What Do You Really Need To Know About Meditation

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by Big Mind Zen Center

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Read any guidebook or article related to psychic development or any spiritual practice, and you will learn that the basics of basics include meditation - a huge pain in the back for some people, and a great and inspiring practice for others. Unfortunately for many, meditation isn’t as simple as some modern teachers would like you to believe. In reality, we have at least two types of meditation you can practice.

This is perhaps the first and most important information to mention. Meditation is often misunderstood as religious practice – this is not true. Meditation is a-religious, it’s not a religious practice, it’s just a way of putting your mind into specific state. Even something as simple as prayer in Christian religion is a form of “meditation”.

Meditation is a practice, and there are different forms of meditations, different school of thoughts, designed and created in various parts of the planet, by different people in different cultures. The truth is that you don’t have to worship anything, or believe in anything, and you can still benefit from meditation. But what really is meditation? Well, it’s not that simple as you might think.

We can say there are at least two schools of meditation – first one that teaches about entering altered states of consciousness (by some referred to as trance state), and second one, that teaches about expanding your consciousness, yet putting your mind at peace.

First school of thought is often associated with Western occultism and shamanistic background and it’s primary school “ruling” in modern magick and western psychic development systems.Second school is associated with Eastern esoteric spiritual teachings and with spiritual development practices, not psychic abilities development. But this is the school you should be really interested in.

Why that second school is so important? Because it teaches about expanding your consciousness while putting your mind at peace. On the opposite, that first school teaches you about narrowing your focus so you become blind to signals you do not seek. Let’s face the truth – if you make yourself blind to the voice of the Universe, how can you listen to psychic impressions, anyway?

Most Western schools of thoughts tells people that meditation is about entering trance, an altered state of consciousness. In this altered state, you can work with your problems, perform psychic or magical work, or just relax. To be honest, I find playing computer games more relaxing than entering trance states of mind. As I said - trance and altered states of consciousness are making you blind to the world around you. And by world I mean everything that is – physical, mental and emotional impressions.

 You see, real meditation is about “conscious consciousness” - to meditate means to be conscious of every single thought, emotional, mental or physical feeling you might have, while keeping your mind at peace. By meditating with proper techniques, you expand your consciousness, and the more conscious you are, the more attention you pay, the more you can “see” – and consciousness is important element of psychic development – you must be aware of the Universe around you.

By practicing altered states of consciousness and trance states, you’re not only making yourself blind to psychic and spiritual impressions, but you’re also dumping your own consciousness. It’s very easy to ignore your problematic thoughts and emotions, but true development is all about facing your fears, then dealing with them. Good psychic is a psychic that deals with problems, instead of running away from them.

I was practicing different techniques that were putting my mind at altered states of mind for many, many years. But when I discovered Zazen meditation (thanks to my intuition, that pushed me towards this practice), I’ve noticed a great boost in my own development.

In case of trance states, I was always struggling against constant bombardment of thoughts. Fighting with them have no point, as only calm observation can lead to getting rid of your thoughts. Being conscious that the thoughts are out there and that you’re consciously listening to them, puts your subconscious at peace. And then, you can calmly observe and Universe around you.

Once my thoughts were calm, I was able to focus on specific problem, and consciously observe every single thought, emotion or physical sensation that came to me, recognizing these impressions as advices, or problems, as well, but problems which I had to deal with in order to move forward. And that’s the greatest benefit of meditation in my case.

I cannot say “stop your altered states practices” – because there’s nothing wrong with them as long as you’re not thinking about real development on both psychical and spiritual levels. They can be often useful, as well, for example when you need to shut some emotions down to deal with other emotions. But if you’re thinking about real psychic and spiritual growth, then real conscious meditation should be your practice.

Also, you might know the famous phrase “sex, drugs and rock’n'roll” – while sex is good, and rock’n'roll simple rocks, drugs are simple useless and destructive tools often used for entering altered states. Please – if you’re practicing trance states after all, enter them using natural methods and mind techniques. Do not use drugs or any “sacred plants”, it’s not worth it.

Altered states are turning you blind, narrowing your perception – real meditation expands your consciousness and it’s the one you should practice.

