Have you ever meditated but would like to try? The hypnotherapist tells you where and how to start.
Orgasm, dervish dances, yoga, shaman dances, peak sports, dreams, trance techniques, prayer, creativity, holotropic breathing, hypnosis, cinema…
What common?
All of the above refers to different ways to achieve an altered state of consciousness (ASC). One of the easiest and most affordable ways to achieve an altered state of consciousness is meditation. All you need to practice meditation is desire, an open mind, and a little time.
And why, you ask, is this an altered state of consciousness at all?
So, pluses.
1.Quiet. Meditation allows you to stop the internal dialogue and get rid of a million conflicting thoughts, desires and urges, to achieve inner balance.
2.Interestingly. You can watch a movie with yourself in the lead role and learn a lot of interesting details about yourself. From the present, past and future.
3.Fair. The absence of conscious control allows you to feel and see yourself as real.
4.Nicely. The transition to ASC is accompanied by the release of endorphins — substances of joy and happiness.
5.aggravated. The possibilities of perception are enhanced, visual and sensory images appear.
6.Resource. Staying in the ASC makes it possible to achieve psychological balance and join the internal sources that are in the unconscious.
7.Transcendental. You can get out of your own head and stop stewing in the broth of thoughtkashi … and even further — beyond the scope of your own experience. Touch a source of power greater than our own.
- Jon Kabat-Zinn: «Meditation strengthens the immune system»
3 Tips for Meditation Techniques
The word «meditation» comes from the Latin verb meditari, meaning deep reflection or mental contemplation. In order to focus attention on something and contemplate, it must first be collected in a directed beam, that is, focused. It is extremely difficult for a modern person to do this. You constantly think about something completely inappropriate: what to eat for breakfast, when is the salary, why does the leg itch, what is there on Facebook (an extremist organization banned in Russia), winter is approaching, when our people will already start playing football well, etc. Therefore, it is very important to train yourself to focus attention.
There is no need to create a vacuum. Let ordinary sounds surround you. For some, it is important to remain in silence, while for others it is necessary to turn on background music.
Make yourself as comfortable as possible, preferably sitting. It can be a lotus position, or it can be a chair, a chair or a car seat. Take the time to get really comfortable: your back, legs, head, neck, arms should be as comfortable as possible.
Focus on what is around you. Look at familiar objects in new ways. Table, clock, lantern, pharmacy, sky, armchair, plane. Shadows of objects, illumination. You can see yourself as if from the outside.
Pay attention to the sounds that surround you. The voices of people, the horns of cars, the slamming of doors, the rumble of the street, the noise of the TV, the birds, the electric train passing in the distance, the music of the neighbors … Left, right, in the foreground, in the background, distant and close. Without being attached to everyone, string a new sound on an imaginary thread, like beads. You can imagine a veil of sounds that surround you and hide behind it.
Move the focus to the skin — an organ that protects us from the outside world. Feel the temperature of the air, the difference in sensations between open and closed areas of the skin, the humidity of the air, its currents, how the clothes fit to the body, more tightly, less tightly, how the shoes sit on the leg, what the hands touch …
Sensations in the muscles. Heaviness and lightness, heat and cold, mentally compare the weight of your legs, arms, mentally «scan» the skeleton from the toes to the skull, check how confidently the legs touch the floor or the ground, feel comfort and peace.
Watch your breath: how air enters through the nostrils, passes through the nasopharynx, enters the trachea and bronchi, fills the lungs. Feel the exhalation: lungs, bronchi, trachea, nasopharynx, nose. It’s better to breathe through your nose. Track several breath cycles.
Usually by this time your eyes are already closing by themselves, if this is not the case, you can close them yourself. You are now completely ready to begin meditation. You can set yourself some specific goal (to solve a dilemma), you can ask a question (for example, “What should I do today?”) Or focus on some image, nature, space.
- Oscar Brenifier, Jacques Desprez «The Meaning of Life»
Or you can just be quiet and listen.
Over time, the immersion process will take less and less time. Your meditations will become active, you will be able to meditate in transport, running in the forest, walking around the city. It may even seem to you that you can not leave this wonderful state, but stay in it all the time, because it is more natural than usual, and certainly more pleasant.