The Little Manual of Meditation

Readers of the Holistic Living Newsletter can enjoy an exclusive preview from The Little Manual of Meditation, the latest book by International best-selling author and Soul Coach Vikas Malkani. This is the third volume in this series by Vikas that has been released this year and will be available at bookstores in Singapore priced at S$20.

The Little Manual of Meditation By Vikas Malkani
S$20 (including GST)

Once you become aware of and understand stress and know various ways of releasing it, you start to look after your health. You relax. This easy feeling makes you feel good for a while. Then life takes over. Again you experience mood swings, fear and anxiety and depressions. You then realise you haven't yet emptied your burden of regrets and grudges; you haven’t learnt to let go of the past and live in the present moment totally.

Now comes the time for the ultimate life management program. You need to form the habit of restful awareness and this is done easiest through meditation. Meditation leads you to understand the nature of your mind, master it, and then to rise above it. Meditation is the best time investment you can make in your self; it leads to health and harmony on all levels of your existence.

With the regular practice of meditation the mind becomes one pointed and still, instead of constantly being restless. As the mind becomes one pointed one gains more and more control over their ability to direct it to a specific task.

Meditation is a scientific, non religious, easy to understand practice, which introduces you to your own inherent reality and makes you the master of yourself.

Meditation is your way into a higher level of consciousness where you can calmly and correctly see and understand the various aspects of your life. Only after you have overcome and transcended inner conflicts due to excessive desires, ego-tripping, long-standing grudges, low self-esteem and the need to control other people's lives will your life become truly stable and enjoyable.

The meditation habit is one worth developing and results in a life of alert and joyful tranquillity.

HERE ARE SOME BASIC FACTS ABOUT MEDITATION

Meditation has been a part of all religions, since religion began, so it is much older than the religions of our world.

Withdrawing from the mainstream of life is just the opposite of what meditation achieves. By bringing out our full potential, meditation allows us to enjoy life to the fullest. We do not have to retreat to caves for our sessions - the same results are reaped when we meditate in the comfort of our homes.

Meditation makes you learn how to celebrate life, in all of its different facets and expressions.

Anyone can meditate. Meditation is a simple, natural and effortless technique for quietening and stilling the mind, making us experience an inner peace and leading us to connect with our True Self.

Meditation is simple because it works in harmony with your true nature or your higher consciousness. The state of total health, peace and happiness is already there - all you have to do is use a technique to arrive at it.

Meditation is a very powerful, time-efficient and safe way of doing this.
It's a time-honoured technique, having proven itself for thousands of years, and across all cultures.

WHY SHOULD WE MEDITATE?

Practitioners like to describe meditation as a state of restful alertness in which the mind is relaxed, yet still alert. It is often called the meditative state of consciousness, because it is different from our normal waking and sleeping consciousness.

Since the mind is the source of unhappiness or happiness, stress or calm, sickness or well being, failure or success, it is only logical that we should direct our attention to the mind.
Even doctors admit that at least 70% of physical diseases are psychosomatic, that is, they originate in the mind. So for 10 people who declare themselves sick, seven suffer from illnesses, which originate in the mind, whether triggered by fear, worry, anger, jealousy or any other negative emotion.

Moreover, once we start meditating, we become more peaceful, less reactive and more stable - all states that lead to greater efficiency in our life with less stress or friction.

Times of anxiety and panic waste life energy. Tense muscles, overactive nerves and an overactive mind drain our energy reserves. Becoming calm energises you once again.
Calmness and vitality are complementary to each other. People who are ‘hyper’ may seem energetic but they are actually running on nervous energy. They end up irritable and mentally exhausted when their nervous energy wears off.

You will feel the beneficial effects of meditation even after your first few sessions. The effects are subtle but cumulative. So every passing day you will find yourself a little less stressed and a little happier.

DOES MEDITATION TAKE US AWAY FROM REALITY?

The reality is that energy absorbers such as worry, anxiety, regrets and guilt feelings, are not Reality. We have just become so accustomed to these negative states of mind we assume they make up the real world.

There really is a better and more peaceful way of living. This 'other reality' emerges when our Higher Consciousness is allowed to shine through and this is only possible when we are able to quieten the mind through meditation.

All through our lives, we carry with us two heavy burdens - the thoughts and regrets of the past and the worries and expectations of the future. In face the Buddha has clearly declared that we never are available to the present, for we habitually live our life either in the past or in the future.
At every moment, these burdens weigh us down. Meditation allows us to see this reality, and to take a rest from following our ingrained and conditioned patterns of behaviour.

HIGHLIGHTS

• Meditation is a natural, simple, effortless technique for quietening the mind and connecting with our True Self. It results in inner peace, happiness and living increasingly from our full potential.
  

• Since the mind is the root cause of stress, failure and unhappiness as well as calmness, success and happiness, it's logical we should give time and direct our attention to the mind. Meditation has a more powerful beneficial effect on the mind than any other known activity.

• Meditation is so simple that anyone can do it. It's also very natural - it requires no drugs or equipment and costs nothing.

• Meditation is different from relaxation techniques since it produces a deeper level of relaxation and unfolds our Higher Consciousness.

• You will feel the beneficial effects even after your first meditation and since the effects are cumulative, you will experience increasing benefits as time goes by.

• Meditation causes you to enjoy everything more, including material things, but your happiness no longer depends on these things any more, since you are happier inside anyway.

TIPS FOR PRACTISING MEDITATION

• It is possible to meditate at any time, but an ideal time is at sunrise.

• Practice is absolutely necessary. It promotes your inner work to practice regularly and at least once, ideally twice, a day (morning and evening).

• Quiet surroundings are obviously helpful to the meditative process. Outer harmony (such as found in a beautiful park or at a picturesque lake) furthers inner balance. At home, it is helpful to create a special place for meditation. Ask your family to cooperate with you by not disturbing your meditation.

• Prepare for your meditation session by washing your hands and face, and generally freshening up. This dispels drowsiness and promotes a wakeful, energetic disposition.

• It is good to sit with the spine straight, whether it be on a chair or on the floor in the lotus posture.

• Begin by taking a few deep breaths, expelling all tensions in the body and concerns of the mind.

• Consciously relax your entire body, especially the chest and the facial muscles.

• Resolve to dedicate yourself to the meditation process whole-heartedly.

• Tell yourself, mentally or aloud, that for the duration of the meditation, nothing else matters.

• Be willing to surrender your self and encounter the greater self.

• Now begin your meditation practice, whatever your technique may be: the practice of mindfulness, mantra recitation, contemplation of a particularly meaningful image, or abstract concentration.

• Don’t be concerned about distracting thoughts, sensations and emotions. Neither welcome them nor repress them. Simply let them be and persist in your practice. Sooner or later your inner world will become calm.

• There are no good or bad meditation sessions. All that matters is that you seriously engage the meditative process, regardless of the content that arises. Every meditation is a step toward greater inner freedom.

• Don’t abandon your meditation at the first impulse to do so, especially when the going is rough. Stick with it for a while. Try to sit for at least fifteen minutes at the beginning, and after a few weeks of practice, for at least half an hour. Often you can overcome the initial resistance, and then you may find yourself in a completely different inner space. You will learn to recognise that there is a natural ending to every meditation, where it seems appropriate to get up.

• After your meditation is over, review the session and affirm its positive aspects.

• Throughout the day, try to recall the inner peace created by deep meditation.

• Take on the discipline of not chatting about your meditation experiences to everyone (inner experiences must be shared with all honesty and truth with your spiritual teacher only), which would merely dissipate your energy and strengthen your ego.