What is Meditation? - An In-Depth Definition

What is Meditation?

Two Practical Definitions

A Dictionary’s Definition

What is Meditation?
1. Continued or extended thought; reflection; contemplation. (Random House Dictionary)
2. Devout religious contemplation or spiritual introspection. (Random House Dictionary)
3. Continuous and profound contemplation or musing on a subject or series of subjects of a deep or abstruse nature; "the habit of meditation is the basis for all real knowledge" (WorldNet Dictionary)

An In-Depth Definition

What is Meditation?

Meditation is a symbol. The act of meditation is an act of looking within oneself to produce contentment. The message you are sending your mindand body is that contentment is self-generated. If everything one does in their lives were a metaphor, meditation would be a symbol of self-empowerment. When an individual meditates (or sits with ones-self), they are demonstrating that they do not need anything. That is to say they do not need anything from the outside world. They don’t need to be doing anything because everything they are, and have, at that moment is ok.

Here is where the symbolic act of meditation receives its power. I personally find in my own life that whenever I need something really badly, it never shows up. But as whenever I don’t need a particular thing, it always tends to appear without fail and sometimes in abundance.

This principle can be found in many famous philosophical, spiritual, and religious teachings throughout history. Is this principle universal? We can even see it in contemporary thinking as well. Consider Murphy’s Law “If something can go wrong, it will.” If you flip the statement into its opposite its reads as “If something needs to go right, it won’t”. It seems as if the idea of “neediness brings insufficiency” is woven into the fabric of life. Can you think of examples when your need for something to happen ruined the plans? Can you see how neediness, has the potential to be your own worst enemy?

Meditation is a very complete and powerful way of demonstrating “I don’t need anything”, and this is where the act gets its power. The act symbolizes “I don’t need my outside world for anything. Nothing but this moment is necessary for me to be complete.”

Its only when practicing meditation and using it on a daily basis that one can see the dramatic effects first-hand. Go and try it for yourself today. Try it for three weeks, and then stop for a day; will you be able to see any difference?

Major Benefits of Meditation

What are some benefits the average user is likely to see?

1. “Life gets Easier”.
2. Be a healthier person by far, without really trying to be.
A website where you can understand how stress affects health and find plenty of tested stress management techniques that really work.
3. Extreme Concentration Power.
4. Personal Growth.
5. Spiritual Connectedness.
Meditation will allow you to feel closer to life. Learning to meditate forces you to understand that life is about being in the moment. Meditation is very largely about developing the ability to focus. It trains your mind to be aware of time as it passes. This sensation creates a powerful perspective that alleviates you from thoughts from the past or the future. It frees you from the bonds of constant anticipation; it releases you from the nagging and irritating thoughts from past events. I’m reminded of the saying, “live the moment”. Donald Trump always says “to have an edge, you must first be on the edge”. There is no other way to be more involved in life than to live each moment to the fullest. Spiritual connectedness is one of the many benefits of meditation.
Body Relaxation Technique: A Must-Do Before Every Meditation
Many have experienced meditation as very difficult without using this technique beforehand. The mind can be likened to an excited monkey in a cage, and without relaxing it first, it can prevent you from a proper meditation experience, leaving you frustrated and more aggravated. The body relaxation tecnique will help not only relax your body but your mind as well, the two are interconnected.

One of the major benefits of meditation is that, frankly, it just makes life run a lot smoother. I live for this benefit. I don’t really know how to explain this occurrence. Its likely the main reason why people meditate. Things just tend to happen in your favour a lot more often. Although no one can really explain how this actually works, it just does. I have noticed a pronounced tendency with regards to the timing of things around me. For some unknown reason, things just tend to work out really well when I meditate. For example, running late to a crucial meeting, it ends up starting late anyways, I think of my wife and she calls. I sometimes feel as though life is a play, life events seem to be orchestrated in my favour. Ahhh, the benefits of meditation. Some people call this the work of God or Allah or Jesus or Brahman or Angels or whatever. The thing is, it doesn’t matter what you call it, it happens. Many people call these just coincidences, and some will consider them meaningful. There is a whole school of thought that relates to the Law of Attraction . The point is, they occur a lot more frequently during your day if your day begins with meditation. Life getting easier is one of many benefits of meditation.

Stress is a killer. An estimated 70-80% of doctor’s visits are due to ailments deemed to result from stress. Cortisol, a stress indicator in that is secreted into the blood, increases its levels in the body as your stress levels heighten. The human body is designed to produce a fight or flight response whenever in the presence of stress. Persistent high levels of stress can cause a lot of harm to the body, such as: high blood pressure, insomnia, skin disorders, gastrointestinal problems, migraines, back or neck pain, anxiety, immune system collapse, and exacerbation of diseases already present.

