Meditation St. John's - Meditation is an ancient discipline that concentrates on quieting the thinking mind in order to develop awareness and deep relaxation. All over the world, meditation has been practiced for thousands of years. It has several of its roots in Eastern religions and philosophy. Buddhism and Hinduism have various teachings which incorporate meditation to reach spiritual enlightenment. Other religions such as Judaism, Catholicism and Christianity make use of different kinds of meditation through prayer. There are many kinds of meditation instruction including: mantra meditation, guided imagery, concentrating on objects, breathing methods and chakra meditation.
For beginning practitioners, instructions about breathing meditation methods are the simplest and easiest to implement. These techniques would focus the awareness on breathing as a means so as to calm the mind. This can be done by counting the inhalations and exhalations and by focusing on the movement of one's breath. Like for example, a method for moving the breath is inhaling into the left nostril and then exhaling through the right nostril. Focusing the breath onto or into a certain part of the body is usually utilized in healing meditations where a person sends their energy into different cells which need nourishment and healing.
Guided imagery meditation is a format that typically uses a script read by an individual other than the meditating practitioner. This form of meditation takes the practitioner on an internal journey utilizing creative visualization and relaxation techniques. Guided imagery is normally utilized in hypnosis and in pain management. It can be practiced in different ways. Like for example, several people find a great alternative for coping with pressure is to imagine a peaceful place. Some people who are working so as to heal emotional wounds can make use of this form of meditation to purposely revisit a traumatic experience so as to facilitate the healing process.
Mantra meditation is another type of instruction that makes use of repetitive sound vibration so as to calm the mind and open the heart to reach a higher level of consciousness. In mantra meditation, it is not unusual to use bells or prayer bowls together with chanting a verbal mantra like for instance "Om" or "love." The belief behind this particular kind of meditation form is that specific tone vibrations could have a healing effect on a person either mentally, spiritually or physically.
There are seven main chakras or energy centers located within the body. Focusing on the different chakras is another type of meditation instruction. Various kinds of yoga utilize the chakras in the meditative and physical or otherwise called savasana parts of the practice. Usually, these are guided meditations. Often the practitioners' focus the breath and the mind on the particular chakra utilizing their specific color properties and visualization. Like for example, somebody who is meditating on the heart chakra would visualize a green spinning wheel over the chest while focusing energy in the middle of the chest.
A more advance meditative practice uses a focus on particular things. Candles are a thing that is normally utilized. While gazing into the flame the practitioner tries to clear the mind. The goal of this is to follow the fire but to keep the concentration on the quality of the observation and not allowing the mind the chance to wander. Usually, it does not matter what the object is. The practice is only intended to build up awareness and alertness.
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