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Recently I received an email from one of my best college friend after a long time. He remembered me for a specific purpose. He wanted to start meditation. And I was so happy to be of some help for my friend. His question was simple. How do you start meditation? He knew that I have been meditating for quite some time now on a regular basis and the post below is the email which I wrote back to my friend.
I meditate on a regular basis.
Idea is to make your mind focus, and put your mind under observation.
(You can choose any subject to focus on. Some people focus on the power of the word ‘Om’. I prefer to focus on my breath, which is the source of life.)
By doing this you essentially train the mind to strengthen the mind’s amazing ability of focus. This training of mind is similar, if you will, to the following example: In case you want to build muscles or biceps, you would do necessary training in the Gym to build those muscles.
By doing this, you can become aware of your breath, at will, you will slow down and then you can focus the mind on whatever subject whenever you want.
In the beginning, to form a habit, try it out for continually with discipline for 21 days for 15 minutes daily (Reason – Research has shown that it takes 21 days to form a new habit).
How is meditation useful?
Whenever you get negative feelings or emotions, then you will be able to become aware at that point in time. And once you become aware, you will be able to direct your mind towards positive feelings and emotions. By doing this your energies are preserved. And they can be put to good use. By this way, you can avoid negative feelings and emotions (like anger, pride, greed, envy.) which consume and burn and sap your energy.
I sincerely believe that meditating, also leads to clarity in thinking.
When meditating, do not expect anything out meditation. Just do it. Once you sit in silence, you will start observing many thoughts in your mind and you will feel that you are not meditating at all.
However, it is perfectly all right to have the chain of thoughts appear and disappear. Try not to drift away with the thoughts. Become aware of your breath. Just observe the thoughts for some time, they will start to disappear. And again direct your mind to the breath. This process will keep repeating. Just do it.
Gradually, the experience, the observation process of meditation is so enriching, that it simple cannot be expressed in words.
By the way, I am still a student and learning this all along. And there is a lot to improve as well.
Enjoy meditation. You will begin to enjoy life. You will also enjoy this post on 12 investment tips for life.