Stress Management for Health

One of the main reasons why I began meditating was to eliminate the amount of stress that was faced with as a student. I had these really painful and annoying cankers in my mouth that would persist for weeks. And as soon as they healed, more would usually show up in their place. I went to every possible specialist to find a solution. Nothing. The only solution the medical industry had was this steroid ointment cream that would speed up the healing time to about a week instead of two weeks. Big deal. It still didn’t prevent them from occurring. So I decided I needed to change. And change I did. As I began to meditate, things that popped into my life began to support my goal to reduce stress (like exercise). Today I laugh at cankers. Health is one of many benefits of meditation.

As a student, I have noticed a ton more concentration than ever before. Previously I have found that a 3 hr lecture, on a good day, is the very limit of my attention span. And that’s not bad. But now I can easily double that time without much hassle. This directly relates to my improved reading, speaking, and listening skills. You would be surprised to know how much the average individual relies on these skills on a day-to-day basis. This has a huge potential for anyone with ADHD or ADD (attention deficit disorder). Improved concentration is one of many benefits of meditation. Also you can build brainpower, increase mindpower, improve your life. There are many secrets to your amazing brain here.

Meditation helps bring personal achievement. After graduating from university, I found myself having a lot of time on my hands. This wasn’t necessarily a good thing because, after graduation from school I expected a job. Foolish me. Shortly after I finished school, I came to the conclusion that I needed some more training. I had to specialize into some type of field. This was the problem. I didn’t have the faintest clue to what I was supposed to do with my life. This went on for a year. To help me figure things out, I travelled. Nothing. I looked at developing different talents of mine. Nothing. There was no one I could talk to that could help me. I was then reminded by someone that one of the benefits of meditation was finding your inner voice. So, I decided to meditate on the issue. Within a year I had moved to a new city, gotten out of my parents house, started a new career, quit my old dead-end job, found full-time work in a great company with benefits, gotten engaged, went back to school, and it felt amazing. Not only did it feel good, but I’m married to this person and focussed on the same career track since I started. I believe practicing meditation helped me find the right path, and enhanced my self-discipline to get there. This is actually one of my favorite benefits of meditation.

“It’s not about whether or not you’re better than anyone else. It’s about being better than you used to be” That comes from the greatest inspirational minds of our time, and best selling author, Wayne Dyer. Meditation by itself is a process builds self-empowerment. What is Meditation? Click here for a Definition Throughout my life I have found that inner strength always leads to personal growth, inner strength is developed by discipline. Cultivating discipline is at the heart of meditation. Learning to meditate will naturally set the wheels of discipline in motion, and once you’re your in motion, success happens that much quicker. Whatever the challenge. Personal growth is one of many benefits of meditation.

What is the Body Relaxation Technique?

This body relaxation technique is performed each time before meditation to calm the body enough to make meditation more effective. The body is typically very restless in its ordinary state. The body is designed to move on a regular basis and it usually remains in a state of constant arousal to facilitate this. What we want to do is bring the body into a more restful state. This has a significant impact on the mind, especially when attempting to meditate.

It reduces your brains need to be responsive of your bodyYour nervous system is constantly sending information to your brain updating the location and status of each muscle. We will be relaxing each muscle, so that the brain isn’t so preoccupied with the body. The body relaxation technique releases your mind from being pestered by the body.

Your mind will have less information to tune out.Your brain has to tune out all of its senses to achieve the deepest meditation. By reducing your body’s constant bombardment of sensory information meditation becomes much more rejuvenating. The technique improves focus.

The Body Relaxation Technique:

1. Find a quiet and comfortable place where you can sit down with a straight back. (Perhaps on a chair or in the Lotus position)

2. Rest your hands, palms facing up, on your lap.

3. Close your eyes and take 2 deep breaths.

4. Be conscious of the way your face feels. Loosen your jaw. Then focus on your forehead, the sides, the top and the back of your head. Visualize each part, remembering to letting go of tension, trying to visualize your muscles loosening. You should take your time with this. Count 5 deep breathes on each part before moving on.

5. Keep transitioning through each of your body segments:

a) face, jaw, forehead, top, sides and back of your head.

b) neck and shoulders

c) chest, arms, hands and fingers

d) back (focus a moment on each vertibrae)

e) posterior, thighs

f) knees, shins, feet and toes

6. At the end, scan your body for any parts that need more attention. Your body should feel very relaxed and contented. You should feel very tranquil, yet alert and attentive.

7. Congratulations! You are now ready to begin meditating.This body relaxation technique should be completed directly before meditating.