Meditation
What is meditation? You might be thinking about a Yogi up on a mountainside, or have some idea that meditation is some kind of new age mind control technique better suited to a Buddhist retreat than your daily life, but in fact meditation can be used by anyone to bring a little calm into your everyday existence. The word meditation comes from the Latin words meditari (to think, to dwell upon, to exercise the mind) and mederi (to heal). Its Sanskrit derivation 'medha' means wisdom.
Meditation is certainly becoming more talked about, and it's gaining popularity in the west after many centuries of being considered part of eastern religion. Meditation is simply a way of using your thoughts, imagination and often words to help you to calm down, relax, and cope with daily life.
How do you meditate?
Like yoga and other popular eastern traditions, there are several different forms of meditation. But meditation isn't a difficult technique that you need to learn from a class or a book. Just practicing breathing techniques is a basic form of meditation that anyone can manage. Meditation in its simplest form could just mean sitting in your back garden, or on a quiet beach, away from distractions, listening to the birds or the sound of the sea.
Different types of meditation
There are a few recognised types of meditation that you can find out more about if you're interested in taking meditation to a higher level.
Transcendental meditation: This is a type of meditation made popular by the Maharishi Mahesh Yogi, and designed to give the mind space to be quiet. While meditating, you'll repeat a sound, called a "mantra". Repeating this mantra gives your mind a chance to naturally calm down. At a higher level transcendental meditation is designed to quite literally transcend your thoughts, and connect you to the 'Transcendental being.'
Zen Meditation: Zen meditation is the meditation of self discovery - it involves sitting still and deliberately calming your body and mind - and so allowing you to become open to insight. You sit in prescribed meditation positions, and as thoughts and images enter your mind, you acknowledge them, then gently push them back out again. This takes some practice, but after a period of time, you should find that your heart rate begins to slow down, your breathing will become shallow, and you will pass into a reflective meditative state.
Taoist meditation: This is a form of meditation originating from China, based on breathing exercises. Taoist breathing techniques are often also used in T'ai Chi or Chi Gung. Taoist meditation can take many forms, and is in essence very similar to Zen meditation, except for the use of a mantra, or occasionally a picture, object or image called a mandala. Candle flames are popular mandala objects - the idea is that you focus your mind on the mantra or the object to the exclusion of all other thoughts.
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