturday's morning seminar. Therefore I would seek options of offering ones during weekdays after hours (i.e. 5pm to 6pm on Monday & Wednesday), so you can release all stresses from work before go home and also can avoid traffic jam as well. I will notify you as soon as the arrangement is made re the venue/time, so if you are interested in attending the seminars in the future please email me via register@meditation.ac.nz .   Inner Peace with you! About Me - Simon Park JP

Simon Park: www.meditation.ac.nz © 2008~ 2009

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Last Updated: 28-July-2009