So what kind of meditation techniques do I recommend? There are two of these. First one, the basic should be practiced over two months and it’s quite simple. Here it is, step by step:

All you have to do is to sit down and relax, then with closed eyes. Say to yourself “I will now count down from 100 to 0, and when I will reach 0, I will be in proper meditative state.” Start counting down from 100 to 0. And if you will get distracted, start all over again from 100. This will help you develop your self-discipline. When you will reach 0, say to yourself “I’m now in proper meditative state. I will always achieve this state when I will count down to 0?. Notice that you should not mention “from 100 to 0? – because the goal is to count down from 10 to 0 in order to enter this meditative state.After 2 weeks of daily practice, start counting down from 50. Remember to say the programming formula first. Next week, count down from 40, next week from 30 and so on. Remember about programming formula after reaching 0.After few weeks, you will be able to count down from 10 to 0 and you will achieve proper meditative state in which your thoughts are calm and at peace. Each time you will reach 0, remember about your programming formula. In such meditative state, you can consciously observe your thoughts, emotions and feelings.

This is very basic technique, by some it might looks quite similar to different “trance-how-to” techniques, but the difference is the goal – you want to calm down your entire mind while staying conscious and aware of the world around you, and the mind inside you. That’s the basic technique. After few months, you can switch to much more effective, yet much more difficult technique.

The greatest gift of Zen Buddhism to our Western culture in my opinion is the practice of Zazen – a sitting meditation. It’s difficult yet simple technique (trust me, Zen is full of such paradoxes), a practice you should definitely learn. Unfortunately, it’s hard to teach Zazen over the Internet, so you have to find a teacher or Zen school somewhere in your nearest area. But it’s definitely worth it!

And when your mind is at peace at last, and your thoughts are no longer bombarding your consciousness, you can start using meditation. For example by focusing on a problem you might have. First, while in meditative state, define the problem you have, and then just let things flow. Consciously observe every single feeling and thought you have, as the answers will reach you soon. It’s quite useful in case of learning psychic abilities:

If you want to learn some new skill, or you’re having a problem with some psychic ability, you might use meditation to find out the best way to practice that skill of choice, or to identify the problem that is making the skill difficult to learn.Such meditation is also useful if you wish to identify other subconscious problems, that might generate energy body blockages, which can be later dealt with using affirmations.

Meditation and Prayer

Often, through meditation you can also pray. It’s sad that prayer has been reduced to religious practice. In reality, prayer is just another spiritual practice, similar to meditation, but have a specific goal. For example, through prayer you can ask for help and support, or you can show help and support to others. In order to pray in correct way, you need to keep some rules in mind:

Target your prayer – some people pray to God, some people pray to different deities, some people pray to the Source, there are also people who pray to the Force from Star Wars Universe (it’s not weird, really, as the Force have more in common with the Source, Universe and God, than any wicked deity from any wicked religion). Remember to target your prayer – who do you pray to? Personally, I pray to God which I’m also referring to as the Source.Prayer cannot be read line by line - prayers written down in Bible or any other Holy Books are not prayers – these are rhymes, poems and basically useless words. Good prayer is yours only, spoken from your heart, spoken by your soul and mind, not by your vocal chords.Pray using emotions and visualization – when you pray, use visualization and positive emotions. When you pray for good health, be thankful for good health and visualize yourself healthy. When you pray for money, visualize yourself rich and be thankful for money.Pray for positive things - never, ever pray for someone to be hurt. Never pray to cure the illness, because psychic powers are wicked, and they might first made someone ill, in order to cure him or her later. Always pray for positive things, and be thankful for positive things.Always be grateful and say “thanks” - be thankful for things you pray for, like they would be already yours, already here.

What can you pray for? For example for help to deal with a problem. Or for support during business meeting. For guidance related to spiritual growth. You can also pray for benefit of others. Prayer as spiritual practice is important for everyone who wish to develop spiritually. But it can be also useful for businessman, worker, teachers, husband, and psychic wannabe – literally everyone can benefit from good prayer.

Meditation and prayer are tools of the trade. Together, with affirmations, they can speed up your psychic and spiritual development like no other practice. They take time and they require patience, but they provide you with great benefits. Real meditation can be a relaxing experience, and when used along with affirmations and prayers, it can change your life from top to bottom in a matter of few months.

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Do you meditate? If so, how? And have you noticed any changes in your life that occurred after you begun your meditation practice? Please share your thoughts in the comments to this article.

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Post published: April 1st, 2011

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