Meditation Part II (Read Part I first)

There are 2 types of meditation:
Concentrative and non-concentrative. The concentrative brings attention to a mantra or word repetition. I don’t use this kind. The non-concentrative brings attention to the relaxation experience, where whatever thoughts, feelings, desires, physical sensations arise, you don’t judge them, or resist them in any way. It helps you uncloud your perception of yourself and your life.

Meditation training includes:
1. Right Attitude
2. Cultivating Mindfulness
3. Commitment and Self Discipline

1. Right Attitude
• Beginner’s Mind: It is perceiving something with the freshness you would bring to it if you were seeing it for the very first time. It is seeing and accepting things as they actually are in the present moment. It's being child-like.

• Non-Striving: Pretty much everything we do during the day is goal oriented. Meditation is one thing that is not. Meditation takes effort to practice, and its aim is to “just be.” You are not trying to relax or relieve stress. If you are stressed or anxious you don’t strive to get rid of these sensations, instead you simply observe them and be with them as best as you can, not resisting them.

• Acceptance: Acceptance is the opposite of striving. As you learn to simply be with whatever you experience in the moment, you cultivate acceptance. In meditation practice, acceptance develops as you learn to embrace each moment as it comes, without fighting it. In life, acceptance does not mean that you resign yourself to the way things are and cease trying to change and grow. Acceptance can clear a space in your life to reflect and act appropriately. You free up energy to ACT when you are no longer REACTING to or struggling with the difficulty. Sometimes it is necessary to go through different emotional reactions around a problem before you can get to acceptance..

• Letting Go: You probably heard that to catch monkeys a hole is drilled in a coconut just big enough for the monkey to put his hand in. The coconut is tied to a tree by a wire. Then a banana is placed inside the coconut. The monkey comes, puts his hand in the coconut and grubs the banana. The hole is small enough so the monkey can out his hand in but cannot pull his closed fist out. All the monkey needs to do to be free is to let go of the banana, yet most monkeys won’t let go. Our minds are often like the monkey. We grab on to a particular thought or emotional state and we won’t let go. Cultivating the ability to let go is crucial to meditation practice, not to mention a less anxious life. Letting go is a natural consequence of a willingness to accept things as they are.


2. Cultivating Mindfulness:
Mindfulness is being in the present, moment to moment awareness. It is paying attention without judgment to whatever comes up in the present moment of your experience, without trying to change it. Having a compassionate attitude toward yourself is a part of mindfulness. Mindfulness can change the way you deal with fear and pain. As your practice gets better, you can learn to relax and stay present even when fear and pain move through the present moment.

3. Commitment and Self-Discipline: A strong commitment to work on yourself, along with the discipline to persevere and follow through with the process, is essential to meditation. Learning to make time “just for being” and not doing is a challenge sometimes. It is a similar commitment to exercise. A long term commitment to regular meditation will transform your life. It will change the way you relate to everything you experience in life on a deep level. I have been practicing relaxation and meditation regularly for many years now, and I can see the benefits in my own life.


Common Concerns that May Come Up. As you get ready to meditate you may have some questions and concerns. These are some of the most common.

• I don’t have time to meditate. Usually when you say you don’t have time for something, it means it hasn’t become a high priority for you to give it time. As you practice it and you feel less stressed, it would become a habit.

• When I sit to meditate it makes me more anxious. The question is, does it make you more anxious or is it possible that by stopping and sitting still, you become more aware of the anxiety that was already there? By accepting your anxiety and telling yourself: it’s just anxiety and I am going to calm myself by relaxing, the easier it will become to diffuse it. If you feel too anxious and agitated to sit down quietly, you may need to do some form of aerobic exercise first to release all that energy, and then go on with the meditation.

If you want to meditate to Christian music and Scripture check my website http://beinginhim.net/

Read Psalms 144- 150. It will lift your spirit!