11:11:11 What is meditation!

  No longer an exotic practice limited to mystics, a 2007 U.S. government study found that nearly 9.4% of U.S. adults (over 20 million) had practiced meditation within the past 12 months, up from 7.6% (more than 15 million people) in 2002.

Even a few minutes a day can result in a clearer mind, open to creative intuition that can focus and solve problems more effectively.
Meditation helps slow down your attention and reprogram the nervous system. It teaches concentration. Meditation practices focus the mind to lessen over-rumination.When the mind becomes quiet and focused, the "meditation" part of meditation isspontaneous.
The mind staysalert and aware, yet calm and unaffected. True meditation is not sleep, nothypnosis, not biofeedback, not guided visualization, and not tense and releaserelaxation.
Types of Meditation SimpleMeditation – The mostdifficult. Sit in a comfortable position and think of nothing. Not one thing.Notice your thoughts. Let them go. (Example: Zen Sitting Meditation)FocusedMeditation - The form mostcommon in the West to distract and relax the mind involves focusing on"something" without "thinking" about it.
• Breathing -Focuses on the breath or heartbeat• Visual orAuditory – Uses an image or sound• Mantra – Uses acalming word or phrase chosen for its vibrational effect. Om is a commonmantra. The Sanskrit Om (aum) becamean Egyptian word which was later adopted by the Hebrew OM~Main, which in English is Amen. Souse: Om, Amen, Shalom, Home, Peace,Calm, or a phrase like "Be Still and Know," ShantiOm, or the word "word." Examples: Transcendental Meditation orConcentration Meditation.• Yantra – Bringsfocus on an object, often a candle, mandala (as simple an image as a circlewith a dot in the middle), crystals, labyrinths or mazes (either visual orlarge enough to walk).
Mindfulness (Vipassana) – Teaches awareness of feelings, images,thoughts, sounds, and smells without becoming involved in thinking about themor examining emotions. Learn to stay in the present moment.Loving Kindness(Metta) – Creates a feeling of empathy, kindness,compassion, and the desire that all sentient beings be well.MeditativeSpiritual Prayer – All formsof prayer: asking, being thankful, performing a spiritual practice, or concentratingon religious writing, can become meditative.Active or DoingMeditation – Getting into ameditative state can also happen during any ordinary activity: gardening, doingyoga, knitting, creating art, drawing mandalas, Zentangles, or playing computersolitaire.Tactile examplesinclude rosaries and mala beads. Or use your thumb and forefinger to "walk"through old-fashioned worry beads, a string of 20-30 chickpea-sized beads. Komboloi (Greek worry beads) make asound as they come together for an added meditative touch.
Common Problems • Discomfort -Experiment until you find a comfortable position. Use pillows or blankets orsit in a chair.• Sleepiness –Begin with a shorter meditation time. Look up, even though your eyes areclosed. Or try another type of meditation offering more to focus on.• Impatience –Begin your meditation practice with no expectations, other than relaxation.• More Discomfort –If you spend a lot of time sitting, more sitting may be uncomfortable. Movingand stretching before sitting to meditate is important, as is adding an activeactivity to your day. Especially if you choose to sit on the floor, practicinggentle hip stretches as a warm-up will help make sitting more comfortable. Manyconsider one of the primary purposes of yoga to make sitting in meditationeasier. (See Rolling & PassiveStretches on page 24.)
Distractions andunwanted thoughts – Whenyou're lost in a good book, you aren't bothered by outside distractions.Meditation is like that. Observe your thoughts as if they belonged to someoneelse. Acknowledge them and let them go. If the thoughts are disturbing, sad, ormake you angry, imagine they come from a story in a book you've once read.Don't worry about falling asleep. And don't be so competitive you give eachmeditation session a score.Try music orincense, if they do not distract you. There is no right way. Meditation can bean informal 10 minutes of quiet, listening to music, or looking out the window.Experiment with high tech versions like meditation goggles if that appeals.Insight Timer, an iPhone app, serves as a pleasant timer for meditation.Many categories ofmeditation overlap. Find one that resonates and works for you. I attended aday-long meditation sampler workshop at Interface (a now defunct Bostonholistic conference center where Deepak Choprataught yoga before he wrote books). Four teachers offered different meditationforms and tips for developing an individual practice. If such an opportunityarises, take it. Regular practice increases the benefits . Show up without expectations. And don'tworry about distracting thoughts – their purpose is to help you practiceletting them go.In Norman Rosenthal'sTranscendence; Healing and Transformationthrough Transcendental Meditation, an introduction to the art and scienceof Transcendental Meditation, celebrities discuss their meditation. What if you get an idea during meditation? A breakthrough idea pops into your head. Youare no longer meditating. You're trying to hold onto the idea or running withit. Stop. Write it down. And continue, assured you won't lose the thought. Ormentally file it away to access later.
Except from: Relaxing the Writer: Guidebook to the Writer's High.